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Hi Trumpton,

30a first word is an overall word for "servant"(s) in general + 3 letter word for "some (in) French" + K(ing) - definition is where you call when you're "wanting support".

6d "boat race" is cockney rhyming slang for "face" and the answer is what you might get or see on an "old boat race" (especially round the eyes!).

Awesome, thank you!

I’d gone for something different for 6d, having _e_t for the second word.

I thought 30a might be that but had gone slightly awry with 10d.

Less haste, more speed...and more coffee :)

Struggling to parse 12a. Language? Also 31a has an “up” for reverse in an across clue?

I agree about 12 - a poor clue. It's an attempted &lit, with a 3-letter word for "hint" around the first letter of Language.
Yes "up" would work better in a down clue.

Thanks chrise - I thought of that parsing but discarded it as too poor!

Someone may come up with a better parsing!

Not getting the servant part of this, is that a common term for it? I thought at first the last three letters of the first word were a reference to the name of one but then the first letter would be unparsed.

This wasn't a hard solve but it's a tricky parse!

Hi Mackania,

It's a general term, and if you were referring to a servant or servants you might say something like "....not in front of the ????".

Oh hang on, just me being a wally. I had Alf for servant and was wondering where the H came from. Apparently this is still a type of support but not the one the setter is after!

Got it now with your help, thanks Brendan!

My main problem with this Everyman was that a 22d ending in a D = gizmo. Which doesn't fit with the servant thing of 30ac. What fits isn't a gizmo. I've fixed it now but not happy with this (or indeed 4ac,)