Hi everyone. Thanks to the setter for this chewy but tasty offering to kick off the bank holiday weekend. I had been forewarned about the difficulty and so allowed myself a couple of sessions. There were several words new to me which I successfully divined from the clues, but if I had three lives (well, I suppose I have nine) I would have used them all. I had one wrong first guess, one wildcard search and one unforced error. Those were BRAKE VAN (26a), WELSHMAN (45d) and DINK (3d), respectively.
The clever &lit in 8d, NOBLE METAL, is my pick of the grid; other candidates are available. Some nice – and nicely disguised – definitions are on display and plenty of other devious cryptic playfulness too. How did you find it?
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. Link words are generally omitted for clarity.
| Across | |
| 1 | One’s angling positively the way to make you go off fish? (4,6) |
| SPIN DOCTOR — If you SPIN DOCTOR you make ROT (go off) + COD (fish) | |
| 6 | Poor duck nobody’s fed meal (2,4,6) |
| ON ONES UPPERS — O (duck) + NONE’S (nobody’s) containing (fed) SUPPER (meal) | |
| 14 | Orangeman’s outside in de Havilland, possibly, heading off for province (7) |
| LIVONIA — OrangemaN’s outside goes in oLIVIA (de Havilland, possibly) without the first letter (heading off). A historical region | |
| 15 | Regret insult overheard that’s repeated by players? (7) |
| RHUBARB — Sounds like (… overheard) RUE (regret) + BARB (insult). I knew rhubarb but was interested to learn of other variants | |
| 16 | Producing certain young crooner, after hit (7) |
| LAMBING — BING (crooner, Crosby) after LAM (hit) | |
| 17 | Old red stain linked with kiss (4) |
| MARX — MAR (stain) + X (kiss) | |
| 18 | A year to get hold of cooker, I fear (6) |
| PHOBIA — PA (per annum, a year) around (to get hold of) HOB (cooker) and I | |
| 20 | Angel’s roused chap’s ire (8) |
| SERAPHIC — An anagram of (roused) CHAP’S IRE | |
| 24 | Asian native with corporation, I am led to believe, stepping out of line (10,3-7,3) |
| VIETNAMESE POT-BELLIED PIG — I AM LED TO BELIEVE STEPPING anagrammed (out of line) | |
| 25 | Film, slow burner at first tedious, finally entrances (7) |
| WICKETS — ET (film), with WICK (slow burner) at first, all followed by the last letter of (… finally) tediouS | |
| 26 | Slowcoach? (5,3) |
| BRAKE VAN — I would call this a cryptic definition – a coach that slows – but if you take the parts of the word individually it also fits with the answer as BRAKE (slow) + VAN (coach). This was my second go, having decided I needed to check my first guess, BRAKE CAR, in the dictionary | |
| 27 | Sweet primrose, maybe, maiden picked for Yankee (6) |
| MELLOW — [y]ELLOW (primrose maybe), with M (maiden) selected in place of (picked for) Y (Yankee) | |
| 29 | Very hard to beat, with means to pick up (6,3,5) |
| HAMMER AND TONGS — HAMMER (to beat) + AND (with) + TONGS (means to pick up) | |
| 31 | Monarch not exactly welcome around French city (7,1) |
| CHARLES I — C (circa, not exactly) + HI (welcome) around ARLES (French city) | |
| 34 | Notices singular ducks abandoning river (5,3) |
| SMALL ADS — S (singular) + MALLA[r]DS (ducks) leaving out (abandoning) R (river) | |
| 36 | Boy gets given cards from everyone: it’s a team effort (3,5,2,4) |
| ALL HANDS ON DECK — ALL HAND SON DECK covers the wordplay part – with just a single spacing change too! | |
| 39 | Nut dip is something for salad (6) |
| ENDIVE — EN (nut) + DIVE (dip) | |
| 41 | Feel bias after moving on (8) |
| FEASIBLE — FEEL BIAS anagrammed (after moving) | |
| 43 | Provokes some backtracking, closeting invitees (7) |
| IGNITES — The answer is embedded in reverse in (some backtracking) cloSETING Invitees | |
| 46 | Roger colours poor Henry’s leg, in a manner of speaking (8,8,7) |
| RECEIVED STANDARD ENGLISH — RECEIVED (Roger) + STANDARD (colours) + an anagram of (poor) H’S LEG IN, with H = Henry | |
| 47 | Daughter is driving, bound for American bar (8) |
| DRAMSHOP — D (daughter) + RAMS (is driving) + HOP (bound) | |
| 48 | Holly, maybe, had always to be cut for religious statue (6) |
| BUDDHA — BUDDy (Holly, maybe) and HAd, in all cases without the last letter (always to be cut) | |
| 49 | Bush on top of a ridge initially replanted (4) |
| AFRO — OF A and Ridge initially anagrammed (replanted) | |
| 53 | Element of character required by Greeks in a game recalled (7) |
| URANIUM — MU (character required by Greeks) + IN A + RU (game) all reversed (recalled) | |
| 54 | Two ways to publicise remote region (7) |
| OUTPOST — To OUT and to POST are two ways to publicise | |
| 56 | Maybe miss knowledge on Brussels, requiring one article (7) |
| EUGENIA — GEN (knowledge) next to (on) EU (Brussels), followed by I (one) and A (article) | |
| 57 | Sound of bell outside oven, and separate cooking utensil (8,4) |
| TOASTING FORK — TING (sound of bell) around (outside) OAST (oven) + FORK (separate) | |
| 58 | With time, loosens, we understand, this fixed screw? (4,6) |
| WAGE FREEZE — W (with) + AGE (time) + FREES (loosens), homophone (we understand). Screw is a slang term for wages, but it’s rather dated now | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Only around Nevada you will find crop showing serious promise (6,3) |
| SOLEMN VOW — SOLE (only), then around NV (Nevada) you will find MOW (crop) | |
| 2 | Commandeer ITV broadcast, one of four from “Downton Abbey” (8,5) |
| INVERTED COMMA — COMMANDEER ITV anagrammed (broadcast) | |
| 3 | Minimal knock with racket? (4) |
| DINK — A cryptic definition, one of those which seems not cryptic at all if you read it the right way: a dink is a soft strike of the ball. It got me though: I had DING – thinking of a minimal knock in a car, and a sound. EDIT: FGBP and Adrian Cobb in the comments have suggested DIN (racket) + K (minimal knock) for an &lit. I’m not convinced by “minimal” to indicate the first letter – what do you think? | |
| 4 | Rabbit and horse end up in wrong part of NZ (7,7) |
| CHATHAM ISLANDS — We have CHAT (rabbit) and H (horse), then LAND (end up) goes in AMISS (wrong) | |
| 5 | Hospital leaves time for us (3) |
| OUR — H (hospital) leaves [h]OUR (time) | |
| 7 | Lack of response from patient boatbuilder (4) |
| NOAH — NO AH – a lack of response from a patient asked to “say ‘ah’” | |
| 8 | For one, count palladium, ultimately, along with others (5,5) |
| NOBLE METAL — NOBLE (for one, count) + the last letter of (… ultimately) palladiuM + ET AL (along with others) | |
| 9 | One turns up in Clonmel — Ballyshannon, Cork and Naas each have one (8) |
| SYLLABLE — Another reverse hidden: it turns up in ClonmEL — BALLYShannon | |
| 10 | He carries permit in to indulge publisher (11) |
| PAMPHLETEER — HE contains (carries) LET (permit), all of which is in PAMPER (to indulge) | |
| 11 | Is visiting English constable, old friend of bishop (9) |
| EPISCOPAL — IS inside (visiting) E (English), PC (constable), O (old) and PAL (friend) | |
| 12 | What’s heaved from sling, tho’ oddly just staying put (4) |
| SIGH — The answer is found from SlInG, tHo’, taking the odd letters only (oddly just staying put) | |
| 13 | Sure a GP’s mistaken a pulse (5,3) |
| SUGAR PEA — SURE A GP‘s anagrammed (mistaken) + A | |
| 19 | Group of police officers perhaps finding intruder (8) |
| BUSYBODY — BUSY BODY (group of police officers perhaps) | |
| 21 | Year in France gone into by Times supplement (6) |
| ANNEXE — ANNEE (year in France) with the insertion of (gone into by) X (times) | |
| 22 | Sparing no detail in conclusion (2,6) |
| AT LENGTH — Two definitions | |
| 23 | As Golf Week’s coming round chap’s the one to beat! (8) |
| EGGWHISK — EG (as) + G (golf) + WK (week) goes around (’s coming round) HIS (chap’s) | |
| 28 | Food said to raise just a grin instead of a smile? (8,6) |
| CHESHIRE CHEESE — A photographer’s instruction to “say cheese” given to the Cheshire cat of Alice’s Adventures might result in it leaving only a grin | |
| 29 | MC with Motown track and another that’s local (8) |
| HOSTELRY — HOST (MC) + EL (Motown track, Motown being a US indicator) + RY (another – track) | |
| 30 | Drug for treating the overweight — or lean — with a temperature (8) |
| ORLISTAT — OR + LIST (lean) + A + T (temperature). I hadn’t heard of this drug, but the clue and checkers were kind to me | |
| 32 | Security feature‘s curiously eccentric feel (8,5) |
| ELECTRIC FENCE — An anagram of (curiously) ECCENTRIC FEEL | |
| 33 | Was wrong to pursue most of intelligence gathered (8) |
| INFERRED — ERRED (was wrong) after (to pursue) all but the last letter of (most of) INFo (intelligence) | |
| 35 | Erotic film? It’s usually blue in nature (4-2-1-4) |
| LOVE-IN-A-MIST — Putting LOVE IN A MIST or film could make it erotic; I don’t think I’ll dwell on exactly how that might work! | |
| 37 | Youth up a long time catching badger (6) |
| NONAGE — The reversal of (up) EON (a long time) containing (catching) NAG (badger) | |
| 38 | Writers switch positions after I retire (7,3) |
| PENSION OFF — PENS (writers) + ON and OFF (switch positions) after I | |
| 40 | Provide material to chew on: stuff accompanying a film? (9) |
| DOCUDRAMA — DO (provide) + CUD (material to chew on) + RAM (stuff) + A | |
| 42 | After throwing wobbly, do reverse (4,4) |
| BODY BLOW — An anagram of (after throwing) WOBBLY, DO | |
| 44 | Chose goal that’s involved years of training? (6,3) |
| SCHOOL AGE — CHOSE GOAL is anagrammed (that’s involved) | |
| 45 | Go back on first of March, as normal? One might (8) |
| WELSHMAN — WELSH (go back on) + the first letters of March As Normal. My last in, and I resorted to a word search. That’ll teach me to learn the Saints’ Days (well, ok, one of them) | |
| 50 | Kick indeed falling short (4) |
| QUIT — QUITe (indeed) without the last letter (falling short) | |
| 51 | Lead kills vermin heading for the roof? (4) |
| STAR — RATS (kills vermin) reversed (heading for the roof). It took until review time for me to work out what the “kills” was doing | |
| 52 | Setter‘s answer — something fishy (4) |
| AGAR — A (answer) + GAR (something fishy, i.e. a fish!) | |
| 55 | Drink brought up at the end of additional half-hour’s play? (3) |
| TEA — Reversal of (brought up) AET (after extra time: at the end of additional half-hour’s play) | |
Edited at 2021-05-15 05:16 am (UTC)
FGBP
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
I can’t remember why I put DIN rather than several other possible fills, but I did.
I did initially have TOASTING IRON, but prompted by impossible crossers, I read the clue properly.
DRAMSHOP looks as if it ought to be more Scottish (Scotch?) than American, but I had to take the setter’s word for it.
ORLISTAT would have beaten me without the generous wordplay, and still went in with fingers crossed. I dislike drugs that don’t appear to give a clue as to their purpose.
Edited at 2021-05-15 12:45 pm (UTC)