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fair enough jack - on the second point, the characters are intertwined precisely so quite easy to sort out

i also agree it would make a nice picture, it's just slightly odd that the preamble seems to have gone out of its way to state that it should just be the killer highlighted

Yes. Victims would have avoided a possible ambiguity. I think it’s reasonable to regard the intertwined other as such.

I am puzzled by the first letter of 8d, especially as the remaining letters, apart from the final one, seem to be checked. As it is due to be erased, this does not matter, but it annoys me.

I'm also confused about what to highlight in the symmetric closed path. The preamble suggests only the killer. This effectively reveals the other characters, I suppose. I do hope that the marker will be sensible about this.

Finally, I know what the protagonist's fate is, but why should I only erase three letters - including, it would appear, one which is highlighted? And we are still to have real words only?

(rendering him incomplete)...

Incomplete in both the mythological, and Listener, senses.

The three remaining letters of the entry are still a BRB word.

Foinaven

8d isn't in Chambers as such, but is listed if you look at the entry for the first three letters.

Yes, preamble says highlight only the killer. Presume they figure you must have figured out the other character to get the right letters of the loop.

The preamble says that by removing the 3 letters you are leaving the killer incomplete, so yes, one of them is a highlighted letter. Not sure why you think removing those three letters isn't consistent with the fate of the killer?

Help appreciated with the parsing of these...

17a - I’m going to hide money split from sum (5)

The first 3 letters could be "sum" but that's all I can see.

47a - Country woman is shifting special plants (5)

"Shifting special" in the answer could lead to a 3 letter "woman", but the remainder doesn't lead to a "country" nor does it lead to a "country woman", at least as far as I can see.

I have the definitions for both and am sure of my answers but it's the wordplay that eludes me.

Thanks

Brendan, for 17 A take a usual three letter crossword word for 'money' from a long word meaning 'sum' (and yes, it begins with your suggestion...)

Thank you Malone, I'd overlooked the meaning of "split".