Across
1. SCRABBLE. Double def. "Grope", of course, requires "around [for]". Otherwise, it has quite another meaning. ("He tried to scrabble me in the lift"?)
5. HO(BAR)T. Which IS "in Tasmania" but not in the "=def" sense of "is". So, wrong PoS.
9. ALPH+ABET.
10. ECLAIR. Anag.
12. DIESEL. Anag of "Leeds" around 1. In the Home Counties, lunch is taken at 13:00. In Minjup, we get up at 5:00 and have lunch at about 11:00. Diesel, Rudolf Christian Karl (1858–1913), German engineer; born in France. He invented the diesel engine in the late 19th century.
13. TEMP+ORAL. The apostrophe-S has to be read as "has". Not a convention I like.
15. BEGONIA. B(ook) + EG (say) + ON (about) + I (one) + A(ustralian).
16. ROSE. Double def.
20. OVER. Balls!
21. GALAHAD. A(ttack) d(ucks).
25. PTOMAINE. Anag + padding. Any of a group of amine compounds of unpleasant taste and odour formed in putrefying animal and vegetable matter and formerly thought to cause food poisoning.
26. SE (points) + SAME. Well it's an herbaceous plant; but does that make it a herb?
28. OTTERS. Harry's, with a silent P as in bath.
29. GREEN TEA. "This author" is presumably (Graham) Greene -- such that the "this" is doing nothing except trying to mislead us into thinking of the literal. Otherwise, it could be any of the authors on this list, if the homophone indicator only applies to "T".
30. PE+RUSE.
31. PLATYPUS. Anag of "plays up" + (cos)T.
Down
1. SH(AND)Y.
2. RA+PIER.
3. BRACE+LET. "Church" and "initially" are, again, doing precisely nothing, except trying to mislead.
4. LEEK. = "keel" over. A case of the implied reversal indicator. There's a cure for it, I'm sure.
6. OCCUPY. CO (reversed) + P(ush)Y including CU (copper). You have to read "busy" as a verb, as in "busy oneself with".
7. ANACREON. Anag.
8. THRILLER. Yuk!
11. SEMINAL. Anag.
14. COCAINE. Old chestnut: a number numbs. Anag of "one" and "CIC". Where the A comes from is anyone's guess. Maybe Dot had snorted a few lines by this point?
17. WOO+P WOO+P. Close to Nar Nar Goon. Welcome!
18. RE+PORTER.
19. BASEMENT. The good crest ticketer's mace bent.
22. CAIRNS. Clumsy. I in "cars" and N(oon) inside all that.
23. LAPTOP. PAL (rev) + TO + P (quiet). Where Dot's cat sits.
24. MEDALS. M(ember) + SLADE (rev). Anyone remember them? I, for one, was quite happy forgetting.
27. ORAL. Obvious and poor double def.
