Everyman’s puzzles never fail to entertain – solving them is a regular part of my Sunday post-prandial routine, when I wouldn’t fancy undertaking anything too taxing.

Like all the other posters here I was mystified by the absence of a definition for 1d and Sil’s suggestion seems as good an explanation as any. I agree with the comments on ‘Abstained’, though I must admit that the dodgy grammar did not strike me at the time of solving.

As to 1d: it looks like the definition has simple been edited out. Perhaps, Everyman’s original clue ended in “… bit of rubbish material”, after which the editor thought that “material” wasn’t needed in combination with “rubbish”. I found the word anyway as nothing else did fit.

Many thanks Stella for blogging [just try to divide the number of 'your' posters by the number of comments in my latest blog .... ].
Yes, this puzzle had a different feel compared to the average Everyman.
And btw, FANNY ABOUT is in Chambers with the definition Everyman gives us.
Everyman – well, he’s in Madeira for a month.
Wish I were … [but I'm not]

I always enjoy Everyman on a Sunday morning, and this was no exception. I liked FANNY ABOUT (not a typical Everyman clue, I have to say) and WATERY GRAVE also raised a smile.

I agree with you about ABSTAINED, and can’t throw any light on the lack of a definition for SEERSUCKER, I’m afraid.

I enjoyed this very much but share your reservations about ABSTAINED. The only way that I can see it working is in the sense ‘He was on the wagon’ and ‘He abstained’ but that includes an additional ‘was’ !.

As to 1d I thought maybe it was &lit and ‘seersucker’ was a type of watch but I cannot confirm this.

There were some excellent surfaces here and I have ticked ten clues which may be a record. Favourites were EXCEL, ALPENHORNS, BANDLEADER and PLUSH.

Thanks Everyman.