This took a shade under 45 minutes including making sure I understood everything so by my standards at least this was straightforward. Nothing wrong with that and there were some entertaining clues and neat definitions along the way. Our setter does like his question marks and exclamation marks.
I kicked things off with SPORT and, oddly enough, finished with its first “dangler”, STERNUTATION.
Clues are reproduced below in blue with the definition part underlined. The explanations should make sense, if not don’t be shy in letting me know.
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Across |
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1 |
Wound in prophet almost found (9) |
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ESTABLISH – STAB in ELISH |
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6 |
Cricket possibly intimate for Australians? (5) |
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SPORT – DD if you like, the second hinting at the probably never used in real life expression “G’day sport!” |
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9 |
Look after child, next to son nursed by guy (7) |
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BABYSIT – BY S[on] in BAIT, guy as in tease. |
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13 |
Piece of Dover sole brought by page (5) |
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VERSO – Hidden in doVER SOle. I’m assuming that the definition is just page but “brought by” is an odd-looking link phrase. Am I missing summat? |
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14 |
A home is beyond me — most unpleasant (7) |
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MEANEST – A NEST after ME |
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15 |
Relative entertaining old writer, one extraordinary figure! (9) |
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SQUILLION – SON around QUILL I |
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16 |
In tuck shop unfortunately sandwiches close to inedible – poor feeder! (4,7) |
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SOUP KITCHEN – (intuckshop)* around {inedibl}E. Nice definition. |
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17 |
Ostentatious style of clan may be unusual (11) |
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FLAMBOYANCE – (ofclanmaybe)* |
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18 |
Jumbo passenger, leg part turned, then dislocated (6) |
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MAHOUT – HAM reversed then OUT, a mahout being an elephant rider, trainer or keeper. In the words of Joan Armatrading, “Drop the mahout, I’m the easy rider”. |
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19 |
Country done with test (8) |
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PASTORAL – PAST ORAL. Not the name of a country then. |
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21 |
So, are you convinced? (6) |
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REALLY – DD “Love Island is so good”. “Are you convinced?” |
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25 |
Society needs something done about new permit (8) |
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SANCTION – S[ociety] then ACTION around N[ew] |
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26 |
Certain to admit hair beginning to recede in fact — hairline problem? (6,8) |
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STRESS FRACTURE – SURE around TRESS and R{ecede} in FACT |
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28 |
Deliver prize (5) |
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UTTER – DD, prize as in “Rodney, you prize plonker”. |
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29 |
Muscle representing boxing law! (6) |
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FLEXOR – FOR around LEX with boxing as the rather neat containicator (cf sandwiches, bottles, trousers etc.) |
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30 |
New series about Mike in holiday destination was entrancing (10) |
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MESMERISED – another Russian doll clue. M[ike] in (series)* in MED |
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33 |
Hope inspired girl to enter race with Scotsman (10) |
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RURITANIAN – RITA in RUN then IAN. Anthony Hope, The Prisoner of Zenda and George Bernard Shaw walk into a bar. |
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35 |
Birthplace of Plato — as thus written? (6) |
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ATHENS – to write AS you put A THEN S. Ta-daa! I didn’t know where yer man was born but with the checkers in place I took a wild stab and reverse engineered. |
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36 |
Unearth vestige (5) |
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TRACE – DD |
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38 |
Awful boos circulated for puzzler (6,8) |
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DOUBLE ACROSTIC – (booscircuated)* |
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40 |
Line in retreat, a thousand actors in formation on beach (4,4) |
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WORM CAST – ROW reversed then M CAST |
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42 |
Saving hospital, military convoy possibly cheers (6) |
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THANKS – H[ospital] in TANKS |
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43 |
Linear measurement, one aiming to shrink about a metre (8) |
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DIAMETER – A M[etre] in DIETER. I liked “one aiming to shrink”. |
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44 |
Last river — last! (6) |
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ENDURE – END URE |
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47 |
US cop runs after a sergeant wrongly arresting unknown character (5,6) |
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TEXAS RANGER – R[uns] after X in (asergeant)* |
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50 |
Fellers, heading off to sleep, knaves (11) |
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LUMBERJACKS – |
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52 |
Squire finds way to cover reduced revenue at first (9) |
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LANDOWNER – LANE around DOWN then R{evenue} |
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53 |
Member’s restraint on press (3,4) |
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LEG IRON – LEG (on as in the cricket side) then IRON |
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54 |
Heat blast (5) |
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ROAST – DD |
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55 |
Parliamentarian finally welcomed by constituency, or statesman (7) |
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SENATOR – {parliamentaria}N in SEAT OR |
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56 |
Last in line opening competition (5) |
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EVENT – {lin}E VENT |
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57 |
Arboreal mammal — try to catch one by swinging backwards (5,4) |
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HONEY BEAR – For some reason HONEY BEAR was my first thought when I saw the definition and enumeration but I didn’t see the wordplay immediately. It’s HEAR around ONE and BY reversed. |
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Down |
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1 |
Part of a house goes without roof (5) |
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EAVES – |
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2 |
Completely finished twice? (7,3,7) |
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THROUGH AND THROUGH – Er, THROUGH = finished and there are two of them |
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3 |
Prevent American man becoming huge success (11) |
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BLOCKBUSTER – BLOCK BUSTER |
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4 |
Con elected, winning move (6) |
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INMATE – IN MATE (chess) |
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5 |
Present broadcast repeated? Yes! (4,4) |
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HEAR HEAR – double homophone of “here” |
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6 |
Stop to pinch nose, over man flu, but finally sneezing (12) |
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STERNUTATION – STATION around the final letters of nosE oveR maN flU buT. Not a word that’s in everyday use I’d wager. |
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7 |
Discharged from brotherhood, misbehaving (3,2,5) |
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OUT OF ORDER – DD, the first a tad whimsical |
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8 |
Try on a coat (5) |
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TESTA – TEST A. In short, it’s a seed coat. |
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9 |
Whaler’s product I’m not sure for a wailer! (9) |
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BLUBBERER – BLUBBER ER |
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10 |
Awkward bend clearly shaking performer (5,6) |
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BELLY DANCER – (bendclearly)* |
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11 |
Descendant in India gatecrashing small party (5) |
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SCION – I[ndia] in S[mall] CON[servative] |
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12 |
Note meaning to be heard (6) |
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TENNER – sounds like TENOR |
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18 |
Pretence created, as doubt briefly concealed (10) |
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MASQUERADE – MADE around AS QUER |
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20 |
Short step boarding ship, one paying attention (8) |
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LISTENER – STE |
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22 |
In parochial use, USA renegotiated US/French agreement (9,8) |
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LOUISIANA PURCHASE – (in parochial use usa)* |
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23 |
Scientist out to discard bottles (6) |
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BOFFIN – OFF (out) bottled (contained) by BIN. I wondered for a while if there was a noted scientist called Boutin. |
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24 |
Labyrinthine deed with Cretan bull here? (4,6) |
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DEAD CENTRE – Panic stations, classics alert, help! Wait a second. False alarm. (deedcretan)*. I remember failing to solve a Times puzzle because of a clue about one of the labours of Heracles (some stable nonsense). Since then I’ve tried to revise my 12 labours before every championship but I still don’t know them. Is there a Cretan bull in there somewhere? We’re off to Crete in August, I’ll let you know. Theseus? Perseus? |
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27 |
Couple in grass put right (8) |
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REPAIRED – PAIR in REED |
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31 |
Where mother sleeps? Is it charming? (6) |
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MASCOT – MA’S COT |
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32 |
Use a match — holy smoke! (6,1,5) |
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STRIKE A LIGHT – DD, I guess the second is the most robust, but the phrase may not be well known to our overeseas solving chums (cf Gordon Bennett, stone the crows, jeepers creepers and chiffing bellicks). |
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34 |
One hunting for a gift? (6,5) |
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TALENT SCOUT – CD |
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36 |
Fashion trend, majority having dismissed it as juvenile entertainment (3,3,5) |
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TOM AND JERRY – anagram of TREND and MAJOR |
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37 |
English Channel flooding digger — something afoot? (10) |
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ESPADRILLE – E[nglish] then RILL in SPADE. There will probably be a lot of espadrilles on display in Crete. |
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39 |
One staying dry in rain: beats getting buffeted! (9) |
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ABSTAINER – (rainbeats)* |
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41 |
Every other bit of jetsam coated in wood stain (8) |
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BESMIRCH – {j}E{t}S{a}M in BIRCH |
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45 |
Theatre area comes to a halt (6) |
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STALLS – DD |
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46 |
Continue writing about northern flag (6) |
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PENNON – PEN ON around N[orthern] |
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48 |
Gas on under beef, lid off (5) |
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XENON – ON under |
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49 |
Stuff big hole (5) |
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GORGE – DD |
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51 |
Instrument passing current through lead (5) |
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SITAR – I In STAR (leda as in leading man / lady). I’ve always just sort of taken it as read that I = current in crosswordland. I, the conventional symbol for current, originates from the French phrase intensité de courant, (current intensity). |
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Ong’ara,
Nairobi.