This was a very gentle offering, difficulty-wise, and deliberately so I think. For example the definition qualifiers Eurasian (city) and French (port) made those clues easier to solve. That said, I needed the wordplay to solve a couple of unknowns.
First in was AUCTIONED and last was CROSSMAN
If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation.
The technical stuff:
Clues are in blue 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 a symbol, abbreviation or shortening like U[ranium].
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Uranium inside carried out — lots thus sold (9) |
| AUCTIONED – U[ranium] in ACTIONED | |
| 6 | Plumbing plans for castles in Spain? (4,6) |
| PIPE DREAMS – DDCDH on the basis that plumbing plans could loosely be considered to be pipe dreams. | |
| 12 | Opt for a quiet beer, imbibing nothing? (7) |
| APPOINT – A, P[iano], PINT around O | |
| 13 | Losing act somehowfeeling sentimental? Not for now (9) |
| NOSTALGIC – (losing act)*. One of several clever definitions. | |
| 14 | Salvation Army youngster leaves meal (5) |
| SALAD – S[alvation] A[rmy] LAD. Another clever def. | |
| 16 | One about to be exhumed from unconsecrated ground in habit (6,6) |
| SECOND NATURE – (unconsecrated)* minus one or other instance of C[irca] | |
| 17 | What DPD and Evri bring over? (10) |
| DELIVERIES – DD, the second the obligatory cricket reference | |
| 19 | Forgive me for what? (1,3,4,6) |
| I BEG YOUR PARDON – DD | |
| 22 | Space in M&S to be reduced in department there? (8) |
| MENSWEAR – EN (printer’s space) in M S, then WEAR, as in erode. For the benefit of overseas solvers who don’t know M&S, it’s the usual shortening of Marks & Spencer, described by Wikipedia as “a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home products and food products”. It started life in Leeds Market, of course. | |
| 24 | At first, life is good in French city (6) |
| LISBON – L{ife}, IS, BON (good in French). I’m off to Lisbon for the first time in April. Here the “qualifier” isn’t one. | |
| 25 | Sit comfortably with feathers on bench (6,4) |
| SETTLE DOWN – DOWN on SETTLE. The Good Pub Guide mentions settles a lot when describing pub seating. | |
| 26 | Wandering tribesman friend to Pythias recalled (5) |
| NOMAD – reversal of DAMON. Apparently Damon and Pythias are legendary Greek figures symbolizing unwavering friendship and loyalty. As very much a non-classicist I didn’t know that. | |
| 29 | Wise man brought back fuel allowance in the end (4) |
| SAGE – GAS reversed, {allowanc}E | |
| 30 | Brother harbouring wonder about shared programs (8) |
| FREEWARE – FRERE around AWE reversed. I’m not too sure why FRERE is there in English dictionaries merely defined as (French) a brother but there you aller. | |
| 32 | One expects frustration — believer hiding achievement (9) |
| DEFEATIST – DEIST around FEAT | |
| 34 | Legal action applied to odd characters — those taken away? (9) |
| SUITCASES – SUIT, CASES | |
| 35 | Cell soon prepared for military personnel (8) |
| COLONELS – (cell soon)* | |
| 36 | Lead removed from gold for example, and the rest (2,2) |
| ET AL – |
|
| 39 | Divine creature in a northern set (5) |
| ANGEL – A, N[orthern], GEL | |
| 40 | English, rich, to keep on being prudent (10) |
| ECONOMICAL – E[nglish], COMICAL around ON | |
| 42 | Sword beginning to trouble old German statesman (6) |
| BRANDT – BRAND, T{rouble}, Willy Brandt, West German Chancellor from ’69 to ’74 | |
| 44 | Very exciting men chat with Mike (8) |
| ORGASMIC – O[ther] R[anks], GAS, MIC | |
| 46 | Film Grand National winner set to make return, holding form (4,1,3,6) |
| DIAL M FOR MURDER – Reversal of RED RUM LAID containing FORM | |
| 48 | Military camp declared strength in column coming up (10) |
| STALAGMITE – STALAG, homophone of MIGHT | |
| 49 | Immediately visiting top tourist attraction? (2,5,5) |
| AT FIRST SIGHT – DDCDH | |
| 53 | Exploit what bonsai growers do (5) |
| STUNT – DD | |
| 54 | Bring back means of controlling condition (9) |
| REINSTATE -REIN, STATE | |
| 55 | Maybe person in Black Sea abroad capturing old vessel (7) |
| MOURNER – MER (French for sea) around O[ld] URN. Nice bit of L&S, | |
| 56 | Irreverent sortdisturbed lamb, sheep and ram, initially (10) |
| BLASPHEMER – (lamb sheep R{am})* | |
| 57 | Greek dramatist sheds tear for men and furious women (9) |
| EUMENIDES – EURIPIDES with RIP swapped for MEN. Despite my status as a non-classicist (see 26) I had heard of the dramatist and relied on wordplay to get this. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenic very good cold in jelly (5) |
| ASPIC – AS (chemical symbol for ARSENIC), PI, C[old] | |
| 2 | Agree to welcome in New Year with dope smoker (7,3) |
| CHIMNEY POT – CHIME around N[ew], Y[ear] POT | |
| 3 | Redeveloped Butlin’s covers area in Eurasian city (8) |
| ISTANBUL – (Butlins)* around A[rea] | |
| 4 | Composition for nine performing in drag? (5) |
| NONET – ON in NET. A drag can be a net pulled along under water. | |
| 5 | Soldier to turn traitor — twice (6,3) |
| DESERT RAT – DESERT, RAT | |
| 6 | Under pressure, consume carbon-rich fuel (4) |
| PEAT – P[ressure] on EAT | |
| 7 | Support for pirate in fix on stage? (3,3) |
| PEG LEG -PEG, LEG | |
| 8 | Drops book Waugh wrote? (7,3,4) |
| DECLINE AND FALL – Two words meaning to drop | |
| 9 | Festival’s nutty Sauternes indeed drawing in daughter (6,6) |
| EASTER SUNDAY -(Sauternes)* AY with D[aughter] between | |
| 10 | Lassitude sadly besetting island in Middle East (7) |
| MALAISE – I[sland] in ALAS in M[iddle] E[ast] | |
| 11 | Butter up witnesses drinking wicked French port (10) |
| MARSEILLES – RAM (butter) reversed, ILL in SEES | |
| 15 | Cast aspersions on circle visibly embarrassed by sex (9) |
| DISCREDIT – DISC, RED, IT | |
| 18 | Divine king captured by enemy archer (8) |
| FORETELL – R[ex] in FOE, (William) TELL. Whether W.T. is or isn’t an archer (see “crossbow”) has been debated on here before and I have no intention of going over old ground. | |
| 20 | Calm and painless death? (4-5) |
| EASY-GOING – DDCDH | |
| 21 | About time to cut post-work allowance? Unjustified claim (10) |
| PRETENSION – RE T[ime] in PENSION | |
| 23 | Long-faced Ishmael finally smashedfalse idol (6,4) |
| GOLDEN CALF – (long-faced {ishmae}L)* | |
| 27 | Doctor followed advice, discharging litres, and got damp (9) |
| MOISTENED – M[edical] O[fficer], LISTENED minus L[itres] | |
| 28 | Month after rep cousin bungledpart in theatre (10,4) |
| PROSCENIUM ARCH – MARCH after (rep cousin)* | |
| 31 | Stealthy assassin strangling orc upset Scottish writer (1,1,6) |
| A J CRONIN – NINJA around ORC all reversed | |
| 33 | Book from Greater Manchester town is about a revolutionary group (12) |
| ECCLESIASTES – ECCLES (where the cakes come from), IS around A, SET reversed. | |
| 34 | Reportedly observe shores adapted for marine life (9) |
| SEAHORSES – SEA, (shores)* | |
| 37 | Line to repeat involving Sumerian city’s valued works (10) |
| LITERATURE – L[ine], ITERATE around UR. I’m not really sure what VALUED is doing. | |
| 38 | German woman detective on Yard team investigating deception (5,5) |
| FRAUD SQUAD – FRAU, D[etective S[ergeant], QUAD | |
| 41 | Nervous desire that’s dismissed with a taunt (3,2,4) |
| ILL AT EASE – WILL minus W[ith], A TEASE | |
| 43 | Controversial diarist: Mister X? (8) |
| CROSSMAN – CROSS MAN could be expressed as Mr. X. I didn’t know the diarist so needed to rely on wordplay. | |
| 45 | Slow Greek racing driver Niki pulled up (7) |
| GRADUAL – GR[eek], reversal of LAUDA | |
| 47 | An exceptional victory having shunned local court (6) |
| ATRIUM – A TRIUMPH sans P[ublic] H[ouse] | |
| 50 | This writer shows contentment in supporting structure (1-4) |
| I-BEAM – I BEAM | |
| 51 | Upstanding character exiting master class (5) |
| GENUS – GENIUS without I | |
| 52 | Junkie husband absent from show (4) |
| USER -USHER without H[usband] | |
I think this was easier; don’t really remember. LOI ATRIUM. NHO LAUDA, CROSSMAN. DNK that Eccles is in Yorkshire, or that Cronin was Scottish. I could make no sense of 17ac, not knowing what DPD or Evri were, but biffed. Brandt is dead, but old? Bismarck, sure, but Brandt? I liked MOURNER.