29 clues with an extra letter will give us a piece of verse; The next line allows us to know what needs to be removed from 16 answers before entry. Relatively straight forward as preambles go
Some tricky clues and difficult extra words to locate but when all was done they yielded
DUST INTO DUST AND UNDER DUST TO LIE
A little searching located it in “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” by Edward Fitzgerald
The following line being “Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End”
sans being French for without (or LOST in translation) with the 16 symmetrically placed alterations having one of the four items above removed
And that was that
Many thanks Nudd – quite a challenge
Key underline definition; * anagram; DD double definition Rev. reversed; strikethrough extra words
Across
1 Steadily advance against American plant (5)
march (steadily advance) + anti (against) + a (america) = MARCHANTIA (remove CHANT [SONG]) enter MARIA
6 Very recently received the rod ordered (6)
(the rod)* = RED-HOT
D 12 Characters from acidic daily editorial killed in LA (4)
Hidden acidIC EDitorial = ICED
U 14 Greece usually protects local waterway that is discharging even more (4)
gr(Greece) around leet (local waterway) + ie (that is) = GLEETIER (remove GLEE[SONG]) enter TIER
S 15 Shirley alleges Vera’s mad (5)
(Vera’s)* = AVERS
16 Drunkards shedding initial signs of embarrassment (6)
blushes (signs of embarrassment) – initial = LUSHES
T 17 Old uncle beginning to sicken terribly is vomiting (6)
eme(old uncle) + s(beginning to sicken) + is = EMESIS
I 18 Trail round after introducing this late harvest transport (4)
hoc(this – latin) + Rev. track (trail) = HOCK-CART (remove HOCK[WINE] enter CART
19 Laxative without outward signs of nausea (5)
sen (without) + na (outward signs of nausea) = SENNA
N 20 Praiseworthy case of new chapter which can be revised (7)
cr (case of chapter) + editable (can be revised) = CREDITABLE (remove RED[WINE]) = CITABLE
21 Broth perhaps shared out for starters at school (4)
so (shared out for starters) + up (at school) = SOUP
T 23 Hollow farewell interrupts being able to bond with another tiresome couple (4)
vale(farewell) in dint (hollow) = DIVALENT (remove DIVA [SINGER]) enter LENT
O 27 Only seconds after seeking information about Northern Ireland completed results (4)
fishing (seeking information) around NI(Northern island) + s (seconds) = FINISHINGS (remove FINISH[END]) = INGS
D 29 Director copulates with trade union private secretary (4)
tu (trade union) + ps(private secretary) = TUPS
31 Reportedly looks hard after golfer’s warning and steps in front of St Andrews’ clubhouse (7)
homophone of stares (looks hard) after fore (golfer’s warning) = FORESTAIRS (remove AIR[SONG]) enter FORESTS
U 33 Chinese secret society remove ugly outworn nest from Caribbean island (5)
Trinidad (Caribbean Island) – nid (nest) = TRIAD
35 Supplied by good luck from way back, stronghold next to rolling hill of sand (4)
fort (stronghold) + dune (hill of sand) rolling D to end = FORTUNED (remove TUNE[SONG]) enter FORD
37 Brainboxes moved south quickly surrounded by American spies (6)
ran (moved quickly) in CIA (American spies) = CRANIA
T 39 The highest pitch fashionable with English teenage girl (6)
E-la (highest pitch) + in (fashionable) + e (english) = ELAINE
A 40 Closely hold hot attractive artist (5, two words)
h (hot) + Emin (artist) = HEM IN
41 Penguins maybe dressed as brides (4)
(as brides)* = SEABIRDS (remove BIRD[SINGER]) = SEAS
42 Kitty feed needed to have cover removed (4)
wanted (needed) – cover = ANTE
N 43 Nationalist sets forth and immediately annexes El Salvador (6)
stat (immediately) + es (El salvador) = STATES
D 44 Animal keeper is dark red when agitated (5)
(is red when)* = SWINEHERD (remove WINE [WINE]) enter SHERD
Down
1 Sponge cakes created by senile lunatic (5)
made(created) + (senile)* = MADELEINES(remove ADELE[SINGER]) enter MINES
U 2 Receipts with reference to chosen uptown location (7)
re (with reference to) + venue (location) = REVENUE
3 Rogue dies one day each month in Rome (4)
(dies)* = IDES
N 4 Never accepted test of efficacy of hall (6)
a (accepted) + trial (test) = ATRIAL
D 5 Docker reveals less cod is at sea (4)
(less cod is)* = DISCLOSES(remove CLOSE[END]) enter DISS
E 6 Having faith, episcopal group tours cathedral city (7)
ring (group) around Ely (cathedral city) = RELYING
7 Clean up last bit of dirt to burst out (5)
Rev. pure (clean) + t (last bit of dirt) = ERUPT
R 8 Offspring performing ten rumba dances after start of disco (7)
d(start of disco) + (ten dances)* = DESCENDANT (remove END [END]) enter DESCANT
D 9 Danish ditch expression of triumph (4)
DD HA-HA
10 Too much like paramour of old, losing head (6)
lover – ly (like paramour of old) = OVERLY
U 11 Unexciting samples from Tesla plants (7)
T(tesla) + asters(plants) = TASTERS
13 Small role amounted to nothing (5)
came (amounted to) + o (nothing) = CAMEO
S 21 Endures following lines taken by state prosecutors (7)
ff(following lines) in suers (prosecutors) = SUFFERS
22 Pitching camp in desert avoiding section in difficult position (7)
(camp in desert -s)* = PREDICAMENT (remove AMEN [END]) = PREDICT
24 Nut plants for some peoples’ starters (7)
En (nut) + trees (plants) = ENTREES
25 After introduction Trojan horse takes in analgesic (7)
equine(horse) – e around in = QUININE
T 26 To calm down speak fondly with drunk (6, two words)
coo (speak fondly) + lit (drunk) = COOL IT
28 To emphasize, schoolma’am drops teacher note (6)
mistress(schoolma’am) – mi (note) = STRESS
O 30 Trump’s only piebald horse’s suffering with temperature (5)
pain (suffering) + t (temperature) = PAINT
L 32 Opinion abandoned since leaving Spain (5)
sens(since) + e (spain) = SENSE
34 Deer battled cuckoo lasting three times longer than human being (5)
(deer battled)8 = TREBLE-DATED (remove TREBLE[SINGER]) enter DATED
I 36 Prince Igor runs from Jamaica (4)
r (runs) + a (from) + ja (Jamaica) = RAJA
37 Child got up with time to make part of Seder (4)
ch(child) + arose (got up) + t (time) = CHAROSET (remove ROSE[WINE]) enter CHAT
E 38 Bit of drama effectively hinders wet nurse (4)
Hidden drAMA Hinders = AMAH
Collecting 26 of the 29 letters was enough to form the piece of verse that I eventually found, but it was surprising that looking up ‘dust’ in the index of the ODQ did not reveal it. [It turned out that the lines preceding and following the ‘Dust…’ line were sufficiently represented in the ODQ index.]
I liked very much the thematic design of this puzzle, with the manipulated answers arranged symmetrically in the grid. That feature helped a lot with some of what would otherwise have been some very tough clues.
My best moments came near the end when I had four thematic entries still to resolve, 1a and 1d being two of them. I especially liked those two clues, revealing CHANT and ADELE respectively.
Thanks to Nudd and twencelas.
Thanks to Twencelas, nice work indeed. I must confess that my ‘in translation’ merely referred to the fact that Fitzgerald’s work was a translation of the original, but I really like your highlighting the ‘sans’ translation from French. I was pleased with the symmetry and even apportionment, so glad to hear it helped you Alan.
Cheers all.
Thank you twencelas. Great puzzle by Nudd.
I think that Bird = singer (41 across)
For 34 down, I have Treble-dated, with “treble” (another singer) removed
Thanks @manu have updated the blog