Hello everyone. Sorry to be a little late on parade. (I have kept the blog at an earlier timestamp so that it still appears before Penfold’s blog of 1676.) All is busy busy at the moment and I am very much in need of my upcoming holiday.
Fortunately this didn’t cause me any headaches. It took me 53 minutes and any unknowns, such as the 21a cardinal, were easily deduced. All enjoyed as usual – thanks setter!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most 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 | Toast last drink (7,2) |
| BOTTOMS UP — BOTTOM (last) + SUP (drink) | |
| 6a | “The Greatest” wingers from Goodison stand in a row (5) |
| ALIGN — ALI (“The Greatest”) + outer letters of (wingers from) GoodisoN | |
| 9a | Stay twenty four hours in Paris, very new surroundings (7) |
| SOJOURN — JOUR (twenty four hours in Paris) with surroundings of SO (very) and N (new) | |
| 13a | Iceberg rolls, killing one Cape diver (5) |
| GREBE — [ic]EBERG turns over (rolls) taking out (killing) I (one) and C (Cape) | |
| 14a | Vivid chart recalled Channel Islands (7) |
| GRAPHIC — GRAPH (chart) + reversed (recalled) CI (Channel Islands) | |
| 15a | Wandering in pursuit of black bird (9) |
| BRAMBLING — RAMBLING (wandering) after (in pursuit of) B (black) | |
| 16a | Cheap accommodation ultimately dodgy; the loo shut off (5,6) |
| YOUTH HOSTEL — The last letter of (ultimately) dodgY + an anagram of (… off) THE LOO SHUT | |
| 17a | Bar nicely renovated hosting European male hip hop act (6,5) |
| PUBLIC ENEMY — PUB (bar) + NICELY anagrammed (renovated) around (hosting) E (European) and M (male) | |
| 18a | Republican lodged in a bogus religious retreat (6) |
| ASHRAM — R (Republican) lodged in A and SHAM (bogus) | |
| 19a | Subjects against abandoning senses of rights and wrongs? (8) |
| SCIENCES — CON (against) abandoning [con]SCIENCES (senses of rights and wrongs) | |
| 21a | Senior churchman once a reformed character (3,3) |
| NEW MAN — John Henry NEWMAN was a 19th century cardinal | |
| 25a | Brilliant Independent covering church feature (8) |
| INSPIRED — IND (Independent) surrounding (covering) SPIRE (church feature) | |
| 26a | Somehow thinks wife cheated, invoking puzzled query (4,3,7) |
| WHAT THE DICKENS — An anagram of (somehow) THINKS W (wife) CHEATED | |
| 28a | Some Rt Hon gentleman getting minimal coverage down under (5) |
| THONG — Some rT HON Gentleman | |
| 29a | Empty beer jug for tea maker (6) |
| BREWER — BeeR without its inner letters (empty …) + EWER (jug) | |
| 30a | Book of verse, indeed, just opened by idiot (6,4) |
| VANITY FAIR — V (verse), AY (indeed) and FAIR (just) with insertion of (opened by) NIT (idiot) | |
| 33a | Cover tip of finger in fresh guacamole (10) |
| CAMOUFLAGE — The first letter (tip) of Finger in an anagram of (fresh) GUACAMOLE | |
| 35a | Cave reached when crossing river (6) |
| GROTTO — GOT TO (reached) when crossing R (river) | |
| 36a | I must visit doctor, working somewhere in the field (3-2) |
| MID-ON — I must go into (visit) MD (doctor) + ON (working) | |
| 38a | Strangle Will in chaotic hand-to-hand combat (3-2,9) |
| ALL-IN WRESTLING — STRANGLE WILL IN anagrammed (chaotic) | |
| 40a | Blood sport, day one: endless avarice (8) |
| PEDIGREE — PE (sport) + D (day) + I (one) + endless GREEd (avarice) | |
| 42a | Walked daintily around ground (6) |
| MINCED — Double definition | |
| 43a | Greek god sat for artist, covering one leg (8) |
| POSEIDON — POSED (sat for artist) covering I (one) + ON (leg) | |
| 44a | Formal accessory page Henry wears fitting perfectly (3,3) |
| TOP HAT — P (page) plus H (henry) is inside (wears) TO A T (fitting perfectly) | |
| 47a | Inspirational sister moved priest with task (11) |
| TERPSICHORE — An anagram of (moved) PRIEST + CHORE (task) | |
| 50a | Teller of tellers? (4,7) |
| BANK MANAGER — Cryptic definition | |
| 52a | Four opening large uniform chest producing a lot of money (9) |
| LUCRATIVE — IV (four) going inside (opening) L (large), U (uniform) and CRATE (chest) | |
| 53a | Under control, remove phosphorous and boron from copper zinc alloy (2,5) |
| IN CHECK — We remove P (phosphorous) and B (boron) from [p]INCH[b]ECK (copper zinc alloy) | |
| 54a | Idiot stealing article from continental port (5) |
| TWERP — Taking (stealing) AN (article) from [an]TWERP (continental port) | |
| 55a | Continue film franchise (5,2) |
| CARRY ON — Two definitions | |
| 56a | Element of technical language judge dismissed (5) |
| ARGON — [j]ARGON (technical language) with J (judge) dismissed | |
| 57a | Deeply troubled auditor men tediously cut down to size (9) |
| TORMENTED — AudiTOR MEN TEDiously cut down to size | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Loose goods stored in compartment (5) |
| BAGGY — G G (goods) stored in BAY (compartment) | |
| 2d | Treating Sheffield chums to a classic performance at The Crucible? (3,7,2,5) |
| THE DUCHESS OF MALFI — An anagram of (treating) SHEFFIELD CHUMS TO A | |
| 3d | Maybe sweaty husband enters having too much on his plate? (11) |
| OVERHEATING — H (husband) enters OVEREATING (having too much on his plate?) | |
| 4d | In America, civilians perhaps turning up to register for the dole (4,2) |
| SIGN ON — NON-GIS (in America, civilians perhaps) backwards (turning up) | |
| 5d | Complain about neckwear Charlie’s wearing in rehearsal (8) |
| PRACTICE — CARP (complain) reversed (about) + TIE (neckwear) which C (Charlie)’s inside (wearing) | |
| 6d | Vulnerable area which mother didn’t bathe? (8,4) |
| ACHILLES HEEL — A cryptic definition: the reason Achilles’ heel was vulnerable was because when his mother dipped him in the River Styx she held him by one of his heels which stayed dry. There is also an embedded precise definition (underlined) | |
| 7d | Legal disqualification of secretary in Machu Picchu? (10) |
| INCAPACITY — PA (secretary) in INCA CITY (Machu Picchu?) | |
| 8d | Arrest former pupil, a rich and powerful man (5) |
| NABOB — NAB (arrest) + OB (old boy: former pupil) | |
| 9d | Said to include one working in position (9) |
| STATIONED — STATED (said) to include I (one) and ON (working) | |
| 10d | A wry BBC joke turned out to be a bit of nonsense (11) |
| JABBERWOCKY — A WRY BBC JOKE anagrammed (turned out). | |
| Of course the lovely thing about Jabberwocky is that it makes perfect sense. Hence some of its “nonsense” words – notably chortled – are now standard English. [I just mistyped English as Ebligh – now that really is nonsense!] | |
| 11d | Join a trade union (5) |
| UNITE — Two definitions | |
| 12d | City of Northern Aragon’s premier painter? (6) |
| NAGOYA — N (Northern) + Aragon’s first letter (premier) + GOYA (painter) | |
| 18d | Helen’s lover to box out of bounds nobleman (10) |
| ARISTOCRAT — pARIS TO CRATe (Helen’s lover | to | box) without the first and last letters (out of bounds) | |
| 20d | Quiet whiskies reportedly bringing on sentimentality (8) |
| SCHMALTZ — Sounds like (… reportedly) SH (quiet) MALTS (whiskies) | |
| 22d | Old king wildly threatened with large axe briefly (9,3,5) |
| ALEXANDER THE GREAT — An anagram of (wildly) THREATENED with LARGE AXe briefly | |
| 23d | Coarse abuse upset labour clergyman (6) |
| VERBAL — LAB (labour) and REV (clergyman) reversed (upset …) | |
| 24d | Sharp alpha male, whimsical Australian mostly on the inside (10) |
| ASTRINGENT — A (alpha) and GENT (male), with all but the last letter of (… mostly) STRINe (whimsical Australian) on the inside | |
| 27d | Considers sounding out routes to the summit (6,2) |
| WEIGHS UP — Sounding out WAYS UP (routes to the summit) | |
| 31d | In my opinion, low-down character of Shakespeare’s work (6) |
| IMOGEN — IMO (in my opinion) + GEN (low-down) | |
| 32d | African on CBS rubbished English philosopher (7,5) |
| FRANCIS BACON — AFRICAN ON CBS anagrammed (rubbished) | |
| 34d | Wasteful convent initially failing to collect tax by first of April (11) |
| UNNECESSARY — nUNNERY (convent) without the first letter (initially failing) taking in (to collect) CESS (tax) by the first of April | |
| 36d | Met Estonian’s renovated split-level home (11) |
| MAISONNETTE — MET ESTONIAN’s anagrammed (renovated) | |
| 37d | Penny and Heather admitting Daisy is laying it on a bit thick, perhaps (10) |
| PLASTERING — P (penny) and LING (heather) admitting ASTER (daisy) | |
| 39d | Cut sauce which has been thickened (9) |
| REDUCTION — Double definition | |
| 41d | Dismal signal from conductor (8) |
| DOWNBEAT — Another double definition | |
| 45d | Style of writing with a tendency to lean to the right? (6) |
| ITALIC — Cryptic definition | |
| 46d | One likes to drag small donkey over river (6) |
| SMOKER — S (small) + MOKE (donkey) over R (river) | |
| 48d | Competitive driver, one in fancy car (5) |
| RACER — ACE (one) in RR (Rolls Royce: fancy car) | |
| 49d | Last character used to symbolise the resistance? (5) |
| OMEGA — Two definitions. Omega is the symbol of the unit of electrical resistance, the ohm | |
| 51d | Quick police operation featuring Robocop finally (5) |
| RAPID — RAID (police operation) featuring the last letter of (… finally) RobocoP | |
I found this neat and mostly fairly straightforward, although, unsurprisingly, I’d never heard of the hip-hop band, it not being the sort of music I would ever listen to. Fortunately PINCHBECK had come up recently (in the 15×15 on 22nd May), which helped with IN CHECK. Oddly, it was the straightforward SCIENCES that held me up for ages at the end. I liked the surface for THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. Thanks Kitty and setter.
Mostly straightforward but with SCIENCE as my LOI for some reason. I had to return to it many times. I also like the surface for THE DUCHESS OF MALFI and got the reference to The Crucible in Sheffield. It’s known world wide as the home of the Word Snooker Championships but not perhaps as a venue for performance of classic plays, but they do that too.
I got my plays mixed up and bunged in THE DUCHESS OF MALTA, not looking carefully enough at the anagrist. DNK the hip-hop band, of course, or the crucible reference. DNK VERBAL or MID-ON. I thought 11d and 45d were pretty poor clues.
No problems with this. Nice to see Public Enemy appear here. When will we see NWA or the Wu-Tang Clan, I wonder.
I’m confident one of our setters will do the right thing.
Disliked ‘Ground’=MINCED. Grinding and mincing are not the same by any means, despite the American term ‘ground meat’ for mince.
Setters can’t be blamed for using definitions in the source dictionaries. Collins has: mince – chop, grind, or cut into very small pieces. SOED has: mince – cut up or grind (esp. meat) into very small pieces (LME).