26d Scottish set creating stir locally on loch (4)
_ E _ L
(the third letter is probably also an E, giving _ EEL)
23d Pimple, what the most incompetent will fail to shift? (5)
W _ ELK
(I know that a whelk is a 'pimple" but can't parse the rest)
Parsing queries - I don't have Chambers
29a Old-fashioned pen starts to splash the ink everywhere (4)
(Is there a word "STIE" that means an old-fashioned pen ? It is the start letters of S(plash)
T(he) I(nk) E(verywhere), and I have _ TIE
9d Old vow – see me freed from the same when it’s broken (5)
(Is there a word "HEAST" that means vow. I have HEA _ T and "heast" is an anagram of "the sa(me)"
30a Fine quartz crystal suggesting Cupid’s dart (9) LO _ _ A _ RO _
Presumably "love arrow" re Cupid's dart - but is this something to do with quartz crystal?
...it refers to the expression 'he/she couldn't run a whelk stall' (of late 19th origin), describing a person who would also struggle to organise a riotous celebration in a brewery.
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