I made a pretty quick start on this but somehow got convinced that TAIAHA was not only a bird, which it is not, but fitted the wordplay at 21 down, which it certainly does not. Chalk it up to a big brain day for me!
Definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, and are generally not going to be explained. The first definition is underlined in each clue.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Latin-American in USA cutting his grass (5) |
| PANIC – HISPANIC(Latin-American in USA) missing HIS. Second definition of GRASS in Chambers | |
| 5 | Chief servant of explorer down under keeping quiet (7) |
| TAPSMAN – Abel TASMAN(explorer down under) containing P(quiet) | |
| 10 | Element of sung Mass needs change — Latin omitted, American included (6) |
| EVOVAE – EVOLVE(change) with the L(Latin) removed, and A(american) inserted | |
| 11 | The weather, listener admitted, is frightening (6) |
| SKEARY – SKY(the weather) containing EAR(listener) | |
| 12 | Dublin’s crossword compiler? A dog! (11, two words) |
| IRISH SETTER – A crossword compiler in Dublin could be an IRISH SETTER | |
| 13 | Essay don constructed about epic poem (8) |
| ODYSSEAN – anagram of ESSAY,DON | |
| 16 | Plant with burs left in shelter (5) |
| CLOTE – L(left) in COTE(shelter) | |
| 17 | Whole performance attracting little interest at first (6) |
| INTACT – ACT(performance) with INT(interest) before | |
| 18 | Women beset by coldness of manner and fustiness (6) |
| FROWST – W(women) in FROST(coldness of manner) | |
| 20 | Idler to gossip, therefore kept on the outside (6) |
| STALKO – TALK(gossip) with SO(therefore) surrounding it | |
| 23 | One contemplating acquiring a rifle (6) |
| MAUSER – MUSER(one contemplting) containing A | |
| 26 | This writer’s seen going around in brown fabric (5) |
| TAMIN – I’M(this writer’s), reversed inside TAN(brown) | |
| 29 | A supreme newly built temple (8) |
| SERAPEUM – anagram of A,SUPREME | |
| 30 | Greasy stuff gets a young animal stuck in channel (11, two words) |
| GALAM BUTTER – A, LAMB(young animal) inside GUTTER(channel) | |
| 31 | Good Swiss writer — rough judgement being “rarely read these days” (6) |
| GHESSE – G(good) then Herman HESSE, author of Steppenwolf amongst others. I had thought he was German but although he was born in Germany he lived much of his life in Switzerland | |
| 32 | Silly person had briefly to be treated with medicated cloth once (6) |
| STUPED – STUPE(silly person), ‘D | |
| 33 | Black deer spotted in Scottish town (7) |
| JETHART – JET(black), HART(deer). A Gaelic term for JEDBURGH | |
| 34 | Perform somersaults in river? A farce (5) |
| EXODE – DO(perform) reversed inside the river EXE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Patronise silly supporter of former South American president (9) |
| PERONISTA – anagram of PATRONISE | |
| 2 | Protein I had detected in a French wine (6) |
| AVIDIN – I’D(I had) inside A, VIN(French wine) | |
| 3 | And also not wanting whisky — not needing to drink it (6, two words) |
| NOR YET – RYE(whisky) inside NOT | |
| 4 | Strutting leader, idiot in that long garment (7) |
| CASSOCK – COCK(strutting leader) containing ASS(idiot) | |
| 5 | The man wears casual shirt, making one chuckle (5) |
| TEHEE – HE(the man) inside a TEE shirt | |
| 6 | Like, for instance, a metallurgical test (5) |
| ASSAY – AS(like), SAY(for instance) | |
| 7 | Bristly clique of upper-class types, almost all bad (8) |
|
SETULOUS – SET(clique), U(upper-class types), then LOUS |
|
| 8 | One sailor and another endlessly depressed (6) |
|
MATLOW – MAT |
|
| 9 | Old-fashioned awards as special treats (6) |
| ARETTS – anagram of TREATS | |
| 14 | Antiseptic medic tries out, without sulphur content (9) |
| CETRIMIDE – anagram of MEDIC,TRIES without S(sulphur) | |
| 15 | Fatty substance, as is evident in spiritual leader (8) |
| CALIPASH – AS inside CALIPH(spiritual leader) | |
| 19 | Move to join another plane offering speed for carrying flyer (7) |
| RABATTE – RATE(speed) containin BAT(flyer) – a geometric plane | |
| 21 | Suppressing exclamation of surprise, capture a rare bird (6) |
| TAKAHE – AH(expression of surprise) inside TAKE(capture) | |
| 22 | Charm of a stubborn person taking time (6) |
| AMULET – A, MULE(stubborn person), T(time) | |
| 24 | Hopes possibly to pen ewe finally? (6) |
| SHEEPO – anagram of HOPES containing the last letter of ewE… and all-in-one clue where the wordplay is also the definition of an Australian sheep herder | |
| 25 | A Parisian female upset and embarrassed must be toughened up (6) |
| ENURED – UNE(one, in French) reversed, then RED(embarrassed) | |
| 27 | Computer network used with little hesitation in physics unit (5) |
| WEBER – WEB(computer network) ER(little hesitation). The unit of magnetic flux | |
| 28 | Female to deteriorate a bit once (5) |
| FRUST – F(female), next to RUST(deteriorate) | |
I only used aids for SERAPEUM and MATLOW, having entered the latter as”matelo”, which held me up with FROWST.
Avoid biffing “slacko”. All done in one session of 58 minutes.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t that confident. The ‘serapeum’ could very easily have been the ‘peraseum’. But I vaguely remember ‘Serapis’, so I thought that was the more likely answer.