I found this one rather more difficult than average, though some of that was no doubt down to doing it in the paper with a pencil whose hardness meant I could barely read what I was writing. A generally good selection of surfaces, which always appeals, some inventive wordplay (e.g. 19A, 20A), and just the one unknown (more like a forgotten) at 24D, albeit with helpful wordplay, meaning a puzzle that was also more enjoyable than average. Thanks, setter.
Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, dd = double definition, cd = cryptic definition
| Across | |
| 1 | Low-class sailor, behold, getting in trim (8) |
| TABLOIDY – AB (sailor) + LO (behold), in TIDY (trim) | |
| 5 | Brother’s set about roughly in brawl (6) |
| FRACAS – FRAS (Brother’s) about CA (roughly) | |
| 9 | Had butcher’s gammon’s first cut (7) |
| GLANCED – G{ammon} (gammon’s first) + LANCED (cut) | |
| 14 | Gorge on candy given out by relative (5,6) |
| GRAND CANYON – GRAN (relative) + (ON CANDY)* | |
| 15 | Finished with clinic, doctor has varying fortunes (3,3,5) |
| UPS AND DOWNS – UP (Finished) + SAN (clinic) + DD (doctor – of divinity) + OWNS (has) | |
| 16 | That is popular with lazybones, primarily (3-2) |
| LIE-IN – &lit, consisting of L{azybones} (lazybones, primarily) + IE (That is) + IN (popular) | |
| 17 | Corrupt solicitor accepts present regularly (4,3) |
| TROT OUT – TOUT (solicitor) around ROT (Corrupt) | |
| 18 | This player can unwind after being punched (5,4) |
| MUSIC ROLL – cd, from (Chambers): “A roll of perforated paper for mechanical piano-playing” | |
| 19 | Relaxing Muscadet combined with entertaining shows (7) |
| DETENTE – hidden in MuscaDET ENTErtaining | |
| 20 | The young dwarf embracing French writer’s content (5,2,1,7) |
| HAPPY AS A SANDBOY – HAPPY AS A BOY (The young dwarf – if Happy the dwarf in Snow White is an adult, then the young Happy would be Happy as a boy) around SAND (French writer, i.e. George Sand). There’s no consensus on the origin of this expression, but one that seems semi-credible is that sandboys were men who delivered sand to pubs in pre-sawdust days, who were paid partly in beer. So a phrase that conjures up images of children playing on the beach might perhaps actually refer to alcohol-induced jollity for men plying a tiring, poorly paid trade. | |
| 22 | Spot of applause, indeed, after European performing (4,4,2) |
| CLAP EYES ON – CLAP (applause) + E (European) + YES (indeed) + ON (performing) | |
| 23 | Returned to London, perhaps, with Lou or Carol, crushed (6) |
| PUREED – reversal of UP (Returned to London – going to London is often referred to as going “up”), + REED (Lou or Carol, referring to the musician and film director respectively with that surname) | |
| 25 | Twelve numbers put back to back (4) |
| NOON – NO (number) + reversal of NO (number), i.e. numbers put back to back | |
| 28 | Artist sounding impertinent after soaking himself in sherry? (9,5) |
| FILIPPINO LIPPI – homophone of LIPPY (impertinent), after FINO (sherry) around LIPPI (himself), to give the Renaissance painter. Not to be confused with his father Filippo Lippi. | |
| 30 | A French PM informally retaining attraction for America (5,3) |
| UNCLE SAM – UN (A French) + CLEM (PM informally – referring to Clem{ent} Attlee, post-war UK Prime Minister) around SA (attraction) | |
| 32 | Method of preparing brief summer assessment? (2,6) |
| AU GRATIN – a brief summer assessment might be an AUG{ust} RATIN{g}, to give the phrase meaning (Chambers): “Cooked covered with breadcrumbs or grated cheese, or with both” | |
| 34 | Laugh out of politeness: diss secretly (5,4,5) |
| SPLIT ONES SIDES – (POLITENESS + DISS)* | |
| 37 | Document this large would be plain to see (4) |
| WRIT – dd, the second referring to the expression “writ large” | |
| 38 | Mostly awkward, getting married after November time (4,2) |
| NINE PM – N (November) + INEP{t} (Mostly awkward) + M (married), to give an answer that smacks of the setter either being backed into a corner or wanting to give a shout-out to ATB | |
| 39 | Far from complicated, this plot involving the Tudors? (3,2,5) |
| BED OF ROSES – BED (plot) OF ROSES (involving the Tudors – English dynasty whose emblem comprised a white rose and a red rose, representing Yorkshire and Lancashire respectively) | |
| 43 | Utter madness to abandon last couple outside some Washington agency (5,10) |
| STATE DEPARTMENT – STATE (Utter) + DEMENT{ia} (madness to abandon last couple) around PART (some) | |
| 45 | Toured in a mini? (7) |
| SKIRTED – dd, the second referring to a miniskirt | |
| 47 | Getting red ointment to go with last of expensive perfume (9) |
| RUBESCENT – RUB (ointment) + {expensiv}E (last of expensive) + SCENT (perfume) | |
| 49 | Reminder of egotistical exclamation? Unfortunately not (7) |
| MEMENTO – ME ME (egotistical exclamation) + NOT* | |
| 51 | Indian fielder in the middle, one holding catch (5) |
| CREEL – CREE (Indian) + {fie}L{der} (fielder in the middle) | |
| 52 | Houseman taking a bow? (11) |
| SAGITTARIUS – cd, referring to the zodiacal house represented by an archer centaur | |
| 53 | Poor batsmen I see being out consistently (11) |
| ABSENTEEISM – (BATSMEN I SEE)* Nice surface | |
| 54 | Fantastic Eton duo capped (7) |
| OUTDONE – (ETON DUO)* | |
| 55 | Head of former Soviet Union embracing English song and dance man? (6) |
| FUSSER – F{ormer} (Head of former) + USSR (Soviet Union) around E (English), and making use of the fact that a “song and dance” is (Collins): “a fuss, esp one that is unnecessary” | |
| 56 | Volunteers in fine rescue vessel recalled a scene of huge explosion (8) |
| KRAKATOA – reversal of OK (fine) + ARK (rescue vessel) around TA (volunteers), + A | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Switched on light, hesitatingly got up? (7) |
| TOGGLED – reversal of G-GOT (hesitatingly got up), on LED (light) | |
| 2 | Jacket without a tie initially leads to trouble for pioneer (5,1,5) |
| BLAZE A TRAIL – BLAZER (Jacket), around A + T{ie} (tie initially), + AIL (trouble) | |
| 3 | Decree one which Arsenal has put about (9) |
| ORDINANCE – ORDNANCE (Arsenal) around I (one) | |
| 4 | Non-internet version supplied by plane after its departure? (4,4,7) |
| DEAD TREE EDITION – dd, the second one cryptic in that the clue is trying to make us think of plane in an aircraft sense rather than a tree sense | |
| 6 | Chap made haste in fleeing whale (8) |
| RANDOLPH – RAN + DOLPH{in} (in fleeing whale) | |
| 7 | Awkward fellow’s endless noble attempt to exclude family (7,7) |
| COUNTRY BUMPKIN – COUN{t} (endless noble) + TRY (attempt) + BUMP (exclude – presumably in the sense of turning away a passenger with a valid ticket from, say, an overbooked flight) + KIN (family) | |
| 8 | Opening word by top player: one going to the press? (6,4) |
| SESAME SEED – SESAME (Opening word – referring to the phrase “Open sesame” from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) + SEED (top player). A sesame seed would be pressed to extract its oil. | |
| 9 | Book, on reflection, somewhat overemphasises negativity (7) |
| GENESIS – unless I’m missing something, this appears to be an incorrect hidden reversed in overemphaSISES NEGativity, which leads to GENSESIS. I suppose we could interpret “somewhat” as “pick some letters from” but my experience over the years has always been (at least in the Times) that we should expect contiguous letters in this type of clue. | |
| 10 | Supermarket bringing in charge for a detection device (5) |
| ASDIC – ASD{a->IC} (Supermarket bringing in charge (IC) for a), to give (Chambers): “An apparatus for detecting and locating a submarine or other underwater object by means of ultrasonic waves echoed back from the submarine, etc”, an acronym for Allied (or Anti-) Submarine Detection Investigation Committee | |
| 11 | Footwear peculiar to yobbos chasing bully (6,5) |
| COWBOY BOOTS – COW (bully, as a verb) + (TO YOBBOS)* | |
| 12 | Monitors performances (8) |
| DISPLAYS – dd | |
| 13 | Jabber on pathetically, your hopes at first rising (4) |
| HYPO – reversed initial letters of On Pathetically, Your Hopes | |
| 20 | Curse which people perform out loud (6) |
| HOODOO – homophone of WHO (which people) + DO (perform) | |
| 21 | Dicky close to Avril spun on floor (7) |
| NONPLUS – ({Avri}L SPUN ON)* | |
| 22 | John keeping to stern form of attire (6) |
| CAFTAN – CAN (John) around AFT (to stern) | |
| 24 | Play Risk — and love American Monopoly (9,6) |
| DANGEROUS CORNER – DANGER (Risk) + O (love) + US (American) + CORNER (Monopoly), to give the play by J.B. Priestley. This has cropped up a couple of times in the last six years but clearly didn’t make an impression on me, as I was on the point of writing “Never heard of it” until I did a spot of Googling. | |
| 26 | With trendy music and books, entertains large African natives (14) |
| HIPPOPOTAMUSES – HIP (trendy) + POP (music) + OT (books) + AMUSES (entertains) | |
| 27 | Various misters excluding Romeo, perhaps “some other where”? (6) |
| TMESIS – (MISTE{r}S)*, to give (Chambers): “The separation or splitting up of a word into parts by one or more intervening words”. In keeping with the surface, the example here is from Romeo and Juliet, but in modern life you’re perhaps more likely to encounter expressions like “abso-bloody-lutely”. | |
| 29 | Gas pressure viewed with alarm (7) |
| PRATTLE – P (pressure) + RATTLE (alarm) | |
| 31 | Pass on old advice to American youth (2,4) |
| GO WEST – dd, the first meaning to die, perhaps from a reference to the setting sun, and the second from a 19th C expression “Go west, young man” of uncertain provenance, with the gist being that fortunes were to be made in the western lands of the US | |
| 33 | Microorganism affected bathing in sea area (6,5) |
| GERMAN BIGHT – GERM (Microorganism) + BATHING*, to give (Wikipedia): “the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and Germany to the east … To the north and west it is limited by the Dogger Bank”. Familiar to – and perhaps a write-in based on definition and enumeration for – anyone who has ever listened to the Radio 4 shipping forecast. | |
| 35 | Beauty, not quite thirty, catching journalist’s gossip (4,3,4) |
| DISH THE DIRT – DISH (Beauty) + THIRT{y} (not quite thirty) around ED (journalist) | |
| 36 | Criminal he could be fake he isn’t (5-5) |
| SNEAK-THIEF – (FAKE HE ISN’T)* Some punctuation might have helped the surface here – perhaps it was an earlier draft that slipped through. Not hyphenated in any of the usual sources. | |
| 40 | Coupon for American artist incorporated mild expletive (9) |
| RAINCHECK – RA (artist) + INC (incorporated) + HECK (mild expletive), to give (Chambers): “A ticket for future use given to spectators when a game or a sports meeting is cancelled or stopped because of bad weather” | |
| 41 | Unwrapped test papers over coffee (8) |
| ESPRESSO – {t}ES{t} (Unwrapped test) + PRESS (papers) + O (over) | |
| 42 | Go through and wave at visiting twins in glee (8) |
| PERMEATE – PERM (wave – as in hairdressing), + AT inside EE (twins in glee, i.e. the letters which appear twice in the word “glee”) | |
| 44 | Drag dame of fifty away from purchase (7) |
| EVERAGE – {l}EVERAGE (fifty away from purchase), to give the surname of the character Dame Edna Everage, created and performed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries | |
| 46 | Cover up novel problem (7) |
| DILEMMA – reversal of LID (Cover), + EMMA (novel) | |
| 48 | Start an argument (3-2) |
| SET-TO – not quite a dd, as the hyphen isn’t present in the first meaning | |
| 50 | Tuck leg up and button it (4) |
| NOSH – reversal of ON (leg, i.e. cricket side), + SH (button it, i.e. shut up), where both definition and answer are informal terms for food | |
I have found several jumbos rather challenging lately, including this one! Though last week’s 1351 was harder still..
Michael Quinion is an absolute national treasure and has taught me a great deal, over the years..
Ong’ara,
Kenya.