Hi everyone. I didn’t record a time for this as it was a very leisurely solve on holiday, but it felt gentle. Lots to like though and, going through it again for the blog, I was impressed by the high quality. Thanks setter!
I enjoyed the three times in 17a (ITERATIVE) and feel like I should mention the nifty anagram work on display, for example the METEOROLOGIST at 53a (which feels particularly apt as I write this while melting, eagerly awaiting the end of the latest heatwave). There are plenty more clues worthy of mention too.
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. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Composer neglecting king’s brass in Paris once (5) |
| FRANC — FRANC[k] (composer) without (neglecting) K (king) | |
| 4a | Understanding company with mass potential (10) |
| COMPROMISE — CO (company) with M (mass) and PROMISE (potential) | |
| 9a | Keep confined in vessel (6) |
| KETTLE — Two definitions | |
| 14a | Cry for Tom to serve food with Manuel intermittently missing (9) |
| CATERWAUL — CATER (to serve food) + W (with) + mAnUeL without alternate letters (intermittently missing) | |
| 15a | Foul quality of new lace and linen woven by society in United States (13) |
| UNCLEANLINESS — N (new), LACE and LINEN anagrammed (woven) by S (society), all in US (Unites States) | |
| 16a | What can be cut from cultivar, but usually a shrub or tree (7) |
| ARBUTUS — The answer can be taken from (cut from) cultivAR, BUT USually | |
| 17a | Repeating — that is about three times … four? (9) |
| ITERATIVE — IE (that is) around (about) T; ERA; T (three times) and IV (four) | |
| 18a | Tax — it’s included in article (5) |
| TITHE — IT is included in THE (article) | |
| 19a | Goon is holding a note about Liberal involved with ministers? (14) |
| ECCLESIASTICAL — ECCLES (Goon, of The Goon Show) + IS around (holding) A + TI (note) + CA (about) + L (Liberal) | |
| 22a | Open-handedneSS? That shows it (7) |
| LARGESS — There is a LARGE SS in the definition. I have a feeling this clue may divide opinion | |
| 25a | Novel taken up when new paper is introduced (10) |
| UNEXAMPLED — UPLED (taken up) when N (new) and EXAM (paper) is included (introduced) | |
| 27a | Like OS output to move round visual display (12) |
| CARTOGRAPHIC — CART (to move) + O (round) + GRAPHIC (visual display) | |
| 30a | Grouse is good and ready to eat (5) |
| GRIPE — G (good) and RIPE (ready to eat) | |
| 31a | Speaker needs input-output to make music work (8) |
| ORATORIO — ORATOR (speaker) + IO (I/O: input output) | |
| 32a | Below what one needs to get money for support (8) |
| UNDERPIN — UNDER (below) + PIN (what one needs to get money) | |
| 35a | What Allan holds to be versatile (3-5) |
| ALL-ROUND — What aLLAn holds is ALL in reverse (ROUND) | |
| 36a | Climber‘s not wild about being in climbs without doctor present (8) |
| CLEMATIS — TAME (not wild) backwards (about) goes in CLI[mb]S missing MB (without doctor present) | |
| 37a | Guest at banquet possibly at home between duke and queen (5) |
| DINER — IN (at home) between D (duke) and ER (queen) | |
| 39a | Explode in game court after less deft playing (4-8) |
| SELF-DESTRUCT — RU (game) and CT (court) after LESS DEFT anagrammed (playing) | |
| 41a | Harmful action of pieces in a defect resolved (10) |
| DEFACEMENT — MEN (pieces) in A DEFECT anagrammed (resolved) | |
| 43a | Warrior needs one with a spirit as backing (7) |
| SAMURAI — I (one) + A + RUM (spirit) + AS, all reversed (backing) | |
| 45a | Is leaderless country following London say? London merits it (14) |
| CAPITALISATION — IS and, without the first letter (leaderless), nATION following CAPITAL (London say) | |
| 48a | A small bird, grey (5) |
| ASHEN — A + S (small) + HEN (bird) | |
| 49a | A large salmon with a lot of parasites — one often soused (9) |
| ALCOHOLIC — A + L (large) + COHO (salmon) + all but the last letter of (a lot of) LICe (parasites) | |
| 51a | In cold English November, rowers get into rough condition (7) |
| COARSEN — In C (cold), E (English) and N (November), is OARS (rowers) | |
| 53a | One predicting conditions melting remotest igloo (13) |
| METEOROLOGIST — An anagram of (melting) REMOTEST IGLOO | |
| 54a | Save lines in altering positions for animation (9) |
| ALIVENESS — SAVE LINES anagrammed (in altering positions) | |
| 55a | Passable way down having missed beginning of steps (6) |
| DECENT — DE[s]CENT (way down) without the first letter of (having missed beginning of) Steps | |
| 56a | Fess in the middle made shorter, revolutionary on shield (10) |
| ESCUTCHEON — The central letters of (… in the middle) fESs + CUT (made shorter) + CHE (revolutionary) + ON | |
| 57a | Clergyman avoiding parking offence (5) |
| ARSON — [p]ARSON (clergyman) without (avoiding) P (parking) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Female account regularly dismissed miracle beauty treatment (6) |
| FACIAL — F (female) + AC (account) + mIrAcLe without alternate letters (regularly dismissed …) | |
| 2d | I learn a cat bit indiscriminately, perhaps killing thrush (13) |
| ANTIBACTERIAL — I LEARN A CAT BIT anagrammed (indiscriminately). Among other things, thrush can be a bacterial infection affecting a horse’s foot | |
| 3d | Weight of vehicle? Answer: tons (5) |
| CARAT — CAR (vehicle) + A (answer) + T (tons) | |
| 4d | Structure of church unaltered with saint buried inside (7) |
| CHASSIS — CH (church) + AS IS (unaltered) containing S (with saint buried inside) | |
| 5d | Having many parties involves pounds in damage really regularly (12) |
| MULTILATERAL — L (pounds) in MUTILATE (damage) + alternate letters of (… regularly) ReAlLy | |
| 6d | Oxford University character putting up head of Rugby for game (8) |
| ROULETTE — OU (Oxford University) and LETTER (character), moving to the front (putting up) R, the first letter (head) of Rugby | |
| 7d | Millions going on to city about here? (5) |
| MECCA — M (millions) + EC (city) + CA (about) | |
| 8d | LA City pies cooked as a signature dish? (10) |
| SPECIALITY — LA CITY PIES anagrammed (cooked) | |
| 10d | Source of charges to cause hostility with British leaving (7) |
| EMITTER — EM[b]ITTER (to cause hostility) removing B (with British leaving) | |
| 11d | The clue to 41 Across is so like last century? (9) |
| TWENTIETH — I admit I didn’t check until writing this, but I can confirm that by my count 41a Is the TWENTIETH clue | |
| 12d | When Romeo exits, make certain to follow (5) |
| ENSUE — Without R (when Romeo exits), ENSU[r]E (make certain) | |
| 13d | Who might develop elitist leaning? (14) |
| INTELLIGENTSIA — An anagram of (who might develop) ELITIST LEANING | |
| 20d | Land, perhaps meadow auctioned without a form of enquiry? (9) |
| LEASEHOLD — LEA (meadow) + SOLD (auctioned) around (without) EH (a form of enquiry) | |
| 21d | Attraction all round is a seductive quality (8) |
| CHARISMA — CHARM (attraction) surrounding (all round) IS + A | |
| 23d | Mo going with speed that’s mediocre (6-4) |
| SECOND-RATE — SECOND (mo) + RATE (speed) | |
| 24d | Form of protection from what informer’s done with girls? (10) |
| SUNGLASSES — SUNG (what informer’s done) + LASSES (girls) | |
| 26d | One who foresees rotating crops ingeniously around a circle (14) |
| PROGNOSTICATOR — An anagram of (… ingeniously) ROTATING CROPS around O (a circle) | |
| 28d | Change, switching from Circle to terminus in a very short time (9) |
| AMENDMENT — We are switching from O (circle) to END (terminus) in A M[o]MENT (a very short time) | |
| 29d | Sheet size is deceptive with Excel (8) |
| FOOLSCAP — FOOLS (is deceptive) + CAP (excel) | |
| 33d | Sound response unfortunately shows lack of delicacy (13) |
| PONDEROUSNESS — SOUND RESPONSE anagrammed (unfortunately) | |
| 34d | Trapped by exorbitant contract, church mounted competition (12) |
| STEEPLECHASE — Inside (trapped by) STEEP (exorbitant) and LEASE (contract) is CH (church) | |
| 38d | Devout about RE, children of clerics initially matured early (10) |
| PRECOCIOUS — PI (devout) around (about) the first letters of (… initially) Children Of Clerics | |
| 40d | Sluggish, large and unknown MP with Derby, say, in charge (9) |
| LYMPHATIC — L (large) + Y (unknown) + MP + HAT (Derby, say) + IC (in charge) | |
| 42d | Fit shelves oddly missing in loft (8) |
| ATHLETIC — Without odd letters (… oddly missing), sHeLvEs in ATTIC (loft) | |
| 44d | Knock has to administer county in Ireland (3,4) |
| RUN DOWN — RUN (to administer) + DOWN (county in Ireland) | |
| 46d | What draws in diagram of internal structure using uranium for energy (7) |
| SUCTION — S[e]CTION (diagram of internal structure) with U replacing E (using uranium for energy) | |
| 47d | United Nations works for agreement (6) |
| UNISON — UN (United Nations) + IS ON (works) | |
| 48d | Hotel eliminated, damaged with guns (5) |
| ARMED — Without H (Hotel eliminated), [h]ARMED (damaged) | |
| 50d | Poem greeting sound of dove as it is heard (5) |
| HAIKU — HI; COO (greeting; sound of dove), sound-alike (as heard) | |
| 52d | Neighbourhood around northern sports venue (5) |
| ARENA — AREA (neighbourhood) around N (northern) | |
Got everything after a little over hour and a quarter. Probably admired ITERATIVE most.
Didn’t know LYMPHATIC as sluggish and have trouble with LARGESS- large ess or large esses? I guess large ss is equivalent to large esses. Oh I see that’s what you have in blog! Thanks for rest of your detailed blog too- most helpful.
There were a couple of clues I couldn’t parse: ALL-ROUND, UNEXAMPLED. With the latter, I can see why not: ‘uplead’ is not a word in my English. The only Goon I knew was Peter Sellers, although ECCLES did look vaguely familiar. I was ready to protest that thrush is fungal not bacterial, but Kitty kindly kept the egg from my face. For what it’s worth, I had no problem with LARGESS, although I would have spelled it with an E. I liked AMENDMENT & STEEPLECHASE.
I had no queries remaining on this one which I think for the most part I found straightforward. My only hitch along the way was having BOTTLE at 9ac (it works just about) which prevented my solving 10dn for a long time
Just over an hour and twenty minutes, so not bad, but with one pink square for putting four S’s at the end of SUNGLASSSS. So, a success since, in my book, one pink square is perfectly OK in a Jumbo (as I seem to say quite often). LOI 25ac UNEXAMPLED which went in once I saw N(ew) EXAM without anything else. UPLED? I liked the sneaky ones: 22ac LARGESS and 35ac ALL ROUND
A relatively quick solve in 35 minutes, but once I’d put in MULTICAMERAL with a slight hesitation as it doesn’t really mean many parties, I omitted to parse it (impossible) and get the right answer.
I liked the CAPITALISATION clue most.
Just over 1/2 hour for me, so at the easier end of the spectrum, although I was held up by UNEXAMPLED and CARTOGRAPHIC at the end. I quite enjoyed LARGESS (despite the lack of final E). I liked ITERATIVE , ATHLETIC and the melting igloo best. Thanks Kitty and setter.