This was largely of the straightforward school of Jumbo setting but with a bunch of very neat clues dotted about. I very much liked 4, 24 and 48dn as well as the team-up between 10 and 11dn. Some of the across clues were fine too I GUESS. Thanks to the setter and apologies to the rest of you for deserting my post yesterday!
Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
Across
1 Academic eats nothing after gastric trouble, resisting buffets (9)
WINDPROOF – PROF eats 0 after WIND. Good play with the two meanings/pronunciations of “buffet”
6 Supposedly great individual swallowing junk (2,5)
ON PAPER – ONER swallowing PAP
10 Poor allowed to give away pounds (5)
AWFUL – {l}AWFUL, giving away (the first) L
13 Ceremony carrying little weight? (3,4)
LOW MASS – double def with a scientific reading of the phrase
14 Not all of Middlesex tremendously radical (7)
EXTREME – hidden in {middles}EX TREME{ndously}
15 Rest of pork pie to put away quickly (3-4)
LIE-DOWN – LIE [porky pie] + DOWN [put away (drink) quickly]
16 Silence follows this change around at Cork (12,7)
CONVERSATION STOPPER – CONVERSION around AT + (bottle) STOPPER
17 For quite some time, live the wrong way (3)
ERA – reversed ARE [live]
18 Guy turning head in decorative material (6)
RIBBON – RIB [guy, tease] + reversed NOB [head]
20 Boss in American car carrying books around (6)
EDITOR – RIDE carrying O.T., the whole reversed
21 Being open to change enabled me to change (9)
EMENDABLE – (ENABLED ME*)
23 Bobby tours unknown country, a compulsive sort (10)
PYROMANIAC – P.C. tours Y ROMANIA
25 One investing in cowshed? (11)
STOCKHOLDER – double def with a whimsical reading of stockholder as anything that holds (bovine) stock
29 Court yard facing west with lots of foliage (5)
WOODY – WOO + YD heading from right to left
30 Good urban musician hosting large wrestler (8)
GRAPPLER – G RAPPER hosting L
31 Least enduring party for French food enthusiasts? (8)
BRIEFEST – or a BRIE FEST
34 Limited what judge did, imprisoning one that’s charged (8)
RATIONED – RATED imprisoning ION
36 Hero in ebbing water keeping cold (8)
ACHILLES – reversed SEA keeping CHILL
37 What protester did to get glossy fabric (5)
SATIN – or SAT-IN, what the protester did at their sit-in
39 Knocked back drink, expecting me as well (4,3,4)
JOIN THE CLUB – reversed O.J. + IN THE CLUB [expecting]
41 Decline to be received by hotel poorly (2,8)
GO DOWNHILL – GO DOWN [to be received, as in “that went down well”] + H ILL
43 Dinner: light meal short of a seat (9)
BANQUETTE – BANQUET [dinner] + TE{a} short of A
45 Citing an overthrown dynasty (6)
NAMING – reversed AN + MING
47 Island also bordering land (6)
TOBAGO – TOO bordering BAG
49 Cross, leaving northern resort (3)
SPA – SPA{n} minus the N
50 Keenly loathe everyone’s work, therefore? (4,7,8)
LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS – plus a literalistic reading
52 Where gamblers are hoarding spades in card game (7)
CASSINO – CASINO hoarding S
53 Ruler’s dress pinned by Etonian periodically (7)
TSARINA – SARI pinned by {e}T{o}N{i}A
54 Hate to stand on beetle, say (7)
BUGBEAR – BEAR [to stand] on BUG [beetle, maybe]
55 Informed about opening of long, informal speech (5)
SLANG – SANG about L{ong}
56 More distant ancestor, it’s said (7)
FARTHER – homophone of FATHER, in weird non-rhotic parts
57 Are exotic swirls in slate? (9)
EXCORIATE – (ARE EXOTIC*)
Down
1 Joker and I left Washington, in part of city (4,4)
WILD CARD – I L D.C., in WARD
2 Unfavourable, like the current government (2-3)
NO-WIN – or NOW IN
3 Flier to record years in astronomical study (11)
PLANETOLOGY – PLANE TO LOG Y
4 Disease’s caught in sailor’s haunt (6)
OBSESS – B.S.E. caught in O(rdinary)S(eaman)’S
5 Commander fired team, all failing (5,7)
FLEET ADMIRAL – (FIRED TEAM ALL*)
6 Wrong letters in distant settlement (7)
OUTPOST – OUT [wrong] + POST [letters]
7 Wanting fun, with appeal certain on date with man (8-7)
PLEASURE-SEEKING – PLEA SURE SEE KING [appeal | certain | date | (chess)man]
8 Females only breaking mobile phone? It’s amazing (10)
PHENOMENON – NO MEN breaking (PHONE*)
9 Republican getting pass for recidivist act (7)
RELAPSE – R getting ELAPSE
10 A trio of wines in love song … (1,3,3,4)
A RED RED ROSE – A + RED, RED and ROSÉ
11 … and its setting, maybe, following lesser teacher (9)
FLOWERBED – F LOWER B.Ed. The setting for a red red rose.
12 Tattoo penned by criminal with drug connection (7)
LINKAGE – INK penned by LAG with E
19 Shun thug from down under caught going too far (7)
BOYCOTT – upside down YOB + C(aught) + O.T.T.
22 Mob Frenchman in a state of mortification (8)
GANGRENE – GANG RENÉ
24 Officer with a collar secures a taxi for all in coastal resort (10,5)
COPACABANA BEACH – COP with A NAB secures A CAB, plus EACH [for all]
26 Developing a work with a US film-maker (8)
KUROSAWA – (A WORK + A US*)
27 Keep lowering a membrane (6)
RETINA – RETAIN lowering the A to the bottom position
28 Rising conflicts about a West Indian home rule (6)
SWARAJ – JARS about A W, the whole reversed
32 Literary heartbreaker’s English and Belgian beer (7)
ESTELLA – E + STELLA (Artois). Great Expectations
33 Variable measure of line in section of track to climb (7,5)
SLIDING SCALE – L in SIDING, plus SCALE [to climb]
35 Barn, say, in Dublin nearly damaged during trip (11)
OUTBUILDING – (DUBLI{n}*) in OUTING
37 School staff remain without top physicist (11)
SCHRODINGER – SCH ROD {l}INGER
38 It provides current version of rental list from the bottom (10)
ALTERNATOR – (RENTAL*) + upside down ROTA
40 India exploited one Asian stretch of water (6,3)
IONIAN SEA – I + (ONE ASIAN*)
42 See offenders deserving credit (8)
CONSTRUE – CONS TRUE [offenders | worthy of credibility]
43 Splits a bit of time into pieces (7)
BISECTS – SEC [a bit of time] into BITS
44 Ape to slip out of shed and make a run for it (4,3)
TAKE OFF – quadruple def
46 Dirtier mark on island? Dug around it (7)
MUDDIER – M on UDDER [dug] around I(sland)
48 Member of group ending in Zulu province (6)
QUEBEC – Canadian province, or a member of the NATO phonetic alphabet that ends with Z for Zulu. LOI and favourite
51 Evacuation procedure of soldiers, up in eastern area (5)
ENEMA – reversed MEN in E A
It still took me a shade over half an hour, not helped by having to back out a badly biffed “field marshal” at 5D.
I particularly enjoyed LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS, CONVERSATION STOPPER, and PYROMANIAC, but COD to COPACABANA BEACH.
Sorry to hear about your contretemps, v, but glad you sorted yourself out eventually.
Before backtracking I had AMENDABLE, which I thought was the correct form
? ONER=great individual at 6A
? UDDER=dug at 46D
DNK the card game CASSINO had double S.
RENE, the canonical Frenchman makes another appearance
44A Now I see that TAKE OFF is a Quadruple def, and I noted that I failed to parse! I’ve found this before with Triple Defs, that the extra definition doesn’t make it easier, it makes it harder.
NHO KUROSAWA, SWARAJ (needed aids for those)
COD QUEBEC, and the LOI (apart from blanks)
Smiles for BRIEFEST (“Brie Fest”)