Line joining listener and vessel results in punctuality (9)
I believe the answer is:
earliness
'punctuality' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'line joining listener and vessel' is the wordplay.
'joining' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'listener' becomes 'ear' (body part which hears or listens).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'vessel' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'line' put after 'ear' is 'earline'.
'earline'+'ss'='EARLINESS'
'results in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for earliness that I've seen before include "being in good time" , "Ere snails? (Anag)" .)