ACROSS
1 MON(TESS)O-(<=NAIR) – Montessorian education involves self-motivated education by children free to decide their own goals and curriculum. MONO is “old record”, I assume as opposed to STEREO, and NAIR are people of a caste in Kerala in SW India.
10 OP-U-LENT
12 (penta)TEUCH – a good Scots word. Because of the part of Scotland from which I originate, I am somtiems referred to as a “teuchter”, a supposedly derogative term applied by Lowland Scots to their more Northern compatriots. I am in fact not from Teuchter country, but if I were, I’d be proud to be considered “tough”.
13 TEW-HIT – TEW meaning “excitement”, according to Chambers
14 ACC-OUR AGE
15 (r)EGENCE
17 ROR(T)Y
19 MIST-1-CO(ld) – a Mediterranean vessel
20 O’-C-CITAN (I can’t)* – the medieval dialects of the Languedoc
21 DETER – hidden in “maDE TERrified”
25 AS-KANT
27 FIFTEEN-ER – a verse of fifteen syllables
28 A(F)FINE
29 SOLD-I – old Itlain copper coins (sing: soldo)
30 FINI-KIN – don’t have Chambers handy, but “fini” to me means “done, over”, not necessarily “ruined”
31 TAN-GEN(T)IALLY – TAN is short for “tangent”, so I’m not keen on its use here
DOWN
1 MATTER-OF-FACT – double definition
2 OVERGO – reverse cryptic – OG was the ruler of Bashan in the Old Testament
3 TACAN – Tactical Air Navigation, used by military aircraft, and made up of first letters of “that aids captain and navigator”
4 SPA(C-E)M-A-N
5 OLE-UM
6 REW-RITE – again, without Chambers, assuming “rew” is a derivation of “rue”
7 IN HABIT-ABLE
8 NOTE-WORTH(IL)Y
9 QUEER CUFF-IN – an old name for a Justice of the Peace
11 TIGE(r) – the central stem of a plant
16 GIN AND I.T. – GIN being an older word for “begin”
18 TIN-TIN-G
22 ENODAL – (<=LAD-ONE)
23 M(IF)F – “IF” is the Rudyard Kipling poem once voted as Britain’s favourite, and MF = mezzo-forte
24 PEN(I)E – not sure of the PENE bit – someone with access to Chambers may be able to help out here?
25 KRONA – (<=AN-ORK)
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