Hi everyone. This was a confidence booster as despite a few unknowns or barely-knowns I found everything provided to enable me to enter it all in reasonable confidence – and in very reasonable time (for me) of under 40 minutes too. A couple of “presumably” clues in the mix, which did stand out, and a few hats which by their nature can stand out, but the prior appearance of the TOPPER probably helped with the Spoonerism. Thanks setter!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, specified [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 | Fanatical skipper in a cap and hat cavorting with sailor (7,4) |
| CAPTAIN AHAB — An anagram of (… cavorting) IN A CAP and HAT + AB (sailor) | |
| 7a | What makes the daily grind when pausing the daily grind? (6,5) |
| COFFEE BREAK — Cryptic definition | |
| 13a | Secretary passes translation around (8,9) |
| PERSONAL ASSISTANT — PASSES TRANSLATION anagrammed (around) | |
| 14a | Relative temperature finally seen in November frost (5) |
| NIECE — The last letter of (… finally) temperaturE seen in N (November) ICE (frost) | |
| 15a | Alternatively, a revolutionary alternative to spinach (6) |
| ORACHE — OR (alternatively) + A + CHE (revolutionary) | |
| 16a | Change parts of shell (8) |
| SHRAPNEL — Double definition | |
| 17a | Picture Thrace, fed by this canal transporting water (7) |
| URETHRA — PictURE THRAce has inside it (is fed by) the answer | |
| 19a | Unbiased, the setter’s quite keen (9) |
| IMPARTIAL — I’M (the setter’s) + PARTIAL (quite keen) | |
| 21a | Plain speaking in French we hear: “Everything OK?” “No” (8) |
| SAVANNAH — When speaking in French, this sounds like (we hear) ÇA VA (everything OK) + NAH (no) | |
| 23a | Weep when moving new joint in the leg (4) |
| KNEE — KEEN (weep) when moving the N (new) | |
| 25a | Inuit boat unaffected by rolling over (5) |
| KAYAK — The answer is a palindrome (unaffected by rolling over) | |
| 27a | Walking over northern base (2,4) |
| ON FOOT — O (over) + N (northern) + FOOT (base) | |
| 28a | Shabby treatment given to rather bad European (10) |
| THREADBARE — An anagram of (treatment given to) RATHER BAD + E (European) | |
| 30a | Ring laced around roughly 25mm piece of meat (4,4) |
| LOIN CHOP — LOOP (ring) laced around INCH (roughly 25mm) | |
| 31a | Blond fop in Soho converted an important man of the cloth (6,2,6) |
| BISHOP OF LONDON — An anagram of (… converted) BLOND FOP IN SOHO | |
| 34a | Turkey might need this as currency bear runs riot (9,5) |
| CRANBERRY SAUCE — AS CURRENCY BEAR is anagrammed (runs riot) | |
| 35a | Tease and tear into joint of beef (3-5) |
| RIB-ROAST — RIB (tease) and ROAST (tear into) | |
| 38a | Christmas greetings message sent round that hurts playwright (4,6) |
| NOEL COWARD — NOEL (Christmas) CARD (greeting message) sent round OW (that hurts) | |
| 40a | Crone hiding topper oddly where topper might be found (6) |
| HATPEG — HAG (crone) surrounding (hiding) odd letters of (… oddly) ToPpEr | |
| 41a | German with initially really enormous joint (5) |
| MITRE — MIT (German with) + initially Really Enormous | |
| 43a | United featured in rubbish, heavy defeat (4) |
| ROUT — U (United) featured in ROT (rubbish) | |
| 44a | Retired celebrity entertains Russian in the capital (8) |
| BRUSSELS — In reverse (retired) SLEB (celebrity) takes in (entertains) RUSS (Russian) | |
| 45a | One millimetre units of measurement the Spanish ultimately employ hugely (9) |
| IMMENSELY — I MM (one millimetre) + ENS (units of measurement) + EL (the, Spanish) + the last letter of (ultimately) emploY | |
| 48a | Greek character trips the light fantastic, daughter dropping subtle hints (7) |
| NUANCES — NU (Greek character) + [d]ANCES (trips the light fantastic), D (daughter) dropping | |
| 49a | Always fitted in coach the cheapest berths (8) |
| STEERAGE — E’ER (always) fitted in STAGE (coach) | |
| 50a | Key universal party once ready for Lisbon? (6) |
| ESCUDO — ESC (key) + U + (universal) + DO (party) | |
| 53a | Jones the architect‘s blue after losing diamonds (5) |
| INIGO — IN[d]IGO (blue) after losing D (diamonds) | |
| 54a | Ace dad full of energy copies nan sporting a badge of honour (1,7,2,4,3) |
| A FEATHER IN ONES CAP — A (ace) + FATHER (dad) around (full of) E (energy) + an anagram of (… sporting) COPIES NAN | |
| 55a | Near Egypt, he messed with technique using DNA (4,7) |
| GENE THERAPY — NEAR EGYPT, HE anagrammed (messed with) | |
| 56a | Harsh, upper-class rubbish old Republican to whom we say “Bless you!” (11) |
| STERNUTATOR — A charade of STERN (harsh), U (upper-class), TAT (rubbish), O (old) and R (Republican) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Alloy trophy in locker bent out of shape (11) |
| CUPRONICKEL — CUP (trophy) + IN LOCKER anagrammed (bent out of shape) | |
| 2d | Run into dad and mum somewhere in Emilia Romagna (5) |
| PARMA — R (run) goes into PA (dad) and MA (mum) | |
| 3d | A different answer — different woman (7) |
| ANOTHER — A (answer) + NOT HER (different woman) | |
| 4d | Tidy amount initially put in after tax deducted (4) |
| NEAT — The first letter of (… initially) Amount put in NET (after tax deducted) | |
| 5d | Former PM with scar a literary hero? (10) |
| HEATHCLIFF — HEATH (former PM) with CLIFF (scar) | |
| 6d | Poor Somali husband with yen for a vacation? Hardly! (7,7) |
| BUSMANS HOLIDAY — An anagram of (poor) SOMALI HUSBAND + Y (yen) | |
| 7d | Ladies’ man Staunton occasionally opening the bubbly (8) |
| CASANOVA — StAuNtOn occasionally going inside (opening) CAVA (the bubbly) | |
| 8d | Weak leaders of firm regret adding inexperienced labour (5) |
| FRAIL — The first letters (leaders) of Firm Regret Adding Inexperienced Labour | |
| 9d | Train that’s caught by Rouen tour agent (9) |
| ENTOURAGE — The answer is inside (caught by) RouEN TOUR AGEnt | |
| 10d | British soldier maybe starts to enjoy romantic badinage (6) |
| BANTER — B (British) + ANT (soldier maybe) + the initials of (starts to) Enjoy Romantic | |
| 11d | Station jumbo beach construction with no roof (8,3,6) |
| ELEPHANT AND CASTLE — ELEPHANT (jumbo) + sANDCASTLE (beach construction) without the first letter (with no roof) | |
| 12d | Watch over fortified tower — middle of storm coming in shortly (4,2,3,2) |
| KEEP AN EYE ON — KEEP (fortified tower) + EYE (middle of storm) coming in ANON (shortly) | |
| 18d | Two-tone pen knocking out note of grief (8) |
| BICOLOUR — BIC (pen) is replacing (knocking out) the D (note) of [d]OLOUR (grief) | |
| 20d | Quiet energy used in this training briefly? (8,9) |
| PHYSICAL EDUCATION — P (quiet) and E (energy) put together give PE, the abbreviation for (… briefly) the answer | |
| 22d | Only Crosby, presumably, lacking prospects (2-4) |
| NO-HOPE — Referring to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, NO HOPE would presumably leave only Crosby | |
| 24d | Descriptive character Victor deleted from film cassette (8) |
| IDEOGRAM — V (Victor) is deleted from [v]IDEOGRAM (film cassette) | |
| 26d | An inducement to retaliate? (8) |
| KICKBACK — KICK BACK (to retaliate?) | |
| 29d | Sensational stories about sailor brothers turning over car parts (5,9) |
| SHOCK ABSORBERS — SHOCKERS (sensational stories) around (about) AB (sailor) and BROS (brothers) reversed (turning over) | |
| 32d | Perhaps coconut shy is a legitimate target (4,4) |
| FAIR GAME — Two meanings, although as usual I’ve just underlined the one you’d find in the dictionary | |
| 33d | Founder of Persian Empire assuming power in Mediterranean island (6) |
| CYPRUS — CYRUS (founder of Persian Empire) assuming P (power) | |
| 34d | Challenging Tory acting as nominal leader (11) |
| CONFRONTING — CON (Tory) + FRONTING (acting as nominal leader) | |
| 36d | Young trendy getting two very different hats from Spooner? (11) |
| TEENYBOPPER — The two very different hats are BEANIE and TOPPER, and they get the Spooner treatment | |
| 37d | Rising temp spreading, which is to be expected after winter (10) |
| SPRINGTIME — An anagram of (… spreading) RISING TEMP | |
| 39d | Cop wreaks havoc in an area of the office? (9) |
| WORKSPACE — COP WREAKS, anagram (havoc). I can’t say this indicator quite does it for me | |
| 42d | Paltry sum of cash in bank of late (8) |
| RECENTLY — CENT (paltry sum of cash) in RELY (bank) | |
| 46d | Beginning noon climb (7) |
| NASCENT — N (noon) + ASCENT (climb) | |
| 47d | Challenge the bill for climate control? (6) |
| ACCOST — AC COST (the bill for climate control?) | |
| 49d | Ancient realm where the Queen made a noted arrival (5) |
| SHEBA — Cryptic definition referring to Handel’s The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba | |
| 51d | Sober, presumably, like a rough diamond? (5) |
| UNCUT — Since half-cut means drunk, UN–CUT presumably means sober | |
| 52d | Old capital elevating noble knight (4) |
| BONN — Reversing (elevating) NOB (noble) + N (knight) | |
I wrote ‘Dead easy’ on my copy and noted that I finished under an hour ( though not by how much) which is surely a rare occurrence for me and Jumbos.
I had only two queries. Firstly not being familiar with RUSS as an abbreviation for Russian which Collins says is archaic, but it was a fairly safe bet. The second was how to make sense of the cryptic clue to COFFEE BREAK which I sort of see, but then I read it again and I don’t. I get that it’s a break from the daily grind and the connection with grinding coffee beans, but I can’t make sense of ‘What makes the daily grind…?’ I’m probably missing something obvious.
Russ in in Chambers with the required meaning. I remember checking at the time, as it was new to me too, but having found it thought no more of it.
Yes, there was a reason I didn’t elaborate on COFFEE BREAK! It seemed to be ok but makes less sense the more I think about it. A bit like life really …
Me again. Is it just “What makes the daily grind” = COFFEE and “when pausing the daily grind?” = BREAK, for an &lit?
I took it as meaning the coffee break makes the charlady (daily) grind the coffee, while one pauses one’s daily grind.
Life! Don’t get me started about life.
And me with a pain in all the diodes down my left side …
Loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it …
I had the same query about COFFEE BREAK as Jack; still have. It seems rather far-fetched to say that the break itself makes the coffee; not to mention that the grind in this sense is (ground) beans, to which water needs to be added. Anyway. DNK CUPRONICKEL, SHRAPNEL in the ‘change’ sense, ORACHE, SLEB (44ac was my LOI), or that CAVA is bubbly. I liked SAVANNAH, although one has to exclude “No” from what we hear in French.
Wow. All polished off in 46 minutes 21 seconds for a new Personal Best for a Jumbo. Great fun.
I too had a few “barely knowns” – DNKs that I would still have been able to pick out of a multiple choice list – ORACHE, CYRUS and the awful SLEB, and the totally unknown STERNUTATOR where you just needed to write down what it said in the clue. Didn’t even notice the problem with COFFEE BREAK, but yes. I liked the nicely complex IMMENSELY.
Many thanks for the blog
A definite Jumbo PB for me at 22:46 but then Verlaine had to spoil it by coming in at under 1o minutes!
Definitely on the easy side at 37:10.
As above, I assumed “the daily” refers to the charlady, who grinds the coffee.
Pretty straightforward. I came here hoping for an explanation of COFFEE BREAK but I see others are as confused as me. I don’t buy the charlady explanation.