Around the perimeter starting at one corner run two lines of a verse (ten words). Two unclued lights give the name of the author (in her formal style); other unclued lights give one association with each of the adjectives in the quotation.
Across
10 Smile conceals a natural character (5)
11 Eastern exercise in goodness is vain (5)
14 Clever Scots start to get on (4)
15 I left flying Gulf Air, not rich (6)
17 A few lines, and three more, including English correspondence (8)
20 Growing attached, is less easy at first to dislodge (7)
22 Old jingle about this ruler (4)
24 A conquest of Zeus? Answer is in 42 (5)
25 Malicious, first to steal pheasant’s nest (5)
26 Born and died unknown and poor (5)
32 Pillbox at the front is nearly rubbed out (4)
34 Essentially a menace, when river changes position (7, two words)
35 Adult or infant? Not large, one looks like us (9, hyphened)
37 Monstrous tread, shambling across to one (8)
39 Pressure breaks withered reed (5)
43 Mountain dweller has no way to secure running water (5)
44 Sign of dental decay, not constant (5)
Down
2 Part of lorry advertisement (7)
3 Do you approach soldier backing horse into machine-gun position? (7)
5 Free of cold, strangely paradoxical evidence of brain damage (7)
6 Cruel leader fairly regularly blown up in dangerous compound (6)
7 As female, covetously eye silk hankie (5)
8 Sort of radiation on a grape (3)
12 Pull up and study coin (6)
13 Cattle supervisor’s new gaiters (7)
19 Domesticated creature picks up illness in a pound (5)
21 Muscles’ direction to the heart (5)
23 Live in brand new tower (7)
27 Son had various sweethearts (6)
29 Newly positioned for speech, delivered poem (7)
30 In varied repeat, mark artist’s technique (7)
33 Financial resources of British Empire...
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