Toughie No. 4 — cryptic crossword

A toughie puzzle: 41 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. False lead — study aloud, giving her a call (3,7)
7. Small thing chewed over, but move fast! (4)
10. A rota reworked, becoming the main line (5)
12. One with curls opens up (7)
13. Rude man upset, and defenceless (7)
14. Sue takes in, say, a smooth transition (5)
15. Daughter drilled as a grenadier — the very image (4,6)
16. Civil wrong turned into a steady pace (4)
17. Engineers with make-up? Cover the walls again (7)
20. Her malt, distilled, produces a warm updraught (7)
23. Function found in you, secretly (3)
24. Strategist, or the desk diary (7)
25. Propriety: decadency, with the advertising cut (7)
26. Leon comes back for Christmas (4)
28. Doing well — a hit, with fuel losing energy (10)
31. Thanks for the jeer? Not allowed! (5)
33. Prompts from litmus I stirred up (7)
34. Paperwork that calls for a great deal of folding (7)
35. Mains rewired for the ancient weights (5)
36. She has one African tree (4)
37. A free screen, badly designed, gets testimonials (10)

Down

1. Drinks for everyone, with a stumble: a return journey (5,4)
2. Guided back to the volunteers at the river's mouth (5)
3. Former mongrels with a charged particle on a jaunt (9)
4. Amber, say — note the wrongdoing (5)
5. Aunt eased out, feeling sick (9)
6. Departed with the monarch, a hopeless case (5)
7. Walk proudly with a prop (5)
8. Eccentric period piece — the one who shoots (9)
9. Swindled a saint? You performed, long ago (5)
11. Cloth spotted in opera glasses (3)
18. A quiet stretch! (9)
19. Squire, out and about, is a shade of blue (9)
21. Vices, exes, all mixed up — too much! (9)
22. Faithful bonds! (9)
26. Noises, dropping one, are snouts (5)
27. In Paris, the friend within is a monster (5)
28. Academic quits Switzerland, becoming sun-powered (5)
29. Split a bit of garlic (5)
30. Honest, we hear, about old money (5)
32. Hairstyle in the club uniform (3)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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