Thanks to Gemelo for another ingeniously clued puzzle.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | SEDAN | Worn, say, after opening an American saloon (5) [u]SED + AN |
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| 6 | DRAFTS | Announced board game plans (6) Homophone of “draughts” |
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| 12 | DOULEIA | Inferior veneration to confer at first upon princess far, far away (7) DO (to confer) + U[pon] + LEIA (princess in the Star Wars films, set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”) |
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| 13 | FREUDIAN SLIP | Fundraise badly, with impertinence revealing mistake (12, 2 words) (FUNDRAISE)* + LIP (impertinence) |
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| 14 | TAPA | Bark is the same as bite in Spain (4) Double definition – the Spanish “bite” is more familiar in the plural, tapas |
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| 15 | LOLLOP | Idle lump not starting on Latin (6) L[atin] + [d]OLLOP |
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| 16 | LEWDEST | Extremely sensual daughter visiting county town ahead of time (7) D[aughter] in LEWES (county town of East Sussex) + T[ime] |
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| 18 | YEARD | Wayward 2 deserted Bannockburn soil (5) Anagram of EYRA (2 down) + D[eserted] |
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| 20 | CENTNER | Florida resort carrying almost no weight (7) N[o] in CENTER (a resort, US spelling) |
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| 21 | ANTIGEN | Suspect agent in target cell has this (7) (AGENT IN)* |
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| 23 | TUTTI | Short skirt with ebbing appeal when everyone has notes (5) TUT[u] + reverse of IT (sex appeal) |
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| 26 | DOOCOTS | Where Scottish fliers are twisting content of Woodstock (7) Anagram of [w]OODSTOC[k] – Scots form of dovecotes |
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| 27 | KOREAN | What Buddhist students might use to take on language (6) RE (on) in KOAN |
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| 28 | CLIO | Whales’ food caught by possible pollutant from the east (4) C + reverse of OIL |
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| 30 | ARM WRESTLING | Starmer worked with left wing, in conflict with members (12, 2 words) Anagram of STARMER L WING. I’m writing this shortly after hearing the expected news that Sir Keir Starmer had announced his resignation |
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| 31 | AIR-MAIL | Perhaps ChatGPT banter about mobile post that’s sent through the cloud? (7) AI (e.g. ChatGPT) + M[obile] IN RAIL (banter) |
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| 32 | TENTIE | Scotsman’s wary about leaving small amount of money in bond (6) CENT less C (about) in TIE (bond) |
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| 33 | TOE-IN | Feature of front wheel that is breaking not turning (5) I.E. in reverse of NOT |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | SOFTLY | Piano‘s frequently locked by local expert (6) OFT in SLY (dialect word for “expert”) |
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| 2 | EYRA | Wildcat upset a whisky (4) Reverse of A RYE |
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| 3 | DEEPWATERMAN | Ship with a period under extreme pressure in valley (12) E[xtreme] P[ressure]+ W A TERM in DEAN (a valley, also spelt “dene”) |
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| 4 | NODDED | Newton, before extra education, made a careless mistake (6) N + ODD (extra) + ED |
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| 5 | QUIESCED | Completely lacking tenor, church in Swaziland became silent (8) QUITE (completely) less T[enor] + CE in SD. Confusingly, SD is the International vehicle registration code for Swaziland (which has been known as Eswatini since 2018), but also the ISO country code for Sudan (whose IVR is SUD) |
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| 7 | RENOWN | Fame immediately following group of 11 men, not including me (6) RE (group of 11, SAPPERs, the Royal Engineers) + NOW (immediately) + MEN less ME |
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| 8 | AISLE | Division in the church takes place during ancient festival (5) IS (takes place) in ALE (archaic festival) |
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| 9 | FALL INTO LINE | Exercised till none fail to conform (12, 3 words) (TILL NONE FAIL)* |
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| 10 | TRIOLET | Poem‘s translator translated Eliot (7) TR[anslator) + ELIOT* |
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| 11 | SAPPER | Private secretary wearing corded cloth in retirement (6) PA (secretary) in REPS (corded cloth – Chambers gives this form as an alternative to the more familiar “rep”) |
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| 17 | TENON-SAW | Tool didn’t prove to be holding anybody up (8, 2 words) Reverse of ONE (anybody) in WASN’T (didn’t prove to be) |
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| 19 | ENDORSE | Sanction worst competitor at East London racecourse? (7) Cockney pronunciation: END (i.e. last, worst) ‘ORSE |
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| 21 | ASKANT | Sideways, philosophically? (6) AS KANT (the philosopher) |
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| 22 | GHARRI | Bandmate of P McCartney getting rid of son’s Indian vehicle (6) G[eorge] HARRISON less SON |
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| 23 | TOMTIT | Bird and cat promptly lost (6) TOM (cat) + TIT (obsolete word for “promptly”) |
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| 24 | ISOGON | E.g. rectangle is not possible to roll (6) IS + reverse of NO GO (not possible) |
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| 25 | PEWIT | Games affected by short winger (5) PE (games) + WIT[h] (affected by) |
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| 29 | INTI | Belgian reporter uncovered former capital of Peru (4) The Belgian boy reporter TINTIN less his outer letters, with the common trick of “capital” meaning “money” |
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I solved most of this puzzle collaboratively with friends at a croquet tournament, once we had polished off Everyman. To my surprise, we managed about 80% of the entries without access to a dictionary, and I finished it (with some confirmatory help from Chambers) once I got home. I hope that I may have persuaded some regular Everyman solvers to tackle Gemelo again.