| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Parasite running me lower (7) |
| EELWORM – Anagram of ME LOWER, a friendly starter clue. | |
| 6 | Planktonic creature covered over in metaplasm (5) |
| SALPA – Backwards hidden in [met]APLAS[m]. | |
| 10 | Gushing, noisy and reckless prime minister doubly out of fashion (9) |
| UPWELLING – UP + WELLING[ton]. The Duke of Wellington served twice as PM. | |
| 12 | Windows left out of small chambers (5) |
| OCULI – [l]OCULI. | |
| 13 | Rave in Troon initially? Could be (6) |
| TAIVER – Anagram of RAVE I’ T[roon]. A bit of a semi-&lit. | |
| 14 | A vehicle new in South America pampas? (7) |
| SAVANNA – S(A, VAN, N)A. | |
| 16 | River of York half on the turn (4) |
| EBRO – EBOR[acum] with the last two letters turned. | |
| 17 | Eastern draught ox that was wild on earth (5) |
| EURUS – E + URUS. The Eurus is the east wind. | |
| 18 | I refuse to accept mark of the beast on sides of bare earth building in Mycenae (11, two words) |
| BEEHIVE TOMB – B[ar]E E[eart]H + I VETO + M.B. A likely candidate for biffing, I would say. | |
| 20 | Accusatory, inventing things, I am popular for eccentricity (11) |
| CRIMINATIVE – CR(-e,+I’M IN)ATIVE, a clever substitution clue. | |
| 22 | Murderous behaviour of eastern people holding good (5) |
| THAGI – THA(G)I. A variant spelling of thugee. | |
| 25 | Scotland’s apart relatively to brother English (4) |
| FRAE – FRA + E. | |
| 28 | Thus interrupting friend over style of pronunciation (7) |
| ETACISM – M(SIC)ATE, all backwards. | |
| 29 | Remove monarch’s power, throwing out with no justice (6) |
| UNKING – [j]UNKING. | |
| 30 | Where poet once wrote trifle? That’s not right (5) |
| DESSE – DESSE[rt], a Spenserian version of desk. | |
| 31 | Charlie, perhaps has to feel pain without oxygen (9) |
| MOUSTACHE – M(O)UST ACHE. | |
| 32 | Attack over poet (5) |
| BASHO – BASH + O. A Japanese poet whom we are evidently expected to know. | |
| 33 | Rector deeply missing professor, frankly (7) |
| ROUNDLY – R + [prof]OUNDLY. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | What detects supporters abandoning Oxford college (5, two words) |
| E NOSE – [bras]ENOSE, a write-in for me. | |
| 2 | Spicy dish involved cheese got around Hackney (9) |
| ESCABECHE – Anagram of CHEESE around CAB. | |
| 3 | Dance around very old dovecote (6) |
| LOUVRE – LOU(V)RE. The loure was another obscure Renaissance dance. | |
| 4 | Suppose mine’s missing money after work (5) |
| OPINE – OP + [m]INE. | |
| 5 | Encountered a small carnivore, one canine having alternate life cycle (11) |
| METAGENETIC – MET A GENET + I + C. | |
| 6 | Eastern European dance endlessly coming up (4) |
| SLAV – VALS[e] upside-down. | |
| 7 | Exactly dividing area Lima and Quito demolished (7) |
| ALIQUOT – A + L + anagram of QUITO. | |
| 8 | Left with mostly creamy white, black and blue coloration (5) |
| LIVOR – L + IVOR[y]. | |
| 9 | Once favoured emperor returned in maturity (7) |
| AGRASTE – TSAR backwards in AGE. | |
| 11 | Warning I’ve broadcast about European condiment (11, two words) |
| WINE VINEGAR – Anagram of WARNING I’VE around E | |
| 15 | One managing land business set up very like upper crust (9) |
| SUBVASSAL – BUS upside-down + V + AS + SAL. Sal, or sial, is the upper part of the earth’s crust. | |
| 18 | Digitally mark beat with piano lacking bass (7) |
| BETHUMB – BETHUM(-p,+B), another letter substitution clue, this one with only one letter. | |
| 19 | Big Issue up north, somewhat extreme in opinion (7) |
| HIGHISH – HIGH + ISH. I interpreted the literal to mean in favor of the High Church. | |
| 21 | Rainbow-coloured flags, final three raised (6) |
| IRISED – IRIDES with the final three letters reversed. | |
| 23 | Goad a natural killer oneself (5) |
| ANKUS – A + N + K + US. | |
| 24 | Sober Hindu out of India? (5) |
| SADHU – SAD H[ind]U, our &lit for the day. | |
| 26 | Your aged relative is turning abrasive (5) |
| EMERY – YR EME backwards. | |
| 27 | Enthusiastic about popular couple reportedly (4) |
| INTO – Sounds like IN TWO. | |
The one thing I never got to the bottom of here is what “reckless” is doing in 10A.
The parsing of that is:
Gushing=upwelling
Noisy and reckless= ton-up
Prime minister = wellington
Doubly remove fashion (ton) from the above
Aha! Thanks a lot!
I had accepted somewhat reluctantly that the “doubly” must refer only to the biographical tidbit.
I had the opposite experience with this: I seriously doubted I would finished it as the hour struck midnight on Sunday and barely half of it done. Nothing seemed to be coming easily.
After a good night’s sleep and another couple of hours it was complete with three wordplays to sort out. 10a 3oa and 29d.
I came back to these later in the week and pinned them down with 10a the last.
A very worthwhile puzzle but definitely on the difficult side (for me)