This one required an average solving time but it felt harder than that – there were several answers that I had to biff and then reverse-engineer the parsing. FOI 5A, LOI 47D. I very much liked the surfaces of 19A and 53A – not difficult clues, but also not obviously clues at all.
Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, dd = double definition
| Across | |
| 1 | Islamic movement led by quiet pair of upright characters (7) |
| SHIITIC – SH (quiet) + II (pair of upright characters) + TIC (movement). Awkward-looking word that doesn’t jump out from the checkers at all. | |
| 5 | Bird gathering hedgerow fruit … (9) |
| BRAMBLING – dd, the first (Chambers): “A bird closely related to the chaffinch” | |
| 10 | … and one principally inhabiting British Isles (4) |
| IBIS – I{nhabiting} (principally inhabiting) + B (British) + IS (Isles), with the definition “one” referring back to 5A | |
| 14 | Selfish criminal appropriately incarcerated by judge? (13) |
| INCONSIDERATE – CON (criminal) in INSIDE (incarcerated), + RATE (judge). I can only assume the “appropriately” is telling us to put CON in INSIDE but that doesn’t quite work for me as the CON is then IN INSIDE rather than simply INSIDE – or am I missing something? | |
| 15 | Sumptuous picnic, evidently extended (6,3) |
| SPREAD OUT – a spread is a feast and a picnic is an outside meal, so a sumptuous picnic might be a SPREAD OUT | |
| 16 | Diving bird and European deer spotted crossing mountain (5,5) |
| EMBER GOOSE – E (European) + MOOSE (deer) around BERG (mountain). Don’t think I’d ever heard of this bird but the answer as derived from the wordplay seemed believable. | |
| 17 | Like brothers’ place in St Malo area, mostly in ruins (11) |
| MONASTERIAL – (IN ST MALO ARE{a})* | |
| 18 | Eggs laid by rook needing half of nest – it’s what birds do (5) |
| ROOST – R (rook, i.e. the chess piece also known as a c*stle) + OO (eggs, in the sense of two round things) + {ne}ST (half of nest) | |
| 19 | The book-buying public praised her novel (10) |
| READERSHIP – (PRAISED HER)* What a nice surface. | |
| 21 | Book, hard for Irish girl (6) |
| BRIGID – B (Book) + RIGID (hard), to give the name that has Bridget as its English equivalent | |
| 23 | Go off alcoholic drink before end of trip back: one can see what might happen (9) |
| PREDICTOR – reversal of ROT (Go off) + CIDER (alcoholic drink) + {tri}P (end of trip) | |
| 25 | Cryptic description of corned beef that could kill you? (5) |
| TOXIN – corned beef could be described as OX in a TIN | |
| 26 | Fashion editor, trendy, made increasingly prominent (5,2) |
| FADED IN – FAD (Fashion) + ED (editor) + IN (trendy), where to fade in is (Chambers): “In films, radio, television, etc, to introduce (sound or a picture) gradually, bringing it up to full volume or clarity” | |
| 28 | Along with nightclub, rents out new shop (8,5) |
| DISCOUNT STORE – DISCO (nightclub) + (RENTS OUT)* | |
| 31 | Scrutinising pounds invested in show by group (9) |
| EXPLORING – EXPO (show) around L (pounds), + RING (group) | |
| 33 | Henry in danger, back in former times in English region (9) |
| YORKSHIRE – H (Henry) in reversal of RISK (danger), in YORE (former times) | |
| 35 | Story books by singular Lakeland writer for one seeking gifts? (6,7) |
| TALENT SPOTTER – TALE (Story) + NT (books) + S (singular) + POTTER (Lakeland writer, i.e. Beatrix Potter) | |
| 37 | Drive old Hillman, needing service around end of April (7) |
| IMPULSE – IMP (old Hillman) + USE (service) around {Apri}L (end of April). The Hillman Imp was a small car produced in the ’60s and ’70s. | |
| 38 | Lover boy‘s trophy concealed in East London (5) |
| CUPID – CUP (trophy) + ‘ID (concealed in East London, i.e. “hid” with the elision associated with that region of the capital) | |
| 40 | So English city mostly is covered by those on vacation (9) |
| THEREFORE – HEREFOR{d} (English city mostly) in T{hos}E (those on vacation) | |
| 42 | Horse managin’ to get round Becher’s Brook at first (6) |
| DOBBIN – DOIN‘ (managin’) around B{echer’s} B{rook} (Becher’s Brook at first), to give (Chambers): “A workhorse”. I knew the answer had some kind of horse connection but, if put on the spot, I’d probably have said it was a horse in a children’s book or cartoon rather than a general name. | |
| 44 | French dishes — one hundred — a person put into sets (10) |
| CASSOULETS – C (one hundred) + A, + SOUL (person) in SETS, with the singular version (Chambers): “A stew consisting of haricot beans, onions, herbs and various kinds of meat” | |
| 46 | Durham town’s walls demolished in attack (5) |
| ONSET – {C}ONSET{t} (Durham town’s walls demolished). Consett is the birthplace of Rowan Atkinson. | |
| 48 | I’m involved with orchestra, possibly (11) |
| CHOIRMASTER – &lit, consisting of (I’M + ORCHESTRA)*. | |
| 50 | It’s just unpleasant, diving into two lochs (10) |
| LAWFULNESS – AWFUL (awful) in L (loch) + NESS (another loch, hence two lochs) | |
| 52 | It flies way beyond a port when in difficulties (9) |
| ROTAPLANE – (A PORT)* + LANE (way), to give (Chambers): “Rotor plane” (thanks!), itself defined as: “A helicopter or autogyro”. Didn’t know the word but it seemed the likeliest result of the wordplay. | |
| 53 | Bury and Manchester finally getting transport link (13) |
| INTERRELATION – INTER (Bury) + {Mancheste}R (Manchester finally) + ELATION (transport). And another nice surface. | |
| 54 | Republican has American backing? Then vote Communist (4) |
| MARX – reversal of R (Republican) + AM (American), + X (vote) | |
| 55 | Maybe avoided bitter disgrace, sleeping around (9) |
| ABSTAINED – ABED (sleeping) around STAIN (disgrace), with the bitter in this case referring to beer | |
| 56 | Liked first half of tour, going round a county of England (5,2) |
| TAKEN TO – TO{ur} (first half of tour), around A + KENT (county of England) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Where you’ll see Victoria and Mike bathe (4) |
| SWIM – SWI (Where you’ll see Victoria, i.e. the postcode for the part of London containing Victoria Station) + M (Mike – from the phonetic alphabet) | |
| 2 | Where might chamber pot be put out? (9) |
| INCOMMODE – a chamber pot might be IN a COMMODE | |
| 3 | Several jobs of work (6,6,7,3) |
| TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – literal interpretation of the title of the Le Carré novel | |
| 4 | Remain stuck to top of cliff? One might (7) |
| CLINGER – C{liff} (top of cliff) + LINGER (Remain) | |
| 5 | One climbs into coach (first class) on short break in S American city (6,5) |
| BUENOS AIRES – reveral of ONE, in BUS (coach) + AI (first class) + RES{t} (short break) | |
| 6 | A puzzle people finally submit, showing surprise (9) |
| AMAZEMENT – A + MAZE (puzzle) + MEN (people) + {submi}T (finally submit) | |
| 7 | Ray catches river fish (5) |
| BREAM – BEAM (Ray) around R (river) | |
| 8 | Lack of feeling in punishment one received (11) |
| INSENTIENCE – IN + SENTENCE (punishment) around I (one) | |
| 9 | Very colourful, like a freshwater fish? (6) |
| GARISH – a gar is a freshwater fish, so like a gar might be GAR-ISH | |
| 11 | Following expression of disapproval, go drinking (7) |
| BOOZING – BOO (expression of disapproval) + ZING (go, i.e. energy) | |
| 12 | Chose Mafia boss from America’s west coast to eliminate Capone’s No 2? (7,2) |
| SETTLED ON – SE{a}TTLE DON (Mafia boss from America’s west coast to eliminate Capone’s No 2) | |
| 13 | Ask for trouble, wanting revenge after a food remark is misinterpreted (4,1,3,3,4,3,4) |
| MAKE A ROD FOR ONE’S OWN BACK – (A FOOD REMARK)* + ONE’S OWN BACK (revenge) | |
| 18 | Quickly perform rhythmic monologue without real commitment? (7) |
| RAPIDLY – RAP (perform rhythmic monologue) + IDLY (without real commitment) | |
| 20 | Egg eaten by His Excellency (3,4) |
| SEX CELL – hidden in HiS EXCELLency | |
| 22 | Briefly propose accepting tips about avoiding experienced skiers? (3-5) |
| OFF-PISTE – OFFE{r} (Briefly propose) around TIPS*, however I’m not sure I really get the definition as I would have thought off-piste IS where you’d find experienced skiers, unless the implication is that inexperienced skiers are likely to come off the main run involuntarily? | |
| 24 | Annuity schemes not taken up by youngsters, reportedly (8) |
| TONTINES – reversal of NOT, + homophone of TEENS (youngsters). Well I never – I’d always assumed the second syllable of the singular form of this was pronounced like the river Tyne but it appears not. It is (Chambers): “An annuity scheme in which several subscribers share a common fund, with their individual benefits increasing as members die until only one member is left alive and receives everything or until a specified date at which the proceeds are divided amongst the survivors”. | |
| 27 | One believes tide’s turned (5) |
| DEIST – TIDE’S* | |
| 29 | Paddy entering bistro perhaps (5) |
| STROP – hidden in biSTRO Perhaps, with both words meaning a bit of a tantrum | |
| 30 | Ceramic business set up by American organisation with influence (7) |
| OCTOPUS – reversal of POT (Ceramic) + CO (business), + US (American), to give (Chambers): “A person or organization with widespread influence (figurative)” | |
| 32 | Tiger, so wild, more savage than all the others (7) |
| GORIEST – (TIGER SO)* | |
| 34 | Witch in French musical captivating soldier, right? (11) |
| ENCHANTRESS – EN (in French) + CHESS (musical – the one written by Björn/Benny from ABBA and Tim Rice, featuring One Night in Bangkok among others), around ANT (soldier) + R (right) | |
| 36 | Hell! Bag lady’s sent reeling, we’re told (6,5) |
| NETHER WORLD – NET (Bag, as in gain) + HER (lady’s) + homophone of WHIRLED (sent reeling) | |
| 37 | Lack of civility around Christmas, female being ejected from meeting (9) |
| INDECORUM – IN DEC (around Christmas, i.e. in December) + {f}ORUM (female being ejected from meeting) | |
| 39 | King and queen, say, wearing jacket? (9) |
| DOUBLETON – if you are wearing a jacket, then you might have a DOUBLET ON. The definition means (Chambers): “(the possession of) two cards of a suit in a hand”. | |
| 41 | Bishop joining meeting fronted by old bag? (9) |
| OBSESSION – O (old) + B (Bishop) + SESSION (meeting), where bag means (Chambers): “A person’s particular interest or speciality (old sl)” | |
| 43 | Fish that is very filling? (7) |
| BLOATER – to bloat is to fill up, so something that fills could be a BLOATER. The fish is (Chambers): “A herring partially dried in smoke, esp at Yarmouth” | |
| 45 | Learner‘s clever feat round centre of cul-de-sac (7) |
| STUDENT – STUNT (clever feat) around {cul-}DE{-sac} (centre of cul-de-sac) | |
| 47 | Guerrilla put to death a group of soldiers (6) |
| ZAPATA – ZAP (put to death) + A + TA (group of soldiers, i.e. the Territorial Army, now the Army Reserve). My LOI by a minute or two, as I was initially thinking of ?A?ARA. I must admit Emiliano Zapata – a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution – is not top of my list of Crosswordland guerrillas though I knew of his style of moustache, which fortunately came to mind when I was trying to think of words fitting the checkers. | |
| 49 | Yoghurt concoction and Italian sorbet, neither good nor new (5) |
| RAITA – {g}RA{n}ITA (Italian sorbet, neither good nor new) | |
| 51 | What you might need to know about National Insurance going up (4) |
| INFO – reversal of OF (about) + NI (National Insurance) | |
TONTINE dredged up from the great slough of words known but not understood, so now I’m a little more educated.
MARX was my pick of the bunch, another smooth surface (if unlikely since even “socialist” is a dirty word in Republican US). Good to see such smoothies commended in the blog.
Edited at 2018-09-08 09:06 am (UTC)
Ong’ara,
Nairobi.