Nothing to panic the ponies here – another relatively straightforward 40-minute solve with just a few unfamiliar bits and pieces that I checked before writing up the blog.
First in was SATISFIED and last was AFFECTIONATE.
If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation. I’ll be at the championships on the day this blog appears so might not answer straight away.
The technical stuff:
Clues are in blue (unless you’re in dark mode) with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are in bold italics.
Notation:
DD: Double definition
CD: Cryptic definition
DDCDH: DD/CD hybrid where a straight definition is combined with a cryptic hint.
&Lit: “all in one” where the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.
(fodder)* denotes an anagram of the letters in the brackets.
Rounded brackets are also used to add further clarity
Squiggly brackets {} indicate parts of a word not used
Deletions are struck out
Square brackets [] expand an abbreviation or shortening like K[ing]
| Across | |
| 1 | Seated, is given food around one, making one this? (9) |
| SATISFIED – SAT IS FED around I, a sort of Semi-&Lit where the wordplay elements provide the gist of the definition. | |
| 6 | Funny man embraced by achiever’s widow (7) |
| DOWAGER – WAG in DOER | |
| 10 | Timeless photo capturing a king in military headgear (5) |
| SHAKO – SHOt around A K[ing]. Not a word I know but SHAKO seemed to be more likely than SHARO. It’s a cylindrical or conical military hat with a peak and a plume or pom-pom. | |
| 13 | Take over a thousand solid gold deer (7) |
| ROEBUCK – reversal of K CUBE OR | |
| 14 | Joanna has quiet man round (5) |
| PIANO – P IAN O, Joanna being CRS for said instrument | |
| 15 | Lots are in stitches with tons delayed in fierce attack (9) |
| ONSLAUGHT -TONS LAUGH with the T[ons] sent to the end. | |
| 16 | I bewitch with melodic nonsense, somehow get confused (5,7,4,7) |
| BLIND SOMEONE WITH SCIENCE – (I bewitch melodic nonsense)* | |
| 17 | Ship’s track visible after daybreak in surface? (4,2) |
| WAKE UP – WAKE, UP (as in what the sun is after daybreak) | |
| 18 | Actress Leslie’s mother, perhaps one who cares about their appearance (8) |
| MACARONI – MA CARON, I (Leslie Caron is a French / American actress and sinmger, of whom I don’t think I’ve heard). I initially thought that the “one” was part of the def and that the actress’s names was Caroni. | |
| 19 | Free muscles needing source of oil without iodine (7) |
| ABSOLVE – ABS, OLIVE missing I[odine] | |
| 22 | Calculating crime that I arranged (10) |
| ARITHMETIC – (crime that I)* | |
| 23 | Kind to have an impact on island edges in tide (12) |
| AFFECTIONATE – AFFECT, IONA, T{id}E | |
| 27 | One rambling president splitting House of Representatives (5) |
| HIKER – IKE in H[ouse of] R[epresentatives] | |
| 29 | English roar for score (7) |
| ENGRAVE – ENG[lish] RAVE | |
| 30 | Very surprised was leading immediately after kick-off (8) |
| STARTLED – LED after START | |
| 32 | Magazine to quote Newton over demonstrating attraction (8) |
| MAGNETIC – MAG, reversal of CITE N[ewton] | |
| 34 | Vehicle reinforced by aged tungsten in conflict (4,3) |
| COLD WAR – CAR around OLD W (chemical symbol for Tungsten ex Wolfram) | |
| 36 | Convex floor’s not good (5) |
| ROUND – GROUND minus G[ood] | |
| 39 | Too desperately ill for forty-one? (12) |
| OVERCRITICAL – OVER, CRITICAL. The answer to 41 (spolier alert) is NITPICKING. It’s very unusual for croos-referenced clue numbers to be in letters rather than numerals. Maybe that’s why the question mark is there. | |
| 41 | On reflection, can picture monarch finding fault (10) |
| NITPICKING – TIN reversed (on reflection, can), PIC[ture], KING | |
| 44 | Suggest altering partly psychological concept (7) |
| GESTALT – hidden | |
| 46 | Hot roofs unfortunately aged indeed (8) |
| FORSOOTH – (hot roofs)* | |
| 48 | Turkey gutted after bird is difficult (6) |
| KNOTTY – T{urke}Y after KNOT | |
| 50 | Sadly bemoan culture drama with visit here? (8,3,6,6) |
| VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM – (bemoan culture drama visit)*. Clever anagramage and another semi-&Lit. | |
| 53 | Swimming in the sea around reef regularly using a snorkel? (9) |
| BREATHING – BATHING around R{e}E{f} | |
| 54 | Green comes after a stop (5) |
| AVERT – VERT after A | |
| 55 | Criticise record (3,4) |
| PUT DOWN – DD | |
| 56 | Call out first woman that’s permitted inside (5) |
| EVOKE – EVE around OK. Not a meaning of evoke that was front of mind but it’s the first def in Chambers (on the app at least). | |
| 57 | Plant provider’s charge over Southeastern Railway (7) |
| NURSERY – RUN reversed, S[outh] E[astern] R[ailwa]Y | |
| 58 | Bird droppings over plaster walls (9) |
| PARTRIDGE – DIRT reversed “walled by” PARGE (a verb meaning to plaster. Nope, me neither). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Stunted growth in small vineyard with beginning of blight (5) |
| SCRUB – S[mall], CRU, B{light} | |
| 2 | Nominate Hamlet in the press for classic book (3,8,6) |
| THE PICKWICK PAPERS – PICK WICK (one definition of wick is a village or town, I assume that’s what’s going on here as the place in Scotland isn’t a hamlet) in THE PRESS | |
| 3 | Keep quiet about my family’s Douglas making bread (9) |
| SOURDOUGH – I like this clue, as a sort of naturalised northerner who was born in the south. If you are a northerner who has, say, a sister called Denise and a brother called Simon you’d refer to them as our Denise and our Simon. So your brother Douglas would be “our doug”. Hence, SH! around OUR DOUG. | |
| 4 | Writer’s vessel has American turtle avoiding strait (6) |
| INKPOT – STINKPOT (a, um, American turtle) without ST[rait] | |
| 5 | Belittling awful creep during romantic activity (11) |
| DEPRECATING – (creep)* in DATING | |
| 6 | Approach doctor with bristle on lughole (4,4) |
| DRAW NEAR – D[octo]R, AWN, EAR | |
| 7 | Show how, when formatted, this list shows names at the top (4,3) |
| WHOS WHO – (show how)* | |
| 8 | Unnatural quality of entertainer with part in G&S (11) |
| GHOSTLINESS – HOST, LINE all in (G & S). I’m not entirely sure in what context LINE and PART are synonymous. Any suggestions? | |
| 9 | Applying block, is getting brown during time off (9) |
| RESISTANT – IS, TAN in REST | |
| 10 | Disease of, namely, fir tree genus (7) |
| SCABIES – SC[ilicet], ABIES (which strikes me as a bit of a Mephisto word) | |
| 11 | Ship new type of gas (5) |
| ARGON – ARGO, N[ew] | |
| 12 | Fair then bad in school exam (2,3,5) |
| ON THE LEVEL – (then)* in O-LEVEL | |
| 17 | Anger with engaging artist for one (5) |
| WRATH – WITH with the I replced by R[oyal] A[cademician] | |
| 20 | Shun holiday walking in Antarctica? (5,3,2,3,4) |
| LEAVE OUT IN THE COLD – DDCDH | |
| 21 | Choose sulphur to put in (6) |
| SELECT – S (chemical symbol for sulphur), ELECT | |
| 24 | Wasted payment on French corn (6) |
| FEEBLE – FEE, BLE (I’m not sure how familiar blé is to non-French speakers) | |
| 25 | Route diverted further from the centre (5) |
| OUTER – (route)* | |
| 26 | Frontage a shop can install above on opening (6) |
| FASCIA – initial letters, &Lit | |
| 28 | University in middle of Mercia is concerned with spelling (5) |
| RUNIC – UNI in {Me}RC{ia}. I suppose it could apply to both senses of spelling. | |
| 31 | Sudden game point after a bye (6) |
| ABRUPT – R[ugby] U[nion] P[oin]T after A B[ye] | |
| 33 | Mistake about mostly doubtful hour’s suspense at end of programme (11) |
| CLIFFHANGER – CLANGER around IFF{y} H[our] | |
| 35 | Hardly pausing to avoid the risk of work after card game (7-4) |
| WHISTLE-STOP – LEST, OP[us] after WHIST | |
| 37 | Child’s pet is unreliable, but grand for second daughter (5) |
| DOGGY – DODGY with G[rand] replacing D[aughter] | |
| 38 | Five tangling with Balrog such as may be let go (10) |
| FORGIVABLE – (five Balrog)* | |
| 40 | Funny feeling with home teaching (9) |
| INTUITION – IN TUITION | |
| 42 | Bird circling unfortunately cut person waving stick (9) |
| CONDUCTOR – CONDOR around (cut)* | |
| 43 | Weep about Stan’s partner and mine (8) |
| COLLIERY – CRY around OLLIE (Laurel & Hardy) | |
| 45 | Child that’s taken on song and dance part on the stage finally (7) |
| ADOPTEE – ADO, P[ar]T, {th}E {stag}E | |
| 47 | Run a social engagement around one in shed (7) |
| RADIATE – R[un] A DATE around I | |
| 49 | Mostly kind about ram’s dazed state (6) |
| STUPOR – SOR{t} around TUP | |
| 51 | Section of sacred opus? (5) |
| CREDO – hidden &Lit | |
| 52 | Southern English after staff for northern vicarage (5) |
| MANSE – S[outhern] E[nglish] after MAN | |
DNF
Never got AFFECTIONATE or BLIND … (NHO)–got FEEBLE just now, having the F. Couldn’t see how PARTRIDGE worked, and now I see why. NHO ABIES. I biffed THE PICKWICK PAPERS from the two K’s; knew of WICK, which was a hamlet for all I knew. DNK the turtle. We seem to have one Jumbo setter who is given to rebarbative surfaces; I have ‘feh’ written by a number of clues like 4d (‘writer’s vessel has American turtle avoiding strait’; I ask you).
Apparently ‘Our X’ can be used as a vocative; I remember reading, a little boy saying, “Please don’t hit me, Our Dad.”
Re ‘French corn / BLE’ at 24dn I would repeat the comment made in my blog last Tuesday with reference to ‘French farmhouse / MAS’: “The amount of foreign words not really incorporated to English that we are expected to know these days is starting to get a bit much”. At least MAS was in Chambers and SOED and it turned out to be familiar to some from labels on French wine bottles, but BLE is not listed in any of the usual sources. Why would anyone but a fluent speaker of French even know it?
RE 39ac, I’ve always understood cross-references have to be numeric and can’t think of a single instance of it happening before in a Times /ST puzzle, nor in The Guardian for that matter where it could be a nightmare with all their cross-referenced clues. It’s something I picked up here in my earliest days and have often quoted it as a hard-and-fast rule rather than a convention. I haven’t been able to find any previous discussions in the archive, but I did come across this from a piece called The Times House Style written by Peter B in 2008:
Numbers in digits
In clues, these point to answers to other clues. But only in print – for reasons I don’t understand, the web-site version of the puzzle often uses (e.g.) “three” for “3”.
Perhaps I remembered the first sentence and ignored or forgot about the second one, but in an case it wouldn’t apply in our Jumbo clue as ”forty-one’ appears in both the printed version and on the website.
in 8 down Lines rather than Line, and part as in learn one’s lines
Of course, silly me. Thanks.
Although for what it’s worth one of the definitions of ‘line’ in Collins is ‘the musical part or melody notated on one such set’.
This must have been relatively benign as I finished it in 36:18, but 4d went in from definition and crossers. STINKPOT FORSOOTH! Thanks setter and Penfold.
I found this quite straightforward but then got completely stuck at the end on two clues. After about 10 minutes of head-scratching I realised I had put in CILFFHANGER, corrected that and got OVERCRITICAL and then FASCIA almost immediately.