Hi everyone. I don’t have a time for this one, but it certainly wasn’t fast. My favourite clue is 17a. Others I enjoyed include the strange time machine at 14a and the icky 8d – it gave me an earworm, which is most definitely not the worst thing you can catch from sewage. 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 | Primarily mumbled speaking? (9) |
| MUTTERING — The first letter of (primarily) Mumbled + UTTERING (speaking), &lit | |
| 6a | One evening, around 6 — having cancelled 9 — enlightenment (7) |
| INSIGHT — I (one) + NIGHT (evening) around S[ix] (6) without (having cancelled) IX (9) | |
| 10a | Cleaned sheds quietly, and sulked (5) |
| MOPED — MOP[p]ED (cleaned) discards (sheds) P (quietly) | |
| 13a | Second charming and mostly boring chap is hedonistic (4-9) |
| SELF-INDULGENT — S (second) + ELFIN (charming) + mostly DULl (boring) + GENT (chap) | |
| 14a | Time machine that flies backwards — strange instrument (5,4) |
| TENOR DRUM — T (time) + DRONE (machine that flies) backwards + RUM (strange) | |
| 15a | A contemptible person had to stir up trouble (7) |
| AGITATE — A + GIT (contemptible person) + ATE (had) | |
| 16a | Aardvark can’t be arboreal for a stretch (7) |
| ANTBEAR — The answer is part of (… for a stretch) cAN’T BE ARboreal | |
| 17a | Suspicious about sex aid (7) |
| CHARITY — CHARY (suspicious) around (about) IT (sex) | |
| 18a | Like Italian to punch timekeeper’s hands-free kit (7,5) |
| DIGITAL CLOCK — DIG (like) + ITAL. (Italian) + CLOCK (to punch) | |
| 20a | Glam rock band vocalist blocked by Liberal politician, say, making false accusations (10) |
| MUDSLINGER — MUD (glam rock band) + SINGER (vocalist) containing (blocked by) L (Liberal) | |
| 23a | Compassion encapsulates English faith (5) |
| PIETY — PITY (compassion) surrounds (encapsulates) E (English) | |
| 24a | He’s sinful, complex, and generous (9) |
| UNSELFISH — An anagram of (… complex) HE’S SINFUL | |
| 25a | Every individual jamming can debate etc. (5-2) |
| TEACH-IN — EACH (every individual) inside (jamming) TIN (can) | |
| 26a | He backs end to receding layer of cells (11) |
| ENDOTHELIUM — HELIUM (He) goes at the end of (backs) END with TO reversing (receding) | |
| 28a | Juvenile friends choose malts, shockingly (11) |
| SCHOOLMATES — CHOOSE MALTS, anagrammed (shockingly) | |
| 30a | Old footballer is selected, yes? (6,5) |
| INSIDE RIGHT — IN SIDE (selected) + RIGHT (yes) | |
| 32a | Stupid and innocent type showered after taking ecstasy (11) |
| LAMEBRAINED — LAMB (innocent type) and RAINED (showered) having included E (after taking ecstasy) | |
| 34a | Get rid of a book from Poland missing page (7) |
| ABOLISH — A + B (book) + [p]OLISH (from Poland) without P (missing page) | |
| 36a | One bad apple overwhelms Irish public service broadcaster, I think? (9) |
| NEOCORTEX — ONE anagrammed (bad) + COX (apple) surrounds (overwhelms) RTE (Irish public service broadcaster) | |
| 38a | Whimsically remove my colour scheme (5) |
| DECOR — Whimsically, DE–COR could mean to remove COR (my) | |
| 39a | Feel exhilarated or irate, and strange (5,2,3) |
| TREAD ON AIR — An anagram of (… strange) OR IRATE, AND | |
| 41a | Radon for sale is silly, futile exercise (1,5,6) |
| A FOOLS ERRAND — RADON FOR SALE is anagrammed (silly) | |
| 45a | Reveal properties for hire next to border (3,4) |
| LET SLIP — LETS (properties for hire) next to LIP (border) | |
| 46a | Genus of lichens lives on plot (7) |
| GRAPHIS — IS (lives) by (on) GRAPH (plot) | |
| 47a | With two days to replace bishop, starts going back with bosses (7) |
| STUDDED — With D D (two days) to replace B (bishop), DE[b]UTS (starts) reversed (going back) | |
| 49a | Revolutionary’s rude, transfixed by reduced profit (9) |
| GARIBALDI — RIBALD (rude) held in (transfixed by) all but the last letter of (reduced) GAIn (profit) | |
| 50a | Start to suspect Mr Ed, say, is unrealistic candidate in election (8-5) |
| STALKING-HORSE — The first letter of (start to) Suspect + TALKING HORSE (Mr Ed, say) | |
| 52a | Sweat damaged leather strap (5) |
| TAWSE — SWEAT anagrammed (damaged) | |
| 53a | Maybe McCartney and Starr’s final piece is outstanding (7) |
| STELLAR — STELLA (maybe McCartney) + StarR’s last letter (final piece) | |
| 54a | Twisted young lady in Leeds, perhaps becoming half-hearted (9) |
| MISSHAPEN — MISS (young lady) + HAP[p]EN (in Leeds, perhaps) with the central pair of letters halved (becoming half-hearted) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Bother with problem climbing plant (7) |
| MUSTARD — DRAT (bother) and SUM (problem) going upwards in the grid (climbing) | |
| 2d | Pundit snubbed new wave band (7,4) |
| TALKING HEAD — Without the last letter (snubbed) TALKING HEADs (new wave band) | |
| 3d | Local forgetting name boosted musical (5) |
| EVITA — [n]ATIVE (local) missing N (forgetting name) upturned (boosted) | |
| 4d | Remain popular, principally doing fine (7) |
| INDWELL — IN (popular) + the initial letter of (principally) Doing + WELL (fine) | |
| 5d | Prisoner’s turning 44? (3) |
| GAL — LAG (prisoner)’s going backwards (turning). 44d = DAMSEL | |
| 6d | Northern jerk, in principle, just the same (9) |
| IDENTICAL — N (northern) and TIC (jerk) in IDEAL (principle) | |
| 7d | Compiler in The Sun? (6) |
| SETTER — Two definitions | |
| 8d | Pretend to search sewage? (2,7,3,7) |
| GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS — Two meanings again, a definition and a literal interpretation using a different sense of the word “motion” | |
| 9d | Combinations of cards must be a dodgy hand at poker? (7) |
| TENACES — TEN ACES would certainly be a dodgy hand to hold in poker | |
| 10d | Pulse raised over American — Hayworth, perhaps — getting cocktail (9) |
| MARGARITA — GRAM (pulse) reversed (raised) above (over) A (American) + RITA (Hayworth, perhaps) | |
| 11d | Start hoping Liberal makes hostile comment at last (7,4) |
| PARTING SHOT — An anagram of (… liberal) START HOPING | |
| 12d | Dirt from underneath my mannequin (5) |
| DUMMY — MUD (dirt) raised (from underneath) + MY | |
| 16d | Ailing businesses dig out good news, eventually (1,8,2,8) |
| A BLESSING IN DISGUISE — AILING BUSINESSES DIG anagrammed (out) | |
| 19d | Arranged to meet and test stone head, off and on (7) |
| TRYSTED — TRY (test) + ST (stone) + alternate letters of (… off and on) hEaD | |
| 21d | Jockey possibly carrying unusual sign for spectator close to the action (9) |
| RINGSIDER — RIDER (jockey possibly) holding (carrying) an anagrammed (unusual) SIGN | |
| 22d | Periodically, driver steals fuel (6) |
| DIESEL — Taking every other letter (periodically), DrIvEr StEaLs | |
| 23d | Foretell welcoming a new preacher (9) |
| PREDICANT — PREDICT (foretell) taking in (welcoming) A and N (new) | |
| 24d | Discover Harry near hut (7) |
| UNEARTH — Make an anagram of (harry) NEAR HUT | |
| 25d | During riot, steal wheels before fight in storage area (7) |
| TOOLBOX — LOOT (during riot, steal) reverses (wheels) before BOX (fight) | |
| 27d | Dog running for food (6) |
| MUTTON — MUTT (dog) + ON (running) | |
| 29d | Twist nasty article in Die Zeit (7) |
| MEANDER — MEAN (nasty) + DER (article in Die Zeit) | |
| 31d | Short distance from home, stopping volatile host having argument (6-5) |
| STONE’S-THROW — NEST (home) inside (stopping) an anagram of (volatile) HOST + ROW (argument) | |
| 33d | Completely down with policeman arresting Republican (4,3,4) |
| NECK AND CROP — NECK (down) + AND (with) + COP (policeman) taking in (arresting) R (Republican) | |
| 35d | Enduring model: “I’ll be in bed, scratching head” (9) |
| INDELIBLE — Make an anagram of (model): I’LL BE IN with bED deleting the first letter (scratching head) | |
| 37d | Rank those people’s answer fills, not on TV (3,3,3) |
| OFF THE AIR — OFF (rank) + THEIR (those people’s) which A (answer) goes inside (fills) | |
| 40d | Asians, mostly quiet, recalled embracing father (7) |
| NEPALIS — Mostly SILENT (quiet) reversed (recalled) around (embracing) PA (father) | |
| 42d | Some visas in Estonia result in Scottish land transfers (7) |
| SASINES — Some viSAS IN EStonia | |
| 43d | Resentment, as underground cell gets diamonds for nationalists’ leader (7) |
| DUDGEON — DU[n]GEON (underground cell) has D (diamonds) in place of (for) Nationalists’ first letter (leader) | |
| 44d | Young woman checks middle of eyelid (6) |
| DAMSEL — DAMS (checks) + the middle of eyELid | |
| 45d | Delicate predicament, having taken top off (5) |
| LIGHT — pLIGHT (predicament) with its initial removed (having taken top off) | |
| 48d | Regularly rush, though? Yes (2-3) |
| UH-HUH — Alternate letters of (regularly) rUsH tHoUgH | |
| 51d | Virtually make up Chinese language (3) |
| KAM — All but the last letter of (virtually) MAKe going up | |
DNF
Never got TENOR DRUM and TENACES. I didn’t understand DECOR, didn’t know McCartney, KAM, MUD, SASINES. I liked GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS.
I do the jumbo with a friend, we got through in 44′.
You’re right, 8D was disgusting! TAWSE, GRAPHIS, SASINES NHO. NECK AND CROP NHO – somehow it always feels worse not to have heard of short phrases than single words. TENACES NHO although research suggests it’s an everyday term for cards players.
KAM was extremely arcane, even for linguists! The Kam-Sui languages are not even related to Chinese, but are related to Thai.
Favourite def was ‘I think’ for NEOCORTEX. Very neat. Thanks all!
I had problems with TENACES (probably NHO), ENDOTHELIUM (needed aids) and GRAPHIS . I deduced the last of these from wordplay and checkers but had to look in all the source dictionaries in order to verify the answer. Chambers has it, but it’s not in Collins or the Oxfords, and of course I looked in Chambers last!
My favourite clue was STALKING HORSE as a reminder of Mr Ed the ancient US TV series about a horse who has the ability to talk but only his owner can hear and understand him. One of Harry Enfield’s TV shows featured a running spoof of the series entitled Mr Dead – The Talking Corpse.
About an hour
– Didn’t fully parse DIGITAL CLOCK as I didn’t realise ‘Ital’ is an abbreviation for Italian
– Biffed DECOR
– More familiar with ‘walk on air’ rather than TREAD ON AIR
– Had to trust that GRAPHIS is a genus of lichens
– NHO TAWSE but the checkers and anagrist meant it had to be
– Also NHO ‘happen’ as a northern variant of ‘perhaps’ so was baffled by MISSHAPEN
– Didn’t know ‘gram’ as ‘pulse’ for MARGARITA
– Relied on the wordplay for the unknown NECK AND CROP, SASINES and KAM
Thanks Kitty and setter.
FOI Muttering
LOI Tenaces
COD Tenor drum
38:52. I found a lot of this had to be ground out and I can’t say I enjoyed it much. Good challenge though, and 8dn made me laugh.
16d definition isn’t correct, in my opinion. A blessing in disguise isn’t delayed good news, it’s something that superficially appears bad but is in fact good. Also not sure about 25d, is a toolbox a storage ‘area’?
Answers unknown to me included tenaces, endothelium, graphis, tread on air (I thought the expression was ‘walking on air’), sasines, and kam, and some other answers seemed like words that just about exist but no one uses – indwell, ringsider.
Favourites: 8d because it’s a witty play on words of the sort too rarely seen, and 29d.
I had the same thought about this but decided that there is always a time aspect to it: a blessing in disguise looks bad but then subsequently reveals itself to be good. This is also reflected in, for example, the ODE definition: ‘an apparent misfortune that eventually has good result’.
Some good imaginative clues here, like 6a. But disappointing to find a few truly obscure words like Endothelium.
We got Toolbox without understanding the loot-> tool aspect. Obvious now you’ve explained it, thank you!