Spectator N0 2479

[Matakari]

Good evening, I need some help to crack the unclueds, please!
Answers to these 2 ACROSS would be appreciated, thanks:

31 Poor Ruth follows me to eastern river in France (7): ?E????E
32 Heads of religious houses are uppish and a touch standoffish (9): ??P??A?R?

And HINTS for these:
DOWN:
6 Gone off, having been in charge of plain clothes division (6): ?AU?C?
7 A piece of food cut for the birds (5): ??H?N
8 Antics regularly denoting friendly goblin (3): ??E
9 The hollow tree managed to sway (6): ??L??N
12 Pals and group of artists at sitcom (13, hyphened): ?S?AOL???RND?
33 Vulture finding difficulty landing in two bends (5): ?RU??
38 John’s game (3): L??

[Neveracrossword]

6 An old crossword favourite. A three letter 'was in charge of' followed by the usual abbreviation for plain clothes division of the police. The answer means 'gone off'.

8 Just alternate letters.

PS You have mistakes in 6,7,9 and 12.

[Calibax]

32 superiors?

[Neveracrossword]

Just noticed you've gone wrong in 32 A too. The A is incorrect. You simply need the name, title of those who're in charge of convents/religious houses. The singular means 'uppish', add a touch, letter, from 'standoffish'.

[JJ109]

31 me - anagram ruth - E(astern)

[Neveracrossword]

9. The hollow = a common crossword device, resulting in 2 letters + anagram of 'tree'. To sway is the definition.

[Neveracrossword]

Matakari, have a stab at getting the theme! It's not too tricky, the title gives away a lot and one or two of the unclued entries reveal themselves quite quickly.

[roslyn251254]

30d gave me the theme...not many possibles for the filled in letters...

[JJ109]

38 John here means "toilet"
The answer is a toilet and a card game also

[JJ109]

33 There are actually 3 bends in this answer

[JJ109]

12 The SA and R are wrong
Learning establishment/group of artists + sitcom Ross Joey Chandler Phoebe, Rachel and Monica = young pals

[Matakari]

Many thanks, all, I've got the theme and am working my way through your hints now. Quite interesting!

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Matakari. Glad you're making progress, glad the answers and hints helped.