4033 Beat It! by Lavatch
 

Lavatch gave us an interesting puzzle whose theme was new to Gregson. The missing letters in definitions spelt out CAT AND MOUSE and DOG YEARS. These are two parts of the Danzig Trilogy, by the German writer Günter Grass. His surname could be seen in the centre of the grid forming a letter T, which had to be blacked out. Missing letters in wordplay, when located in the grid, could be seen to spell out BODHRAN, TABORIN, TIMPANO, TAIKO and SNARE, using either straight or curved lines. These are all types of drum, and when the lines were drawn they produced the outline of a drum, containing the blacked-out letter T. This cryptically indicated THE TIN DRUM, the first part of the trilogy, and explained the title of the puzzle. The hero of this work, Oskar, retained the stature of a child while growing up. This explained why some answers were shorter than would normally be expected. Filling the empty cells in the grid with OSKAR created new entries, all of which were real words (COME TO, PROFILES, SARK, TANGA and RESTATED).

Missing letters in definitions and answers are indicated by [].

Across
2 The old lecher is hugged by Mary Jane, perhaps making something of an entrance (8)
GATEPOST GATE (old word for “lecher”) + ‘S (is) inside POT (Mary Jane ie marijuana)
11 Hail as exploit remarkable procedures to [c]rush calculus (13)
LITHOLAPAXIES Anagram of HAIL AS EXPLOIT
12 Golf ball in Open is what was caught (7)
OVERGOT G (Golf) + O (ball) inside OVERT (open)
“Overgot” is formed from “overget”, to [catch up and] overtake
14 God, wicked, about to pocket [a]gain (5)
REPOT RE (God) + TOP (wicked, in the sense of “very good”), reversed
16 Somewhat ironic in expression – wri[t]er? (6)
[RA]CINE Hidden in ironiC IN Expression
17 Be[a]sts dreadfully asocial boy needing expulsion (6)
COA[T]IS Anagram of ASOCIAL, less AL (boy)
18 In Tokyo, change one's driver (5)
SEN[N]A SEN (Japanese money) + A (one)
The definition being [Ayrton] Senna
20 Capital in absolute confusion (4)
API[A] A (absolute) + PI (confusion)
APIA being the capital of Samoa
22 Grandchild grabbing dancing girl without arousing passion (8)
[B]ORI[N]GLY OY (Grandchild) containing RIGL (anagram of GIRL)
25 Wandering sailors amid dunes (6)
ERR[I]NG RN (sailors) inside ERG (dunes)
26 Arthropod advanced leg (6)
AC[A]RUS A (advanced) + CRUS (leg)
28 Tone is modulated, following Couperin's lead, and most affected in a fu[n]gal way (8)
CON[K]IEST Anagram of TONE IS, following C (first letter of Couperin)
30  Frost that is surrounding motorway (4)
[R]IME IE (that is) containing M (motorway)
31 Len[d]s designs lacking power (5)
L[O]ANS PLANS (designs), less P (power)
34 Some fish caper with navy (6)
DI[O]DON DIDO (caper) + N (navy)
36 Starts to menace inundation? So animals may waywardly go for [m]ark (6)
MISA[I]M First letters of Menace Inundation So Animals May
40 Animal in region around city (5)
ELAND END (region) containing LA (city)
41 Tags, ie, seen with tip of lace, perhaps? (7)
AIGLETS Anagram of TAGS IE + L (first letter of LACE), &lit.
42 Nigerian tribe accepting some work as trees damaged deserts (13)
TERGIVERSATES TIV (Nigerian tribe) containing ERG (some work), + ERSATES (anagram of AS TREES)
43 Development programme a dandy's passed property to (7)
ESTATED EST (Development programme)
 
Down
1 Pretext mostly supported by Conservative with very morally repugnant areas (7)
CLOACAE CLOA[K] (ie pretext, less last letter) + C (Conservative) + AE (very)
2 Excessive interest mounting over electronic [o]pen (4)
GIVE VIG (Excessive interest) reversed, + E (electronic)
3 Project to scrap wide po[u]nd (5)
THRO[B] THROW (project), less W (wide)
4 Palestinian nationalists make laborious progress (4)
PLO[D] PLO (Palestinian nationalists)
5 Congress delivering cur[s]es (5)
OAT[H]S OATS (congress, ie sexual intercourse)
6 After sonata's opening, cut bar[e] to a greater extent (6)
SPARE[R] S (first letter of SONATA) + PARE (cut)
7 Established Church succeeding without managers (5)
EXEC[S] EC (Established Church) after EX (without)
8 In this, Indians [d]well convey independence (4)
TIPI TIP (convey) + I (independence)
9 Sign New Left's embraced by despicable socialist politician (8, two words)
LEON BLUM LEO (sign) + N (New) + L (Left) inside BUM (despicable)
10 Like tube missing central part for want of a central cylinder (6)
ASTELY AS (Like) + TE[L]LY (ie tube, less middle letter)
13 Trap one American in Brazilian city (7)
G[O]IANIA GIN (Trap) + I (one) + A (American)
15 Murderer smothering Queen's dog (5)
CAIRN CAIN (Murderer) containing R (Queen)
19 Liberating l[o]ot from new fashion label with one grand (7)
N[I]CKI[N]G N (new) + CK (Calvin Klein ie fashion label) + I one) + G (grand)
21 Almost keep up smooth public image (7)
PROFILE PRO[P] (ie keep up, less last letter) + FILE (smooth)
23 Circuits in edges of racetracks (3)
[O]RS First and last letters of RacetrackS
24 Travel under good [g]rate (5)
GRIDE RIDE (Travel) following G (good)
27 Problems raised about Northern Muslim sect (7)
SENUSSI ISSUES (Problems) containing N (Northern)
28 Bod[y] travelling through space is to appear tense (5)
COMET COME (to appear) + T (tense)
29 Fir[e] chopped up on eve (6)
EN[M]OVE Anagram of ON EVE
32 Hint in English (4)
[T]ANG ANG (in English)
33 Foresees rising tides (5)
S[P]AES SEAS (tides), reversed)
35 Pr[a]ise middle out of wedge (5)
[E]CLAT CL[E]AT (Wedge, less middle letter)
37 It's on the front of roof b[r]eam (3)
SAR SA (IT ie sex appeal) + R (first letter of ROOF)
38 Scrubbing out marks, neaten up quarter (4)
[A]IRT TRIM (neaten up), less M (Marks), reversed
39 Poet's [s]pace of time remained a year out (4)
STED STAYED (remained), less A Y (year)