I’ve solved harder Azeds. Rather disappointed that there’s a wordplay I still can’t parse. And I’m struggling to understand why Azed thinks the Grand Canyon is small? I’m sure someone will clarify though.
Across
1 SUPER(NA)CULUM – “a full glass”. RN in (usual cup, me)*
9 C,HIDE
11 O(A,RAG)E – one of my last clues. “none but the leaders” is a rather long-winded way of abbreviating “Oxford eight”. rag=flag. I suppose it’s an &lit.
13 R(EMU)AGE – “the process of turning or shaking wine bottles so that the sediment collects at the cork end for removal.” . Ah… so that’s why wine bottles are laid on their sides.
14 SCHLEMIEL – (s, Michelle)*
15 TEN,CH – rev(net=thrown). It’s a fish but why coarse?
17 RUNNY – “near liquid”. Now for the wordplay… which I don’t see unless related to gin rummy. “Gin (bad) I avoided once near liquid”.
18 TU[o]BA – an organ stop
20 C(AN,AD)A – The Grand Canyon is definitely an Arizona tourist attraction but CANADA is a small canyon so I’m not in love with this clue unless I haven’t parsed it correctly.
22 HI,P(H)OP
24 AEON – alternate letters of Cameroon.
26 S(ARI)N – is this what Assad’s using? air* in SN=tin.
27 B,LIVE – Spenserian belive=immediately (archaic so “now lost”). B=abbrev(barrels) and LIVE=burning
28 T(ROW)ELLER – one deploying float where float=”tool for smoothing” (do they still have tellers? I haven’t seen the inside of a bank for… can’t remember).
30 BEA(UNE)S[t] – wines
31 PHAEIC – dusky. (chap, i.e.)*
32 M,I(R)I – Russian peasant farmers
33 TICK,L(ISHN)ESS – shin* in tick less=work reduced hours.
Down
1 SCRITCH – another hard clue. Screech=owlish cry. I think wordplay is S(CRIT)CH where CRIT=abbrev(criticism=literature exercise) and SCH=abbrev(school) of which http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_School is a fictional example thereof.
2 PI(MEN)T – a sweet wine (like gluhwein). And it suggests men in pit=miners.
3 R,EACH
4 NIGH,TAPE – bushbaby
5 CAME,RAE – plural camera (judge’s room). rev(ear)
6 URIM – hidden. Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urim
7 LA (NI)NA – ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Turner
8 M(EAL)Y – pale. A bit indirect but ale* in MY=abbrev(motor yacht) which are floating gin palaces (I obviously don’t have the right kind of friends since I’ve yet to drink a G&T on a yacht).
10 HERESIARCH – (cherish era)*. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen was a 3C Christian heretic.
12 GLEN,DOV([bottl]E)ER – A heavenly spirit. Dover=Scots sleep.
16 SCARLE[t],S[hin]S
19 B(ONE)OIL
21 ASE(PSI)S – sterility. PSI in seas* where psi=letter after Greek X=chi.
23 PR(OZ)AC – rev(zo=cross in carp). I’ll stick with having a gin on an MY.
25 N(IX)NIE – a clever clue using 9 twice. IX=nine in nine*. Nothing at all for S. Africans.
26 ST,EPT* – st=abbrev(street) thus minor thoroughfare. Archaic paced.
27 B(E)ACH – code to overture=e (last letter). Bach’s our composer. And hard=firm BEACH.
29 WEE,K – I wonder if Don Manley would have used this clue in The Church Times? (mixing wee and the church). Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_week
Thanks ilancaron.
I think the ? at the end of 20a is enough to show Azed’s humorous side.
17a is RU[i]N + NY (once near)
Oh, and REMUAGE is what they do to champagne to get the yeast out, it’s very clever and the lees end up in the neck of the bottle. That’s then frozen and the gas pressure pops the ice containing the unwanted bits out. Bottles on their sides is to keep corks wet.
2 down must be seen as men in pit. As *pitmen the clue becomes an indirect anagram, a big Azed no-no. But there’s not a great deal in it.
Thanks Sidey for 17A and thanks for the oenophiliac info — . And indeed Bob, that’s how I interpreted PI(MEN)T as well.