No 9688, Saturday 14 Nov 09, Gridman

How refreshing after 10 days of junk from NJ, this is really like a whiff of fresh air
ACROSS
1 - Bird on fire? There’s nothing to it! (8) - FLAMING{O}
5 - Mother on modified diet succeeded (4,2) - {MA}DE IT*
9 - Capsize on open vessel (8) - {OVERT}{URN}
10 - Indian uncle having tea after endless conversation (6) - {CHA}CHA(-t)
12 - Tribal of the Nilgiris not fully present (4) - TODA(-y)
13 - Sort out pen with inauspicious result (10) - PORTENTOUS*
15 - Puts out nothing to royal in trance (6) - STUP*{O}{R}
17 - Choose from the lecture (5) - ELECT [T]
20 - Tiny file circulated by peon finally (5) - ELFI*{N}
21 - Strata in 50 developed years (6) - {L}AYERS
24 - Declaration that no one is to return to the fast train (10) - {EXPRESS}ION<- )
27 - Phobia of extremely stiff appendage (4) - {F}EAR
29 - Folly of girl overwhelming girl in extreme comicality (6) - {I{DI}O}{C}{Y}
30 - Dog boy carrying fabric around leading atelier (8) - {AL}{SATI{A}N} My first dog and we named him Peter, lived to the ripe old age of 13.
31 - Not much kindled before outlet (6) - {LIT}TLE*
32 - Cut short pro leaving counterpart in a whirl (8) - TRUNCATE(-pro)*
DOWN
1 - Is buoyant in Florida with grains (6) - {FL}OATS
2 - Changes fellows in advertisements (6) - A{MEN}DS
3 - Nation outside borders allotted very small amount (4) - (-n)IOTA(-n)*
4 - Dress circle for Australian dustman (5) - GARB{O}
6 - Pale when woman appears (5) - {AS}{HEN}
7 - Sen hovers around secret boxes (8) - EN{CLOSE}S*
8 - Passages on characteristics about bridge players (8) - TRA{NS}ITS
11 - Well-set right in the den (6) - STU{R}DY
14 - Eastern heavyweight in foreign school (4) - {E}TON
16 - Fine-tune a language? (6) - POLISH [DD]
17 - Country causes close to immense anger (4) - {E}IRE
18 - Curative for engineer and setter laid up (8) - {RE}{ME}DIAL*
19 - Article from a book but not in the book (8) - {OFF}{PRINT}
22 - Somehow regain a Canadian town (6) - REGINA*
23 - Draw back from band in the church (6) - C{RING}E
25 - Very good! Fast go away! Outdo! (5) - EXCEL(-lent)
26 - Nothing to glare about without a person who gives a flirtatious look (5) - {O}GLER(-a)*
28 - In the clear – never by merit (4) - EARN [T]

GRID