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thanks Iwo - I agree, it's a fine puzzle (and I'm getting to like it more as the memory of solving it recedes).

With regard to drxx #17 am I right that the two he refers to are 20 & 30? If so, does that leave 1, 7, 17, 21, 24, 25 & 33 as the seven mentioned in the preamble?

There seems to be some misunderstanding about what is going on in this very fine (and fair) puzzle. It is not true to say that where two letters move their original order is preserved. In most cases this happens to be so, but the principle to be observed is given in the Ring 5. If the beginning and end of that message is not correctly determined then the principle will not be grasped.

i would reckon 9 rather than 25 but I wouldn't bet my life on it

Yes, tatters - 9 not 25.

And yes, murky - I've just checked it through again and see the one 'back-step' at 33 (it was 1-30 am on Saturday morning when I was checking them off, I should have rechecked in the cold light of day!).

... that's the second time 25 has been mentioned, but it requires just a single move, so there's only one candidate there (I wonder if there's possibly another interpretation of its clue?).

I have the message - of 5, 8, 6, 3, 4 & 10 words - in Ring 5, commencing in radial 11, but cannot see how that helps me to resolve my query.

I don't think there's been any suggestion that the obvious principle behind this (rather unfair, but very clever) puzzle hasn't been grasped, murky - it would be hard to miss it!

I see now that the first and fourth letters of 9 move but there are 2 options for the fourth and last letters of 25 which the message doesn't help to clarify.

son1ofrover1 - three things -

The start of the message works better going from radial 1 (spotted by rad).

Some answers don't require a letter to be moved because that letter is already at the end of its clue - eg in the answer to 20.

Can you say what two letters you're wanting to move in 25, please.