A nice easy clue to the long 1 across gave me a good start to this, and I rattled through most of it prety quickly, though with a handful stragglers that needed a bit of Chambers-searching. I’m not entirely sure about my explanation of 34a, but apart from that I think there’s nothing too complicated or obscure.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | ASTROCOMPASS | Pilot’s direction-finder or mascot adjusted before transfer (12) (OR MASCOT)* + PASS |
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| *10. | PARISON | A lump of glass for moulding (7) The competition word to be clued |
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| 11. | OATHS | Curses pipes around start of Hogmanay (5) H in OATS (oat = a shepherd’s pipe, poetically) |
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| 13. | QUAPAWS | Their womenfolk will appear leaderless, burying father? (7) PA in [S]QUAWS |
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| 14. | COOT | Bill’s other half cut it – silly (4) COO (as in “bill and coo”) + T (abbreviated form of “it”, as in Shakespean-type constructions like “on’t”)) |
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| 16. | APOPHYGE | Work extremes of hilarity into edited page – part at top or foot of column (8) OP + H[ilarit]Y in PAGE* |
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| 17. | GIRNS | Ugly expressions from sailors captured by foreign troops (5) RN (Royal Navy) in GIS (American soldiers). I thought “gurn” was the usual spelling, but according to Chambers it’s just a variant of this version |
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| 18. | PILUM | Bit of of soldier’s kit – this set gets miles put out (5) Composite anagram: (MILES PUT)* = PILUM SET. The pilum is a Roman javelin (so maybe the “miles” is a Roman soldier) |
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| 20. | GEOPHAGY | Wildly eggy about a hop going wrong – sign of mania? (8) (A HOP)* in (EGGY)* |
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| 23. | CHARISMA | Personality one follows is wreathed in allure (8) IS in CHARM + A |
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| 27. | LAKIN | Little old lady is havin’ a work break up north (5) LAKIN[g] – “lake” is a northern word for rest or “take a holiday”. LAKIN as a short form of “ladykin”, which is a diminutive (little) Shakesperean (old) form of ”lady” |
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| 28. | ACTOR | Player in Milan team, rubbish back (5) AC [Milan] (football team) + ROT< |
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| 30. | ANTABUSE | One pill to take as treatment for alcoholism (8) AN + TAB + USE |
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| 32. | STAP | Portion of ripest apples and stuff that’s gone (4) Chambers describes this as an “obsolete affectation for stop, esp. in the sense of choke of obstruct” |
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| 33. | STINGOS | Tossing off strong drinks (7) TOSSING* |
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| 34. | SITUS | Positions befit me (as editor might put it) (5) I think this is from SIT = befit (one of C’s definitions of “sit”) + US (what an editor might change “ME” to in some writing). SITUS is both the singular and plural form, which I think must mean it’s a word of the Latin fourth declension |
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| 35. | EERIEST | Extremely weird lake in east of France (7) [Lake] ERIE in EST (French for East) |
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| 36. | CROSS‑DRESSER | Perry maybe balancing on sideboard (12) CROSS (balancing) + DRESSER (sideboard). The cross-dresser is the artist Grayson Perry, recent Reith Lecturer. |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 2. | SAULIE | What’ll make Scots keener? That is following old king (6) SAUL (King of Israel, succeeded by David) + I.E. Scots word for a hired mourner (who might do some keening) |
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| 3. | TRAPROCK | E.g. basalt for filling course (8) PRO in TRACK |
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| 4. | RIPEN | Port wine’s bottled? Stow to mature thus (5) Composite anagram: (PORT WINE’S)* = STOW RIPEN |
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| 5. | COW-PEA | Poet exchanging recipe for a legume (6) The poet [William] COWPER with R replaced by A |
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| 6. | ON SONG | Performing well, Ben maybe loses his first grand (6, 2 words) [Ben J]ONSON + G |
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| 7. | MOOP | The Scots speak indistinctly, low and soft (4) MOO (low) + P[iano] |
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| 8. | PACHISI | Brewed cha coming in I drink up – while playing this? (7) CHA* in (I SIP)< – “An Indian game like backgammon or ludo” |
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| 9. | SHOGUN | Military governor has shortened broad cannon? (6) S (shortened “has”) + BROAD (like “ho”, a rather offensive term for a woman) + GUN |
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| 12. | STEMWARE | Mats we’re given in arrangement for wine glasses, etc (8) (MATS WE’RE)* |
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| 15. | EGG GLASS | Timer with which girl follows say gee-gee (8, 2 words) E.G. (say) + GG + LASS |
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| 19. | LASTAGES | Some duties go on for a long time (8) LAST AGES – lastage means a ship’s cargo, or a duty paid on it |
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| 21. | PRIAPUS | Guardian of gardens? Matter holding partner up (7) PAIR< in PUS (matter). Priapus is probably best known as being the origin of name the medical condition priapism, but strangely he is also a god of gardens. |
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| 22. | SANTIR | Its music is hammered out, a lilting strain (6) STRAIN* The santir is a kind of dulcimer |
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| 24. | HOUSED | Put up sort of trough, to employ inside (6) USE in HOD |
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| 25. | AUSTER | Visitor to Italy blowing in from the south, e.g. Paul (6) Double definition – the South wind in Italy, and this writer/director |
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| 26. | MOROSE | Like the Carpenter, or his mate, swallowing first of oysters? (6) Definitely my favourite clue: O[ysters] in MORSE, a walrus, recalling the poem in Through the Looking-glass, where the Walrus wept bitterly before ewating the oysters that he had invited to take a walk along the beach. |
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| 29. | CANIS | It includes Obama’s ‘Bo’, among Americanisms (5) Hidden in ameriCANISms – Bo is the pet dog of the Obama family |
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| 31. | BUSS | Fishing vessel, or smack (4) Double definition – a Dutch fishing boat and a kiss |
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