The usual from Azed: a combination of sometimes less than sparkling surfaces with utterly sound clueing. And of course the words that one never knew.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BESTSELLERDOM | Book in France is rarely about the French king in popular publishing (13) |
| b est [= in France is] sel(le R)dom | ||
| 10 | UPTOWN | Residential quarters stateside, incumbent upon two quarters (6) |
| up to [= incumbent upon, I think, as in “it’s up to you to carry out this task”] W N | ||
| 11 | AECIDIA | Fungal fruits? Nurse catches what are often thrown back (7) |
| (dice)rev. in aia — dice are often thrown | ||
| 12 | MARRAM | Coarse grass hurt member of flock (6) |
| mar ram | ||
| 13 | BAININ | Local detains one after ball of Scottish or Irish wool (6) |
| ba’ in(1)n | ||
| 14 | PRATTLING | Any of several short lines in Portuguese, typical of gossip (9) |
| P(rattlin)g. — my last one in, since the meaning of rattlin was not obvious to me | ||
| 15 | TOKO | Punishment before early end of bout? (4) |
| to KO | ||
| 16 | FECIT | Made fairy outfit for the audience? (5) |
| “fey kit” | ||
| 17 | BOTCHIER | Ice crushed with broth, not so well made (8) |
| (Ice broth)* — not a word I knew existed, but obvious enough | ||
| 22 | ARMORIES | US arsenals yielded when poll is taken in War (8) |
| {b}or{e} in armies — at least that’s what it seems to me to be — armories not armouries | ||
| 23 | ERECT | Build contribution to crackpot ceremonial wrong way round (5) |
| Hidden reversed in crackpoT CEREmonial | ||
| 24 | NELL | Foolish weakling that is gone, whose passing the nation mourned? (4) |
| nell{ie} — ref The Death of Little Nell in Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop | ||
| 25 | ORNAMENTS | Church service articles: christen number in varied sort (9) |
| (name n) in (sort)* | ||
| 27 | SPLINT | Special soft dressing for lump on horse’s leg (6) |
| sp. lint | ||
| 28 | TOO-TOO | Exquisite sound from flute and ditto without extremes (6) |
| toot toot without the last letter of each — surprising to see that a flute can toot, but that’s what Chambers says | ||
| 29 | INDICIA | Signs I see splitting part of subcontinent (7) |
| Ind(I c)ia — until I had the checkers this seemed to be (I c) in Indies, a mistake with too many i’s, but of course no | ||
| 30 | ANURIA | Waterworks malfunction: reversal of flow I installed in regular parts of canal (6) |
| ((run)rev. I) in {c}a{n}a{l} | ||
| 31 | CONSTELLATORY | Cheats inform a party member of brilliant group (13) |
| cons tell a Tory | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BUMP | Success on the river? Bottom’s up (half only) (4) |
| bum {u}p | ||
| 2 | STRACK | Hit in Edinburgh street, on stretcher (6) |
| st rack | ||
| 3 | TORTICOLLIS | Neck condition thrice treated with oil (lots) he got rid of (11) |
| (thrice oil lots – he)* | ||
| 4 | SWATTER | Splash around alternative to insecticide (7) |
| 2 defs — one of them a fly swat | ||
| 5 | LABIODENTAL | One lyric number in a ballet (not English) played, with which flute or violin opens (11) |
| (1 ode n) in (a ballet – e)* — f and v, the first letters of flute and violin, are labiodental consonants | ||
| 6 | LEAN-TO | Selection of clean tools in greenhouse? (6) |
| Hidden in cLEAN TOols | ||
| 7 | RINTHEREOUT | Scots tramp housed yonder amid flock (11) |
| r(in there)out — this is the word that Azed tells us isn’t in Chambers (2014) but is in earlier editions | ||
| 8 | OINKED | Writing stuff in dictionary, rendered sounder sound (6) |
| O(ink)ED | ||
| 9 | MAJORAT | Being the firstborn, murder victim famously pierced by beloved (7) |
| Ma(Jo)rat — ref the famous painting by David of Marat being stabbed in the bath | ||
| 16 | FRANTIC | Furious tub-thumping I witnessed in Free Church (7) |
| F(rant I)C | ||
| 18 | CREMONA | Violin or unusually old wind instrument (7) |
| 2 defs — of Cremona and cremona | ||
| 19 | FRESNO | Frequently one’s taking a break in Californian city (6) |
| fr. (one’s)* | ||
| 20 | GIRNIE | How Ivor sounds – peevish? (6) |
| “Gurney” — ref Ivor Gurney | ||
| 21 | CENTRO | Quarter of Rome, among 100 there – it features on many of its signs (6) |
| R{ome} [= quarter of Rome] in cento — this must be the ‘relatively familiar’ foreign word to which Azed refers | ||
| 26 | SOAY | Sheep in a lather, resisting pressure (4) |
| soa{p}y | ||
*anagram
22ac
MORI (=poll) in ARES
When I wrote ARMORIES in the grid the explanation I was thinking of was MORI in ARMS, and it was an unpleasant few seconds before I realised that it really was the right answer.
I thought TOOT {t}OO{t} was better than TOO{t} TOO{t} for 28a, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter.
Well you’re right, Norman@1, but although I’m sure your parsing is the one Azed intended, mine is I think quite OK: to poll something is to take the ends off (although arguably only the head), and look up ‘armies’ in Chambers (he says, because he can’t actually remember the details but they seemed to be quite convincing at the time).