Quite a slow start but I speeded up and finished over two sessions. There’s a mini-theme with Robinson Crusoe, Defoe, Friday and a number of other nautical references which may be intended to be part of it.
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 | Uncompromising doctor offered less breadth (5) |
| RIGID – RIG (doctor), {b}ID (offered) [less breadth – b] | |
| 4 | Putting wrong weapon in to load warplane (10) |
| MISWORDING – SWORD (weapon) + IN contained by [to load] MI~G (warplane) | |
| 9 | Small number with dog left time to get home (6) |
| CURFEW – CUR (dog), FEW (small number). ‘Left’ indicates the position of CUR. | |
| 14 | Aims often in this when running? (9) |
| MANIFESTO – Anagram [running] of AIMS OFTEN. The definition is cryptic with reference to running as a candidate for election. | |
| 15 | Scottish steps eroded, several concrete reportedly (9,4) |
| EIGHTSOME REEL – Aural wordplay [reportedly]: EIGHT / “ate” (eroded), SOME (several), REEL / “real” (concrete) | |
| 16 | Serious art making money? (7) |
| EARNEST – Jocularly, if thou art making money, thou EARNEST | |
| 17 | Name in opera, one gathers (9) |
| TOSCANINI – TOSCA (opera) ~ I (one) contains [gathers] N (name) + IN. &lit. The conductor (1867-1957) would have conducted a fair few operas in his time. &lit. |
|
| 18 | Small group of birds keeps out of harm’s way (5) |
| SAVES – S (small), AVES (group of birds) | |
| 19 | Foul was Peter Shilton wasting time at the end — hardly a penalty (4,2,3,5) |
| SLAP ON THE WRIST – Anagram [foul] of WAS PET{e}R SHILTON [wasting time at the end]. He was a goalkeeper. | |
| 22 | Extravagant display of euphorbia around lake (7) |
| SPLURGE – SP~URGE (euphorbia – plant) containing [around] L (lake} | |
| 25 | Defendant unhappy with right to make fresh start (10) |
| RESPONDENT – {d}ESPONDENT (unhappy) makes a fresh start with R (right) | |
| 27 | Guys test compass when cycling, becoming separated (12) |
| ESTRANGEMENT – MEN (guys) + T/EST + RANGE (compass) [when cycling] | |
| 30 | Speculative works kept back by prolific songwriter (3-2) |
| SCI-FI – Hidden and reversed [kept back] by {prol}IFIC S{ongwriter} | |
| 31 | Some on the Danube swimming even in case of sewage (8) |
| VIENNESE – Anagram [swimming] of EVEN IN, then S{ewag}E [case of…] | |
| 32 | Angry spot in your ear swells in two directions (5,3) |
| CROSS SEA – CROSS (angry), then aural wordplay [in your ear] SEA / “see” (spot). Collins: a sea with a choppy surface produced by the intersection of waves from different storms. | |
| 35 | First smell meat left on bar uncovered (5,3) |
| ABOVE ALL – {b}A{r} [uncovered], BO (smell – body odour), VEAL (meat}, L (left) | |
| 36 | Feet ahead, rowing crew wait to hear (8) |
| FOREPAWS – Aural wordplay [to hear]: FORE / “four” (rowing crew) + PAWS / “pause” (wait) | |
| 37 | Great Lakes’ fish company stores can be found west of Chicago (5) |
| CISCO – C~O (company) contains [stores] IS (can be found) + C{hicago} [west of…]. Cisco is a freshwater fish so I assume it may be found in other lakes. | |
| 39 | Good time is something to consider, opine hosts (12) |
| SATISFACTORY – SA~Y (opine) contains [hosts] T (time) + IS + FACTOR (something to consider) | |
| 41 | Read an outrageous column which boosts circulation (10) |
| ADRENALINE – Anagram [outrageous] of READ AN, then LINE (column) | |
| 43 | Piece coming through from an overanxious Russian oligarch (7) |
| ROMANOV – Hidden in [piece coming through] {f}ROM AN OV{eranxious} | |
| 45 | Living on notice in guesthouse without qualification (5,3,6) |
| BREAD AND BUTTER – RE (on) + AD (notice) contained by [in] B~ AND B (guesthouse), UTTER (without qualification). The guest house is normally written B&B which stands for ‘Bed and Breakfast’. | |
| 48 | Reduced drug dose returned to trial (5) |
| PILOT – PIL{l} (drug dose) [reduced], then TO reversed [returned] | |
| 49 | Easily convinced doctor sure could! (9) |
| CREDULOUS – Anagram [doctor] of SURE COULD | |
| 51 | Farmer hurried fruit on trees, losing half (7) |
| RANCHER – RAN (hurried), CHER{ries} (fruit on trees) [losing half] | |
| 53 | Class temp with flex emptied the pine dresser, finally (6,7) |
| SUPPLY TEACHER – SUPPLY (with flex), T{h}E [emptied], ACHE (pine), {dresse}R [finally] | |
| 54 | Articulate animal? Trained parrot, d’oh (9) |
| ARTHROPOD – Anagram [trained] of PARROT D’OH | |
| 55 | Women’s shelter keeps male chromosome score (6) |
| TWENTY – T~ENT (shelter) contains [keeps] W (women’s), Y (male chromosome) | |
| 56 | Film director’s knowledge and short career prove marketable (3,7) |
| KEN RUSSELL – KEN (knowledge), RUS{h} (career) [short], SELL (prove marketable) | |
| 57 | Like a riddle, say, heard in its entirety (5) |
| HOLEY – Aural wordplay [heard]: HOLEY / “wholly” (in its entirety). Riddle as in a sieve. | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Beating player, down the first large glass (6) |
| RUMMER – {d}RUMMER (beating player) [down – lose – the first] | |
| 2 | Armies’ legions marshalled — by him? (13) |
| GENERALISSIMO – Anagram [marshalled] of ARMIES LEGIONS | |
| 3 | Writer fed up with novel every so often (5) |
| DEFOE – FED (reversed) [up], {n}O{v}E{l} [every so often] | |
| 4 | Tommy’s dish of eggs, nearly half flipped (4,3) |
| MESS TIN – NITS (eggs), SEM{i} (half) [nearly] reversed [flipped]. ‘Tommy’ is a private in the British army. | |
| 5 | British grandmaster replaced missing pieces (5-7) |
| SHORT-CHANGED – SHORT (British chess grandmaster – Nigel), CHANGED (replaced). ‘Pieces’ refers to coins here as in a penny piece. | |
| 6 | Sets of balls have scattered on top (8) |
| OVERSOWN – OVERS (sets of balls – cricket), OWN (have) | |
| 7 | Trail parent in unwavering line (5) |
| DOGMA – DOG (trail), MA (parent) | |
| 8 | Part of UK tending to tweet idiocies (10) |
| NITWITTERY – NI (part of UK – Northern Ireland), TWITTERY (tending to tweet – jocular) | |
| 10 | Practical article you abridged to do with stretching (7) |
| UTENSIL – U (you), TENSIL{e} (to do with stretching) [abridged] | |
| 11 | Force retreat across English lines without structure (4,5) |
| FREE VERSE – F (force), RE~VERSE (retreat) containing [across] E (English) | |
| 12 | Father of 30 healthy sons? (5) |
| WELLS – WELL (healthy), S (sons). H.G. Wells. 30ac being ‘sci-fi’. | |
| 13 | Sailor washed up mug, one Connor uses at sea (8,6) |
| ROBINSON CRUSOE – ROB (mug), I (one) then anagram [at sea] of CONNOR USES | |
| 20 | Suspect character back in Soho Square between pub and empty shops (9) |
| PHONINESS – {Soh}O [back] + NINE (square) contained by [between] PH (public house) ~ S{hop}S [empty] | |
| 21 | Unusual tidiness maintained (8) |
| INSISTED – Anagram [unusual] of TIDINESS | |
| 23 | Man in field almost cutting from side to side (5,5) |
| EXTRA COVER – EXTRAC{t} (cutting) [almost], OVER (from side to side). More cricket. | |
| 24 | Old man breaking lock and turning over residence? (10) |
| TRESPASSER – PA (old man) contained by [breaking] TRES~S (lock) then RES (residence) reversed [turning over]. &lit. | |
| 26 | Opposition speaker was up and down California during election (6,8) |
| DEVILS ADVOCATE – LIVED (was) reversed [up], SAD (down), then CA (California) contained by [during] VO~TE (election) | |
| 28 | America’s far right? (4,5) |
| EAST COAST – Cryptic. Looking at a map of the country. | |
| 29 | Not straying at uni, say (2,6) |
| ON COURSE – Two meanings | |
| 33 | Well-painted room is covered with new cheap tiles, unfortunately (7,6) |
| SISTINE CHAPEL – IS contained [covered with] anagram [unfortunately] of N (new) CHEAP TILES | |
| 34 | Winning big game, European getting off on it? (7,5) |
| LANDING STAGE – LANDING (winning), STAG (big game), E (European) | |
| 38 | Another nearby horse shot behind screens upset me (10) |
| STABLEMATE – STAB (shot) + L~ATE (behind) contains [screens] ME reversed [upset] | |
| 40 | Issue lifting large part of church using widely-spaced frames (4-5) |
| TIME-LAPSE – EMIT (issue) reversed [lifting], then L (large), APSE (part of church). A photographic technique. | |
| 42 | Old vases with a record player on shelves (8) |
| ADJOURNS – A, DJ (record player – disc jockey), O (old), URNS (vases) | |
| 44 | Brief memo set up fundraising programme, saving hours (7) |
| NOTELET – TELET{h}ON (fundraising programme) [saving hours] reversed [set up] | |
| 46 | Bishop using speech about saint in school for detention (7) |
| BORSTAL – B (Bishop), OR~AL (using speech) containing [about] ST (saint) | |
| 47 | Period certainly finishing fine and free (6) |
| FRIDAY – F (fine), RID (free), AY (certainly) | |
| 48 | Upright walls I take for granted (5) |
| POSIT – POS~T (upright) contains [walls] I | |
| 50 | Show the people we are nearly arrived (5) |
| USHER – US (the people we are), HER{e} (arrived) [nearly] | |
| 52 | Bridge player that was inaccurate with hearts, holding king (5) |
| NORTH – NO~T (that was inaccurate) + H (hearts) containing [holding] R (king) | |
Thanks. Found this one a bit hard going and wasn’t generally a fan of the parsing. 🤷♂️
Didn’t like this at all, I scrawled 2/10 for fun on the paper. Couldn’t get 1a or 1d and that set the tone. 4a scarcely exists as a word, at least not one that anyone ever uses. Haven’t heard of 15a or the fish at 37a, can’t see what ‘on trees’ is doing in 51a, the definition in 47d is highly dodgy (and it contains Scottish dialect which, being from Sussex, is a foreign language to me). So many clues consist of plodding step by step parsing (17a, 27a, 20d, 42d) with no witty wordplay in sight.
Best clue: none.
Worst clue: among a packed field it was 23d for the cricket obscurity.
Thank you for the blog.
I can’t begin to defend the puzzle as I found it a slog to solve and a chore to blog. On the bright side, today’s Jumbo is much nicer.
This one was hard work taking me 20 minutes over the allotted 2 hours. Lots of clever clueing packed into the puzzle to the point where it became quite dense. In that respect, it reminded me of yesterday’s Biggie, falling slowly in the face of sustained pressure.
It can be difficult, after 2 weeks, to recall the highlights, but this puzzle certainly had its share. I liked MISWORDING, MESS TIN, EIGHTSOME REEL, EARNEST (yes, I really did), BREAD AND BUTTER, FOREPAWS, NOTELET (for having to reverse telethon), LANDING STAGE, TWENTY, UTENSIL, DOGMA and the SISTINE CHAPEL. A long list because no-one else is being nice about it.
WOD NITWITTERY
DNF not because I couldn’t but because I had had no fun after twenty minutes and just couldnt be bothered to grind to the end. Sorry about that setter, we all have off days and thank you Jackkt.
My notes say “Did not enjoy” … which seems to be in common with everyone else here!
We started at the NW corner, which was probably the hardest bit. There were so many sketchy clues, we kept pencilling the answers and that makes everything hesitant.
We liked Slap On The Wrist and the cheeky Holey.
Disheartened, we gave up on 36A which is a shame because Forepaws was a nice solution.
Thank you jackkt for soldiering through all this to show us the way!