Fewer gratuitously obscure words than usual. Azed in a gentle mood perhaps? Thank you Azed
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WIGHTLY | German, height short, taken in by cunning swiftly (7) |
| G (German) HT (height, short=abbrev) inside WILY (cunning) | ||
| 6 | GREBO | Unkempt heavy-metal fan repenting, reborn in part (5) |
| found inside (in part) repentinG REBOrn | ||
| 10 | HYRACOIDEA | Rock dwellers, unusually chary over conception (10) |
| anagram (unusually) of CHARY then O (over) and IDEA (conception) | ||
| 11 | SEIKO | Watch maybe losing care of Jock’s buns needing a turn (5) |
| coOKIES (buns, Jock’s indicates Scots) missing (losing) CO (care of) reversed (needing a turn) – a Japanese watch maker, from Seikosha meaning “House of Exquisite Workmanship” | ||
| 13 | TOAST | Pledge? Just so, involving start of surety (5) |
| TO A T (just so) containing (involving) Surety (first letter, start of) | ||
| 14 | HABITUE | One attending regularly – not a lot – put in appearance (7) |
| A BIT (not a lot) inside HUE (appearance) | ||
| 16 | PLEB | ‘Simple boor’ encapsulates one? (4) |
| found inside (encapsulated by) simPLE Boor – definition references the wordplay | ||
| 17 | THAWER | Threw a wobbly? This may help to dispel glacial conditions (6) |
| anagram (wobbly) of THREW A | ||
| 19 | ULTRA-HIGH | I’m repelled about a thrill, endlessly shaking, denoting some frequency (9) |
| UGH (I’m repelled) contains (about) anagram (shaking) of A THRILL missing last letter (endlessly) | ||
| 21 | THIRD-RATE | Dither uneasily about wretch of poor quality (9) |
| anagram (uneasily) of DITHER contains (about) RAT (wretch) | ||
| 24 | SONERI | Rich fabric, one introduced by special expert (6) |
| I (one) following (introduced by) S (special) ONER (expert) | ||
| 25 | MESS | Dining hall serving unattractive food? (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 28 | NYMPHET | Nora? Pa’s besotted with her – her antonym perhaps! (7) |
| an anagram of NORA PA’S with NYMPHET (her, the solution) gives ANTONYM PERHAPS. There is an extra “her” in the clue that my explanation fails to make use of. | ||
| 29 | LIANA | Jungle trailer required for Mongolian adventure (5) |
| found inside (required for) mongoLIAN Adventure | ||
| 30 | IRENE | Following passion, one denied love – sleuth’s inspiration? (5) |
| IRE (passion, rage) before (following…is…) oNE missing O (love) – Irene Alder perhaps, inspiration for Sherlock Holmes | ||
| 31 | PEA-TRAINER | Allotment structure making growing medium wetter I abandoned (10) |
| PEAT (growing medium) then RAINiER (wetter, missing I) | ||
| 32 | ARRAY | Order, one devoured by Cockney (5) |
| A (one) inside ‘ARRY (Harry, a cockney chap). Have I got this right? | ||
| 33 | PAGODAS | More than one temple dance around a deity (7) |
| PAS (dance) contains (around) A GOD (deity) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WASHPOT | Jock’s dripping round cracked shop lavabo (7) |
| WAT (wet Scottish, Jock’s dripping) contains (round) anagram (cracked) of SHOP | ||
| 2 | IDEAL | Model in ladies, taken short uncomfortably (5) |
| anagram (uncomfortably) of LADIEs (unfinished, taken short) | ||
| 3 | GHIBELINE | Italian imperialist? He’s half taken in by taunt over succession (9) |
| He (half of) inside GIBE (taunt) then (over, in a down light) LINE (succession) | ||
| 4 | TROTYL | In core of battlers tyro mishandled explosive (6) |
| batTLers (core of) contains (in…is…) anagram (mishandled) of TYRO | ||
| 5 | LACUSTRINE | Swear endlessly when entering toilet like a water expanse (10) |
| CUSs (swear, endlessly) inside LATRINE (toilet) | ||
| 6 | GOTCHA | ‘——!’ – a tub explodes? i.e. boat caught at sea (notoriously) (6) |
| an anagram (explodes) of GOTCHA (—-, the answer) A TUB is BOAT CAUGHT – a notorious headline in the Sun newspaper during the Falklands War | ||
| 7 | RIOT | Loyalist taking off Irishman? One keeps us in stitches (4) |
| patRIOT (loyalist) missing PAT (an Irishman) | ||
| 8 | BESIEGE | Blockade is lifted, say? One working hard to restrict that (7) |
| IS reversed (lifted) EG (say) inside (…to restrict that) BEE (one working hard) | ||
| 9 | OATER | Western philosophy’s ‘right way’ that’s taken up eastern rule (5) |
| TAO (philosophy’s right way) reversed (that’s taken up) then E (eastern) R (rule) | ||
| 12 | TETRAGYNIA | Tiny Greta distraught over a plant order (10) |
| anagram (distraught) of TINY GRETA then A | ||
| 15 | SWINEHERD | Prodigal at one time taking strong drink in bit of broken pot (9) |
| WINE (strong drink) inside SHERD (bit of broken pot) – a reference to the Parable of the Prodigal Son | ||
| 18 | SHOWIER | One caught in downpour, not so unobtrusive (7) |
| I (one) inside SHOWER (downpour) | ||
| 20 | HASTENS | Accelerates when leading character of those in the run? (7) |
| AS (when) Those (first letter, leading character of) all inside HENS (those again? in the run) | ||
| 22 | DREARY | Dull note replacing one penned in journal (6) |
| RE (note, music) replaces I (one) in DiARY (journal) | ||
| 23 | TIMING | Sign of being in form, it set up batting for century in MCG? (6) |
| IT reversed (set up) then IN (batting) replacing (for) C (century) in MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). | ||
| 24 | SALPA | ‘Freestyle’ swimmer setting amateur record for heart in the ocean (5) |
| A (amateur) LP (record) replaces middle letter (heart) of SeA (ocean) | ||
| 26 | SENZA | Zone circled by body of Indian troops without appearing in scores (5) |
| Z (zone) inside (circled by) SENA (body of Indian troops) – without, in musical notation (in scores) | ||
| 27 | ANTA | One of a pair flanking doorway, anonymous volunteers (4) |
| AN (anonymous) TA (Territorial Army, volunteers) | ||
Thanks PeeDee, I had the same query re HASTENS, and couldn’t parse NYMPHET – your explanation is plausible.
I parsed ARRAY as you did. Liked the OATER 🙂 Thanks Azed.
… and is there a fictional Nora that’s a nymphet? Web search wasn’t helpful.
28 ac
I noted that P[A] + HER ANTONYM was an anagram of NORA + NYMPHET …
… and wondered if Azed had miscounted the ‘A’s
Norman@3: Same here.
No matter which way you look at it, 28ac just doesn’t work. ‘perhaps’ can’t be part of the composite anagram as it’s the anagrind.
You don’t necessarily need two anagrinds, but it does seem broken with the extra ‘her’.
I couldn’t parse 28a either, but the surface seems to suggest Nora Batty in the TV series Last of the Summer Wine. She’s a stroppy old battleaxe, so not a nymphet as Gonzo suggests but pretty much the opposite (antonym?) of one. The character Compo (who might be considered “Pa” because his son appears as a character in later series) is besotted with her. But I might be trying too hard to make sense of this.