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Well, I have the 9 word instruction, and have followed the first 4 words of it. I know what the next 3 words mean, but am stumped as to an entry point for solving this. I can't work out the significance of words 8 and 9, is that a hint to starting to do words 5-7 or what we do at the end??

Thank you mondo, I can see the definition i just can't make out anything else. Even with words removed? Is short of use two letters? Is the Dutch boat a mirage?

Got it... on to the next...

Well, I think I'm finished... probably. That was tough.

Mullingar, it's something short(ened) in a Dutch boat.

A long endgame - I gave it the full spreadsheet treatment, conditional formatting to the fore.

It might reassure overseas solvers to know that access to any particular publication, apart from the crossword itself, is not required.

As I feared, made it to the finish line and couldn’t quite cross it. I have a possible interpretation, which doesn’t seem to represent a quotation nor make much sense to me. Brilliant, brilliant puzzle. Maybe it will dawn on me.

Well, I don't get to do The Listener every week because of time constraints but this one drew me in, mainly because of the intriguing looking grid.
I put all else aside these past couple of days to get to the end of the 'escape room' as I started to call it. I did really enjoy all its constituent parts and simply wonder at how someone managed to put it all together....as they say up here: "By 'Eck"!

Riversk, I don't think that I'm giving too much away by telling you that the quotation is not in English.

I assumed as much. I feel like I’m misinterpreting two final letters of an instruction, which may be informed by the title.