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That looks correct. From memory it’s scrum, BC, loth in a string and cycled to give CRUMBCLOTHS, I believe

Thank you so much !! I think that's what I originally put - but misread it this morning ! Need more sleep !!

Definitely not an easy ride, with quite a lot of reverse engineering involved in the parsing. But a satisfying endgame that thankfully did not involve grid staring, which would have been a bridge too far after the rigours of solving.

I'm abroad this week, and haven't been able to get a copy of the i. Could someone share this week's puzzle with me? Thank you.

I think this will work:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-VDU6czsHKBMbKTK2D-BhDF1LukSXtCR/view?usp=sharing

Another brutal Inquisitor. I have spent four hours battering this beast.

Totally stumped at 17 across. I have *MN*O*ES - gibberish obviously.

Convinced of the four letter phrase, but my letters don't tally. Can't justify the D and penultimate S of the final word.

Head scrambled so cold beer now beckons. I'll return on the morrow. Hints to the above appreciated.

Your letters are correct for 17a - 'begun' is two words (3&2) followed by the usual mother [all reversed] and there's a letter unclued.
The 'd' is lost in 2d to give the single letter following the one on the left side of the second word - these two letters are (cryptically) at sea.
The penultimate letter is lost from the last word of its clue - the definition.

Brilliant drxx, and many thanks😊

Sorted now drxx.

Post match analysis:

17 across - simply escaped me.

2 down - really tricky, I hadn't been able to parse it and had assumed a missing letter.

35 down - I had the definition as twist without thinking through the preamble instruction clearly - I had been at it four hours solid by then and my head was mangled!!

Found a lot of these clues much too tortuous. Have 3 remaining unexplained parsings.

Can't understand wordplay in 23a (can't quite get the anagram to work), 22d (no idea) and 41a (surely can't want you to move the first letter of a poet into discover?)

Thanks