Toughie No. 29 — cryptic crossword

A toughie puzzle: 42 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. Commercial interrupting prison breaks — high jinks (9)
6. A drop of Rioja, ridiculously dry (4)
9. Conscious of a single article of merchandise (5)
11. Drink and dream sleep at the cathedral city — utterly (9)
12. Smashing fish (5)
14. Bent a nail out on the veranda (5)
15. Money to vet what the stars appear on (6,6)
17. Chatter softly and catch your breath (4)
20. Dissenter upset the locals (9)
22. Some listen or get the drift (5)
23. Was wrong to stray off with the editor (5)
26. Narrow escape at home with a grand? Squealing! (9)
27. Sots wandering about pitch (4)
28. Undiluted nerve is what a comedian must keep (8,4)
31. Turned up with nothing, but had a small part (5)
33. Yearn after one? Onward! (5)
34. Speculators stirred the riots in society (9)
36. Southern headland shows a plant's stalk (5)
37. Flower stood up (4)
38. One can desist when troubled by the lengths (9)

Down

1. Simple way to a life of luxury (4,6)
2. Copper caught at work (3)
3. Made out, in advance, to have cared (9)
4. Bandages? Red signs rearranged by son (9)
5. Years wasted by one who talks (5)
6. Sort out a ranger, somehow (7)
7. Rule, we hear, is a check (4)
8. One guided back to the food shop (4)
10. Board, having lost time, is capable (4)
13. Rope in a small assortment (5)
16. Beams as young woman swallows hesitation (6)
18. A nag in a spin gives heart trouble (6)
19. Gets on with gross peers, strangely (10)
21. Sovereign held by one who runs rum — they bring in the goods (9)
22. A tart trio cooked here! (9)
24. Splendid bit of viceroyalty (5)
25. Scenes changed with energy get to the heart of it (7)
29. Goat cavorting in Roman dress (4)
30. Cadet, drilled, put on a show (5)
31. Vehicle by the river: boggy ground (4)
32. What the rolling stone never gathers (4)
35. Primarily a small animal container! (3)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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