Hi everyone, and Happy Caturday.
A great crossword to savour, I thought. It took me something like a couple of hours over a few sessions but yielded to applied thinking, with plenty of lovely aha! moments along the way. Thanks, setter!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
| Across | |
| 1 | Get beaten for holding bible class? That’s hairy! (11) |
| BEWHISKERED — BE WHISKED (get beaten) containing (holding) RE (bible class) | |
| 7 | Inferior sound device with important second function (6,5) |
| MICKEY MOUSE — MIC (sound device) with KEY (important) + MO (second) + USE (function) | |
| 13 | No going back — so suffer immediately (2,3,4) |
| ON THE NAIL — NO reversed (going back) + THEN (so) + AIL (suffer) | |
| 14 | Error diminished old Greek car manufacturer (7) |
| BUGATTI — BUG (error) + all but the last letter of (diminished) ATTIc (Greek) | |
| 15 | The crossword editor retained by Express is dull! (5) |
| SAMEY — ME (the crossword editor) inside (retained by) SAY (express). A clue to the setter? Quite probably, but I think it works anyway since any setter will edit the crossword as part of the creation process | |
| 16 | Waiting to connect leg with horse before getting on (2,4) |
| ON HOLD — ON (leg) with H (horse) before OLD (getting on) | |
| 17 | The woman chasing fairies finds little devil (8) |
| PERISHER — HER (the woman) following (chasing) PERIS (fairies) | |
| 18 | Against the current voting system, one’s put in united resistance (7) |
| UPRIVER — PR (voting system) and I’VE (one’s) put in between U (united) and R (resistance) | |
| 20 | Female suffering terrific stress moved as queue dealt with? (5,4,5,6) |
| FIRST COME FIRST SERVED — F (female) + an anagram of (suffering) TERRIFIC STRESS MOVED | |
| 23 | Religion‘s expression of enlightenment in repeated Mass (7) |
| BAHAISM — AHA (expression of enlightenment) in BIS (repeated) + M (mass) | |
| 24 | Salty food Parisian prepared with article taken from fire (7) |
| PRETZEL — PRET (Parisian prepared) with A (article) taken from ZE[a]L (fire) | |
| 26 | With track race put back, athlete finally gets to train (7) |
| NURTURE — RUT (track) and RUN (race) all reversed (put back) + athletE finally | |
| 28 | Drive away unauthorised pair of canvassers at the front (4) |
| TWOC — TWO (pair of) + the first letter of (… at the front) Canvassers | |
| 29 | Kept in hand men’s prize at festival (5,3) |
| PALME D’OR — PALMED (kept in hand) + OR (Other Ranks, men) | |
| 32 | Go crawling along out of gear? (6-3) |
| SKINNY-DIP — A cryptic definition | |
| 35 | Tries the lot again, mostly for practice (9) |
| REHEARSAL — REHEARS ALl (tries the lot again), without the last letter (mostly) | |
| 36 | Scrape trailer filling skip (8) |
| ESCAPADE — AD (trailer) inside (filling) ESCAPE (skip) | |
| 37 | Reaction to the cold basics of learning by the book? (4) |
| BRRR — RRR (basics of learning: the so-called three Rs) next to (by) B (book) | |
| 39 | Save one’s cheers for the person serving the drinks (7) |
| BARISTA — BAR (save) + I’S (one’s) + TA (cheers) | |
| 41 | Knock one over: not exactly sweet! (7) |
| TAPIOCA — TAP (knock) + I (one) + O (over) + CA (circa, not exactly) | |
| 44 | Noble fellow cheated on the first female? (7) |
| GALAHAD — HAD (cheated) next to (on) GAL A (the first female?) | |
| 45 | Light work made of devout folk — how much punishment’s involved unknown (3,7,2,8) |
| THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE — THE PI (devout folk), then RATES OF PENANCE (how much punishment) has inside it (‘s involved) Z (unknown) | |
| 49 | Nearly all choose to accept current condition for peace (7) |
| PACIFIC — Most of (nearly all) PICk (choose) containing (to accept) AC (current) and IF (condition) | |
| 50 | Material with which to test cosmetic (8) |
| TOILETRY — TOILE (material) with TRY (test) | |
| 51 | Publisher takes role of petitioner (6) |
| ISSUER — IS SUER (takes role of petitioner) | |
| 53 | Shaped outlines round first part of encyclopaedia? (5) |
| OVOLI — O (round) + VOL I (Vol 1, first part of encyclopaedia?) | |
| 54 | Fair, perhaps, to have teams in red (7) |
| MARXIST — MART (fair, perhaps) containing (to have … in) XIS (teams) | |
| 55 | Real nice uniform that’s worn (9) |
| AUTHENTIC — NICE U (uniform) THAT is anagrammed (worn) | |
| 56 | Neutral zone of old formerly swallowed up by Polish (6,5) |
| BUFFER STATE — ERST (of old, formerly) and ATE (swallowed) next to (by) BUFF (polish) | |
| 57 | Military command dispatched divisions in advance? (7,4) |
| PRESENT ARMS — PRE-SENT (dispatched … in advance) ARMS (divisions) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Barrack the person that is heard sobbing (6) |
| BOOHOO — BOO (barrack) + a homophone of (… that is heard) WHO (the person) | |
| 2 | Kids TV shows cave containing possible emperor and queen (5,4,6) |
| WATCH WITH MOTHER — WATCH (cave, Latin) + WITH (containing) + MOTH (possibly emperor, emperor moth) and ER (queen) | |
| 3 | Romantic rendering italicised (10) |
| IDEALISTIC — An anagram of (rendering) ITALICISED | |
| 4 | Old ruler shook hands, disappearing outside (4) |
| KHAN — ShooK HANds with some of the outside disappearing | |
| 5 | What shows highs and lots of plot to remove the old guard? (6,3) |
| RELIEF MAP — The answer could be interpreted as a MAP (plot) of RELIEF – the replacement of the old guard, for example (indicated by the ?), with the new. I presume that “lots” is a typo for “lows” and fortunately that’s how I read it when solving, but this caused much head-scratching when it came to writing the blog | |
| 6 | Excellent, having cheese in grill (7) |
| DEBRIEF — DEF (excellent, slang) containing (having … in) BRIE (cheese) | |
| 7 | Radio unit taking great pains to broadcast (9) |
| MEGAHERTZ — MEGA (great) + a homophone of (… to broadcast) HURTS (pains) | |
| 8 | Just leave odd parts for Henry Archer (5) |
| CUTER — If you CUT ER, the even letters from h[E]n[R]y, you just leave the odd parts of it | |
| 9 | I run peace movement for pleasure (9) |
| EPICUREAN — I RUN PEACE, anagram (movement) | |
| 10 | Archbishop‘s doctors turn out upset: RIP! (4,8) |
| MOST REVEREND — MOS (doctors) + EVERT (turn out) reversed (upset) + REND (rip) | |
| 11 | Calm as king must be prior to being taken to castle (7) |
| UNMOVED — In a game of chess, a king must not have moved at all in order to make the move known as castling (being taken to castle). My initial parsing of “something to do with chess” had to be fleshed out slightly for the blog! | |
| 12 | Friend to bear errors excepted long ago (6) |
| EEYORE — EE (errors excepted) + YORE (long ago) | |
| 19 | Rogues succeeded with much (8) |
| SCUMBAGS — S (succeeded) + CUM (with) + BAGS (much) | |
| 21 | Lectures on horses for touts (5,2) |
| TALKS UP — TALKS (lectures) + UP (on horses) | |
| 22 | Penny, coming in flushed after double PE, showered (8) |
| PEPPERED — P (penny) inside (coming in) RED (flushed) after PE PE (double PE) | |
| 23 | Albert’s heart, pounding inside loose garment (8) |
| BATHROBE — AlBErt’s heart with ATHROB (pounding) inside | |
| 25 | Give in to the French: what’s expected (5) |
| ENDUE — EN (in, to the French) + DUE (what’s expected) | |
| 27 | One presumably telling too little about article illegally acquired (5-3-7) |
| UNDER-THE-COUNTER — UNDER-COUNTER (one presumably telling too little) around (about) THE (article) | |
| 30 | FA’s forerunner came down on one with a certain force (7) |
| MILITIA — MI (fa’s forerunner, in the sol-fa system) + LIT (came down) preceding (on, in a down entry) I (one) with A | |
| 31 | Play area closed — leaves to the right (5) |
| RECTO — REC (play area) + TO (closed) | |
| 33 | In dire need of film company dismissing English fellow (8) |
| INDIGENT — INDI[e] (film company) without (dismissing) E (English) + GENT (fellow) | |
| 34 | Serializes a fine novel, not interfering with anything? (7-5) |
| LAISSEZ-FAIRE — SERIALIZES A F (fine) anagrammed (novel) | |
| 38 | What’s somehow keeping everything out of Chelsea net? (5,5) |
| CLEAN SHEET — An anagram of CHELSEA NET | |
| 40 | Friends, perhaps, in the main revolting, however (2,2,5) |
| AS IT COMES — SITCOM (Friends, perhaps) in the reversal of (… revolting) SEA (the main) | |
| 42 | Cliff, Charlie and I, dividing homework, finish off (9) |
| PRECIPICE — C (Charlie) and I inside (dividing) PREP (homework) and ICE (finish off, kill) | |
| 43 | Like normal, bland sweetener (9) |
| ASPARTAME — AS (like) + PAR (normal) + TAME (bland) | |
| 45 | Lecture Mark completed (4,3) |
| TICK OFF — A double definition | |
| 46 | Be too generous, glaring at paltry sum (7) |
| OVERTIP — OVERT (glaring) + IP (1p, paltry sum) | |
| 47 | Being collected in a Post Office, large computer storage unit (6) |
| APLOMB — In A PO (Post Office), L (large), then MB (computer storage unit) | |
| 48 | Writes off to a dictator, the king (6) |
| WRECKS — Homophone of (to a dictator) REX (the king) | |
| 50 | Film star in fur coat putting king in his place in Ireland? (5) |
| TARKA — K (king) in TARA (his place in Ireland?) | |
| 52 | Inflammation contracted last year (4) |
| STYE — The answer is found in a contracted laST YEar | |
Wasn’t keen on 1dn. No problems otherwise
Edited at 2020-11-07 07:30 am (UTC)
Edited at 2020-11-07 09:17 am (UTC)
Edited at 2020-11-07 10:43 am (UTC)
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