Against Expectations by Duck

Puzzle explanation

Extra letters from the wordplay in all but the “rogue” clues spelt out “seek letter mixture; gravity defied”. Each rogue clue contained a jumble of a type of apple, to be entered upwards in the grid (contrary to the story of Sir Isaac Newton witnessing a falling apple).

For 4dn, though there is a cultivar of Cox’s orange pippin called SUNSET (in neither Chambers nor the OED), its letters appear in the clue in the correct order, not in a mixture as the instruction stipulates. For 8dn, though CRISPIN is in Chambers, the apple meaning isn’t; it can be found in the OED as an alias for the Mutsu apple.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer (red herring) Explanation [extra letter]
Across
1 PEDANT ANT after [S]PED
5 CRATON CRAT[E] + ON
9 À MERVEILLE (A + R[E]VEILLE) around ME
12 ESCALLOP CA[K]ES * + POLL <
13 PRAHU P[L] around RAHU
14 ABBESS AB[E] + BESS
15 LODICULAE (I COULD) * + LA[T]E
16 YRIVD [T]RY * + IV + D(own)
17 GNARR (HER ANG[E]R − HE) *
19 EAGER E[R]R around AGE
23 BOBAC BO[M]B + A + C
25 SAGITTATE (IT + [I]T) in (SAG + TEA *)
26 MILICE MI[X] + LICE
27 ASTIR (I STAR[T]) *
29 ANACONDA ANA + C + (h)O[U]ND + A
30 TENDONITIS (O[R] + SIT-IN <) after TEND
31 BROLGA BRA around (O + L[E]G)
32 CURARE [G]AR in CURÉ
Down
1 PALP LP after PA[R]
2 IDARED (DANGER) DREADI(ing) *; DREA[D]ING * − I
3 ARCHIVE CHI in (A + R[A]VE)
4 RUSSET (SISTER) (mis)TRESS U(nsettled) *; (m)ISTRES[S] *
5 CICALA CIC + A + LA[V]
6 ALL-BE BEL[I]AL *
7 TELEGA TELA around [T]EG
8 CRISPIN (BRAMBLE) (shee)P IN SCRI(pture) *; RAM in B[I]BLE
10 NOSTRATIC (CIT[Y] + ART + SON) <
11 PRORATING PRO[D] + RATING
16 BRAMLEY (CLASSES) (Gi)RL MAY BE *; LASS in C[H]E’S
18 RIBSTON (OLINGOS) (i)N BRISTO(l) *; (Brist)OL [S]ING OS(tentatiously)
20 GELATO (T + ALE) < in [E]GO
21 AGENDA [F]AG END + A
22 CODLIN (FLORIN) (O)LD COIN *; OR in FLIN[T]
24 BATATA BA[I]T + AT + (d)A(y)
25 SICEL EL after SIC[E]
28 RUSE [D]RUSE
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