A puzzle of about average difficulty with just a couple of unknowns. I see quite a lot of 1-error entries in the leaderboard, which I would guess are as a result of people either sharing one of my unknowns (11D) and falling victim to a credible alternative reading of the wordplay, or perhaps getting the “wrong end” of the letter substitution in 40A.
FOI 1A, LOI 11D, COD 49A for the surface.
Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition
| Across | |
| 1 | Crazed stabber cuts seat without thinking, OK (6-5) |
| RUBBER-STAMP – STABBER* in RUMP (seat), to give (Chambers): “To approve without exercise of judgement” with OK in its verbal sense | |
| 7 | Olympic site secured by Pole in charge after cruel treatment? (11) |
| MASOCHISTIC – SOCHI (Olympic site) in MAST (Pole) + IC (in charge) | |
| 13 | Requirement for telling computer how to detect orator’s plagiarism? (6,11) |
| SPEECH RECOGNITION – to detect an orator’s plagiarism would possibly require the RECOGNITION of a prior SPEECH given by someone else | |
| 14 | Recalled games with the woman leading mindless followers (5) |
| SHEEP – SHE (the woman) + reversal of PE (games) | |
| 15 | Unashamed sexy person’s trick (6) |
| OUTFOX – OUT (Unashamed) + FOX (sexy person) | |
| 16 | Winds blowing strongly through shelter seen in fine print? (8) |
| LEGALESE – GALES (Winds blowing strongly) in LEE (shelter) | |
| 17 | Some beware voyages, returning in dismay (7) |
| OVERAWE – hidden reversed in bEWARE VOyages | |
| 19 | Men only come again with one providing a change of scenery (9) |
| STAGEHAND – STAG (Men only) + EH (come again) + AND (with) | |
| 21 | Head off scorn in public, maintaining America is fake (8) |
| ILLUSORY – {p}ILLORY (Head off scorn in public) around US (America) | |
| 23 | Singer Joanna knocking out number loudly (4) |
| PIAF – PIA{no} (Joanna knocking out number, using the slang word for a piano) + F (loudly), to give us the French singer Edith Piaf perhaps most famous for her rendition of La Vie en Rose | |
| 25 | Perhaps an aggressive dog is half-heartedly resentful (5) |
| BITER – BI{t}TER or BIT{t}ER (half-heartedly resentful) | |
| 27 | General agreement has Office for National Statistics involved in this event (6) |
| CENSUS – if you insert ONS (Office for National Statistics) into the answer then you get CONSENSUS (General agreement). In the UK the ONS is responsible for conducting a census every 10 years. | |
| 28 | Faltering French of keen nurses (10) |
| INDECISIVE – DE (French of) in INCISIVE (keen) | |
| 30 | Not a good bet, dealing with grand service (8) |
| EVENSONG – EVENS (Not a good bet) + ON (dealing with) + G (grand). I’m assuming here that the interpretation is that the subject of a good bet is more likely than not to occur, whereas the subject of an evens bet has only a 50% chance of occurring. | |
| 31 | In shifting dune, chumps note feline is wild (14) |
| UNDOMESTICATED – DUNE*, around DOMES (chumps) + TI (note) + CAT (feline), where dome and chump are both (slang) terms for the head. I didn’t know this meaning of chump. | |
| 34 | Changing out of uniform, shapeless, in allotment (14) |
| METAMORPHOSING – AMORPHO{u}S (out of uniform, shapeless) in METING (allotment) | |
| 35 | One school in time to give up bond (8) |
| LIGAMENT – I (One) + GAM (school), in LENT (time to give up) | |
| 38 | I’m po-faced, therefore also smothering humour, ultimately (10) |
| SOBERSIDES – SO (therefore) + BESIDES (also) around {humou}R (humour, ultimately), to give (Chambers): “A sedate, serious-minded and solemn person” | |
| 40 | Cheerful, different note for start of abstinence (6) |
| GENIAL – {d}ENIAL (abstinence) but with a different note at the beginning (G instead of D) | |
| 41 | Wandering etc, touring West Indies repeatedly (5) |
| TWICE – ETC* around WI (West Indies) | |
| 43 | Central power eradicated in quickfire attack (4) |
| RAID – RA{p}ID (Central power eradicated in quickfire) | |
| 44 | Tall drivers enjoy less of this winding road home (8) |
| HEADROOM – (ROAD HOME)* Nice clue. | |
| 45 | Tend to be dishevelled with hair covering shapeless garment (4,5) |
| TENT DRESS – TEND* in TRESS (hair) | |
| 48 | Really a menace, delaying the queen (2,5) |
| AT HEART – A THREAT (menace) with the R (queen) being put back (delayed) | |
| 49 | Disturbed and called into action (8) |
| DERANGED – RANG (called) in DEED (action) | |
| 50 | Burns possibly making black marks all over, causing shock (6) |
| TREMOR – reversal of ROBERT (Burns possibly) with the B (black) replaced by an M (marks). Took me a while to see the parsing of this. | |
| 53 | Start off quite well, then pint makes you clumsy (5) |
| INEPT – {f}INE (Start off quite well) + PT (pint) | |
| 54 | Violence bid is iced, changing to peaceful form of protest (5,12) |
| CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE – (VIOLENCE BID IS ICED)* | |
| 55 | Clear the lady settles in country (11) |
| NETHERLANDS – NET (Clear) + HER (the lady) + LANDS (settles) | |
| 56 | Modern treatment of European majority of 55 splitting gap year (4,7) |
| GENE THERAPY – E (European) + NETHER{lands} (majority of 55, i.e. most of the answer to 55A), in GAP + Y (year) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Nasty persons spreading bile are to blame (11) |
| RESPONSIBLE – PERSONS* + BILE* | |
| 2 | Plaintively express line in rhythm (5) |
| BLEAT – L (line) in BEAT (rhythm) | |
| 3 | Hold top off barrier to let rising sun in (7) |
| ENCLOSE – {f}ENCE (top off barrier) around reversal of SOL (sun) | |
| 4 | Active ace removed from jet (4) |
| SPRY – SPR{a}Y (ace removed from jet) | |
| 5 | Type of union formation that makes sparks fly (3,7) |
| ARC WELDING – cd, hoping to make us thing of an exciting wedding | |
| 6 | Universal good name in airy quality, ignoring the initial belligerence (14) |
| PUGNACIOUSNESS – U (Universal) + G (good) + N (name), in {s}PACIOUSNESS (airy quality, ignoring the initial) | |
| 7 | Eating fish, virile or not? (8) |
| MAIDENLY – MANLY (virile) around IDE (fish) | |
| 8 | It’s wet and sticky topping of stewed fruit (5) |
| SLIME – S{tewed} (topping of stewed) + LIME (fruit) | |
| 9 | Open part of station training for swindlers? (9) |
| CONCOURSE – training for swindlers might be a CON COURSE | |
| 10 | Harmonious arch (6) |
| INSTEP – IN STEP | |
| 11 | It’s too late to undo result of frying accident (3,3,2,2,3,4) |
| THE FAT IS IN THE FIRE – literal interpretation of a figurative phrase, (Chambers): “A critical act has precipitated the trouble”. Can’t say I’d heard of this and one could be forgiven for going for PAN as the second word, seeing as that appears in a perhaps more well-known saying involving frying and fires. | |
| 12 | Dickensian character of police business? (11) |
| COPPERFIELD – COPPER (police) + FIELD (business) | |
| 18 | Excited calf runs round a certain bird handler (8) |
| FALCONER – CALF* + R (runs), around ONE (a certain) | |
| 20 | Rebellious BBC (not united) bash the monarch with space in roster (4-13) |
| ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT – A{u}NTIE (BBC (not united)) + STAB (bash, i.e. an attempt) + LIST (roster), around HM (the monarch) + EN (space). Auntie as a facetious name for the BBC. | |
| 22 | Short ditty, catch or verse (6) |
| SONNET – SON{g} (Short ditty) + NET (catch) | |
| 24 | Statistical diagram segment mostly on deer (3,5) |
| PIE CHART – PIEC{e} (segment mostly) + HART (deer) | |
| 26 | Perennial old shipwreck’s stern half has been raised (8) |
| ROSEMARY – MARY ROSE (old shipwreck) but with the last 4 letters (stern half) moved to the front. The Mary Rose was one of Henry VIII’s warships – it sank in 1545 and was raised to much fanfare (at least in the UK) in 1982. | |
| 29 | Reversing pieces for ludo and chess, sound as a bell (14) |
| COUNTERMANDING – COUNTER (piece for ludo) + MAN (piece for chess) + DING (sound as a bell) | |
| 32 | Unimportant affair eclipses journey’s end (8) |
| TRIFLING – TRI{p} (journey), with the P (end) replaced by FLING (affair) | |
| 33 | Something primarily gripped to protect one (6) |
| SHIELD – &lit, comprised of S{omething} (Something primarily) + HELD (gripped) around I (one) | |
| 34 | Inappropriately romanticise a deformity (11) |
| MISCREATION – ROMANTICISE* | |
| 36 | Branch operations? (4,7) |
| TREE SURGERY – cd, perhaps hoping to make us think of branches of a business | |
| 37 | Merry man‘s description of smallest room in Vegas? (6,4) |
| LITTLE JOHN – John is an American term for the toilet. The smallest room is a euphemism for same so one might think simply JOHN should be the answer, but I suppose the question mark allows for some reinforcement that it is indeed a little room. Little John is Robin Hood’s second-in-command in the band of Merry Men. | |
| 39 | Jerk hugged by Daniel, shivering just the same (9) |
| IDENTICAL – TIC (Jerk) in DANIEL* | |
| 42 | Basic upbringing of male child keeps father sick (2-6) |
| NO-FRILLS – reversal of SON (male child), around FR (father) + ILL (sick) | |
| 46 | Rodents, evidence of very cold student accommodation? (7) |
| DORMICE – very cold student accommodation might contain DORM ICE | |
| 47 | Which thing’s going to said plant in Australia? (6) |
| WATTLE – homophone of WHAT’LL (Which thing’s going), to give (Chambers): “Any of various Australian acacias” | |
| 49 | Skipping gate, found one’s way around bed (5) |
| DIVAN – reversal of NAVI{gate}D (Skipping gate, found one’s way) | |
| 51 | Ray‘s part in German Tannhäuser (5) |
| MANTA – hidden in GerMAN TAnnhäuser | |
| 52 | A sign of injury in Wagner’s world (4) |
| WELT – dd, the second the German word for world, as found in Weltschmerz, Weltmeisterschaft, etc | |
Thanks setter and John.
This here’s the wattle, the emblem of our land. You can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand. Amen!
Ong’ara,
Kenya.