I completed this in one session. I didn’t need to use aids to arrive at any answers but I checked a few along the way before proceeding.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Wine covered by company card (7) |
| PLASTIC | |
| ASTI (wine) contained [covered] PL~C (company) | |
| 5 | Support pert somersault (8) |
| BACKFLIP | |
| BACK (support), FLIP (pert) | |
| 9 | Dressed down (not personal) after impudent language (6) |
| SAUCED | |
| SAUCE (impudent language), D{own} [not personal – own] | |
| 13 | Shrieks from former silent type bodging a minor task (11,5) |
| EXCLAMATION MARKS | |
| EX (former), CLAM (silent type), anagram [bodging] of A MINOR TASK. I think journalists may refer to them as shrieks. |
|
| 14 | With sudden action one clipped ticket (6) |
| COUPON | |
| COUP (sudden action), ON{e} [clipped] | |
| 16 | Guru in India took to the water first (5) |
| SWAMI | |
| I (India – phonetic alphabet), SWAM (took to the water] | |
| 17 | Difficult pair in a hurry abandoning hotel (7) |
| ARDUOUS | |
| DUO (pair) contained by [in] A + R~US{h} (a hurry) [abandoning hotel – phonetic alphabet again ] | |
| 18 | After July briefly in the country cutting introduction for important speech (9) |
| INAUGURAL | |
| IN AUG (after July briefly], {r}URAL [cutting introduction] | |
| 19 | Interrupting work, managed to grab one insect (6-3) |
| ORANGE-TIP | |
| RAN (managed) + GET (grab) + I (one) contained by [interrupting] O~P(work). It’s a butterfly. | |
| 21 | Criminal’s worn out weapon (5,2) |
| WRONG UN | |
| Anagram [out] of WORN, then GUN (weapon) | |
| 22 | Bad-tempered match ending in affray (5) |
| TESTY | |
| TEST (match), {affra}Y [ending in …] | |
| 23 | What would make goose go in trap? (5) |
| NOOSE | |
| ‘Goose’ with NO ‘OSE‘ would make ‘go’. The reverse cryptic supports the main definition. | |
| 25 | Sellers opening in radio, earliest broadcast (9) |
| RETAILERS | |
| R{adio} [opening in …], anagram [broadcast] of EARLIEST | |
| 27 | Move impatiently, suggesting a few sips of a pint? (7) |
| FLOUNCE | |
| FL OUNCE (suggesting a few sips of a pint – fluid ounce). A fluid ounce is equivalent to 1/20th of an imperial pint. | |
| 29 | Full of energy, I bombard regiment heads to create disturbance (5,4) |
| RAISE HELL | |
| RA (regiment – Royal Artillery), I, S~HELL (bombard), containing [full of] E (energy). ‘Heads’ is a placement indicator. | |
| 31 | Paper set by an individual mentor (8,5) |
| GUARDIAN ANGEL | |
| GUARDIAN (newspaper), AN, GEL (set) | |
| 34 | Was too clever for overdue amount to be revised (13) |
| OUTMANOEUVRED | |
| Anagram [revised] of OVERDUE AMOUNT | |
| 35 | Operator’s face in part is caught in tangle (9) |
| MACHINIST | |
| CHIN (face in part) + IS, contained by [caught in] MA~T (tangle) | |
| 37 | Humble Charles X? (7) |
| CHASTEN | |
| CHAS (Charles), TEN (X) | |
| 39 | Not always very satisfied with back half (9) |
| SOMETIMES | |
| SO (very), MET (satisfied), then SEMI (half) reversed [back] | |
| 42 | Pull hard — bliss to stop short (5) |
| HEAVE | |
| HEAVE{n} (bliss) [to stop short] | |
| 43 | For lawyer, preclude missing most of best opportunity (5) |
| ESTOP | |
| Hidden in [missing most of] {b}EST OP{portunity} | |
| 45 | Leader of crusade can’t supply revolutionary (7) |
| TANCRED | |
| Anagram [supply] of CAN’T, then RED ( revolutionary). Norman hero of the First Crusade who played a prominent part in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. | |
| 47 | Delay agitation by lower-classes (9) |
| DEFERMENT | |
| D + E (lower classes), FERMENT (agitation) | |
| 49 | Business less successful, move to smaller premises (5,4) |
| TRADE DOWN | |
| TRADE (business), DOWN (less successful) | |
| 50 | Eye old phone in Texas, America (7) |
| OCELLUS | |
| O (old), CELL (phone in Texas – i.e. American usage), US (America). Another term for the simple eye of an insect, for example. | |
| 52 | Tease our folk about money (5) |
| SUGAR | |
| RAG (tease) + US (our folk) reversed [about]. I didn’t know this as a term for money, and Collins lists it as ‘rare. | |
| 54 | Performer to pose around inside facility (6) |
| ARTIST | |
| SIT (pose) reversed [around] contained by [inside] AR~T (facility) | |
| 55 | Set firm deadlines, strangely not inflicted by anyone else (4-12) |
| SELF-ADMINISTERED | |
| Anagram [strangely] of SET FIRM DEADLINES | |
| 56 | With time moving on, catch is transported (6) |
| ENRAPT | |
| Entrap (catch) with time – t – moving on becomes ENRAPT | |
| 57 | Most crazy youngsters go here, taken at first (8) |
| POTTIEST | |
| POTTIES (youngsters go here), T{aken} [at first] | |
| 58 | Novel Russian garden (7) |
| IVANHOE | |
| IVAN (Russian), HOE (garden) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | So precentor moved into part of abbey (5,6) |
| POETS CORNER | |
| Anagram [moved] of SO PRECENTOR. It’s a famous section of Westminster Abbey. | |
| 2 | In hot capital councillor is in cooler area (5) |
| ACCRA | |
| CR (councillor) contained by [is in] AC (cooler – air-con) ~ A (area) | |
| 3 | After meal, Carol is flirting (7) |
| TEASING | |
| TEA (meal), SING (carol) | |
| 4 | Computer reading card, about to gain knowledge (9,11) |
| CHARACTER RECOGNITION | |
| CHARACTER (card), RE (about), COGNITION (the gaining of knowledge). I know this from OCR apps on scanners where the O stands for Optical. | |
| 5 | Kitty holding up curtains where she can’t see clearly? (5,4) |
| BLIND SPOT | |
| BLINDS (curtains), POT (kitty). Usually blinds and curtains are considered different types of furnishing but they perform the same function. | |
| 6 | Singer’s short section of poem (5) |
| CANTO | |
| CANTO{r} (singer) [short] | |
| 7 | Rock from Florida reproduced on stage (9) |
| FLAGSTONE | |
| FL (Florida), anagram [reproduced] of ON STAGE. A hard fine-textured rock that can be split into slabs for paving. | |
| 8 | Slight suspicion bell-like sound is out of tune at the start (7) |
| INKLING | |
| {t}INKLING (bell-like sound) [out of tune at the start] | |
| 10 | In the company of doctor, consumed by anxiety (7) |
| AMONGST | |
| MO (doctor) contained [consumed] by A~NGST (anxiety) | |
| 11 | One on warhorse roughly arrested, first to be put in jail (9) |
| CAPARISON | |
| CA (roughly – circa) then A{rrested} [first] contained by [to be put in] P~RISON. An ornamental covering spread over a horse’s saddle or harness. |
|
| 12 | Daughter, yelling, led cast in Christmas scene (7,4) |
| DINGLEY DELL | |
| D (daughter), then anagram [cast] of YELLING LED. It’s a farm in Pickwick Papers where the characters spend a traditional old-fashioned Christmas. | |
| 15 | African insists sofa is ordered for Italian patron (5,7,2,6) |
| SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI | |
| Anagram [ordered] of AFRICAN INSISTS SOFA IS | |
| 20 | Lover embracing Mike is tense, for a Greek (7) |
| AMORIST | |
| A~ORIST (tense for a Greek) containing [embracing] M (Mike – phonetic alphabet). I never studied Greek so I biffed the answer and looked up the wordplay later. | |
| 21 | Mangle words, just taking the opening caller (7) |
| WRINGER | |
| W{ords} [just taking the opening], RINGER (caller) | |
| 24 | Revealing taste of English joint with walnuts regularly added (7) |
| ELEGANT | |
| E (English), LEG (joint of meat), {w}A{l}N{u}T{s} [regularly] | |
| 26 | This is how defenders’ bureaucracy lifted doomed city (5) |
| SODOM | |
| SO (this is how), then MOD (defenders’ bureaucracy – Ministry of Defence) reversed [lifted] | |
| 28 | Slope written about, nothing serious: one leads to attractive hill (7) |
| OBADIAH | |
| O (nothing), BAD (serious), I (one), A{ttractive} + H{ill} [leads to …]. Fortunately I knew this having seen the excellent TV adaptation of Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles some years ago featuring a youngish Alan Rickman as The Reverend Obadiah Slope. It was the first time I’d noticed him, and he gave a performance never to be forgotten. | |
| 30 | Office in Parliament House announced for some (5) |
| LAUDS | |
| Aural wordplay [announced for some]: LAUDS / “Lords” (Parliament House – the upper chamber at the Houses of Parliament). ‘Lauds’ is one of the hours of the Divine Service in the RC church. | |
| 32 | Checked car, note tiny bit of damage (7) |
| AUDITED | |
| AUDI (car), TE (note), D{amage} [tiny bit of …] | |
| 33 | Expression of goodwill to pen instant message (7) |
| GRIMACE | |
| GR~ACE (goodwill) containing [to pen] IM (instant message) | |
| 34 | Use art to work with the score? (11) |
| ORCHESTRATE | |
| Two meanings, the first means to manipulate a situation to produce a desired effect | |
| 36 | Filled with runs, marquee game — here? (5,6) |
| TRENT BRIDGE | |
| T~ENT (marquee) containing [filled with] R (runs), BRIDGE (game). This is an international cricket ground near Nottingham. The definition is reflexive. | |
| 38 | Tons loaded into a slow vehicle, one with drawing power (9) |
| ATTRACTOR | |
| T (tons) contained by [loaded into] A, ~ TRACTOR (slow vehicle) | |
| 40 | Pea, one shot with force into carpet (9) |
| MARROWFAT | |
| ARROW (one shot) + F (force) contained by [into] M~AT (carpet). A particularly large-seeded pea plant. | |
| 41 | Person on podium departs, absorbed by menu? (9) |
| MEDALLIST | |
| D (departs) contained [absorbed] by ME~AL LIST (menu) | |
| 44 | Crowd keenly ready for exercise (5-2) |
| PRESS-UP | |
| PRESS (crowd), UP (keenly ready) | |
| 46 | French team at first rehearsing opening number of positive value perhaps (3-4) |
| NON-ZERO | |
| ONZE (French team – ONZE being French for 11) + R{ehearsing} [at first], all contained by [opening] N~O (number). Thanks to JerryW for his help in parsing this one. It had me baffled as I had assumed the name of a team unknown to me was involved. | |
| 48 | The town of Stone put in working order (7) |
| ROSETTA | |
| SET (put) contained by [in] ROTA (working order). Where the famous stone was discovered. | |
| 51 | Bear doing without originally regular supply (5) |
| ENDUE | |
| ENDU{r}E (bear) [doing without originally r{egular}] | |
| 53 | High tension apparatus turned a distance round (5) |
| GIRTH | |
| HT (high tension) + RIG (apparatus) reversed [turned] | |
DNF
I put this aside after failing to come up with a half-dozen solutions, and forgot about it until now.
DNK ORANGE-TIP, OCELLUS, MARROWFAT. I’d forgotten Slope’s first name. I liked NOOSE & ST. FRANCIS.
Thanks jackkt. I thought this was medium diff. But slightly uneven; some (many?) easy enough but levelled by a bit of stinkiness….! 🤷♂️
We also struggled with Non Zero, but wry smiles when we saw the light! Not keen on the use of the Greek tense in Amorist. And my dictionary also mentioned use of Sugar as “rare slang” for money.
Funny to see Dingley Dell again when it was used only a few weeks ago.
But several really nice clues. I especially liked Goose and Medallist.
Didn’t finish by some distance. Didn’t know or like: flip meaning pert, orange tip, Tancred, ocellus, sugar to mean money, character recognition, cantor, caparison, orist, Obadiah, lauds to mean office.
Move to smaller premises is to downsize, I’ve never heard it referred to as trade down, maybe this is an Americanism.
Lots to dislike here, but the most tortuous was probably 46d.
All in all, not fun.
in 34 down I had the word play as an anagram (to work with) of “art … the score”