Hi all, I hope you are keeping well.
This was a jumbo with less of a trunk than a snout, complete with curly tail and a large oink! I spent longer than I’d like to admit and then, with several still to go, gave up on finishing unaided and settled down to a different kind of solve. Some good stuff though, for which thanks to the setter.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, [deletions] in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
| Across | |
| 1 | Lend dame support, see! (2,3,6) |
| LO AND BEHOLD — LOAN (lend) + DBE (dame) + HOLD (support) | |
| 7 | Item for decorating bore inflammatory poster (5,6) |
| PAINT ROLLER — PAIN (bore) + TROLLER (inflammatory poster, which would normally just be referred to as a troll) | |
| 13 | Second old archbishop’s informal words (5) |
| SLANG — S (second) + LANG (old archbishop) | |
| 14 | About time to study alternative to spare tyre? (7) |
| RETREAD — RE (about) + T (time) + READ (to study) | |
| 15 | Woman, dismissing daughter, and in hurry to appear on stage (9) |
| STEPHANIE — Without (dismissing) D (daughter), AN[d] inside (in) HIE (hurry); this goes next to (to appear on) STEP (stage) | |
| 16 | Prepare first off, an end to hostilities (9) |
| ARMISTICE — ARM (prepare) + IST (first) + ICE (off, to kill) | |
| 17 | Readers of stuff sent out from different dime stores (10) |
| DOSIMETERS — The answer is made from an anagram of (different) DIME STORES | |
| 20 | Go on board immediately after this cautiously optimistic forecast? (7) |
| MAYFAIR — MAY [be] FAIR would be a cautiously optimistic forecast. The board would be a Monopoly one | |
| 22 | Disconcert gunrunner, vetting cases (7) |
| UNNERVE — GunrUNNER VEtting contains (cases) the answer | |
| 24 | For example, a back payment covers substance for lab experiment? (7) |
| REAGENT — EG (for example) and A reversed (back), which RENT (payment) surrounds (covers) | |
| 25 | Picadors, when thrown, scattered (8) |
| SPORADIC — PICADORS, when anagrammed (when thrown), gives the answer | |
| 26 | What’s not faked, unusually, about old Lear’s character (3,5,2,4) |
| THE AKOND OF SWAT — WHAT’S NOT FAKED anagrammed (unusually) around (about) O (old). Not a Lear character I knew, and not one easy to construct, even having deduced The ___ of ___! | |
| 28 | Butcher’s with two floors, one heard (5) |
| DEKKO — Butcher’s is rhyming slang; of the two floors the one heard is deck – DEK – and the other is KO (knock out) | |
| 29 | Wide crack in which to put leg (6) |
| GAPING — GAG (crack, joke) in which we are to put PIN (leg) | |
| 30 | Hides stolen picture from PC, perhaps (10) |
| SCREENSHOT — SCREENS (hides) + HOT (stolen) | |
| 33 | Come by before safety agency locks garden (10) |
| GETHSEMANE — GET (come by) before HSE (safety agency, the Health and Safety Executive) + MANE (locks) | |
| 35 | Fifty disembarking from transport to the French African port (6) |
| BISSAU — L (fifty) removed from (disembarking from) B[l]ISS (transport) + AU (to the, French) | |
| 37 | Parties to hold in a very small Swiss resort (5) |
| DAVOS — DOS (parties) containing (to hold) A + V (very), abbreviated (small) | |
| 39 | Cap all out of place: the suit and tie back (4,3,7) |
| TAKE THE BISCUIT — An anagram of (out of place) THE SUIT and TIE BACK | |
| 41 | Tree from US city displayed by sticker book (8) |
| LABURNUM — LA (US city) displayed by BUR (sticker, alternative spelling of burr) + NUM (book, Numbers) | |
| 44 | A New Jersey sailor visiting centre of Montserrat’s capital (3,4) |
| SAN JOSE — A (from the clue) + NJ (New Jersey) + OS (sailor) all inside (visiting) the centre of MontSErrat | |
| 45 | Runs course on this country to the west’s language (7) |
| KURDISH — R (runs) + DISH (course) next to (on) UK (this country) reversed (to the west, in an across answer) | |
| 46 | In reducing mistreatment, sorted out public transport (7) |
| AUTOBUS — In ABUSe (mistreatment) without the last letter (reducing …) is an anagram of (sorted) OUT | |
| 47 | Winding up following chief, hardly resting (10) |
| CHILLAXING — AXING (winding up) following CH (chief) and ILL (hardly) | |
| 49 | Old woman’s guarded on subject of sultan’s obsession (9) |
| MONOMANIA — MA (old woman) surrounding (‘s guarded) ON + OMANI (subject of sultan) | |
| 53 | Circle bound to be offering a variety of views? (9) |
| OPINIONED — O (circle) + PINIONED (bound) | |
| 54 | Skilled communicator with gold stars on a roll? (7) |
| ORALIST — OR (gold) + A–LIST (stars on a roll?) | |
| 55 | Council not available to handle conclusion to project (5) |
| JUNTA — N/A (not available) around (to handle) the last letter of (conclusion to) JUT (project) | |
| 56 | Dishevelled pair close to tank ask for Rommel’s men (6,5) |
| AFRIKA KORPS — An anagram of (dishevelled) PAIR, the last letter of (close to) tanK, and ASK FOR | |
| 57 | Unfit person who likes undressing, briefly caught in the act (11) |
| DENATURISED — NATURISt (person who likes undressing) without the last letter (briefly) inside (caught in) DEED (act) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Large snake, I’m afraid, cornering Mike in resort (3,6) |
| LAS PALMAS — L (large) + ASP (snake) + ALAS (I’m afraid) around (cornering) M (Mike) | |
| 2 | Saw that Tom can spy on Rex? (1,3,3,4,2,1,4) |
| A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KING — The saw is an old adage and the wordplay gives a cryptic interpretation of it | |
| 3 | Maybe take rabbit away from impressionist (5) |
| DEGAS — To DE–GAS could perhaps mean to take away gas (rabbit, chatter) | |
| 4 | Forte! Is it that of a tattooist? (3-8) |
| EAR-PIERCING — A tattooist might provide EAR PIERCING, or perhaps might be playing the drum tattoo loudly | |
| 5 | Possibly topless May Queen, one being pursued (2,3,3) |
| ON THE RUN — Without the last letter (topless), mONTH (possibly … May) + ER (Queen) + UN (one) | |
| 6 | Ultimately spineless of French in short ducking a German product (7,5) |
| DRESDEN CHINA — The last letter of (ultimately) spinelesS and DE (of, French) go in all but the last letter of (short) DRENCHINg followed by A (from the clue) | |
| 7 | Flat tyres one can do without! (10) |
| PEDESTRIAN — Well, a PEDESTRIAN can do without tyres | |
| 8 | American’s not always away, we hear, after all (2,3) |
| IN SUM — Sounds like (… we hear) IN SOME, which could be an American’s way of saying in some of the time, or not always away | |
| 9 | Where council sat to go over ground (5,6) |
| TRENT BRIDGE — TRENT (where council sat) + BRIDGE (to go over) | |
| 10 | Trouble and strife, maybe bad for health (5,4) |
| OTHER HALF — An anagram of (bad) FOR HEALTH | |
| 11 | Left one distant land for European city (4) |
| LINZ — L (left) + I (one) + NZ (distant land) | |
| 12 | Oscar one carried on plate overwhelms film director (4) |
| ROEG — O (Oscar), which REG (one carried on plate, i.e. a licence plate) surrounds (overwhelms). The director is Nicolas | |
| 18 | Hands-free number? (3,2,4,2,7) |
| YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS — A cute cryptic definition of the novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn | |
| 19 | Regulations and data about pick-up from Victoria? (8) |
| STATUTES — STATS (data) around (about) UTE (pick-up from Victoria? – Victoria Australia) | |
| 21 | Thrown in debt (2,1,4) |
| AT A LOSS — A double definition | |
| 23 | Cast out to rehearse, expending energy for nothing (8) |
| EXORCISE — EX[e]RCISE (to rehearse), removing (expending) E (energy) for O (nothing) | |
| 27 | Singular witticisms, type occurring in yarn (4,4) |
| SPUN SILK — S (singular) + PUNS (witticisms) + ILK (type) | |
| 28 | Fresh id’s one I get ready for computer (8) |
| DIGITISE — An anagram of (fresh) IDS I (one) I GET | |
| 31 | Slip away carrying book, indeed (2,5) |
| NO DOUBT — NOD (slip) + OUT (away) containing (carrying) B (book) | |
| 32 | Minister departs, placing inside contact details? (8,4) |
| VISITING CARD — VICAR (minister) and D (departs), with SITING (placing) inside | |
| 34 | Old lady embracing English couple overheard Belgian dramatist (11) |
| MAETERLINCK — MATER (old lady) around (embracing) E (English) followed by LINCK, which sounds like (overheard) LINK (couple). Maurice Maeterlinck | |
| 36 | Struggling university secretary gets the bird (2,7,2) |
| UP AGAINST IT — U (university) + PA (secretary) + GAINS (gets) + TIT (the bird, or a bird) | |
| 38 | Foul slurs wrongly associated with curio (10) |
| SCURRILOUS — SLURS is anagrammed together with (wrongly associated with) CURIO | |
| 40 | Not smart enough to digest page in after-dinner article? (9) |
| TOOTHPICK — TOO THICK (not smart enough) containing (to digest) P (page) | |
| 42 | Made up much-loved account — boy’s bowled over (9) |
| MASCARAED — DEAR (much-loved) + AC (account) + SAM (boy), all reversed (bowled over) | |
| 43 | Back from church with claim to devotion — touching! (8) |
| CHAMPION — CH (church) with AM PI (claim to devotion, in cryptic speak anyway!) + ON (touching) | |
| 48 | One who’s left note upset timber producer (5) |
| ALDER — RED (one who’s left, politically) + LA (note), all reversed (upset) | |
| 50 | Obliged you very informally to listen to officer (5) |
| MAJOR — MADE (obliged) YER (you, very informally) might sound like (to listen to) MAJOR | |
| 51 | Pro beginning on amateur arenas (4) |
| FORA — FOR (pro) + the first letter of (beginning on) Amateur | |
| 52 | Revolving bar, one serving pork pies (4) |
| LIAR — Reversing (revolving) RAIL (bar) | |
There was a lot of very difficult stuff in here but special mention from my point of view would include:
> Constructing the unknown and unlikely-looking AKOND OF SWAT, MAETERLINCK and ROEG from wordplay
> Putting in LYON at 11dn, which looks kind of feasible, and then not questioning it for ages
> In a similar vein having AFRIKA CORPS for ages, which made the already very difficult Belgian completely impossible
Well done for untangling this monster kitty and begrudging thanks to the setter for a worthy challenge.
Edited at 2020-05-02 09:10 am (UTC)
Edited at 2020-05-02 12:13 pm (UTC)
Ong’ara in Kenya.
And at 4dn EAR-PIERCING might also be done by a needle tattooist.