Apologies for the late appearance of this post but, due to personal circumstances, the scheduled blogger has been unable to be with us today. If anything needs further explanation please just ask.
Across
1 Scottish bum, placed askew – he drank heavily (9)
FUDDLECAP – FUD (Scottish bum) plus an anagram (askew) of PLACED
7 Old master having something to get barbecue going? Not quite (3)
MES – MES[quite] (something to get barbecue going? Not quite)
11 Is Frodo’s last burden what shows constancy in volume? (8)
ISOCHORE – IS [frod]O (Frodo’s last) CHORE (burden)
12 Very drunk, ultimately blotto as usual (6)
SOLITO – SO (very) LIT (drunk) [blott]O (ultimately blotto)
13 Flimsy beachwear, one has seaweed stuck to one (5)
TANGA – TANG (seaweed) A (one)
14 Like waves on the rocks, or a bore (8)
CRASHING – def. & cryptic indicator
16 Salad ingredient, great with eggs around (7)
ROMAINE – ROE (eggs) around MAIN (great)
18 Where soldiers were billeted in event alongside the fleet? (6)
CASERN – CASE (event) RN (the fleet)
19 Hot stuff disowned by band, not pro (6)
CONTRA – CONTRA[band] (hot stuff disowned by band)
22 Those from the ministry putting work unit into nick once (6)
CLERGY – ERG (work unit) in CLY (nick once)
23 Male interrupting girl playfully is offensive (6)
PUSHES – HE (male) in (interrupting) PUSS (girl playfully)
24 Aegises deployed in historic blockade (7)
ASSIEGE – an anagram (deployed) of AEGISES
28 Milksop receives X in liquescent manner (8)
MOLTENLY – MOLLY (milksop) around (receives) TEN (X)
30 Like brands discontinued as part of main US trade (5)
INUST – part of ‘maIN US Trade’
31 Wife on reflection to long for 2, 3 or 4? (6)
BIRDIE – RIB (wife) reversed (on reflection) DIE (to long for)
32 Little old coin, Sun King’s No. 2 on face (8)
SOLIDARE – SOL (Sun) [k]I[ng] (King’s No. 2) DARE (face)
33 Party member sparing nothing in effort (3)
TRY – T[o]RY (party member sparing nothing)
34 Silt swirling with rains near on our roads? (9)
SINISTRAL – an anagram (swirling) of SILT RAINS
Down
1 Heads for forest under shady cover, dingy (4)
FUSC – F[orest] U[nder] S[hady] C[over] (heads for forest under shady cover)
2 Sheep roaming wild catches cow up in the manner of a mate (7)
UXORIAL – URIAL (sheep roaming wild) around (catches) OX (cow) reversed (up)
3 Sink out of use? Pleased when it’s restored (7)
DELAPSE – an anagram (when it’s restored) of PLEASED
4 It’s familiar to refiners of silver, making it hard with generous coating (8)
LITHARGE – IT H (hard) in LARGE (generous)
5 For best effect it requires keeping one’s hand in? Blimey, I think not (5)
CORNO – COR (blimey) NO (I think not)
6 Misguided pleasantry about Hussite’s opening idealistic social centre (11)
PHALANSTERY – an anagram (misguided) of PLEASANTRY around (about) H[ussite] (Hussite’s opening)
7 Aussie mutt or cat pinching last scrap from kitchen (4)
MONG – MOG (cat) around (pinching) [kitche]N (last scrap from kitchen)
8 Business from abroad and so new (5)
ERGON – ERGO (and so) N (new)
9 Marine creature, live when caught by tail (8, 2 words)
SEA BEAST – BE (live) AS (when) in (caught by) SEAT (tail)
10 Nasty sores I twice got following menu? Result of eating bad food (11)
LISTERIOSIS – an anagram (nasty) of SORES I I following LIST (menu)
15 Old philosopher, form of Stoic absorbing what’s current in Cambridge (8)
OCCAMIST – an anagram of (form of) STOIC around (absorbing) CAM (what’s current in Cambridge)
17 Way of working is undoing for police force abroad (8)
MOUNTIES – MO (way of working) UNTIES (is undoing)
20 Principals in theatre hit overwhelmed by claps? (7)
THUNDER – T[heater] H[it] (principals in theatre hit) UNDER (overwhelmed by)
21 Copy page in antique, its first (7)
REPLICA – P (page) in RELIC (antique) A[ntique] (its first)
25 Foreign gentleman framed by Veronese, mounted (5)
SENOR – hidden reversal (framed by … mounted) in ‘veRONESe’
26 Wild flower, green and pale (5)
GOWAN – GO (green) WAN (pale)
27 A bit like Jaques’s schoolboy, beginning to lick inside cone (4)
PULY – L[ick] (beginning to lick) inside PUY (cone)
29 Cry of pain let loose by nithing? (4)
YELL – YELL[ow] (Cry of pain {ow} let loose by nithing {yellow}) – clue as def.
Gaufrid, thanks for this. MES for Master was new to me, as was MESQUITE, so I didn’t get 7 across, or indeed 7 down. My first DNF on an Azed for quite some time.
There’s a slight typo at 14 across: it’s CRASHING.
Thanks bridgesong, typo corrected. MES and MESQUITE were new to me too (along with a number of other entries).
Thanks for the blog , MONG was not in my Chambers 93 but had to be right and makes sense with mongrel. Everything else seemed fine .
Yes, thanks for this.
I found MES in Chambers, but couldn’t parse it. (MONG is in the Chambers app.) And I appear to have entered DULY at 27dn, but I think that is just my terrible handwriting as I remember finding PULY in Chambers.
Thanks Gaufrid – another slight typo, it’s ASSIEGE.
Is there something else going on with the “Jaques’s” in 27 other than PULY being derived from the French.
Had to trawl through the dictionary to understand MES.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Thanks Gonzo, typo corrected. For the definition in 27dn see line 7 in the ‘Text’ on this page.
Ah thanks…new the speech but not the speaker.
Gonzo @ 5 , it is from the “All the world’s a stage ” speech. Not sure what the link is @6 .
It’s a Wikipedia article about the speech, including the text.
As usual a bit late in joining the chat so probably no-one will read this. Thanks to Azed and Gaufrid.
Surprised to know there are people who’ve never met Jacques’s great speech. Some distinguished thespians have taken the role simply so they can muse on it. As one stuck in the “lean and slipper’d pantaloon” stage I loved the clue because of the memory, in earlier years, of a plain dotted with the Puys of ancient volcanos. We drove to the top of the Puy de Dôme and visited Le Puy en Velaye.
Velay, no e.