Mephisto 2639

[crockshard]

I am still wondering about my final letter (31a - see my posting yesterday at 18.50). Any ideas, please?

[eac2337]

This one is not easy to resolve. Chambers offers "gross" as an alternative to "earthy" while "moving" suggests an anagram of hearts hence "earths". Could "gross sound" be "grows"?, again suggesting "earths". On balance I would favour earths

[Xman]

I think this is EARTHY (gross).
HEARTY is sound. Then move the H (hearts).

[turast]

Definitely EARTHY, with misdirection.

[crockshard]

Many thanks for your responses, and apologies for my delay in getting back to you. My dilemma remains, but I settled on 'earthy' and posted it off this morning. 'Earths', though the anagram, didn't make sense. Xman's answer, however, does make sense of it. Well done!
Don't understand what Turast means by 'misdirection'.
What did you all settle on for 29d Climb in special pasture? Answer could equally well be stye or stie, and the spelling makes no difference to the rest of the grid. Tut-tut, Mr Lawes?

[crockshard]

Sorry, Mr Lawes - I meant Mr McKenna!