A reasonably quick solve for this one, then a lot of head scratching trying to parse 17d and 26d. This was greatly helped once I had realised the theme and could complete the first word given by the extra letters in the down clues.
The four clues that had to be treated before grid entry all had a word meaning ‘grouse’ removed from them (mene, moan, beef & carp).
The extra letters in the subsidiary indications in thirteen down clues spelt out ‘Goodwood’ and ‘Night’. By association, this indicated that the occasion was the ‘GLORIOUS TWELFTH’ (from Glorious Goodwood and Twelfth Night), the start of the grouse shooting season, and this was to be written below the grid.
The three pairs of unclued entries were: flap/medical drama, Othello/anchor and ride/wedding. These gave the three elements required as follows:
flap=beat + medical drama=er = BEATER
Othello was a Moor and to anchor is to moor = MOOR
There is a shotgun wedding and you can ride shotgun = SHOTGUN
A most enjoyable puzzle with just about the right degree of difficulty in determining the theme.
*(XXX) – anagram
[x] – letter(s) omitted/unused
# – Unclued
{xxxx} – omitted word or extra letter
Across
1 REAPER REA[d] (study for the most part) PER (a)
6 WHEESHT E (English) S (society) H (hotel) in WHET (stimulus)
12 ISLAM S (singular) in MALI (country) reversed
13 UNBEAR UN (one that’s local) BEAR (Rupert, say)
14 MEDICAL DRAMA #
15 EELS [h]EELS (despicable fellows initially ignored)
16 RUDE homophone of ‘rood’ (cross)
18 HAAR H (hard) A (area) A R (river)
19 GARIALS LAIR (den) in SAG (move slowly) reversed
20 ETA dd
22 EASE [t]EASE[r] (tricky question without limits)
23 FLAP #
25 WEDDING #
28 AT IT TITA[n] (giant figure largely) reversed
29 LAUS {mene}LAUS ELA (highest note) in MENUS (lists of options)
31 SAS SA{moan}S A MO (month) in SANS (health resorts)
33 CHADARS ADAR (a month) in CH (Switzerland) S (Sweden)
34 ANNA [m]ANNA (miraculous cheer when leader’s absent)
36 PUDU PUD (hand) U[nsettle]
38 COOP CO (firm) OP (work)
40 OLIGOTROPHIC GI reversed (retired soldier) in *(POOR LOCH IT)
41 SLAIRG IR (taxmen, Inland Revenue) in SLAG (waste)
42 LOWER {bee-f}LOWER *(FEEL) in BOWER (garden feature)
43 SONNETS SON (child) NETS (sessions for practising)
44 AERATE A ERA (time) ET (unworldly visitor) reversed
Down
1 RIDE #
2 ESMENT ES{carp}MENT E (English) SCAR (cliff) MEN (employees) in PT (training)
3 PADSAW PADS (flat’s) A W (wide)
4 EMIRATE EMI{g}RATE (leave one state permanently for another)
5 RECURED CURE (priest at Lourdes) in RED (wine)
6 WOAD WO (without) AD{o} (fuss)
7 ENDURE EN{o} (opera company) DURE[r] (snubbed artist) – Albrecht Durer
8 EBRO hidden in ‘smilE{d} BROadly)
9 SEA WALLS WAL[e] (endless ridge) in SEALS (marine creatures)
10 HAMULAR HAM (meat) U[ncut] LAR[d] (fat mostly)
11 TRANSPOSE *(A PRESS {w}ONT)
17 GET ACROSS C{o}RO[t]’S (timeless artist’s) in *(STAGE) – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
19 GADUS G{o}AD (stick) US (American)
21 APIARIAN ARIA (song) in A PI (good) N (note)
24 OTHELLO #
26 ISADORA SAD (stiff) in {d}IOR (couturier) A (one)
27 NONUPLE NO (drama) L (line) in NUPE (African language)
29 LAHORE A H (hot) in LORE{n} (actress) – Sophia Loren
30 ANCHOR #
32 AVOCET A VO{i}ce (singer) T (tenor)
35 AGIN [r]AG{g}IN[g] (tradition in public schools banning outsiders)
37 URNS {h}UR[o]N’S (Great Lake’s cleared of old)
39 PORE POR{t}E (former Turkish government)
Agree it was a very good puzzle – despite trying hard, failed to crack the theme but seeing the solution have NO COMPLAINTS
Very much enjoyed this. I had the grid pretty much filled before I worked out the theme.
Many thanks for the blog and comments.