Having confined myself to a strict diet of The Listener over the last few months (and at the other end of the spectrum, the Times2 crossword), it was refreshing to solve a puzzle with no ulterior motive: i.e. no ninas, gimmicks, themes nor tricks. As per usual, a couple of unexplained wordplays that my betters will rapidly resolve no doubt here. The SW quadrant was my last and a bit of a struggle. Some updates from my betters…
Across
| 1 | K(A)ING,A – A is both “active” and “one” here — it’s a Maori village. |
| 2 | CACAOS – (a casco)* |
| 11 | OWNERS – compound anagram: (news barons)* = (OWNERS bans)* |
| 12 | HA(R)DUP – R in HAD UP for “brought to court” with two definitions: Baron HARDUP (ref. Cinderella I think) and “bankrupt”. |
| 13 | HURRA – (honours – are)*. I miswrote here: someone pointed out below the correct compound anagram: (honours are – so one)* |
| 15 | EVEN,FALL – two opposites producing twilight |
| 17 | FE(T)ED |
| 19 | A,STRO(CYTO)MA – (c[i]oty)* in STROMA which is a fungal mass — the whole thing is a rather unpleasant tumour, i.e. growth. |
| 20 | INOCULATIVE – (a cut vein, oil)* |
| 23 | GUY,OT=rev(to) – my last clue: it’s a flat topped underwater mountain, thus a “high point for diver”. |
| 28 | AG(IOTA,G)E – currency exchange commission. |
| 29 | URARI – hidden in “amateUR? A RIsk”. It’s related to curare which can be used as a muscle relaxant. |
| 30 | TO(YE)D – I’m pretty this is YE (“the old”) in TOD which implied that dot is limp somehow… clarification? Yes, it’s limp in Chambers as someone noted below. |
| 31 | M(ISSU[e])S |
| 32 | E,C(T)OPY – extra-ovarian pregnancy — not the kind of thing you want to happen so a bit of a worry for those expecting. |
| 33 | PAT[i]ENT – turns out can mean “spreading” in a botanical sense. |
| 34 | TH(OR,P[arty])E – Must be ref. Jeremy THORPE former leader of the Liberal party. |
Down
| 1 | K([s]OH[o])EN – variant of Cohen — priestly caste. |
| 2 | IN REM – miner* – means indeed “legal argument converning enforceable right”. |
| 3 | NE(RN)ST – ref. Walther NERNST who also has an electric lamp named after him. |
| 4 | G,RAFT – I think. Though not sure I see the J. Cagney wordplay. Certainly it’s illegal activity. Pointed out below that it’s the actor George Raft who I’m sure wikipedia knows more about than I do. |
| 5 | CHILL CABINET – it’s what supermarkets use to keep stuff on display cold. can’t workout the wordplay — does it involve CHILLI? It’s CHILL(CAB)I,NET |
| 7 | CRUS([st]E[el])T – a goldsmith’s crucible. |
| 8 | A,DO(P)T |
| 9 | OUT(REME)R – REME (Brit regiment) in tour* |
| 10 | S,PAND=”panned”,AU – S stands for Siemens (electrical unit). |
| 16 | MA(NUB)RIA – parts of jellyfish and MARIA is plural Latin for mare. I think. |
| 18 | P(IGJ)UMP – jig* in PUMP (spurt). It’s an oz term for a kind of horse jump where waler is an Australian horse — in India — does any of this make sense? |
| 21 | COARSE – I think this is ref. “coarse company” to describe company that is COARSE. Actually, CO,ARSE=bottom |
| 22 | IN TOTO – means “altogether”. I’d be happy if someone would completely decode the wordplay: “In train to town it spans two crossing points altogether”. T for train and TO for town? I missed the hidden term: “In traIN TO TOwn…”. |
| 24 | YE(AS)T – archaic term for head (as in foam). |
| 25 | POT,CH – means trample. |
| 26 | MAY(O)R – O in army* – ref. Hardy’s MAYOR of Casterbridge. |
| 27 | BED,YE – archaic stain. |
You seem to have retained the explanation for 23ac from your blog of Azed 1884.
30ac – The very last definition of DOT(1) in Chambers is ‘to limp’.
4dn – I believe this is supposed to be a reference to the actor George Raft.
6dn – CHILLI,NET around CAB.
22dn – This is contained in ‘traIN TO TOwn’. I think the crossing points are spaces.
I think 21 down is simply co + arse, where an arse is another word for a bottom or base.
13 across is a compound anagram – remove “so one” from “honours are”