Quick Cryptic 3231 no by Jalna

One doesn’t see corduroy trousers (or cords) so often these days, but they were ubiquitous in my youth, and very comfortable too.  I’m not sure they were ever considered that classy though.

The verb to cop is derived from the Old French caper (“to seize”) and Latin capere (“to take”) – from which we also get the word capture.  It was used from the early 18th century for the action of arresting someone, and when organised police forces were established in the 19th century the person doing the arresting – ie a policeman – became known as a copper.   This was later shortened to just cop, these days the more common usage of the word (and more often in the plural, as “the cops”).  But the verb form of the word lives on in the British English idiom “to cop it”.

I think Jalna is trying to be helpful for us QC solvers by adding “with rind” – I suspect he would omit the words for a 15×15 clue – but Parmesan is far from the only cheese with a rind.

Nirvana is one of the few words in English borrowed directly from Sanskrit, where its literal meaning is “blown out” or “extinguished”.  It is use in Buddhism to describe the extinguishing of the flames of desire and delusion, and represents the ultimate cessation of suffering and achievement of liberation from human ills.

This meaning of Mark originated in the 18th century, when dishonest game operators at fairs and festivals would “mark” a person they could easily trick into playing a rigged game (sometimes physically with a discreet chalk mark on their back, more often just by pointing him out), to signal to other hustlers that this person was easy to take advantage of.

Porto is named after its historical position as a harbour, and in Roman times it had the Latin name Portus Cale, made up of Portus (port/harbour) and Cale, the name of the Celtic settlement located at the mouth of the Douro River.  Over time, the name simplified to Portucale and eventually just Porto, with the full name becoming used for the territory the port served – the modern Portugal.

Porto was the only significant port in this part of Portugal and was frequently just called O Porto (Portuguese for “The Port”) – from where the English name for the city, Oporto, comes.

This was almost the only clue where I had to think a bit harder about the definition.  But sense as appreciation is inherent in, for example, “a sense of humour”.