I got going pretty quickly with this one, and thought it might be a bit of a walkover, but the last few clues,especially in the SE corner, slowed me to a crawl. It almost goes without saying that the clueing is of the usual high Azedian standard, but I had a couple of niggles/queries that others may be able to put me right on.
| Across | ||
| 1. British dished rupees out for such as Gunga Din (6) | ||
| BHISTI | BRITISH* less R. A bhisti is an Indian water-carrier, as was Gunga Din in Kipling’s poem | |
| 6. Pages occupying perch bob up and down (6) | ||
| POPPLE | PP in POLE | |
| 11. One taking to the water for Leander content to feather oar (4) | ||
| HERO | Hidden in featHER Oar. In the story of Hero and Leander, Hero swam the Hellespont every night to be with Leander. | |
| 12. ‘What’s this?’ the old grumble distinctly (5) | ||
| PLAIN | ||
| 13. Canoeist perished – may we decorate graveyard? (8) | ||
| ACONITES | CANOEIST* (Who can see the word “canoeist” (especially with “perished”) without thinking of this bloke?) Aconites are highly poisonous – do they particularly grow in graveyards? | |
| 14. Pit leaders from Kimberley hoarding uncut diamonds (4) | ||
| KHUD | First letters (leaders) of Kimberley Hoarding Uncut Diamonds | |
| 15. Relish fool’s gold (5) | ||
| SAPOR | SAP + OR. SAPOR (“flavour”) is related to “savour”, and also to “sapient” (having taste, wise) | |
| 17. Former triumph over, cower wretchedly in tangle (8) | ||
| ORECROWE | COWER* in ORE (=tangle, a type of seaweed) | |
| 19. Anti-asthma drug disturbed poise of kidneys in being injected (12) | ||
| ISOPRENALINE | RENAL (of kidneys) + IN in POISE* | |
| 20. Protesters upset mentors with angry tirades (12) | ||
| REMONSTRANTS | MENTORS* + RANTS | |
| 22. Feature of rock gardens? Nurse round misshapen tuber (8) | ||
| AUBRETIA | TUBER* in AIA | |
| 25. Positive meaning to seize upon in Shakespeare (5) | ||
| PHANG | P + HANG (meaning); Shakesperian spelling of “fang”, meaning “to seize upon” (obsolete in either spelling, I think) | |
| 28. Jumping onto part of Indian train? (4) | ||
| OONT | ONTO* – “in India, a camel” | |
| 29. Portion of Scotch beef? Minced rib steak (8) | ||
| BREASKIT | (RIB STEAK)* Scots form of “brisket” | |
| 30. Dry recipe replaced by rum butter in Scotland? Probably not! (5) | ||
| DODDY | DRY with R[ecipe] replaced by ODD (rum). A doddy is a hornless cow. | |
| 31. A jug of retsina, say, load of Argive plonk? The reverse (4) | ||
| OLPE | A Greek jug, hidden in reverse of argivE PLOnk | |
| 32. Stuff on board, set out before the day’s ending (6) | ||
| STEEVE | SET* + EVE. To stuff into a ship’s hold; probably from the same source as “stevedore” | |
| 33. LGV transporting liquid in tons, old measure (6) | ||
| TANKER | T[ons] + ANKER (old measure for wines and spirits). LGV = Large Goods Vehicle (not Light, as I assumed, thinking this must be a mistake) | |
| Down | ||
| 1. Brother embracing knight in devotion leading to salvation (6) | ||
| BHAKTI | KT in BHAI (Hindi “brother”) | |
| 2. Playwright promised Scotch, ultimate in usquebaugh, genuine (5) | ||
| HECHT | [usquebaug]H + ECHT (genuine), and two meanings – playwright, presumably this one, and Scots version of “hight”, meaning (among other things) “promised. | |
| 3. Met men’s high altitude device yielding some facts on descending (5) | ||
| SONDE | Hidden in factS ON DEscending | |
| 4. Old hat? That’s seen in test no longer (8) | ||
| TRICORNE | CORN (old hat, as in “corny”) in TRIE | |
| 5. Like an attractive loan, boring apparently? (12) | ||
| INTEREST-FREE | Double definition | |
| 6. Stale savour in old spiced wine, sweet, causing bad vibes? (12) | ||
| PRESENTIMENT | I found this surprisingly hard to parse, as there are several ways the word could potentially be split up. Anyway, it’s RESENT (obs. “savour”) in PIMENT (sweetened spiced wine) | |
| 7. Excuse dissipation? Not sure (4) | ||
| PLEA | PLEA[sure] | |
| 8. Type of stone wall parish shortly has to renew mortar in (8) | ||
| PARPOINT | PAR[ish] + POINT. I had a guess of PREPOINT (P + REPOINT) here for a while, causing some problems. | |
| 9. Big car, muddy, old, but not unserviceable (4) | ||
| LIMO | LIMO[us] | |
| 10. Prelude: middle section without start of coda beginning to end (6) | ||
| ENTREE | [c]ENTRE + E[nd] | |
| 16. Bass mode adjusted to include piece of music for early woodwind (8) | ||
| BOMBARDE | BAR (a “piece” of music) in B + MODE* Another name for the shawm, mentioned (in some translations) in Psalm 90, Cantate Domino, v7: “With trumpets also and shawms : O shew yourselves joyful before the Lord the King.” | |
| 18. Hardy shrub, one found in rocky height and in equal quantities below (8) | ||
| CARAGANA | A in CRAG + ANA (in equal quantities, used in prescriptions) | |
| 20. Short swim after climbing in head waters, turbulent (6) | ||
| RAPIDS | DIP< in RAS (head) | |
| 21. Live artist dispenses with one around picture’s finishing touch? (6) | ||
| SITTER | [pictur]E in [a]RTIST* &lit | |
| 23. Nary a cry goes up for this particular item (5) | ||
| BOSON | (NO SOB)<, and the Boson is a subatomic particle, so is “particular”. (Though I’m sure lots of cries went up when the Higgs boson was (probably) identified.) | |
| 24. Cert last in race? Criticism results (5) | ||
| SNIPE | SNIP (certainty) + [rac]E | |
| 26. Riot that’s violent, about nothing (4) | ||
| HOOT | O in HOT (violent) – as in “he’s a hoot/riot” | |
| 27. Fellow laid up, given drug for swelling (4) | ||
| NODE | DON< + E | |
Thanks Andrew. 12a is a triple definition isn’t it?
Thanks, sidey, you’re right
Probably way too late to get a response to this, but I can’t justify “trie” = “test”. This old spelling of “try” is in Chambers but only meaning “to turn out, prove”. Or am I missing something?