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Cheers aristo, my problem with 3down was that I was looking for a fish being a ????, but now realise it's an ??? and have got it now.
still working on the other two

Got 21down now, we used to have a TV series in Britain called that, starring Michael Elphick

This knocks out my original 28 across, but now I can only find one answer to fit in which doesn't make sense. I keep saying it in my head and it just won't register like a homophone. It's the only one in Chambers. Just one other idea for the emcees spin would be if it ended in 'Toasts' but never heard of that

Well if you say the second word of the homophone with aitch-dropping it works.

Cheers aristo, finished now. bed time I think, goodnight

Just looked in. Couple of late nights. Seems you folks have it sorted.

34A does have the wrong tense.

21D Thanks, Aristo. Had the answer, couldn't see the parsing.

28A I read it as "seek hosts".


@Greenfire 36A et alia:
Phrasing might be more wordy, but this is common in many puzzles.
Some setters subscribe to the idea that there should be no extraneous words.

My solution:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62858730/Harpers%202012-10%20sol%20mine.pdf

Any ideas for parsing 22A, 8D, 16D ?

22a- studied hard- def
followed a fast course with oral examination- took it to be homophone of poured
8d- something irrational- PI
a- A
right-winger- TORY
is this what shaped Bush?- definition
16d- Briar- def
patch initially- P
providing liner for cobbler- PIE
(P inside of PIE)

Thanks Aristo. Downs are crystal clear.

Still not sure about 22A.

Maybe someone else will 16D up? (-;

I just figured that "follow a fast course" works for "flow rapidly in a steady stream".

Couldn't parse that one...took the fast course to be the river Po and assumed the other bit was an Americanism.