You have the right word counts for the initial message, hankir. It's telling you to derive two messages - for the first message take alternate first and last letters - for the second, go back to the top and this time start with the last letter, then the first, then the last...
For the downs the moved letters give -
4 nought... lie
5 ou ran without they
8 spun derivation (abbrev DER)
22 thrust casing ton (ton=C)
let me know if you need some other hints, hankir (and I'll give some wordplay for the acrosses shortly).
28 is a tricky one -
The first two words are the def - then 'vacate' the next two words but put the notes [TIS] in the first pair of letters (the answer starts with the 'game' TIG).
A few more hints for the downs (it's getting quite late here) -
4 the 'hunter' = a horse and the (archaic) 'lie' is a common word you might associate with what untruth is [without its final 'e' for 'base'].
5 'a' is dialect for 'they'.
8 'spun' indicates a reversal.
22 'thrust = DIG
It's a great puzzle, hankir. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.