Not sure how hard this actually was since I solved it over several days in between various meetings. Found TBRB quite useful — understatement of the year.
Across
1 GOSS,I,B – a gossip, also a “familiar friend” according to TBRB. Goss=type of china (porcelain) ref. WH Goss.
6 B(K)HATI – [mon]k in habit*. Hindu path to salvation.
11 RIP(U)ARIAN – as in Frankish (lower Rhine), where riparian is a riverbank inhabitant as in our friend Ratty from Wind in the Willows.
12 AIR(PLAN)T – non-parisitic plant (epiphyte) and where AIRT=Scots direct
13 P(I)LEA – tops of birds’ heads
14 TI(G)E – centre of target=G and TIGE is the shaft of a column
15 HATTERIA – (a threat i)* – genus of reptiles
17 P,LAIT – French milk for the Parisian.
20 D(EG)REES – amounts. EG=such as and DREES=Scots bears (endures).
21 L(OVER)AT
24 HOLS,T – Brit holidays and ref. Gustav Holst
25 CLAY,MORE – it’s a sword so “penetrating arm” and M. Ali was once known as (Cassius) CLAY.
28 TREW – hidden
30 NEBEL – It’s actually the modern Hebrew word for harp and comp. anag. (one Robles – or so) *
31 TITHEPIG – (tight pie)* – one of a litter of pigs tithed to the church.
32 BRE(TWAL)D,A – Scots twelve. Old English kings.
33 RE(E)FED – E in rev(defer)
34 INLIER – two meanings: a rocky outcrop and someone who doesn’t want to get up in the morning.
Down
1 GRAPH PLOTTER – comp. anag. &lit. (the paper rolls got – lose)*
2 OIDIA – stages of fungi. Hidden.
3 S(P)ALT – chip
4 S(URE)TIES – sponsors. URE=obsolete operation.
5 B(R)IARD – R=recipe=take in rabid* – a French dog.
6 B,IRK,IE – Scots active
7 H,A,PU – rev(up,a, h). Maori tribal unit.
8 KNA(IDE)L – ide=fish in rev(lank=thin) for something somewhat indescribable that we Jews seem to like in soup.
9 TINGLES – small brads – glistens*
10 INTERS,TELLAR – indeed describes (outer) space. TELLAR=sapling.
16 PROM,ETAL – cast iron. prom=promenade=esplanade followed by rev(late=delayed).
18 LOW-RI(S)E – where lowrie is a Scots fox.
19 A,VI([j]ET)TE – vite=quickly. And an aviette is a pretty slow engine-less plane unlike a jet. So… &lit.
22 A,LI(P)ED – “having winged feet” like a bat (fledermaus). And LIED is a German song.
23 TAH(I)T,I – I=international in rev(that) following by I=island. &lit
26 OBELI – hidden.
27 REEDE[r] – I think the derivation is from READ=rede=old saying but I’m not convinced about the leap to REEDE.
29 SERE[in]
Apart from 21a ‘love rat’, all the clues were new words to me! Yes, Chambers came invaluable for this crossword. I don’t believe I would or even could of completed this puzzle with out it.
I’m not sure if this was overly difficult, 6/10 ? 10 being toughest, and Azed with his usual smoothness here even bent the Ximenean rules with a couple of clues I believe.
Good puzzle.
Your comment made me take another look — and indeed there are a lot of answers new to me as well… namely, GOSSIB, BHAKTI, PILEA, TIGE, HATTERIA, TITHEPIG (though guessable), BRETWALDA, OIDIA, SPALT, BIRKIE, PROMETAL, AVIETTE, ALIPED, REEDE.
The only question is whether they stick in my brain.
Thanks for the blog, Ilancaron, and particularly for explaining DEGREES and BRETWALDA and especially CLAYMORE. I thought this was a tough puzzle, especially as I couldn’t find REEDE in the Chambers app on which I now rely. However it is in Chambers as a Spenserian spelling of REDE.
thanks bridgesong, I have the same Chambers app dependency issue — which explains my REEDE dead-end. Will have to actually crack the physical BRB every once in a while.
Thanks Azed for the puzzle and ilancaron for the blog.
Some small typos, as follows:
6ac is BHA(K)TI not B(K)HATI.
14ac: The G is centre of targets not target.
9dn: The wordplay is glisten* not glistens*.
I have obviously heard of Claymore, Interstellar, and Graph plotter too!
A friend of mine who is new to advanced cryptics didn’t believe that such words existed in the English language that appeared in the grid…
Sorry to be dim, but what is the TBRB? I assume it is not the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board as suggested by Wikipedia.
Wait – is it the BIG RED BOOK (Chambers)?
yes Chambers. I suppose it’s usually referred to as the BRB rather than TBRB.
SFTC.