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The preamble looked horrific, so I just got going on the clues. I've done the top half almost entirely, but no inroads (!) into the bottom half, apart from 22d. Any nudges please?

I think some of the misprints in the clues are very neat.

Guess early days to give too much away - but 39a misprint first word, 41a misprint last word - might help to get started bottom half.

Dylan. Across hints : 25 uses an old word for body, correction is D; 27 the correction occurs in the first word; 30 the correction occurs in the first letter; 31 uses a typical 3 letter word for island, 35 is a fuel, 37 the correction occurs in penultimate word; 38 ? with danger is a common phrase, develop that; 39 the correction occurs in the first letter; 40 & 41 the correction occurs in the last word; 42 the correction occurs in the first word; 43 the correction in second word; 44 just take re out of a global term for PA.

If you want any hints for the bottom half downs, just say.

A truly wonderful construction. I am puzzled by 23A which I can't parse at all. I'm not sure about how to interpret "letters in the first row must be replaced etc".

23a: CAN is a synonym for toilet, so reverse another synonym

Cockie,
Misprint is in last word leading to a word for dene or hollow.
Can't yet help with preamble though.

Comb can also be coomb, ie valley.

Cockie, this seems to be both the strength and weakness of Shackleton's puzzle all at once. I remember that the last (eponymous) puzzle from S was a high point in amongst so much mediocrity, so I won't be too critical now (and haven't we been praying for something a little better than recent fare ? I mean a Listener a couple of weeks back took 15 minutes to solve...a Listener...) Of course, you're right - there is apparently an ambiguity, and you must first decide whether row 2 or 9 represent the description of the expedition...then there may be another ambiguity, in that is the "first row" the first of two consecutive rows, or the top row ?...and I still haven't made a complete reading of the preamble, which is absurdly long, though I can see how parts of it work...

Thanks guys. I got as far as the synonym for co(o)mb but can't see why the first 3 letters of the answer arise from the wordplay. If I am to interpret the instruction about the 4 letters in sq23 etc then surely they must all be letters composed of two straight lines. And D isn't. I'm uneasy about "6 of each" as I need 6 of one, 5 of the other, and 3 blanks. Oo-er, as one might have said at the sort of age at which one first encountered this excellent tale (my second favourite of the whole set).

cockie, it's not a D.