Published in the i newspaper on 12 September 2020.
It was a pleasure to complete this puzzle, after the last one which I thought was unfairly clued in some places. It was also the first one that I managed to complete without getting any hints at all!
The two names that were the key to the code were ESTRAGON and VLADIMIR - the main characters in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, with which I'm reasonably familiar. By giving ROSALIND and GANYMEDE as examples, the setter neatly indicated that it was permissible for two different letters to be encoded as the same letter (not normally allowed in substitution ciphers). So the code was:
| E | S | T | R | A | G | O | N |
| V | L | A | D | I | M | I | R |
I admired the way that the setter made each of the encoded entries a word, even though it wasn't strictly necessary. The encoded versions of 3dn and 29dn were unfamiliar to me but when you're stuck with V representing E, your options are necessarily a bit limited, I suppose.
The three other associated names were LUCKY, POZZO and GODOT (the two other characters in the play plus the "unseen" one). Encoded as far as possible, these became LUCKY (unchanged, at the bottom of column 12), PIZZI (start of row 5) and MIDIA (running downwards from row 3, column 10).
Queries
32ac - why "set upon" for SIC? Or have I misunderstood the clue?
21dn - wasn't sure about this. I initially put RESHT, the name of a port in Iran ("harbour"), but couldn't justify the wordplay. RESET fits the wordplay better but not the definition.
29dn was a very ingenious clue but haven't I seen it before somewhere?
Definitions are in quotes, and the encoded versions of answers are in italics.
Across
1. BOHM - "Austrian conductor"; B[and] + OHM
4. ECLIPSED - "concealed"; CLIPS in [f]EED
10. POISHA - "Bangladeshi coin"; I in POSH + A
11. BEEDI - "cigarette"; BEE + rev. of I'D
13. WARRAY - old word for "fight"; W + ARRAY
15. VEHME - old word for "courts"; HM in VEE
16. DIAL/RATS - "that's annoying"; ARTS with the first two letters transposed
17. PIZZICATO - "it takes some pluck"; (rev. of ZIP) + Z + I + CATO
19. ROODS - "crosses"; O in RODS
20. KARAITE - "follower of Scripture"; (ARAB - B) in KITE
22. IGNITES - "lights"; N in (I + GITES)
25. ENACT - "to perform"; (rev. of CANE) + T
27. LYSOSOMAL - "describing digestive aids"; SO-SO in anag. of ALL MY
29. VIAL/EATS - &lit; hidden in [teahous]E AT S[carborough]
32. ELCHI - "ambassador"; CH in ELI
33. STATIC - "by no means moving"; TAT in SIC
34. IGLOO - "Northern dwelling"; I[celand] + GLOO[m]
35. LEVIES - "taxes"; (V + I.E.) in LES
36. REYNOLDS - "English painter"; (anag. of ONLY) in REDS
37. DRAY - "brewery vehicle"; A in DRY
Down
1. BOWSPRIT - "spar"; BOWS + PRI[ces] + [augus]T
2. HORIZONTALLY - "on the level"; HO + ((ZON[e] in IT) in RALLY)
3. MIRV/GONE - "over the hill"; [climbin]G + ONE
5. CHYACK - "deride" (Australian); CH + YACK
6. LAVA/STET - "restore"; T[rio] in SET
7. IBERT - "French composer"; (B + rev. of RE) in IT
8. SEMIDIAMETER - "some measure of the angle"; (anag. of TIMES MEDIA) + ER
9. DILL/ROSS - "Antarctic explorer"; CROSS - C
10. PATIO - "courtyard"; PA + (rev. of IT) + O
12. DEALT - "divided"; L in (DEATH - H)
14. AGIST - "regarding grazing"; A + GIST
18. GET LUCKY - "to have good fortune"; rev. of (CULT in (Y + KEG))
21. RESET - "harbour"(?); SE[a] in RET (=to soak hemp in water)
23. GRIEG - "composer"; E.G. below GRI (George Rex I)
24. SOUSED - "tired and emotional"; SO + USED
26. CADIS - "Islamic judges" (more often spelt QADIS); DI in CAS[h]
28. YAHOO - "wild"; (rev. of HAY) + OO ("loves")
29. VAIR/ETON - "English town"; E to N (i.e. EFGHIJKLMN, "10 letters")
30. MILL/GOSS - "holiday souvenirs"; GO + S + [offer]S
31. LAID/STAR - "leading actor"; STAR[t]
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