Hello. A nice short preamble this week, with nothing confusing:
The preamble:
From each answer one letter must be omitted wherever it occurs. The DISAPPEARING letters, in clue order, form an appropriate quotation (in ODQ). Numbers in brackets refer to grid entries; Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
There were several clues for which the disappearing letters were not fully determinable by intersecting entries. This felt a bit unsatisfactory, but the good thing was that it kept the quote from revealing itself to me too early. Eventually the previously invisible became visible:
WE HAVE THE RECEIPT OF FERN–SEEED, WE WALK INVISIBLE
This is a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I. Because ferns do not produce flowers or visible seeds (they reproduce by means of spores), it was believed that fern seeds would confer invisibility. I was not familiar with the quote, nor the folklore concerning fern seeds, and found this article quite interesting. Thanks to Piccadilly.
| # | ANSWER | Clue with definition underlined | |
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | |||
| Across | |||
| 1a | HOLLOWAY | Vulgar adult enters religious prison (7) | W |
| LOW (vulgar) plus A (adult) goes inside (enters) HOLY (religious) | |||
| 6a | CICERONE | Guide Roman orator to centre of Annecy (6) | E |
| CICERO (Roman orator) + the centre of AnNEcy | |||
| 11a | MACHINEGUN | Weapon destroyed china mug, mostly new (9) | H |
| An anagram of (destroyed) CHINA MUG + mostly NEw | |||
| 12a | OUTCLASS | Be much better than debarred college girl (7) | A |
| OUT (debarred) + C (college) + LASS (girl) | |||
| 14a | VUGS | Rock cavities regularly seen in caves during a visit (3) | V |
| The answer is regularly seen in caVes dUrinG a viSit | |||
| 15a | EILEEN | One in Berlin conceals shelter for woman (3) | E |
| EIN (one in Berlin) goes around (conceals) LEE (shelter) | |||
| 16a | TERMINATE | Put an end to wounded marine during Tet offensive (7) | T |
| An anagram of (wounded) MARINE in (during) an anagram of (… offensive) TET | |||
| 17a | BRUSHES | American presidents pocketing ruble to supply artist’s materials (6) | H |
| BUSHES (American presidents) taking in (pocketing) R (ruble) | |||
| 18a | SCALENE | Sample of Mescal energised concerning muscle (5) | E |
| A sample of MeSCAL ENErgised | |||
| 20a | RECLUSE | Solitary Liberal involved in bungled rescue (6) | R |
| L (Liberal) inside (involved in) an anagram of (bungled) RESCUE | |||
| 22a | MALWARE | Virus possibly contaminated warm ale (6) | E |
| Anagram of (contaminated) WARM ALE | |||
| 25a | DECENT | Declining to remove advertisement that’s moderate (5) | C |
| DEC[ad}ENT (declining) to remove AD (advertisement) | |||
| 27a | STRETCH | School admits allowance creating demanding task (6) | E |
| SCH (school) takes in (admits) TRET (allowance) | |||
| 30a | SALIVATE | Eagerly anticipate food – veal as it cooked (7) | I |
| VEAL AS IT anagrammed (cooked) | |||
| 32a | SCOP | Ancient minstrel and son followed by police officer (3) | P |
| S (son) followed by COP (police officer) | |||
| 33a | TAROT | Sailor returned to deck (3) | T |
| TAR (sailor) + reversed (returned) TO | |||
| 34a | DONATELLO | Give pound to behold sculptor (7) | O |
| DONATE (give) + L (pound) + LO (behold) | |||
| 35a | FILE-CUTTER | Toolmaker shows collection of data on motor-launch (9) | F |
| FILE (collection of data) + CUTTER (motor-launch) | |||
| 36a | MUFFLERS | Onset of monsoon ruffles woven scarves (6) | F |
| Initial letter of (onset of) Monsoon + RUFFLES anagrammed (woven) | |||
| 37a | QUARTERED | Two pints and last of the Merlot perhaps shared between four (7) | E |
| QUART (two pints) + last of thE + RED (Merlot perhaps) | |||
| Down | |||
| 1d | HEROINE | Hire one revolutionary: she’s brave (6) | R |
| HIRE ONE anagrammed (revolutionary) | |||
| 2d | OPULENCE | Old money keeps university lecturer in luxury (7) | N |
| O (old) + PENCE (money) holds (keeps) U (university) and L (lecturer) | |||
| 3d | LASCARS | Young woman reserves vehicle for oriental sailors (5) | S |
| LASS (young woman) holds (reserves) CARS (vehicle) | |||
| 4d | OCELLUS | Nothing cryptic clues included lead to locating eye-spot (6) | E |
| O (nothing) + an anagram of (cryptic) CLUES with the first letter of (lead to) Locating included | |||
| 5d | AISLES | Drinks Iceland put in parts of supermarket (5) | E |
| ALES (drinks) with IS (Iceland) put in | |||
| 6d | CEDARS | Large plants scared lunatic (5) | D |
| An anagram of (… lunatic) SCARED | |||
| 7d | WIGWAMS | Wisconsin sheltering women entering school and homes for Native Americans (5) | W |
| WIS (Wisconsin) around (sheltering) W (women) which in turn is going into (entering) GAM (school) | |||
| 8d | CUTICLE | Thin skin of smart girl going around Sri Lanka (6) | E |
| CUTIE (smart girl) going around CL (Sri Lanka) | |||
| 9d | WONGA | Secured 25% of gamblers’ money (4) | W |
| WON (secured) + 25% of GAmblers | |||
| 10d | NOSEAN | Flair getting a new mineral (5) | A |
| NOSE (flair) + A + N (new) | |||
| 13d | SELECTED | Picked recycled steel decking man dumped (7) | L |
| Anagram of (recycled) STEEL DEC[king] with KING (man) discarded (dumped) | |||
| 19d | LAY CLERK | Have sex with priest, singer in cathedral (7, two words) | K |
| LAY (have sex with) + CLERK (priest) | |||
| 21d | UNVAILE | The old reveal value in exercising (6) | I |
| VALUE IN anagrammed (exercising) | |||
| 23d | ATLANTA | Administrative trainee goes over stale urine by Australian state capital (6) | N |
| AT (administrative trainee) precedes (goes over) LANT (stale urine) by A (Australian) | |||
| 24d | REVOLVED | Pondered initially difficult Enigmatic Variations leisurely on counter (6) | V |
| Initially Difficult Enigmatic Variations Leisurely plus OVER (on), all reversed (counter) | |||
| 25d | DISARM | Take weapons from head of Mafia following organised raids (5) | I |
| The first letter of (head of) Mafia following an anagram of (organised) RAIDS | |||
| 26d | STATERS | Antique coins one’s stolen from performing artistes (5) | S |
| I (one) is removed from (stolen from) an anagram of (performing) ART[i]STES | |||
| 27d | STOICS | Scot is converting Zeno’s disciples (5) | I |
| SCOT IS anagrammed (converting) | |||
| 28d | BRAN TUB | Bachelor organised but overturned source of small prizes (5, two words) | B |
| B (bachelor) + RAN (organised) + BUT reversed (overturned) | |||
| 29d | COLTER | Young horse attached to edges of exterior part of Scottish plough (5) | L |
| COLT (young horse) + outer letters of (edges of) ExterioR | |||
| 31d | ARGUE | Discuss fever choking rector (4) | E |
| AGUE (fever) surrounding (choking) R (rector) | |||
Very enjoyable puzzle – right standard for me. Thanks, Piccadilly and Kitty