Times Cryptic Jumbo 1474: EEZ’re Good

A fun Jumbo with some cool things going on in the across clues (9ac, 13ac, 53ac, e.g.), though the last half or more of the down clues seem universally very straightforward – I wonder if setters commonly clue these things from top to bottom, and are in a hurry to finish by the end? WOD is obviously “banderillero”, lovely to finally have a word for those things that I’m sure we could all picture. Thanks setter for helping see 2020 out in style, 2021 Jumbos incoming!

1 Horrified at coming across golf cheats (6)
AGHAST – AT “coming across” G HAS [golf | cheats]

5 One with old school tie is oddly usual around Merchant Navy (7)
ALUMNUS – (USUAL*) “around” M.N.

9 What’s dropped letters of nearly two ounces outside post office (8)
LIPOGRAM – LI GRAM “outside” P.O. (Two ounces is actually more like LVI or LVII GRAMs)

13 Exploitable water initially in the centre of freezer? (9,8,4)
EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE – or E.E.Z., which initials you will find hidden in {fr}EEZ{er}

14 Choral piece has an untidy place, hard and concerning (8)
ANTIPHON – AN + TIP + H + ON

15 Worrying about second part of map reference (7)
EASTING – EATING “about” S

16 Managed Dominican in an irregular order (6)
RANDOM – RAN + DOM

17 Short statement is untruthful about volume, one of Aubrey’s (5,5)
BRIEF LIVES – BRIEF LIES, “about” V. John Aubrey’s 17th century biography collection

20 A quiet twenty-four hours, fast from here on? (3,9)
ASH WEDNESDAY – A SH WEDNESDAY. Beginning of the fasting season of Lent

23 Afternoon when Pip leaves in classic novel (4)
EMMA – as in pip-emma, p.m., afternoon

24 Short clue about mental ability is only half my exclusive idea (8)
CLIQUISM – CLU{e} “about” IQ + IS + M{y}

26 Namely European stopping French city’s early development (8)
NASCENCY – SC. E “stopping” NANCY

29 A mutiny — I’m out rioting for the destruction of defences? (12)
AUTOIMMUNITY – (A MUTINY I’M OUT*)

30 Sea bird dropping ’em in English cutter (10)
GUILLOTINE – GUILL{em}OT IN E

32 Loaded in goat skin, getting to run out with great speed (2,4,4)
AT FULL PELT – FULL [loaded] in {go}AT PELT, where GO [run] has left the building. Much harder to parse than just to bung in

34 Substitute for wedding where no one’s able to relax (8,4)
STANDING ROOM – or STAND-IN GROOM

36 Take journey, second, reportedly, to see work of art (8)
TRIPTYCH – TRIP [take journey] + homophone of TICK

38 Rush and short-tailed teal, perhaps tons in saltwater channel (4,4)
TEAR DUCT – TEAR [rush] + DUC{k} + T(ons)

39 Nothing but shilling removed from funds (4)
PURE – PUR{s}E

41 Darting bullfighter’s bolder linear moving (12)
BANDERILLERO – (BOLDER LINEAR*). This is the meanie who thrusts in the banderillas

43 One predicting result after score goes badly (10)
FORECASTER – (AFTER SCORE*)

44 Be baffled, seeing no key on time switch (6)
TOGGLE – {b}OGGLE on T

46 No more regret over needling scientist? (7)
PASTEUR – PAST [no more] + reversed RUE. Needling because vaccinator

48 Release relative with key in new hotel (8)
UNCLENCH – UNCLE with C in N H

50 Reckon hotel eel pie mash awful? Local is best (6,2,5,4,4)
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME – (RECKON HOTEL EEL PIE MASH*)

51 Ship’s rope he had succeeded getting across a river (8)
HEADSTAY – HE’D S “getting across” A, + TAY

52 Up till now dressed in previous baby’s clothing (7)
LAYETTE – YET [up till now] “dressed in” LATE

53 When leader’s overturned, furiously — not like this (6)
MILDLY – take WILDLY and turn the first letter upside down, to get an antonym of “furiously”

DOWN
2 Harvest area in valley (5)
GLEAN – A in GLEN

3 Chap holds power over girl up in the Hebrides? (11)
ARCHIPELAGO – ARCHIE “holds” P, + reversed O GAL

4 Play around upper-class youngster, mostly irritably (8)
TOUCHILY – TOY “around” U CHIL{d}

5 Foreign article about Remain (5)
ALIEN – AN about LIE

6 Worthless exercise bar (7)
USELESS – USE [exercise, as in “exercise power”] + LESS [bar, as in “bar a few stragglers”]

7 Unavoidably and as sincerely disturbed (11)
NECESSARILY – (AS SINCERELY*)

8 Peninsula overthrown during sectarianism (5)
SINAI – hidden reversed in {sectar}IANIS{m}ew

9 Grassy under tree’s shade (4,5)
LIME GREEN – GREEN under LIME

10 Trained horse is very good in pair (5)
PACER – ACE in PR

11 Waterproof barrier’s woven tough and denser (11)
GROUNDSHEET – (TOUGH + DENSER*)

12 Growth linking Yemen’s port to most of nearby country (7)
ADENOMA – ADEN + OMA{n}

18 Christmas fare strange British put out (3,6)
RUM BUTTER – RUM + B + UTTER

19 Bird’s very social behaviour that avoids cold (7)
VULTURE – V + {c}ULTURE

21 Walmington-on-Sea’s finest in Minder? (4,5)
HOME GUARD – HOME [in] + GUARD [minder]

22 Chick dressed in finest lingerie (8)
NESTLING – hidden in {fi}NEST LING{erie}

25 Sound work fencing position with battens in the middle (9)
QUINTETTE – QUINTE + {ba}TTE{ns}

27 Meeting in study classes on a particular topic (9)
CONCOURSE – CON [study] + COURSE [classes on a topic]

28 Engineers set up outside device for company (8)
EMPLOYER – reversed R.E.M.E., outside PLOY

31 One swaying and dancing dunce in Ireland (7)
INDUCER – (DUNCE*) in IR

33 Dug deeper in ground without obvious extraction? (11)
UNPEDIGREED – (DUG DEEPER IN*)

34 Tide came in to damage unknown marsh plant (3,8)
SEA ROSEMARY – SEA ROSE, + MAR [to damage] Y

35 Roe cooked with deli peas, a vegetarian product (8,3)
RAPESEED OIL – (ROE + DELI PEAS*)

37 Alfred and Penelope chasing Henry’s old money (9)
HALFPENNY – ALF and PENNY chasing H

40 Mice race round for sweet food (3,5)
ICE CREAM – (MICE RACE*)

42 Champion beer seen outside station (7)
APOSTLE – ALE outside POST

43 Fine fish in well (7)
FORFEIT – ORFE in FIT

45 Stop dispensing with public relations function (5)
EVENT – {pr}EVENT

47 Rising end of petal imitates part of flower (5)
SEPAL – reversed {peta}L APES

48 Join one female in Paris welcoming sex (5)
UNITE – UNE “welcoming” IT

49 Caught part of fishing rod in net (5)
CREEL – C + REEL