Posted on Helen’s behalf as her PC’s playing up.
I wasn’t able to time myself for this puzzle, but I thought it was on the difficult side, with nicely misleading surface readings for several of the clues.
As ever, * indicates an anagram.
Across |
1 |
MOSQUITO NET – MO’s + QUIT + ONE + patienT |
7 |
MINUTE WALTZ – MINUTE + WALT (Disney) + Z |
13 |
CONFINING – double definition (con-fining = making a criminal pay) |
14 |
NORFOLK – NO + R + FOLK. “Broad area” refers to the Norfolk Broads |
15 |
LEWIS – hidden in Brindisi welterweight, reversed. “Busy” is the definition, referring to the fictional policeman Lewis in the Inspector Morse books and TV series, and more recently with a series of his own |
16 |
OBELUS – OB (short for obiit, meaning he or she died) + bELt + jUSt
|
17 |
STEFANIE – (seen fit)* around A |
18 |
AUBERGE – UBER (German for “over”, if you ignore the missing umlaut) in AGE |
20 |
A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW – (top artist will be)* + ALLOW |
23 |
BOUQUET – double definition |
24 |
TRUNDLE – TRUE, around Necessarily Deviating Left. 44 refers to 44ac, TROLLEY |
26 |
SINATRA – IN in SAT, + RA (Royal Academician – I’m not sure about the use of “drawer” to indicate an RA!) |
28 |
REEK – gREEK, as in “it’s all Greek to me” |
29 |
SUCK UP TO – SUCK UP + TO |
32 |
SCARECROW – S + CARE + CROW |
35 |
EL ALAMEIN – ale (reversed) + LAME + IN. “Best” indicates beer, as in “best bitter” |
36 |
REIGNITE – “supporter of royal power” could indicate a REIGN-ITE |
37 |
HAKE – BeetHoven + AKA (also known as) |
39 |
LAD MAGS – (glam ads)*. Amusing clue! |
41 |
TOTEMIC – TOTE (carry) + MIC (short for microphone) |
44 |
TROLLEY – TransporteR + O, + yell, reversedT |
45 |
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG – BANG BANG (reports), after HIT in CiTY (twice) |
49 |
OPENAIR – O + PEN + AIR |
50 |
RICHMOND – RICH + MOD round N |
51 |
CLUEDO – (could + decide)* |
53 |
DEREK – D + ERE + walK |
54 |
IN PRINT – alternate letters of “sign up”, + RI (relegious instruction) + NT (New Testament) |
55 |
READINESS – REES’S around A DIN |
56 |
SHOW THE FLAG – (Who gets half)* |
57 |
DAWN REDWOOD – DAWN + RED + WO (without) + OD (overdose). |
Down |
1 |
MICRON – (no RC + I’m), reversed. “an Anglican” indicates “no RC”, i.e. “not a Roman Catholic” |
2 |
SUNSET BOULEVARD – (as bold US venture)* |
3 |
UBIQUITOUS – U BUS around I QUITO |
4 |
TWIG – shirT + WIG |
5 |
NIGHTSPOT – NIGH (= to hand) + TenniS + POT |
6 |
TANKFUL – ThANKFUL |
7 |
MARINATED – (Rain at Med)* |
8 |
NOOSE – soon (reversed) + E |
9 |
TAKEAWAYS – TAKE AWAY’S |
10 |
WELL-BALANCED – WELL, + LANCE in BAD. WELL and LANCE are the two “different types of shaft” |
11 |
LOWBROW – LOW (sound made by a cow) + BROWn
|
12 |
ZESTER – hidden in gaZE STERnly
|
19 |
GERTRUDE – Reg (reversed) + T + RUDE |
21 |
STEPSON – STEPS ON (indicated by “Crushes”) |
22 |
WAR-WEARY – WARY around WEAR |
23 |
BORDELLO – (doorbell)*. Clue indicates a “knocking shop”! |
25 |
UPPER – double definition (UPPER in the sense of part of a shoe) |
27 |
TURN A BLIND EYE TO – INDependent in TURNABLE, + YET + O |
30 |
KINETIC – KINE (KINE and neat are both old words for cattle), + TIC |
31 |
OPIUM – O + PIU + M |
33 |
ASTATINE – IN in A STATE |
34 |
SAFARI JACKET – J in (Africa takes)* |
38 |
POT-BELLIED – top (reversed), + BELIED around L |
40 |
SATURNINE – TURN IN + E (= ecstasy pill), after SA (= sex appeal or “it”) |
42 |
TWITCHING – TWIT + CHeatING |
43 |
CABIN CREW – C, + C in (wine bar)* |
45 |
CHEERIO – CHEER + IO (satellite of Jupiter). The definition is “see you” |
46 |
TEMPTED – Toast + EMPTiED |
47 |
HORDES – HORDES sounds like hoards, hence “coming out of traps” where “traps” = mouths |
48 |
MOSSAD – MOSS-AD (poster for a kind of plant). MOSSAD is the national intelligence agency in Israel, but I wonder about “Middle East plant suppliers” as the definition. What do others think? |
50 |
REPEL – P in REEL |
52 |
PAIR – I think “Sound of French pop” is supposed to indicate something that sounds like the French for father, i.e. père. Maybe if you’re Joey Barton or Edward Heath, it does… |
No problems here with Mossad or pair.. père/pair are a clear homophone in received English. As for Mossad, they seem to plant things all the time – explosives, bullets as well as people – all in the name of “peace.”
I wasn’t too worried about the père/pair (non-)homophone, particularly as I’d recently noted (here) that Ximenes apparently sanctioned “Herr” and “hair” as homophones!
I’ve noticed RA = “drawer” more than once recently. I suppose the justification could be that drawing has always been considered an important feature of the RA, but I can’t say I’m madly keen on it.