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It is certainly a solitary pursuit and I think this forum is a fantastic place to encourage new solvers. Otherwise there is a danger that the Listener may be considered too high brow and wither away.
I would also like to place on record my thanks to Meursault, dja and the many others who are far better solvers than me. I consider you all as friends who have a common interest in the world’s best crossword. Long may this forum thrive.

Thanks Meursault for the confirmation. I can now ponder on what the instruction is and perhaps eventually get the 5,5. I would also like to add my sentiments to the others who have praised the solvers who give me assistance when required. Without them I would probably never have entertained doing the Listener and then have lost the enjoyment that comes in doing it. Keep it going!

A very kind comment, Unclued. And, suspicious as I am of relationships where you never actually see the person, I entirely agree with you, and consider yourself, DJA and some of the other regulars as friends.

As for the forum, I'm in total agreement. When you get a puzzle such as this, and over 100 comments - that's impressive ! And it's a credit to Ash and Norah that the site has prospered, despite spam attacks, despite occasional squabbles...it's a useful site and achieves more than just "good puzzle" "look at me, I've solved it" "thank you setter"

I’m sorry to sound stupid but I am still missing something.
I have the s****l moving down from the original position and replacing the character but I still don’t get how the dropped letters from answers that are too long link with any other removed letters. Thanks.

Hi Unclued, the dropped letters spell out the other 4 characters who also ended up in wagons. For each column, read across the upper dropped letters, then the lower dropped letters.

Thanks. That means just the 6 blank cells?

What word do you have for 24 ? Do you have the Professor in two places or one ? Though perhaps it might be possible for him to be in two places, in a Schrödinger kind of way...

I removed him from the middle row and put him on the bottom row. Should I have more blanks than just the moved s****l?
I still feel I’m not quite there!

No that's what I had- I thought it was an elegant finish.

It was a long, long time ago I saw the film, and don't remember the exact detail. But I am old enough to remember the old signalling system. Always the signal on horizontal was Stop. Sometimes Go was up 45 degrees, sometimes it was down 45 degrees. So, assume for the sake of the argument that in the case it had been up 45 degrees. Then, when it returns to the horizontal, killing the Professor, where does it end up ? And that, as far as I'm concerned, is the end of the story !