Joseph-
Thank you.
My best guesstimate is about 2 – 2.5 hours, starting last night and resuming during lunch today.
I used clue #3 in my seventh step, so there is probably a more elegant solution that I missed.
Step 1 was easy, 2 was not too difficult, and 3 fell into place following two.
Steps 3, 5, 6, and 7 were challenging.
Step 8 fell into place once the others were done.
That was an enjoyable puzzle.
Your nine letter word is:
startling
starling
staring
string
sting
sing
sin
in
I
This was in a kid’s magazine I read about 35 years ago (I don’t remember the name, but it had a comic about a detective with a dog called Tin-Tin and two bumbling policement called the Thompson Twins).
I am “chapping” it because no one else got it, and after 24 hours my “no chap” moratorium is up.