Toughie No. 1 — cryptic crossword

A toughie puzzle: 38 clues on a 15×15 grid. Solve it online — check your answers as you go, ask for a hint, and read how each clue works once it is solved.

Across

1. Savage set — a trap that no one escapes (7,6)
9. Marvellous rise (5)
11. Muddled tales from an inventor, say (5)
12. Swindler pocketing printer's measure for a quick drink (9)
13. Sailor turned! (3)
14. Leg ready for the start (5)
15. Patience, when a toiler is troubled (9)
16. Irregular soldier said to be an ape (9)
19. Hide from Thailand, penniless (5)
21. Cathy at sea in a boat (5)
23. Old coach eliding badly in the church (9)
25. Reports on wild cannon use (9)
27. Bulk of one Italian city (5)
30. Greek character appearing where the graph is (3)
31. Aphrodite in ruins — wasted away (9)
32. One bargain: the very thing (5)
34. Chills when a scold erupts (5)
35. Boot the pail and go west (4,3,6)

Down

1. Grants underclothes (5)
2. Evil lurking within! (3)
3. Caught the second of two making a din (7)
4. Love a sister in this green spot (5)
5. Gastropod in armour is slow post (5,4)
6. Drive that one wrongly imputes (7)
7. Sadly, no diction — what a state (9)
8. Nest, we hear, is spooky (5)
9. Forcefully, a powerful left from the unknown (8)
10. Finally, follow the extra plan and detach (4)
17. Odd enteric upset swallowing two hundred (9)
18. Pool with the first murderer on ecstasy makes a painkiller (9)
20. Hard cases that turn up at the foot of the bed (8)
22. Proclaim, or mutter awkwardly about power (7)
24. Stunt for a good mimic performing before the king (7)
25. A taxi turning up with a thousand, by surprise (5)
26. Gloomy hospital turn for the holy man (5)
28. Ancient wheat, set down in letters (5)
29. Ghost, losing energy, becomes a fish (4)
33. Money, we hear, for the female deer (3)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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