Hope you all enjoyed it anyway and thanks for your forbearance in waiting till the very end of the weekend for the blog!
ACROSS
1 But mosaic is in pieces of very small size (9)
SUBATOMIC – (BUT MOSAIC*) [“is in pieces”]
6 Rum delivery in case (7)
ODDBALL – ODD BALL [rum | delivery]
10 Talks idly of tears when husband’s gone (5)
GASES – GAS{h}ES [tears, minus H for husband]
13 Quite happy to study wine (7)
CONTENT – CON TENT [to study | wine]
14 Casual assistance given to cricket side (7)
OFFHAND – HAND [assistance] given to OFF [cricket side]
15 Mediterranean boat’s fine, but not in Tuscan city (7)
FELUCCA – F{in}E [fine, but not “in”] + LUCCA [Tuscan city]
16 Be hopeful and view the less good single? That’s about correct (4,2,3,6,4)
LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE – LOOK ON THE B-SIDE [view the less good single], “about” RIGHT [correct]. An apposite question mark, as there are some bands, Suede springing to mind, whose B-sides were consistently as good as or better than their A-sides!
17 Dine on steak, say, but not medium (3)
EAT – {m}EAT [steak say, minus M for medium]
18 Make material that’s woven by demo (6)
EMBODY – (BY DEMO*) [“woven”]
20 Halt alien sea creature (6)
LIMPET – LIMP E.T. [halt | alien]
21 A fatal preparation of polonium’s working on defector (3,6)
RAT POISON – PO IS ON [polonium’s working] on RAT [defector]
23 One selling company of men in pursuit of £51 a time (10)
LIQUIDATOR – O.R. [men], in pursuit of LI QUID A T [51 | pounds | a | time]
25 Reason for being editor — earns fantastically (6,5)
RAISON D’ETRE – (EDITOR EARNS*) [“fantastically”]
29 Fish, angler’s first in northern lake (5)
LOACH – A{ngler} in LOCH [northern lake]
30 Cast in one broadcast on “Columbo” misses uniform (8)
MONOBLOC – (ON COL{u}MBO*) [“broadcast”]
31 Move downwards is concerning Papal ambassador (8)
RELEGATE – RE LEGATE [concerning | Papal ambassador]
34 What’s amusing in key National Executive Committee notes (8)
ANECDOTE – A NEC [key | National Executive Committee] + DO TE [(two) notes]
36 Poor Indian chap without an article (8)
INDIGENT – INDI{a} GENT [Indian | chap, minus A (an article)]
37 Place to stay right after golf? (5)
HOTEL – follows Golf in the phonetic alphabet
39 Speeding up wrecked oral cadence (11)
ACCELERANDO – (ORAL CADENCE*) [“wrecked”]
41 Who’s uninterested in the narrow catalogue of species groups? (10)
GENERALIST – or GENERA LIST [catalogue of species groups]
43 Quiet speaker with his quiet and repeated signs of hesitation (9)
WHISPERER – W HIS P [with | his | quiet] + ER ER [repeated signs of hesitation]
45 Went down, to come back gathering oxygen is empty (6)
DEVOID – reversed DIVED [went down], “gathering” O [oxygen]
47 Mostly odd echo with large chimney near bridge? (6)
FUNNEL – FUNN{y} [“mostly” odd] + E L [echo | large]. A chimney near the bridge of a ship.
49 Doctor covering up a breach (3)
GAP – GP [doctor] “covering up” A
50 Variety of round cogwheel which has some falling out (10,2,7)
DIFFERENCE OF OPINION – DIFFERENCE OF O PINION [variety | of | round | cogwheel]
52 Sound the alarm as “whiskey” is adopted for a time for Scots emblem (7)
WHISTLE – take THISTLE [Scots emblem] and replace W [whiskey] with T [time]
53 Off-colour and casual about old Balkan area (7)
ILLYRIA – ILL [off colour] + reversed AIRY [casual]
54 What some dancing fools hold — bishop must take steps to realise it (7)
BLADDER – B [bishop] must take LADDER [steps]
55 Stiff and cold, putting off female (5)
RIGID – {f}RIGID [cold, minus F for female]
56 Where all may go on a trip with style (7)
HIGHWAY – HIGH [on a trip] with WAY [style]
57 Clear former mate and English sailor returning outside unit (9)
EXONERATE – EX [former mate] + reversed E TAR [English | sailor], outside ONE [unit]
DOWN
1 Supposed codes all must be broken (2-6)
SO-CALLED – (CODES ALL*) [“must be broken”]
2 House with rubbish container on drive (5)
BINGO – BIN [rubbish container] on GO [drive]
3 Film bird around ruined lodge (3,4,4)
THE GOLD RUSH – THRUSH [bird] “around” (LODGE*) [“ruined”]
4 Speechless about a temperature change (6)
MUTATE – MUTE [speechless] “about” A T [a | temperature]
5 Plug suiting that’s figure-hugging (5-7)
CLOSE-FITTING – CLOSE [plug] + FITTING [suiting]
6 Test for fixing promotion has ended (5,2)
OFFER UP – OFFER [promotion] has UP [ended]. I was none the wiser about the definition part, but per Collins: “in eg joinery, to position on a trial basis, in order to test for size or suitability before fixing”.
7 Swallow perched initially on housetop avoiding gusts of wind (15)
DRAUGHTPROOFING – DRAUGHT [swallow] + P{erched} + ROOFING [housetop]
8 Financial record of motor company on Tourist Trophy track (5,5)
AUDIT TRAIL – AUDI [motor company] on TT RAIL [Tourist Trophy | track]
9 That’s it! Fellow running from the right is where he’s at (7)
LEFTIST – hidden reversed in {tha}T’S IT FEL{low}, &lit
10 Good vintage single turning up, cut out for evergreen (6,5)
GOLDEN OLDIE – G OLD [good | vintage] + reversed LONE [single] + DIE [cut out]
11 Connector on television which needs a wrench to use (6,3)
SOCKET SET – SOCKET [connector] on SET [television]
12 Hardy box bark (7)
SPARTAN – SPAR TAN [box | bark]
19 Body of troops commanded to carry equipment (7)
BRIGADE – BADE [commanded] “to carry” RIG [equipment]
22 What shows movement of old building and every other one in theory (8)
ODOMETER – O DOME [old | building] + T{h}E{o}R{y}
24 Mischievous sprite contrived woe for old goblin (5,10)
ROBIN GOODFELLOW – (WOE FOR OLD GOBLIN*) [“contrived”]
26 Exhaust excessively visible, leading to anger (8)
OVERTIRE – OVERT [excessively visible], leading to IRE [anger]
27 Waugh, perhaps, has name coming up constantly (6)
EVENLY – take EVELYN [Waugh], and move the N for N two positions up
28 Mountain animal covering Andes, primarily (6)
ALPACA – ALP [mountain] + A{nimal} C{overing} A{ndes}, &lit
32 Insides of parts list covers article needed for mechanic? (7)
ARTISAN – {p}ART{s} {l}IS{t} covers AN [article]
33 Gave interior reworking to lend a new vitality (12)
REINVIGORATE – (GAVE INTERIOR*) [“reworking”]
35 Broken-down and obsolete covers one circuit I had (11)
DILAPIDATED – DATED [obsolete] “covers” I LAP I’D [one | circuit | I had]
37 See things mostly stopped when Roman goddess enters (11)
HALLUCINATE – HALTE{d} [“mostly” stopped] when LUCINA [Roman goddess (of childbirth)] enters
38 Diner being given wrong order, a cause of some illnesses (10)
INBREEDING – (DINER BEING*) [“given wrong order”]
40 Fretting under constant and disastrous undermining (9)
CRIPPLING – RIPPLING [fretting] under C [constant]
42 Casual walking enthusiast around Lake Erie (8)
FLANERIE – FAN [enthusiast] “around” L [Lake] + ERIE
43 Worker’s pay was cut back, right? Be belligerent (4,3)
WAGE WAR – WAGE [worker’s pay] + WA{s} + R [right]
44 Update reference concerning small hotel (7)
REFRESH – REF RE S H [reference | concerning | small | hotel]
46 Governor’s wicked behaviour over chap (7)
VICEROY – VICE [wicked behaviour] over ROY [chap]
48 Reserve volume endlessly in error (3-3)
BOO-BOO – BOO{k} BOO{k} [reserve | volume, both missing their “ends”]
51 Home help turned up in a state (5)
INDIA – IN [home] + reversed AID [help]
On edit: FLANERIE was new to me too.
Edited at 2019-09-16 04:03 pm (UTC)
The Smiths!