I found this of about average difficulty but there were enough unfamiliar or vaguely familiar words to keep it interesting.
Solving time: 15m 1s
Definitions are underlined.
* = anagram, dd = double definition, cd = cryptic definition, {} = omission
| Across | |
| 1 | Prisoner, erstwhile one obeying the law? (9) |
| CONFORMER – CON (Prisoner) + FORMER (erstwhile) | |
| 6 | One month with a little fellow? Much longer than that! (7) |
| DECADES – DEC (One month) + A + DES (little fellow) | |
| 10 | Very energetic and touchy person fraying at the edges (5) |
| HYPER – in toucHY PERson | |
| 13 | Rich old university acquiring power fast (7) |
| OPULENT – O (old) + U (university) around P (power), + LENT (fast) | |
| 14 | Spread of food with litres for drinking (5) |
| FLARE – FARE (food) around L (litres) | |
| 15 | Regions across sea to the west, a hazard for travellers in haste? (5,4) |
| SPEED TRAP – reversal (to the west) of PARTS (Regions) around DEEP (sea) | |
| 16 | Understand what causes pain in Oxford maybe? (4,5,3,4,7) |
| KNOW WHERE THE SHOE PINCHES – extended definition requiring a literal as well as a figurative interpretation, where an Oxford – as so often in Crosswordland – is a shoe. I didn’t know this expression but it seemed the likeliest option once a few of the checkers were in place. | |
| 17 | Pretence by American to be a detective in his country (6) |
| SHAMUS – SHAM (Pretence) + US (American). I didn’t know this but the wordplay didn’t really admit any other possibilities. | |
| 18 | Number going round at noon are menacing (8) |
| THREATEN – THREE (Number) around AT, + N (noon) | |
| 19 | Fellows getting rid of leader sing to show delight (7) |
| ENCHANT – {m}EN (Fellows getting rid of leader) + CHANT (sing) | |
| 22 | At sea they’d dread being like the Ancient Mariner? (10) |
| DEHYDRATED – (THEY’D DREAD)*, presumably a reference to the famous (but often misquoted) line “Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink”. Good effort by the setter with the nautical surface. | |
| 23 | Wearing garment with one gun, soldiers who may be on the prowl? (12) |
| INVESTIGATOR – IN (Wearing) + VEST (garment) + I (one) + GAT (gun) + OR (soldiers). A nice five-part charade. | |
| 27 | Greek island produces items of fruit, any number going to waste (5) |
| MELOS – MELO{n}S (items of fruit without the n (any number)). Also known as Milos and famous for being where the Venus de Milo statue was discovered. | |
| 29 | Swallow to obtain feathers (3,4) |
| GET DOWN – GET (to obtain) + DOWN (feathers) | |
| 30 | Sarah joins the stars — they get paid (8) |
| SALARIES – SAL (Sarah) + ARIES (the stars). My initial reaction was that surely Sal is more commonly a shortening of Sally, but it turns out that Sally is itself a derivative of Sarah. How do you reach your forties without knowing things like that? | |
| 32 | A good number remain endlessly uncertain about what to believe (8) |
| AGNOSTIC – A + G (good) + NO (number) + STIC{k} (remain endlessly). Pleasing surface. | |
| 34 | Kitchen device in book obtained by library? (7) |
| BLENDER – B (book) + LENDER (library?) | |
| 36 | Headgear for criminals in US districts (5) |
| HOODS – triple definition | |
| 39 | Apparatus positioned at Paddington, say, letting everyone in (12) |
| INSTALLATION – IN (positioned at) + STATION (Paddington, say), around ALL (everyone) | |
| 41 | Keep dragging donkey with ropes? (5-5) |
| CHAIN-SMOKE – CHAINS (ropes) + MOKE (donkey). Unobvious definition, though the surface might interest the RSPCA. | |
| 44 | Ruin in some French city of days gone by (7) |
| DESTROY – DES (some French) + TROY (city of days gone by) | |
| 46 | No image for a developer (8) |
| NEGATIVE – dd | |
| 48 | Skin defect’s beginning to disappear, surgeon’s found (6) |
| LISTER – {b}LISTER (Skin defect without its first letter) | |
| 50 | Party of characters in dance capitalised? (7,8,8) |
| AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS – contained in DANCE (dance capitalised) | |
| 53 | Type of pea is island produce (9) |
| MANGETOUT – MAN (island) + GET OUT (produce) | |
| 54 | Instrument is abused with old rocker clearing off (5) |
| VIOLA – VIOLA{Ted} (abused without the Ted) | |
| 55 | Expression of contentment — it’s about giving support (7) |
| STIRRUP – reversal of PURR (Expression of contentment) + IT’S | |
| 56 | Not set to race where famous marathon takes place (5) |
| RUNNY – RUN (to race) + NY (where famous marathon takes place) | |
| 57 | Imagine possibility of money when valuable minerals lie hidden (7) |
| FORESEE – FEE (money) around ORES (valuable minerals) | |
| 58 | I urged Europe, not half, to change — it’s obligatory (2,7) |
| DE RIGUEUR – (I URGED EUR{ope})* | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Hit one displaying speed (5) |
| CLOCK – dd, the second an informal name for a speedometer | |
| 2 | Poor tot languishes — these medical specialists may sort that out (17) |
| NEUROPATHOLOGISTS – (POOR TOT LANGUISHES)* | |
| 3 | Where one may find dressing too tight (9) |
| OVERWOUND – OVER WOUND | |
| 4 | Queen looked down upon by dull subject (6) |
| MATTER – MATT (dull) + ER (Queen) | |
| 5 | ‘Free NHS’ — term abused in regeneration? (11) |
| REFRESHMENT – (FREE NHS TERM)* | |
| 6 | Spooner’s little woman no longer with us — having finished here? (8) |
| DEATHBED – Spoonerism of BETH (little woman) DEAD (no longer with us), where Beth can be read either as one of the characters in Little Women or just a general shortening of Elizabeth | |
| 7 | Torch in Home Counties implanted in top of hill (7) |
| CRESSET – SE (Home Counties, i.e. the South-East) inside CREST (top of hill). Not a common word but the wordplay is helpful. | |
| 8 | Checkout in Norfolk town? Such will offer money off (11) |
| DISCOUNTERS – COUNTER (Checkout) in DISS (Norfolk town). A cursory bit of Googling suggests that Diss is a market town with no particular claims to fame, so overseas solvers may have trouble with that bit of the parsing (though it did crop up in a recent Mephisto). | |
| 9 | PM laid up in short rest, being more tired than anyone else (9) |
| SLEEPIEST – reversal of PEEL (PM) in SIEST{a} (short rest) | |
| 10 | Explosive academic in charge, out for self-gratification (7) |
| HEDONIC – HE (Explosive) + DON (academic) + IC (in charge). Perhaps not as commonly used as hedonistic. | |
| 11 | Quiet church containing gold architectural feature (5) |
| PORCH – P (Quiet) + CH (church) around OR (gold) | |
| 12 | Sorry poet, I worked in a dump? (10) |
| REPOSITORY – (SORRY POET I)* | |
| 17 | Doom’s spelt out for this place (5) |
| SODOM – (DOOM’S)*, with an extended definition | |
| 20 | High-up boss may be here, but it’s a precarious location for a cradle (2,3,3,2,3,4) |
| AT THE TOP OF THE TREE – dd, the second a literal interpretation referring to the nursery rhyme Rock-a-bye Baby | |
| 21 | Something smoked became item of food (6) |
| FAGGOT – I initially had this as a dd, as a faggot can be (Chambers) “A bundle of sticks for fuel, etc”, but now I think it’s actually FAG (Something smoked) + GOT (became) | |
| 24 | French port‘s name engraved in seat (6) |
| NANTES – N (name) in NATES (seat, i.e. the buttocks) | |
| 25 | Court of King Arthur (5) |
| GARTH – hidden in KinG ARTHur. Not a common word but straightforward wordplay. Chambers: “A courtyard within a cloister” | |
| 26 | Repeated shout of disapproval for mistake (3-3) |
| BOO-BOO – BOO (shout of disapproval) twice | |
| 28 | Opening of a test’s beginning at the southern end (5) |
| STOMA – reversal of A MOT’S (test’s). Another not-so-common word (though interestingly it came up in a Quick Cryptic a couple of years ago). Chambers: “A mouthlike opening in some animals (zoology)”, though the other two entries relating to plants and colostomies are also applicable. | |
| 31 | Poet messin’ about (6) |
| LARKIN – LARKIN’ (messin’ about) | |
| 33 | Firm with fashion festival — one has flowers (11) |
| COTONEASTER – CO (Firm) + TON (fashion) + EASTER (festival). I’d heard this word spoken before but it was a real surprise the first time I saw how it was spelled. | |
| 35 | Aircraft pioneer has not succeeded in brute to bring down (2,9) |
| DE HAVILLAND – HA{s} (has not succeeded) inside DEVIL (brute) + LAND (to bring down). Captain Sir Geoffrey De Havilland founded the De Havilland company, which produced the DH-98 Mosquito warplane and – perhaps most famously – the DH-106 Comet, the world’s first commercial jet. Though both those planes were well before my time, the company was familiar from my childhood, as for some birthday or Christmas I was given an Airfix kit of the Grosvenor House, a red DH-88 Comet (unrelated, despite the name) that set various air records. | |
| 37 | Weapon to throw or shoot (5) |
| SPEAR – dd, the second as encountered in, say, asparagus | |
| 38 | Vessel to meander with someone blocking radio messages (10) |
| WINDJAMMER – WIND (to meander) + JAMMER (someone blocking radio messages). A type of large sailing ship. | |
| 40 | Giving up any golf if injured (6,3) |
| LAYING OFF – (ANY GOLF IF)* | |
| 42 | Extreme practice of sexual libertarianism fuelled by drug (9) |
| SWINGEING – SWINGING (practice of sexual libertarianism) around E (drug) | |
| 43 | Laurel, comedian in old-fashioned conveyance (8) |
| STANHOPE – STAN (Laurel, referring to the comedian) + HOPE (Bob, referring to another comedian). The carriage to take if your berlin, brougham, and landau are all in for servicing. | |
| 45 | Kitchenware chipped on top used for garden feature (7) |
| ROCKERY – {c}ROCKERY (Kitchenware without its first letter) | |
| 47 | Smile curtailed ahead of First Lady’s laments (7) |
| GRIEVES – GRI{n} (Smile curtailed) + EVE’S (First Lady’s) | |
| 49 | Doctor with client’s cat (6) |
| MOUSER – MO (Doctor) + USER (client) | |
| 51 | Enzyme offers control, containing nitrogen (5) |
| RENIN – REIN (control) around N (nitrogen). Not to be confused with rennin. | |
| 52 | Fantastic salesperson getting us to the top (5) |
| SUPER – reversal of REP (salesperson) + US | |
The DH88 Comet “Grosvenor House” you mention is viewable today, as it forms part of the extraordinary Shuttleworth Collection – I haven’t ever seen it fly, but maybe it still can. There is a photo of it in the Wiki entry. Cannot recommend a visit to Old Warden, on a flying day if possible, highly enough..
Edited at 2016-06-13 06:05 am (UTC)
MajORCA and MinORCA are two of the largest Balearic Islands – they’re well-known in the UK as holiday destinations, though would be something of a long-haul trip from Nairobi!
Also, there won’t be a blog appearing for 1209 for about another 3 weeks – seems as though an incorrect closing date was included in the print version of the paper, so the puzzle will still be “live” (and hence won’t be blogged) until then.