Solved on the train in about half an hour, which makes it just below average difficulty. As my time is somewhat limited this weekend, I’m reverting to the previous method of just writing about the trickier or more interesting clues, rather than doing the whole lot. As usual, if anyone has any queries about ones I miss out, just leave a comment and it will be answered.
| Across |
| 1 |
ADAMS – 2nd or 6th president of the USA. |
| 4 |
WEB BROWSER – B (key) + ROWS (files) inside WEBER (composer). I’m surprised the setter didn’t link this with 36A somehow. |
| 19 |
NEANDERTHAL MAN – (handle a remnant)*. Good anagram, although it just jumped out at me straight away. |
| 36 |
INTERNET – (w)INTER (o)N (j)ET. |
| 37 |
THERE – i.e. “There there, mummy’ll kiss it better.” |
| 41 |
REMODELLED – (more)* + LED backwards then forwards. Last one I got, if I remember correctly. |
| 45 |
FILLING STATION – FILLING (what’s in sandwich) + STATION (Paddington, say). Americans would call this a gas station. In the UK it’s a petrol station – I don’t know who calls them filling stations! |
| 49 |
SANDPAPER – SAND (French novelist) + PAPER. |
| 51 |
EL GRECO – (Coleridge)*. |
| 53 |
ANIMADVERSION – (armed invasion)* |
| 54 |
EVERY WHIT – VERY WHITE with the last letter move to the front. Not many phrases that would work with, so a great spot by the setter. |
| 57 |
DERBY – A Classic horse race, ref. Darby and Joan, the archetypal old married couple. Americans might be confused by the broken homophone, but we Brits pronounce “Derby” as “Darby”. |
| Down |
| 2 |
ADVANCED LEVEL – simple charade, ADVANCED (lent) + LEVEL (uniform). It used to mean some degree of academic achievement, but last year somebody passed the English exam by writing F**K OFF across the paper. Apparently the examiner felt that they should be awarded for spelling it correctly. I might have read that in the Daily Mail though, so take it with a pinch of salt… |
| 5 |
BIRD-WATCHING – “word-botching”. Brilliant, a self-referential Spoonerism clue. First time I’ve seen it, but I’d be amazed if that was its first outing. |
| 6 |
RIPARIAN – RIP + ARIAN (a heretic who followed Arius. The banks in question are riverbanks. |
| 13 |
CATCH TWENTY-TWO – the twenty-two yard line in rugby is…I can’t be bothered to explain, but it’s important. I think the saying came from the book by Joseph Heller, but if so, where did he get it from? |
| 28 |
TREATMENT – (mate)* inside TRENT. The Trent is a river in English Midlands. |
| 32 |
THE ALTOGETHER – T + HEAL + TO GET + HER. Slang for “naked”. I don’t know if that’s familiar to overseas solvers. If you don’t know the phrase, it’s pretty tough. |
| 34 |
UNDERGARMENT – Bra, vest, boxers and slip are all examples of one. I guess “taking one repeatedly” refers to “Bravest”, which gives two of them. |
| 38 |
STAFF NURSE – STAFF (rod) + NURSE (shark). |
| 46 |
TEE-HEED – TEE + HEED. Looks weird on paper, but what else could it be? |
| 47 |
SOFTLY – OFT inside SLY. Christopher Sly is one of the characters in The Taming of the Shrew. Are we really supposed to know that? |
| 50 |
PRIOR – ref. Matthew Prior, 1664-1721, English poet. Maybe he was famous in his day… |
13D Er, metres, I think. Not yards?