Live solve video available here.
This was on the breezy end but there were a few standout clues – I liked “queen perhaps” at 24ac and “high earning African” next door to it was pretty seamless. I also enjoyed “doubly popular” and “strain twice” and “being lassoed”. Oh, and the cryptic definition at 43dn was also excellent. Thanks to the setter!
Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Camp entertainer visibly embarrassed by film (7) |
| REDCOAT – RED [visibly embarrassed] by COAT [film] | |
| 5 | Check little woman taking in garment fabric (8) |
| CHAMBRAY – CH(eck) + AMY [March] “taking in” BRA | |
| 9 | Pint almost finished — in a manner of speaking (6) |
| JARGON – JAR [pint] + GON{e} | |
| 13 | Money put into poor stage hit we back as movie (9,7) |
| SPAGHETTI WESTERN – P(enny) put into (STAGE HIT*) + WE + STERN [back] | |
| 14 | Married one deserting concubine put weight on (6) |
| STRESS – {m}{i}STRESS | |
| 16 | Ace business paper with energy slowing in the end (5,3) |
| AFTER ALL – A(ce) + F(inancial) T(imes) + E(nergy) +RALL(entando) | |
| 17 | Problem with looker in Vogue not ultimately cool (4) |
| STYE – STY{l}E | |
| 18 | At home having a ball around five? That’s early (2,7) |
| IN ADVANCE – IN [at home] having A DANCE around V | |
| 20 | Rubbish delivered from the east drowning City boss (8) |
| DIRECTOR – ROT RID, from right to left, “drowning” EC | |
| 21 | Doubly popular installing new setter, good and unusual (11) |
| INTERESTING – IN and IN “installing” (SETTER*) + G(ood) | |
| 24 | Queen perhaps chasing lover no longer vivacious (9) |
| EXUBERANT – UBER-ANT chasing EX [lover no longer] | |
| 25 | Upstanding character inspired by high earning African? (8) |
| NIGERIAN – I [vertical character] “inspired by” (EARNING*) | |
| 26 | National relationship spoken of (4) |
| THAI – homophone of TIE [relationship] | |
| 29 | Hate man with brutality dispatching one (11) |
| MALEVOLENCE – MALE with V{i}OLENCE | |
| 31 | Maybe sansculottes behind in France also being lassoed? (11) |
| PROLETARIAT -PRO [behind] + ET [in France, also] caught in LARIAT [“being lassoed”] | |
| 33 | Redeeming feature celebrated by cricketer bagging six (6,5) |
| SAVING GRACE – SANG by GRACE, “bagging” VI | |
| 36 | Supply column tracked vehicle (11) |
| CATERPILLAR – CATER [supply] + PILLAR [column] | |
| 38 | Leading lady receiving answer by Liberal peer (4) |
| EARL – E(lizabeth) R(egina) “receiving” A(nswer), by L(iberal) | |
| 39 | Warnings applied to Aegean regularly expected (8) |
| FORESEEN – FORES applied to {a}E{g}E{a}N | |
| 41 | Bubbly dictator’s trouble with phantom limb? (9) |
| CHAMPAGNE – homophone of SHAM PAIN | |
| 44 | Beer served with dessert to give an ambiguous flavour (11) |
| BITTERSWEET – BITTER with SWEET | |
| 45 | One testing Resistance after chopper sent back to lay bombs (8) |
| EXAMINER – R(esistance), after reversed AXE + MINE | |
| 48 | Walk quietly back to circumvent curious threat in unsafe structure (5-4) |
| DEATH-TRAP – reversed PAD “circumventing” (THREAT*) | |
| 49 | First nine letters sent round: the ninth from Greeks (4) |
| IOTA – reversed A TO I | |
| 50 | Curse stories associated with The Graduate (8) |
| ANATHEMA – ANA associated with THE M.A. | |
| 52 | Darkness found in initially easy puzzle (6) |
| EREBUS – E{asy} + REBUS | |
| 53 | Keen policeman caught in corrupt fiddle becomes hero (5,11) |
| DAVID COPPERFIELD – AVID COPPER “caught in” (FIDDLE*) | |
| 54 | Flower attached to tail of giant guinea pig (6) |
| TASTER – ASTER attached to {gian}T | |
| 55 | Python sliding around, one cold and bewitching (8) |
| HYPNOTIC – (PYTHON*) + I + C(old) | |
| 56 | Author means to throw out an old plaything (7) |
| TOLSTOY – TO{o}LS + TOY | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Rogue Indian sailor confusing his port with starboard? (6) |
| RASCAL – LASCAR, swapping his L and R | |
| 2 | Anything but cheap, this is missed in poverty (6) |
| DEARTH – DEAR [anything but cheap] + TH{is} | |
| 3 | Soldiers protecting the Western Isles: east under different conditions (9) |
| OTHERWISE – O(ther) R(anks) “protecting THE + W(estern) + I(sle)S + E(ast) | |
| 4 | Remember with this everything linked to phone conversation? (5,6) |
| TOTAL RECALL – TOTAL [everything] + RE [linked to] + CALL [phone convo] | |
| 5 | Endless crack in part of mug (4) |
| CHIN – CHIN{k}. Mug as in face | |
| 6 | Harmful herbicide one with power to act on royal house (5,6) |
| AGENT ORANGE – AGENT [one with power to act] on ORANGE [royal house] | |
| 7 | Beguiling boozer in the ascendant keeps talking (9,2) |
| BUTTERING UP – reversed PUB keeps UTTERING | |
| 8 | Strain twice to locate automobile part (3,6) |
| AIR FILTER – AIR [strain] + FILTER [strain] | |
| 10 | Militant performance quartet is in Berlin (8) |
| ACTIVIST – ACT [performance] + IV [quartet] + IST [is, in German] | |
| 11 | City district verdant with one church and house Goethe vacated (9,7) |
| GREENWICH VILLAGE – GREEN [verdant] + W(ith) I CH(urch) + VILLA [house] + G{oeth}E | |
| 12 | Obtains inside information for a rise in savings (4,3) |
| NEST EGG – GETS inside GEN, the whole reversed | |
| 15 | Bearing used in horse-drawn vehicle (8) |
| CARRIAGE – double def | |
| 19 | Foreign coin to add in among Jamaican notes? (8) |
| STOTINKA – TOT [to add] + IN, among SKA [Jamaican music] | |
| 22 | Meet wayward son in shelter I need to check (3,2,3) |
| LET ME SEE – (MEET*) + S(on), in LEE [shelter] | |
| 23 | Large organ’s featured in visceral composer’s work (9,7) |
| GULLIVERS TRAVELS – L(arge) LIVER’S, in GUT RAVEL’S | |
| 27 | Heads off for winter in pet surfing place (8) |
| INTERNET – {w}INTER {i}N {p}ET | |
| 28 | Star witnesses appearing in first issue? (4) |
| MAGI – MAG(azine) 1 | |
| 30 | Blade going round front end of turbine (4) |
| VANE – VAN [front] + {turbin}E | |
| 32 | Work on red colour reported for visual specialist (8) |
| OPTICIAN – OP on homophone of TITIAN | |
| 34 | Man having to accept defeat, where terms laid out? (8) |
| GLOSSARY – GARY accepting LOSS | |
| 35 | Dropping intro in nice clarinet playing produces sparks (11) |
| ELECTRICIAN – ({n}ICE CLARINET*) | |
| 36 | Hartfordians here one saw under bridge (11) |
| CONNECTICUT – I CUT under CONNECT | |
| 37 | Disheartened grain workers in truth shortened shift (11) |
| REALIGNMENT – G{rai}N MEN, in REALIT{y} | |
| 40 | Perfect woman keeping place by Devonian river (9) |
| EXEMPLARY – MARY keeping PL(ace), by EXE | |
| 42 | Fill net up at sea in good supply (9) |
| PLENTIFUL – (FILL NET UP*) | |
| 43 | Many layers shed? (8) |
| HENHOUSE – cryptic def, for a shed containing many layers (of eggs) | |
| 44 | Unrecoverable cash duke and girl brought into club? (3,4) |
| BAD DEBT – D(uke) and DEB, into BAT | |
| 46 | Joiner in building industry church people finally accept (6) |
| CEMENT – C.E. MEN {accep}T | |
| 47 | Hydra moving across lake only with great difficulty (6) |
| HARDLY – (HYDRA*) across L(ake) | |
| 51 | English prince appearing regularly in spectacular film (4) |
| EPIC – E(nglish) P{r}I{n}C{e} | |
I never did figure out how TOLSTOY worked. MERs about unusual=INTERESTING and beguiling=BUTTERING UP. LOI EXUBERANT, which I think I’ll make my COD, although I also liked STRESS, RASCAL, DEARTH, AIR FILTER, NEST EGG, & VANE.
1:45:51. I nearly missed this blog. I’m glad I didn’t. Lots of parsing needed filling out. Thanks. I looked up STOTINKA in a missing letters thing and then kicked myself when I saw how simple it was to construct. At 5dn CHIN I used chine rather than chink as the crack that needed to be shortened. Chine: a rocky ravine or deep fissure in a cliff. Fissure: crack. I think it works, but perhaps too obscure, known only to those familiar with Bournemouth and thereabouts on the south coast where they are found. The Uber ant was great