Another excellent rummage through Chambers. Thank you AZED.
I can’t provide a grid today as the online version has a couple of errors in the clue numbering which is throwing my grid-drawing program.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SCOTCH FIDDLE | Spirit to nobble old itchy sore (12, 2 words) |
| SCOTCH (spirit) and FIDDLE (to nobble) | ||
| 9 | CHOULTRY | Inn dear, with little left to put to the test (8) |
| CHOU (dear) with L (left, little=abbrev) with TRY (test) | ||
| 11 | RISS | Alpine period in winter is superb (4) |
| found inside winteR IS Superb | ||
| 13 | AREA CODE | What US long-distance caller uses to explain formerly ringing a company (8, 2 words) |
| AREDE (to explain, formerly) contains (ringing) A CO (company) | ||
| 15 | INSURER | Nurse lost in Iran? I’ll provide cover (7) |
| NURSE* anagram=lost in IR (Iran) | ||
| 16 | MURAL | Tail-ender dismissed by spinner, familiarly – ‘wally’? (5) |
| MURALi (nickname for Muttiah Muralitharan, spin bowler) missing last letter (tail-ender) – definition is “like a wall” | ||
| 17 | BRINY | Marine, girl’s lost love? (5) |
| BRIoNY (girl) missing O (love) | ||
| 18 | SNELLY | Southern weakling describing bitter wind in the Cairngorms (6) |
| S (southern) and NELLY (weakling) | ||
| 19 | MAYST | Old auxiliary, second person attacked with debilitating gas, we hear? (5) |
| sounds like (we hear) maced (attacked with debilitating gas) – an example of an obsolete auxiliary verb in the second person | ||
| 21 | GAJOS | Non-travellers rabbit on about beloved in Scotland (5) |
| GAS (rabbit on) containing (about) JO (beloved, scots) | ||
| 24 | MEATAL | Opening’s beginning to appear in e.g. tin (6) |
| Appear (beginning to, first letter of) in METAL (eg tin) | ||
| 26 | AMMAN | District magistrate in ME capital (5) |
| double definition – ME=Middle Eastern | ||
| 28 | BLINI | Pancake black inside – no good? Scrap it (5) |
| B (black) LINIng (inside) missing (scrap it) NG (no good) | ||
| 29 | NOSE-LED | Happiness shown in sign of assent, totally fooled (7) |
| SELE (happiness) inside NOD (sign of assent) | ||
| 31 | DIOGENIC | Cynic possibly, ‘nice’ god I rubbished (8) |
| anagram (rubbished) of NICE GOD I | ||
| 32 | AXIS | The old enemies? One recalled big hit (4) |
| A (one) then SIX (big hit, cricket) reversed | ||
| 33 | FEDELINI | Pasta, chopped fine, appropriate shop stocked? (8) |
| FINE* anagram=chopped contains (stocks) DELI (appropriate shop for pasta) | ||
| 32 | HEARTSTRINGS | Affections replaced threats with marks of devotion (12) |
| THREATS with RINGS (marks of devotion, wedding rings perhaps) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCRIMSHANDY | Villain on board near? It may occupy tar’s spare time (11) |
| CRIM (criminal, villain) inside SS (on board a steam ship) then HANDY (near) | ||
| 2 | CHI KUNG | Screen gun going off? Healthy exercises (7, 2 words) |
| CHIK (hanging door screen) then GUN* anagram=going off | ||
| 3 | TUSSAL | Struggle, we hear, that involves hacking? (6) |
| sounds like (we hear) tussle (struggle) – a hacking cough perhaps | ||
| 4 | CLAG | Stick or carrot’s first to lead one falling behind (6) |
| Carrot (first letter of) in front of (to lead) LAG (one falling behind) | ||
| 5 | FRENUM | Ligament damaged, ref mostly unfeeling (6) |
| REF* anagram=damaged then NUMb (unfeeling, mostly) | ||
| 6 | DECURY | Squad of old soldiers to blame when urbs initially is captured (6) |
| DECRY (to blame) containing (captures) Urbs (initial letter of) | ||
| 7 | DIORISTIC | Defining designer is habitual reponse (9) |
| DIOR (designer) IS then TIC (habitual response) | ||
| 8 | LODEN | Waterproof material? Get that to cover private office (5) |
| LO (explamation, get that) on (to cover) DEN (private office) | ||
| 10 | TRIPY | Worthless mixture of types turned up in test (5) |
| PI (mixture of types) reversed in TRY (test) | ||
| 11 | BERYLLIOSIS | Boris yells wildly about independence – it damages lungs (11) |
| anagram of BORIS YELLS about I (independence) | ||
| 14 | CREAM SODA | Fizzy drink? In the end large quantity is bottled (9, 2 words) |
| CODA containing (bottles) REAMS (large quantity) | ||
| 20 | TANKING | Defeat family occupying Chinese dynasty (7) |
| KIN (family) inside TANG (Chinese dynasty) | ||
| 22 | JAEGER | German sharpshooter, to his countrymen certainly a bore (6) |
| JA (certainly, yes in German) and EGER (a bore, on a river) | ||
| 23 | SCENES | Roman dramatist’s cutting one up for parts of his work? (6) |
| SENECa’S (Roman dramatist) missing A (one) reversed (up) | ||
| 24 | MADID | Like soggy pud mum cooked (5) |
| MA (mum) DID (cooked) | ||
| 25 | ALKALI | Base crucial for walk, a lighthouse (6) |
| found inside (crucial for) wALK A LIghthouse | ||
| 27 | MOIRE | Type of silk Arab removed from wardrobe (5) |
| arMOIRE (wardrobe) missing AR (Arab) | ||
| 30 | ACER | Plant genus runner bean is not part of (4) |
| rACER (runner) missing Runner (first letter of) – ‘bean’ means ‘head’ | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Thanks for explaining MURAL, PeeDee, I missed that. As well as the two numbering errors, 4 down has the wrong number of letters shown, which misled me briefly.