Toughie No. 34 — cryptic crossword

A toughie puzzle: 40 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. Carpet almost covering part of a bloom (5)
4. Chair part rebuilt by the head of the family (9)
9. Night bird primarily out watching late (3)
11. Ventilate the room — and the argument (5,3,3)
12. 'Hallo!' shouted drunkenly (5)
14. Duck in the test is arguable (4)
15. Worker's frozen north? No, the far south (9)
16. Roves about with the motor (5)
17. Wonder duo scrambled into the undergrowth (9)
19. Time trial gives the smallest hint (5)
21. Terror, losing its head, is a slip (5)
23. Odd car noises — here are the possible outcomes (9)
27. Rouge badly applied by a rascal (5)
28. A vast coin struck for the holidays (9)
31. Lean, insincere talk (4)
32. Dream shattered, ready for war (5)
34. Divide and support the motion in no time at all (5,6)
35. Exist, going back to an earlier age (3)
36. Ten years of the new church in decline (9)
37. Singers in a lost arrangement (5)

Down

1. Rubbish! Ring lifted (4)
2. Improbable command is something of a challenge (4,5)
3. Finder of cool art, unusually (7)
4. Teardrops scattered by hunters (9)
5. Sailor's scripture: a fortune-teller's pack (5)
6. Come into some Berlin heritage (7)
7. Send up the Sunday joint (5)
8. Stony Cheddar, perhaps — tough luck! (4,6)
10. Western sign for the ladies (5)
13. Adore nothing at Wimbledon (4)
16. Oversaw a drink carelessly revised (10)
18. Groom's cipher gives the rules on what to wear (5,4)
20. Wildly lamenting the way things line up (9)
22. Nonsense! A teddy boy spun round (7)
24. Bounder breaking into song — a rural paradise (7)
25. Bellow, we hear, is underdone (4)
26. External route redrawn (5)
29. Pass one hundred, getting tummy trouble (5)
30. Where an ode is playing! (5)
33. Part of Canada is a raised platform (4)

More: Toughie cryptic crosswords.

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