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Don't worry all - the fog lifted of it's own accord and I can move on!

Nice puzzle. I still can't see all of the misprints but It's always pleasing when the end game helps to resolve a few mysteries. Thanks, Lysander.

The misprint I have for clue 17 across is in the second word's fourth letter but it is giving me difficulties, insomuch as the misprint would need to be the start of a 3 or 4 letter rule, assuming the previous two 'decodes' are correct (a big 'if'). Any nudge to set me straight much appreciated.

And the wretched fox prowling around the estate I live in next to a canal bit off the heads of two cygnets last week. Very sad.

Unstuck - You are correct in your assessment of 17A ...

Unstuck - You are correct in your assessment of 17A ... obviously don't know your previous 2 moves ... Ignoring the given starting cell (if you have the theme) you may be able to deduce what you are looking for in the turning cells?

Many thanks Crates for your very prompt response. I originally had the correct letter as U giving VALUED, but that did not make sense with the rest of the clue surface reading. I knew it had to be a cardinal point, but I waltzed around just now and came up with a more sensible misprint.
Thank you again.

Crates, I may yet be wrong in my last post about the correct misprint.
Best to ignore my ramblings.

No problem ... you were correct initially ... if you are missing something perhapa a previous misprint is wrong ...

Unstuck, Sorry to hear that you too have a rogue fox.

Your first instinct for 17 was right. If it helps, the lengths of your rules up to clue 22a are 2, 3, 2, 2. If you have got those 4 right, and as Crate says, ignore the start point, the rest becomes fairly obvious from the theme.