I found this a Jumbo of average difficulty with plenty of straightforward clues to give checkers for the trickier ones. It took me just over 35 minutes. As usual there were a couple of words I didn’t know – the dog and the plant, but the wordplay was clear enough. I was vaguely disappointed that 28A turned out not to be STINKY, but I did enjoy 36A, 43A, 24D, the “what angel has” at 25D and my LOI 11D. Thank-you setter! How did everyone else get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Bead on fastener for nut (9) |
| SCREWBALL – BALL (bead) [on] SCREW (fastener). | |
| 6 | Ride wave ahead of ship (13) |
| ROLLERCOASTER – ROLLER (wave) [ahead of] COASTER (ship). | |
| 13 | Lift maintained by bra is extraordinary (5) |
| RAISE – Hidden in [maintained by] bRA IS Extraordinary. | |
| 14 | Formality, warning for drivers in court once (4,7) |
| STAR CHAMBER – STARCH (formality) AMBER (warning for driver). | |
| 15 | Piano parts over before a dramatic work (5) |
| OPERA –P (piano) inside [parts] O’ER (over) [before] A. | |
| 16 | Crunchy food in vessel served with puree of apricots (6,5) |
| POTATO CRISP – POT (vessel) [puree of] (apricots)*. | |
| 17 | Protestants against stealing a bread roll, saints (11) |
| ANABAPTISTS – ANTI (against) outside, [stealing], A BAP (bread roll), STS (saints). | |
| 18 | Having lost land, Ireland and USA sacked a massive continent (7) |
| EURASIA – IRE |
|
| 20 | See good, soft, skin on sausage (7) |
| GLIMPSE – G (good) LIMP (soft) and outside letters of [skin on] SausagE. | |
| 21 | Personage listless then? (7) |
| NOTABLE – NO TABLE (listless). Ho ho. | |
| 23 | One of Jerome Kern’s smouldering looks after this? (5,4,2,4,4) |
| SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES – Cryptic definition… and a lovely song. Listen to my favourite version of it paired with another Jerome Kern classic, “Can I forget you”, sung by Sylvia McNair accompanied by André Previn here, which I first heard while stuck in a traffic jam on the M25 in the pouring rain. | |
| 27 | Puck is merely prodded initially (3) |
| IMP – Is Merely Prodded [initially]. | |
| 28 | Cloth wrapping metal, rank (6) |
| RATING –RAG (cloth) [wrapping] TIN (metal). Seeing metal being wrapped to get “rank” my first thought was STINKY, but it was not to be. | |
| 29 | Shrivelled up thing is in shower (6) |
| RAISIN – IS [in] RAIN (shower). | |
| 31 | One admits present giver losing heart (5,4) |
| FRONT DOOR – FRONT (present) DO |
|
| 34 | What I said when I pootled off with minimum of pretence? (6-3) |
| TOODLE-PIP – (I pootled)* [off], [minimum of] Pretence. Semi-&lit. | |
| 35 | Warmer for pig’s ears? I’m not interested (2,4) |
| SO WHAT – SOW HAT (warmer of pig’s ears). I think we’ve had this at least once elsewhere recently. Ah yes. It was here. | |
| 36 | One location for a start, with beach all round? (6) |
| ISLAND – I (one), Location [for a start] with SAND (beach) [all round]. Very neat &lit. | |
| 39 | Harm with strike on the counter (3) |
| MAR – RAM (strike) reversed, [on the counter] -> MAR. | |
| 40 | Why should I tell you the name of a plant? (4-4-3-8) |
| MIND-YOUR-OWN-BUSINESS – Double definition. Mind-your-own-business or baby’s tears, Soleirolia soleirolii, is a creeping perennial with tiny rounded leaves. I’d not heard of it. | |
| 42 | Recalled pictures perhaps with fungi in ranges of colours (7) |
| SPECTRA – ART (pictures perhaps) CEPS (fungi) [recalled] -> SPECTRA. | |
| 43 | US president is very keen on hugs (7) |
| MADISON –IS enveloped by MAD (very keen) ON [hugs]. James Madison was the 4th president. | |
| 45 | Most ill at ease, I’d see outline of ghost that’s shapeshifting (7) |
| EDGIEST – Anagram of (I’d see [outline of] ghost)* [shapeshifting]. A novel anagrind, for those who collect such thins. | |
| 47 | Time when house connects district to old city (7-4) |
| QUARTER-HOUR – QUARTER (district) HO (house) UR (old city). | |
| 49 | Repeating a little, our dodgy dish (11) |
| RATATOUILLE – (a a little our)* [dodgy]. | |
| 51 | Prophet respected, no way ending in gutter (5) |
| AUGUR – AUGU |
|
| 52 | Commotion about one drink Buddhist gets cheap (1,4,1,5) |
| A DIME A DOZEN – ADO (commotion) [about] I (one) MEAD (drink) ZEN (Buddhist). | |
| 53 | Zoroastrian in capital city turning tail (5) |
| PARSI – PARIS (capital city) reverse last two letters [turning tail] -> PARSI. | |
| 54 | Be a pig — while a stallion? (3,4,1,5) |
| EAT LIKE A HORSE – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 55 | By inference, maybe honest trial without dispute (2,7) |
| NO CONTEST – NO CON (honest) TEST (trial). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Empty puzzle, tantalising thing? (11) |
| STRIPTEASER – STRIP (empty) TEASER (puzzle). A bit of an odd definition, I thought. | |
| 2 | Celebrate finding upright character in schedule (7) |
| ROISTER – I (upright character) [in] ROSTER (schedule). | |
| 3 | Gathering last of rice, I didn’t quite get that grain (5) |
| WHEAT – WHAT? (I didn’t quite get that) [gathering] [last of] ricE. | |
| 4 | While very cold, I consumed first of daiquiris, mixed (10) |
| ASSOCIATED – AS (while) SO (very) C (cold) I ATE (consumed) [first of] Daiquiris. | |
| 5 | Record claiming a steering mechanism is doing little (7) |
| LOAFING – LOG (record) [claiming] A FIN (steering mechanism). | |
| 6 | Those perhaps working for a hotel inspector, ties knotted (13) |
| RECEPTIONISTS – (inspector ties)* [knotted]. Nice deception with the need to split “hotel inspector”. | |
| 7 | Dog possesses article, and licks around it with love (5,4) |
| LHASA APSO – HAS (possesses) A (article), LAPS (licks) [around it], O (0, love). Read about this dog breed from Tibet here. I didn’t remember it, may have heard about this breed before, probably in a crossword. | |
| 8 | Welcome them briefly, a couple (7) |
| EMBRACE – ‘EM (them) [briefly] BRACE (a couple). | |
| 9 | Never interact, only when circulating (9,3) |
| CERTAINLY NOT – (interact only) [circulating]. | |
| 10 | A naval officer says they’re infidels (9) |
| APOSTATES – A P.O. (Petty Officer) STATES (says). | |
| 11 | Bags of Scottish tenacity rarely evident with Scots first of all (5) |
| TREWS – Initial letters of Tenacity Rarely Evident With Scots [first of all]. My LOI, being slow to spot the acrostic indicator. | |
| 12 | Person clearing the way, announcing emotional islander? (4,7) |
| ROAD SWEEPER – Sounds like [announcing] RHODES WEEPER (emotional islander). | |
| 19 | Second constant, not first, relating to a bone (7) |
| STERNAL – S (second) |
|
| 22 | Makeshift construction short in diameter, joiner crossing the drink (9) |
| BRICOLAGE – BRI |
|
| 24 | Buy from another company, being courteous to engineer? (9) |
| OUTSOURCE – (courteous)* [to engineer]. | |
| 25 | What angel has, foxy dresses with some style (7) |
| SHARPLY – HARP (what angel has) with SLY (foxy) outside [dresses]. Nice one. | |
| 26 | Stop repeating phrase (7) |
| REFRAIN – Double definition. | |
| 30 | Item on executive’s desk with a knock-on effect? (7,6) |
| NEWTONS CRADLE – Cryptic definition. | |
| 32 | Using tongue it is turned over, passing flavour around (7) |
| TASTING – IT’S [turned over] -> STI, with TANG (flavour) [around]. | |
| 33 | Match where both sides may play away? (4,8) |
| OPEN MARRIAGE – Cryptic definition. | |
| 34 | What goes from 42nd to 47th by 49, for example (5,6) |
| TIMES SQUARE – TIMES (by) SQUARE (49, for example, 7 squared). The area in Manhattan between 42nd and 47th streets. | |
| 37 | Serve mud pie? (4,3,4) |
| DISH THE DIRT – Whimsical cryptic definition. | |
| 38 | Second note put in score, tremulous (10) |
| SUPERTONIC – (put in score)* [tremulous]. The note after the tonic in a scale. | |
| 40 | Bones at times are almost breaking (9) |
| METATARSI – (at times ar |
|
| 41 | Hose perhaps submerged in river? (9) |
| UNDERWEAR – UNDER (submerged in) WEAR (river in Co. Durham that passes through Durham and Sunderland). | |
| 43 | North African upland so described? (7) |
| MOORISH – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 44 | Surfer — spot one finally coming up in river, briefly (7) |
| NETIZEN – ZIT (spot) onE [finally], [up in] NENe (river) [briefly]. The river Nene rises in Northamptonshire and flows approx. 100 miles to The Wash. | |
| 46 | Inversion of some integral, needlessly elaborate (7) |
| ENLARGE – Reverse hidden [inversion of some] in intEGRAL NEedlessly. | |
| 48 | Worry stone under tooth missing crown (5) |
| ANGST – ST (stone) [under] fANG (tooth) without its top letter (this is a down clue) [missing crown]. | |
| 50 | Release pressure in loveless marriage (5) |
| UNPIN – P (pressure) in UNI |
|
I didn’t know SMOKE was a Jerome Kern song. I know it from The Platters’ version. NHO the plant. DNK NEWTON’S CRADLE (knew the thing, not the name); NEWTON looked likely enough, but I thought of BRIDGE as well as CRADLE, and finally looked it up. I took ’empty puzzle’ to be P[uzzl]E, which caused some delay. I liked OPEN MARRIAGE.
I completed this in one session so it must have been fairly straightforward.
I didn’t know the plant or the ‘makeshift construction’. and I loved the clue to ISLAND. It’s strange that the only three answers I have marked up for comment all intersect!
Thanks for the link to Smoke Gets In You Eyes which has always been a favourite and I didn’t know this version. Kern always worked with a lyricist, in this case Otto Harbach, so he deserves a credit too.
The biologist François Jacob famously characterized evolution as a kind of bricolage (tinkering). (Evolution and tinkering. Science 196:1161-1166, 1977)
I liked this one. I did most of it this morning after finding I’d only done 40 percent first time round. I don’t know why. It all seemed to go in quite well. But I messed up on 23dn BRICOLAGE by constructing a similar but nonexisting word, and anyway couldn’t spell AUGUR (which I could have, if I’d stopped to parse it). I liked STARCH AMBER