Took me just under the hour, so I’d place this one slightly on the harder side of average. Didn’t know the Kipling work at 3dn, which gave me the pleasure of working a 22-letter anagram into the most likely arrangement. A lot easier with checkers in place, of course.
Elsewhere there was some fiendish parsing which I didn’t really unravel until I came to do the blog, including but not limited to LAMB OF GOD, ELEVENSES, CRYSTAL, YOU DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF IT and RECESSIVE. Good fun all round.
Now I need to say a few words to the setter. First, thanks for the enjoyable challenge. Great work, very clever. But here’s the awkward bit. You know what I’m going to say next, don’t you? Yes, we have to talk about 37dn.
Hmmmm, 37dn. Doesn’t quite work, does it? CICAL is not an anagram of LILAC, no matter which way you twist it. Please write that out a thousand times, and don’t let it happen again! (Seriously, I didn’t even notice at the time of solving. In fact it’s nice to see that the setters are actually human. The editor, on the other hand….).
Anyway, let’s move on from that, and have a look at how I parsed it all.
Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised. Then there’s the answer IN BOLD, followed by the parsing of the wordplay. (ABC)* means ‘anagram of ABC’.
| Across | |
| 1 | Fashionable drink I had is devoid of flavour (7) |
| INSIPID – IN (fashionable) + SIP (drink) + ID (I had) | |
| 5 | Butterfly leads new return of red admiral’s junior (9) |
|
COMMANDER – COMMA (butterfly) + N (new) + DER (return of RED) Yes, a comma is a type of butterfly. Welcome to Crosswordland. |
|
| 10 | Account of great heroism Turkish officers sent back (4) |
| SAGA – AGAS (Turkish officers) reversed (sent back) | |
| 14 | Plant — Open University obtain six left in British field (13) |
|
BOUGAINVILLEA – OU (Open University) + GAIN (obtain) + VI (six) + L (left) in B (British) + LEA (field) Bit of an IKEA clue if you didn’t know the plant, but most solvers would have biffed it with a few checkers in place. |
|
| 15 | Men in area go after token girl abroad (9) |
| SIGNORINA – OR (Other Ranks, men) + IN + A (area) after SIGN (token) | |
| 16 | Top legal expert drafting university minutes badly (5,5) |
| GRAND MUFTI – [DRAFTING + U (university) + M (minutes)]* | |
| 17 | Established how to play forte and prestissimo? (4,3,4) |
| HARD AND FAST – Double definition | |
| 18 | Artist attached to favourite old city (5) |
| PETRA – PET (favourite) + RA (artist) | |
| 19 | Where laws are made how one may end the game of bingo? (5,5) |
| STATE HOUSE – Double def, the second one whimsical | |
| 21 | Beginning to sense joints, reportedly a symptom of flu (6) |
| SNEEZE – S (beginning of sense) + NEEZE [homophone (reportedly) of KNEES (joints)] | |
| 23 | Going back after parking earlier (9) |
| PRECEDING – RECEDING (going back) after P (parking) | |
| 25 | Most of Pluto’s place in sci-fi books may be seen here (5) |
| SHELF – HEL [most of HELL (Pluto’s place)] in SF (sci-fi) | |
| 26 | Right to settle outside a city in California (7) |
| OAKLAND – OK (right) + LAND (settle) outside A | |
| 28 | What offers equity for a wage slave working (3,2,8) |
| LAW OF AVERAGES – (FOR A WAGE SLAVE)* | |
| 31 | Large pulpit following the Father and the Son (4,2,3) |
| LAMB OF GOD – L (large) + AMBO (pulpit) + F (following) + GOD (the Father) | |
| 33 | Thinking earnings should be redistributed around circle (9) |
| REASONING – (EARNINGS)* around O (circle) | |
| 35 | Present involving certain travel and a lot of valuable things (8,5) |
| TREASURE TROVE – TREAT (present) “involving” SURE (certain) + ROVE (travel) | |
| 37 | Keen to come into contact with old cut glass (7) |
| CRYSTAL – CRY (keen) + STAL [STALE (old) “cut”] | |
| 38 | Saint has to tolerate curse (5) |
| SWEAR – S (saint) + WEAR (tolerate) | |
| 40 | Break even during different sales initially (9) |
| ELEVENSES – EVEN “during” ELSE (different) + S (sales initially) | |
| 42 | Allowed to follow a marine band (6) |
| ARMLET – A + RM (Royal Marine) + LET (allowed) | |
| 44 | Early schooling is excellent (5,5) |
| FIRST CLASS – Double def | |
| 46 | Present to answer charge (5) |
| AWARD – A (answer) + WARD (charge) | |
| 48 | What draws in pop music nut to rock (7,4) |
| SUCTION PUMP – (POP MUSIC NUT)* | |
| 50 | Drug risk is reversed — energy and force stopping weakness (4,6) |
| SIDE EFFECT – SI (IS reversed) + E (energy) + F (force) in DEFECT (weakness) | |
| 52 | Part of opera clique volunteers to cover Met missing millions (9) |
|
CABALETTA – CABAL (clique) + TA (Territorial Army, volunteers) “to cover” ET [MET missing M (millions)] A fast concluding section of a two-part operatic aria. Always wondered what one of them was called. |
|
| 53 | Delay, we hear, removing Olympic event (13) |
| WEIGHTLIFTING – WEIGHT [homophone for WAIT (delay)] + LIFTING (removing) | |
| 54 | Unpleasant look of heartless landlord (4) |
| LEER – LE{TT}ER (landlord), “heartless” (missing middle letters) | |
| 55 | Belted peers love to ignore call to be roused (9) |
| OVERSLEEP – (PEERS LOVE)* | |
| 56 | Regret incorporating English metal company (7) |
| RETINUE – RUE (regret) incorporating E (English) + TIN (metal) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | I run across black language in Nigeria (4) |
| IGBO – I + GO (run) “across” B (black) | |
| 2 | Minor female role, with little money to improve, bringing up the rear (9) |
|
SOUBRETTE – SOU (little money) + BRETTE [BETTER (improve) moving the last letter forward (bringing up the rear)] Another opera clue. Really setter? What’s wrong with cricket? |
|
| 3 | Short elephant film is all shot for Kipling book (5,5,4,3,5) |
| PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS – (SHORT ELEPHANT FILM IS ALL)* | |
| 4 | Such a number of daughters picked up energetic people (7) |
| DYNAMOS – [SO MANY (such a number) + D (daughters)] reversed (picked up) | |
| 5 | Blunder about a lot of risky hospital programme’s ending (11) |
| CLIFFHANGER – CLANGER (blunder) about IFF [a lot of IFFY (risky)] + H (hospital) | |
| 6 | Cloudy nature of sort found in pits with sulphur (9) |
| MILKINESS – ILK (sort) in MINES (pits) + S (sulphur) | |
| 7 | Flooded a Pacific state — but not in good fashion (5) |
| AWASH – A + WASH [WASHINGTON (Pacific state) without IN + G (good) + TON (fashion)] | |
| 8 | Suspecting wild Futurists gripped by Dali, oddly (11) |
| DISTRUSTFUL – (FUTURISTS)* “gripped by” DL (odd letters of DaLi) | |
| 9 | Keen on rising to take in grand music (6) |
| REGGAE – REGAE [EAGER (keen) reversed (on rising)] to take in G (grand) | |
| 11 | Living with a partner from Belfast, perhaps (7) |
| ANIMATE – A + NIMATE (Northern Ireland MATE, or “partner from Belfast”) | |
| 12 | A role Swiss heroine reduced in political system (9) |
| APARTHEID – A + PART (role) + HEID [HEIDI (Swiss heroine) reduced] | |
| 13 | I alone? There’s much more! (3,4,4,3,4,2,2) |
| YOU DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF IT – Cryptic def, where “I alone” equates to “half of IT” | |
| 18 | Non-technical university in part of east London (7) |
| POPULAR – U (university) in POPLAR (part of East London) | |
| 20 | Be responsible for some lines in Old English (7) |
| OVERSEE – VERSE (some lines) in OE (Old English) | |
| 22 | Arrive with car trapped in traffic (8) |
| COMMERCE – MERC (car) “trapped in” COME (arrive) | |
| 24 | Entice couples heading into very ignorant lexicography (8) |
| INVEIGLE – First two letters of (couples heading) each of INto VEry IGnorant LExicography | |
| 27 | Violent behaviour displayed by stag groups (5) |
| AGGRO – Hidden (displayed by) stAG GROups | |
| 29 | Tired wife inclined to cry when short of time (5) |
| WEARY – W (wife) + EARY [TEARY (inclined to cry) when short of T (time)] | |
| 30 | Weak conjecture about tinfoil — news one’s withheld (7) |
| GUTLESS – GUESS (conjecture) about TL [TINFOIL with INFO (news) + I (one) withheld] | |
| 32 | Like crab served up with mayonnaise, say (7) |
| DRESSED – Cryptic def, unless I’m missing something? | |
| 34 | Established one copper left in entrance is to sign (11) |
| GESTICULATE – EST (established) + I (one) + CU (copper) + L (left) in GATE (entrance) | |
| 36 | Care what spider’s weaving (11) |
| STEWARDSHIP – (WHAT SPIDERS)* | |
| 37 | Girl wreathed in lilac cultivated from an earlier time (9) |
|
CLASSICAL – LASS (girl) in (LILAC)* Ah, but it’s not, is it? A generous soul on the forum suggested that “girl” might be “CASS”, which would get the setter (and editor) off the hook, but it doesn’t quite work. |
|
| 39 | Concerned with Conservative case for being backward moving (9) |
|
RECESSIVE – RE (concerned with) + C (Conservative) + ESSIVE (case for being) Essive is a grammatical case whose distinctive function is to indicate a state of being. Hence “case for being”. |
|
| 41 | Bar contains drunk that’s grabbed Henry (9) |
| STANCHION – (CONTAINS)* “that’s grabbed” H (Henry) | |
| 43 | Hansom invested in horse that’s black (7) |
| MACABRE – CAB (hansom) in MARE (horse) | |
| 45 | Outstanding measure to block climbing rodents (7) |
| STELLAR – ELL (measure) to “stop” STAR [RATS (rodents) reversed (climbing)] | |
| 47 | Soccer move went badly in no-score draw? (3-3) |
| ONE-TWO – (WENT)* in OO (no-score draw, or 0-0) | |
| 49 | Internees having years in area of Wales (5) |
| POWYS – Y (years) in POWS (internees) | |
| 51 | Fairy-tale creature brought back by Mother Goose (4) |
| OGRE – Reverse hidden (brought back by) mothER GOose | |
As for the allegedly defective clue, is your handwriting so bad you can’t tell your ‘L’ from your ‘C’? If so, it works perfectly!
I do remember enjoying this though, with some knotty clues and unknowns that had to be worked out from wordplay.
In keeping with the sloppiness of my solving I didn’t notice the error.
Ong’ara,
Nairobi.