I'm a bit late blogging this because of my travels. All done and dusted now, though, phew. Not all that much of particular interest in this one, I think; the usual budget of obscurities in vocabulary but the cultural references were solidly in my ambit.

  • 1ac: STOCK-PUNISHT: Liable to have been pelted with rotten veg, thus conk-tip’s battered?: *(THUS CONK TIPS)
  • 10ac: ORPHEANS: Amateur music society, English, going into wards, often?: E(nglish) inside ORPHANS (often wards)
  • 12ac: LOFI: Extract from Annal of India not particularly well reproduced: annaL OF India
  • 13ac: CRIBLÉ: Bone left in Church, riddled?: RIB (bone) + L(eft) in CE (church)
  • 14ac: DUMPLE: Shape for cooking the French put on counter: DUMP (put) on LE (“the” in French)
  • 15ac: NEELE: Old sewer? Not old when fish is found in it: EEL (fish) inside NE (obs. “not”)
  • 17ac: PARADROP: Feature of e.g. Arnhem road damaged in blast: *(ROAD) inside PARP (blast); ref. Battle of Arnhem
  • 18ac: CERES: Minor planet, dry and cold when viewed from behind: SERE (dry) + C(old) reversed
  • 20ac: SCRAW: Spy dropping out acquires unprepared bit of thin turf: SCOUT (spy) - OUT + RAW (unprepared)
  • 22ac: HOTCH: Central heating working properly when on, making Scots fidget: HOT + C(entral) H(eating)
  • 23ac: PETRE: Meat preservative? Portion of tripe treated: triPE TREated
  • 25ac: AESTHETE: After the tide turns, former drudge becomes ...: SEA reversed + THETE (a poor freeman in ancient Athens) &lit. with next clue; I took forever to parse this, though not to enter the word, because I could see THE and SEA and ETA (another kind of “former drudge”) but not how to glue them together.
  • 28ac: TRIAS: ... One absorbed by arts, adrift in ‘rock period’?: I (one) in *(ARTS)
  • 29ac: AVAUNT: Acting against gossip from the past, the old move on: A(cting) V(ersus) AUNT (obs. “gossip”)
  • 31ac: COMPOT: Count no longer fed with duck or fruit pudding: COMPT (obs. “count”) around O (duck)
  • 32ac: STIE: Old mount is obliging, moving rear to the front: TIES are obliging, I guess;
  • 33ac: FRONT-END: X inscribed in leaf – it involves interaction with the public: TEN (“X”) inside FROND (leaf)
  • 34ac: DISINTERESTED: En suite trend transformed, rendering one apathetic?: *(EN SUITE TREND)
  • 2dn: TROULE: The old wag that could cause annoyance if penning book: TROUBLE (annoyance) - B(ook)
  • 3dn: CHIPSET: Computer group with particular functions maybe approach apparatus: CHIP (maybe approach, as in e.g. Rugby) + SET (apparatus)
  • 4dn: KELL: Film star princess appearing endlessly in film?: KELL(y); ref. Grace Kelly
  • 5dn: PALEA: The old man has bottled beer in this receptacle: PA (the old man) around ALE (beer)
  • 6dn: UNCURSE: Lift ban on exercise involving neuter dog: USE (exercise) around N(euter) CUR (dog)
  • 7dn: IVIED: Lake neglected, furious about how it ends, overgrown: LIVID (furious) - L(ake) around (lak)E
  • 8dn: SUBERATE: Salt from America coming up before reprimand: US reversed + BERATE (reprimand).
  • 9dn: HALLOW: Who’s bemused about the whole bang shoot? Bless!: *(WHO) around ALL
  • 10dn: Nick Compton’s opener featuring in varied Lord’s chat: C(ompton) in *(LORDS CHAT); ref. Names for the Devil
  • 11dn: DEEP-SEATED: Edward aboard his bathyscape? It’s in the blood: DEEP-SEA TED
  • 16dn: PROSIMII: Some primates, old-maidish about bits of obscene speech I repeated: PRIM (old-maidish) around O(bscene) S(peech) + II
  • 19dn: THEATRE: Gaiety e.g. as mad Hatter grabs dormouse’s tail: *(HATTER) + (dormous)E
  • 21dn: RECASTS: Switches part of current account put into reserve funds: C(urrent) A(ccount) inside RESTS (reserve funds)
  • 22dn: HEROIN: E.g. dynamite blasted iron junk?: H(igh) E(xplosive) (e.g. dynamite) + *(IRON)
  • 24dn: RANINE: Might it be synonymous with ‘sublingual’, artist muses?: RA (artist) + NINE (muses)
  • 26dn: TAPIN: Gettin’ the measure of a simple putt: TAPIN(g) (measuring)
  • 27dn: TABOR: What pipe cleaner clears round half of bowl – something you get with a pipe: TAR (what pipe cleaner clears) around BO(wl)
  • 30dn: VINE: Climber from Argentina getting lost at head of gorge: RAVINE (gorge) - RA (Republic of Argentina)