A Change of Clothing by Elgin

Puzzle explanation

The unused entries are places giving their name to cheese: 22dn Limburg, 20dn Emmental, 13ac Gouda, 23ac Stilton, whose initial letters confirm that the item of clothing is trousers. Three of the special entries are villainous opponents of Batman and Robin: Joker, Penguin, Riddler. Using “trousers” for the fourth special entry does not retain all intersecting entries as real words, but changing it to the anagram “rousters” does. The grid then contains Wallace (a cheese fanatic) and Gromit, who capture a Penguin diamond thief in the Oscar-winning animated film The Wrong Trousers (1993) by Nick Park.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation
Across
1 GRAITH (RIGHT A) *
6 SEASON SEA + S + ON
11 ONCE ON + CE
12 OTARY NOTARY − N
13 GOUDA GO + DU < + A
14 ERNEST (h)ER + NEST
15 ROULEAU O’ in RULE + AU
16 ASIA A + SA about I
18 SETH THE * after S
19 BAGMAN BA(n) + G-MAN
21 TRADE TRACE with D (diamonds) for C (clubs)
22 REPAINT REP + AIN’T
23 STILTON SON about TILT
25 RABIN RA(b)BI + N
27 ATTEND (D + NETTA) <
28 GAMP DAMP with G for D
30 SOLD SOLID − I
32 DENIALS (LIES AND) *
33 ENWALL EN(gagement) + W + ALL
34 CURES 2 meanings
35 TRUER RETURN * − N
36 EYES E + YES
37 REUTER RE + UTE + R(eporting)
38 ESLOIN (reserv)E + LIONS *
Down
1 GUJRAT (TAR + JUG) <
2 ANKUS AN (ante) + SUK <
3 ICE-LEDGE homophone of I SLEDGE
4 TERETE TEETER with R above middle E
5 HORAH (c)HORA(l) + H, ref. Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony
6 STEUBEN (SEEN BUT) *, ref. Friedrich von Steuben in American Revolutionary War
7 EARLAP EARL(y) + AP
8 ARNA ARENA − (st)E(el)
9 OSSIANIC SO < + SIAN + I/C
10 NATANT N + A(rithmetic) + TAN + (Interne)T
17 CRETONNE (ON + N) in CRETE
20 EMMENTAL MEN in METAL *
22 LIMBURG L + I + MB + URGE − E-
23 PASEAR APPEARS * − P
24 UNGLUE L in UNGUES − S(ome)
25 RANCES RAN + SEC <
26 NISSEN NIS + SENA − A
28 GEARE E in GARE
29 PAREO PARE + O
31 DART 3 (or 4) meanings
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