Toughie No. 18 — 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. Cargo space on Scottish river — speak at length (4,5)
6. Cheek to cheek, and kiss (4)
9. Bits of a national collection of sayings (3)
11. Time to dangle awkwardly, all knotted (7)
12. We older ones, upset, frowned (7)
13. Wheel losing its head becomes a tree (3)
14. Stolen spud — a tricky issue (3,6)
15. Muslim jurist in civilian clothes (5)
16. Bureau chief for the home screen (7)
17. Novel by Lessing for the unattached (7)
18. Concerning cleft rock, ponder (7)
21. Chaos when rut turns and limo breaks up (7)
25. Spread muck everywhere about rival, principally! (5)
27. Rustic boy upset by anonymity (9)
28. Border seen in the middle (3)
29. Correct particle number (7)
30. First, I nail it clumsily (7)
31. Disrespect in speech, primarily! (3)
32. About to embrace and knock it back (4)
33. Trendy, yes, but sadly an illness (9)

Down

1. Loathed church coming in, it was plotted (7)
2. Reach for a second — measures in the pool (7)
3. American autumn out, with consequences (7)
4. Revolutionary reprimand for the star treatment (3,6)
5. Greeting in the entrance, love! (5)
6. Actor Paul, admitting second, is a reporter (7)
7. Flu race unsettled — be prudent (7)
8. King, troubled in Lent, genuflected (5)
10. Lets in and owns up (6)
17. Does the trick — siestas, if worked in (9)
18. Devastated, having lost the lead, hurried (6)
19. Himself translated into the tongue of Bruges (7)
20. Learning loses its head, bringing in the money (7)
22. On marriage, a get-together (7)
23. Gold, provided diamonds, makes an opening (7)
24. Devotion from toy ally in bits (7)
26. Doctor found in some dictionaries (5)
27. Held, admitting name while in debt (5)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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