I found this fairly easy. I think there was only one word completely unknown to me and two or three others that were less than familiar but seemed likely.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Beaming People’s Princess nearly captured by traitor (7) |
| RADIANT | |
| DIAN{a} (People’s Princess) [nearly] contained [captured] by RAT (traitor). I think it was Blair who anointed Diana, ‘The People’s Princess’. | |
| 5 | Tips one might digest when secretary has love returned (9) |
| ASPARAGUS | |
| AS (when), PA (secretary), then SUGAR (love) reversed [returned] | |
| 10 | Spots unwanted expert touring north (4) |
| ACNE | |
| ACE (expert) containing [touring] N (north) | |
| 14 | Legal alien sheltered in small wood? Exactly what’s needed (4,3,6) |
| JUST THE TICKET | |
| JUST (legal), then ET (alien) contained by [sheltered in] THICKET (small wood) | |
| 15 | Blow against commerce? (9) |
| ANTITRADE | |
| ANTI (against), TRADE (commerce). More fully ‘antitrade wind’. | |
| 16 | Deceptive statements from hotel woman accessing shoddy flats (4-6) |
| HALF-TRUTHS | |
| H (hotel – NATO alphabet), then RUTH (woman) contained by [accessing] anagram [shoddy] of FLATS | |
| 17 | Carbon English modified for housing plug with satellite transmitter (5,6) |
| RADIO BEACON | |
| Anagram [modified] of CARBON + E (English) containing [housing] AD (plug – advertisement) + IO (satellite of Jupiter) | |
| 18 | Philosophical sort almost shut in thus (5) |
| STOIC | |
| TO (almost shut – as of a door) contained by [in] SIC (thus) | |
| 19 | Cold tea endlessly agreeable taken during repast (10) |
| MECHANICAL | |
| CHA (tea) + NIC{e} (agreeable) [endlessly] contained by [during] MEAL (repast) | |
| 21 | Regale with story again about legendary Swiss marksman? (6) |
| RETELL | |
| RE (about), TELL (legendary Swiss marksman – William) | |
| 23 | Save artist given partially digested food article and fish (9) |
| BARRACUDA | |
| BAR (save – all bar one), RA(artist), CUD (partially digested food), A (article) | |
| 25 | One on force retiring becomes suspicious (5) |
| FISHY | |
| F (force), I (one), SHY (retiring) becomes suspicious | |
| 26 | Virgin Trains carrying boy past Oxford University (3,4) |
| OUR LADY | |
| OU (Oxford University), RY (trains) containing [carrying] LAD (boy) | |
| 28 | Pound involved in rewrite of last lyric: that facilitates conveying an image (6,7) |
| LIQUID CRYSTAL | |
| QUID (pound) contained by [involved in] anagram [rewrite] of LAST LYRIC. LC displays are commonly used in TVs and computer monitors etc. |
|
| 31 | Something to sustain enthusiast: old poetry books? (9) |
| NUTRIMENT | |
| NUT (enthusiast), RIME (old poetry – now ‘rhyme’), NT (books – New Testament) | |
| 33 | Change tutors with one leaving without speaking (9) |
| TRANSMUTE | |
| TRA{i}NS (tutors) [with one leaving], MUTE (without speaking) | |
| 35 | Migrant, old female with visa featured in Times? (4,2,7) |
| BIRD OF PASSAGE | |
| O (old) + F (female) + PASS (visa) contained by [featured in] BIRD + AGE (times). ‘Doing bird’ is slang for serving a prison sentence aka ‘doing time’. | |
| 37 | Short account about Channel island current (7) |
| THERMAL | |
| TAL{e} (account) [short] containing [about] HERM (Channel Island) | |
| 38 | Very big we hear is better? (5) |
| EXCEL | |
| Sounds like [we hear] “XL” (very big – clothing size) | |
| 40 | Man goes after pharaoh twice expressed disapproval (3-6) |
| TUT-TUTTED | |
| TUT (pharaoh) + TUT [twice], TED (man) | |
| 42 | Offence taken outside public house by mysterious person (6) |
| SPHINX | |
| SIN (offence) containing [outside] PH (public house), then X (by) | |
| 44 | Keep firm grasp in wrestling (10) |
| STRONGHOLD | |
| STRONG (firm), HOLD (grasp in wrestling) | |
| 46 | What’s unfortunately seen as valuable about the Jumbo? (5) |
| IVORY | |
| Cryptic | |
| 48 | Practical and realistic — so grounded? (4-2-5) |
| DOWN-TO-EARTH | |
| Two meanings very much overlapping in one sense | |
| 50 | White on top, having succeeded, and immediately beaten (4-6) |
| SNOW-CAPPED | |
| S (succeeded), NOW (immediately), CAPPED (beaten) | |
| 52 | Untouched as plant in midwinter? (9) |
| INVIOLATE | |
| VIOLA (plant) contained by [in] {w}INTE{r} [mid] | |
| 53 | Running repairs put in and returned (13) |
| UNINTERRUPTED | |
| Anagram [repairs] of PUT IN RETURNED | |
| 54 | Kangaroo or rhino one may pass in Greece? (4) |
| EURO | |
| This definition is from Chambers: euro – a wallaroo, any of several types of large kangaroo. The second part of the clue is cryptic with reference to ‘rhino’ which is slang for money (no-one knows why) and ‘euro’ being the currency in Greece. I needed help finding the marsupial, so many thanks to johninterred. | |
| 55 | Strikes linked with each London district (9) |
| BATTERSEA | |
| BATTERS (strikes), EA (each). Makes a change from Poplar! | |
| 56 | Fog to accompany beginnings of rain and light wind (7) |
| MISTRAL | |
| MIST (fog), R{ain} + A{nd} L{ight} [beginnings] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Eastern leader open to an extent when coming north (4) |
| RAJA | |
| AJAR (open to an extent – like the door that’s ‘to’ at 18ac) reversed [coming north] | |
| 2 | Officer with delight in arresting female finds opprobrium (9) |
| DISFAVOUR | |
| DI (officer – Detective Inspector), SAVOUR (delight in) containing [arresting] F (female) | |
| 3 | Planting seed on Italian farm incites one repeatedly to work (10,12) |
| ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION | |
| Anagram [to work] of ON ITALIAN FARM INCITES + I I (one repeatedly) | |
| 4 | Today’s compiler brought up with the Golden Rule? (7) |
| THEOREM | |
| THE, OR (golden), then ME (today’s compiler) reversed [brought up]. We’ve been down this road before with ‘theorem’ and I believe some may contest this definition, but it’s not an area in which I can speak with any particular knowledge. | |
| 5 | Heartless character is given to Conservative blue elite (11) |
| ARISTOCRACY | |
| A{i}R (character) [heartless), IS, TO, C (Conservative), RACY (blue – obscene) | |
| 6 | Handle fish on small Welsh river (9) |
| PIKESTAFF | |
| PIKE (fish), S (small), TAFF (Welsh river) | |
| 7 | Spinner runs over to fielder at the close (5) |
| ROTOR | |
| R (runs), O (over), TO, {spinne}R [at the close] | |
| 8 | America’s Great Depression? (5,6) |
| GRAND CANYON | |
| Cryptic | |
| 9 | Useless IT company the setting for this amusing drama? (6) |
| SITCOM | |
| Hidden in [the setting for] {useles}S IT COM{pany} | |
| 11 | Risk clamping king’s ulcer (7) |
| CHANCRE | |
| CHANCE (risk) containing [clamping] R (king). Didn’t know this word. | |
| 12 | Dissuade where daughter leaves new partner for good (9) |
| ETERNALLY | |
| {d}ETER (dissuade) [daughter leaves], N (new), ALLY (partner) | |
| 13 | Britain’s ruin, per vote, grates with us — time problems arrive all at once! (2,5,5,3,2,5) |
| IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS | |
| Anagram [grates] of BRITAIN’S RUIN PER VOTE US + T (time) | |
| 18 | Secondary story in Red October perhaps, vessel circling loch (7) |
| SUBPLOT | |
| SUB (Red October perhaps), then POT (vessel) containing [circling] L (loch). Red October is the name of a submarine that features in the title of a book by Tom Clancy and in a video game. | |
| 20 | Narrow-minded snub ignoring conclusion by a Republican (7) |
| INSULAR | |
| INSUL{t} (snub) [ignoring conclusion], A, R (Republican) | |
| 22 | Weakness not hard to see (4,4) |
| SOFT SPOT | |
| SOFT (not hard), SPOT (see) | |
| 24 | Monsieur et Madame in divorce? (8) |
| UNCOUPLE | |
| Monsieur et Madame are a French couple, so UN COUPLE | |
| 27 | Knight comes into region creating scene of conflict (5) |
| ARENA | |
| N (knight – chess), contained by [comes into] AREA (region) | |
| 29 | Shudder as weakened at heart (5) |
| QUAKE | |
| QUA (as – Latin, in the capacity of), {wea}KE{ned} [at heart] | |
| 30 | Italian navigator set up firm, establishing plant (7) |
| TOBACCO | |
| CABOT (Italian navigator) reversed [set up], CO (firm) | |
| 32 | Period potentially used to stock Scots river (7) |
| TUESDAY | |
| Anagram [potentially] of USED contained by [to stock] TAY (Scots river) | |
| 34 | For example, an F-15’s emergency propeller? (7,4) |
| EJECTOR SEAT | |
| Cryptic. An F-15 is a fighter aircraft. | |
| 36 | Dental practice in road — tooth needing to be fixed (11) |
| ORTHODONTIA | |
| Anagram [to be fixed] of IN ROAD TOOTH | |
| 37 | Shot in cricket match leading to first run? (4,5) |
| TEST DRIVE | |
| TEST (cricket match), DRIVE (shot) | |
| 39 | One shortened twig stopping firewood delivery arrangements (9) |
| LOGISTICS | |
| I (one) + STIC{k} (twig) [shortened] contained by [stopping] LOGS (firewood) | |
| 41 | Company car? (3-6) |
| TWO-SEATER | |
| Cryptic | |
| 43 | We should dip into float, nevertheless (7) |
| HOWEVER | |
| WE (contained by [dip into] HOVER (float) | |
| 45 | Grace period before New Year with no booze (7) |
| DECORUM | |
| DEC (period before New Year), 0 (no – zero), RUM (booze) | |
| 47 | Smear pallet with gold and black (6) |
| BEDAUB | |
| BED (pallet), AU (gold), B (black) | |
| 49 | Tidy garden accommodates American family (5) |
| HOUSE | |
| HOE {tidy garden) contains [accommodates] US (American). House = family, as in the House of Windsor. | |
| 51 | Hero from Left ending possible response in union ceremony? (4) |
| IDOL | |
| I DO (possible response in union – marriage – ceremony), L (left) | |
I biffed IT NEVER RAINS from the enumeration, not sure if I ever parsed it. I never understood this saying as a child, taking it as It never rains, but it pours, which struck me as a contradiction. (And why was a friend who was in need a friend indeed?)
Brewer’s: One occurrence is frequently the harbinger of many more; strokes of good or ill fortune are often accompanied by additional benefits or misfortunes. An 18th-century proverb. ‘But’ here means ‘without’, i.e.’It never rains without pouring’, ‘Every time it rains, it is a real downpour’.
The ‘friend’ thing is a translation from Latin: Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur – a sure friend is made known when (one is) in difficulty.
I said ‘as a child’; at some point in my life, I came to understand these!
1hr 23mins, so a pretty straightforward one for me, although I don’t think I knew ANTITRADE and I never did fully parse BIRD OF PASSAGE.
I knew the EURO from previous appearances here. Several appearances, I feel, but I can only find Jumbo 1563 just over a year ago.
I liked the sneaky “by” clueing the X at the end of SPHINX. And also enjoyed UNCOUPLE and RADIO BEACON.
I could not fight off a MER at the way “midwinter” gives “inte” at 52ac, because it breaks rules I once thought I knew. It is in the same category as Gateshead, sweetheart and Middlesex; OK in the Guardian but surely not in The Times. This is quite possibly a lost cause.
Many thanks for the blog
Most of this felt quite gentle and went in fairly steadily after Sunday lunch. It was hard not to biff a few where the crossers made the answer obvious, DOWN TO EARTH, OUR LADY, SNOW CAPPED. Some of the ones which held me up longest were the shortest. I was convinced I was putting something backwards in 25a until the penny dropped and I saw FI SHY, a nicely hidden direction. Had to come here to understand EURO and QUAKE. Thank you.
COD to HOUSE which I thought was marvellous. It took an age to see how so much fitted into only 5 letters. Bravo.
Much fun had.
Thanks Jack and setter