Cheesy by Deuce

Puzzle explanation

The theme was the quark, the spin-half subatomic particle that makes up fundamental constituents of matter such as the proton and neutron. The corrections to clue misprints spelt out “for Muster Mark; Joyce”, from the quotation “Three quarks for Muster Mark!” in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, which was the source of the name for the particle. The extra letters from wordplay in clues spelt “spin half”, an instruction to enter their answers with half reversed. The unclued entries were baryons indicated by the quark composition given by their checked letters: DUU (down-up-up) is a PROTON and UDS (up-down-strange) is a LAMBDA. The three quark flavours highlighted were UP and CHARM in the grid and Down, the heading for the down clues. The puzzle’s title referred to the soft cheese also called quark.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Misprint Answer Explanation [extra letter]
Across
1   ALERTING TRIANGLE[S] *
6 (F)oot APOD (DO + PA) <
9 l(O)ves AMOURS AM + OURS
11 (R)egion IOWA (rad)IO WA(ves)
13 Di(M) BECLOUD (DOUBLE + C) *
14 (U)prights ANTAE ((attende)E AT NA(tivity)) <
16 change(S) UPENDS U + PENDS
18 Twi(T)s IDIOTS (f)I(n)D (m)I(n)O(r) T(a)S(k)
19 wh(E)re SERAIS (A SIRE’S) *
20 (R)are SPARSE SPAR + S(pruc)E
23 ar(M)y ATTEST AT&T + EST
26 d(A)gger CREESE CLEESE with R for L
29 (R)hyme LAISSE AISLES *
32 (K)ettle HEATER (A THREE) *
33 (J)oiner’s AUGER GER after AU
35 pe(O)ny ANTHOID (I HAD NOT) *
36 S(Y)dney’s EMUS (b)EMUS(e)
37 (C)rown GEORGE GORGE around E
38 N(E)w MORE MORSE − S
39   CREMATOR [P]M in CREATOR
Down
1   RABBIS (SIB + BAR) <
2   EMEND END around ME
3   LOCHIA H in LOCI + A
4   TROUT U in TROT
5   NIDUS INDUS with I moved down
6   AWN 2 meanings
7   PATNA PAT + NA
8   DRESS D(u)RESS
10   BUSSES BUS[I]ES around S
12   DARIUS U(surper) in DI[N]ARS *
15   SORTED S[H]ORTED
17   URETIC (yo)U [A]RE TIC(kety-boo)
21   PURSUE PUR[L] + SUE
22   LADING [F]LAG around DIN
24   ESCORT CORTES with letters cycled
25   TENDER 2 meanings; ref. Brazilian currency
26   CHARM C + HARM
27   EAGER EAR around G(renach)E
28   ERASE R in EASE
30   AZTEC A,Z + ETC *
31   SLIGO S(tanley) + LIG + (Belgran)O
34   EME (bas)EME(nt)
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