A little trickier than an average Jumbo, I thought, finishing in 48 1/2 minutes, of which the last 13 took 18 minutes. 35A and 28D were my last two in. Some clever bits of wordplay, e.g. 38D, took a bit of teasing out in places. All good fun. Thank-you setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Vehicle belonging to officer that stops working (7,6) |
| GENERAL STRIKE – GENERAL’S (belong to officer) TRIKE (vehicle). | |
| 8 | Release payment (9) |
| DISCHARGE – Double definition | |
| 13 | Bear marks object of symbolic significance (5) |
| TOTEM – TOTE (bear) M (marks). | |
| 14 | Laptop camera losing power damaged tablet? (11) |
| PARACETAMOL – (la{p}to camera)* [damaged] without the P [losing power]. Rats, I’ve just spotted I spelt it wrong when I entered it online with a second E rather than a third A. | |
| 15 | Reassign motorway area covered by salesman (5) |
| REMAP – M (motorway) A (area), in REP (salesman). | |
| 16 | Maxim presumably helping to manage cutting-edge technology (6,3) |
| COPING SAW – COPING (helping to manage) SAW (maxim, presumably). Hmm. Maybe there’s a bit of padding in the wordplay there. | |
| 17 | Swapping sides in period of military service results in heavy defeat (4) |
| ROUT – R{t}OU{r}T . Swap the letters at each end[swapping sides] of TOUR (period of military service). A bit of a tricky one. | |
| 18 | Trainees dispatched, having succeeded finally with previous boss (8) |
| STUDENTS – STUD (boss), SENT (dispatched) moving the S (succeeded) to the end [finally] – > ENTS. And another tricky one. | |
| 20 | Rather strange hairstyle repulsed attractive person (6) |
| ODDISH – DO (hairstyle0 [repulsed] -> OD, DISH (attractive person). A rather entertaining surface. | |
| 21 | Estate manager recognised flower outside English church (8,8) |
| OFFICIAL RECEIVER – OFFICIAL (recognised), E (English) CE (Church of England; church in RIVER (flower). | |
| 24 | Bold expression of gallery pieces in stone (9) |
| STATEMENT – TATE (gallery) ME (chess pieces) in ST (stone). | |
| 26 | Home team start to show guts (7) |
| INSIDES – IN (home) SIDE (team) and first letter of Show. | |
| 27 | Record almost everything of dreadful quality (5) |
| ALBUM – [almost] AL{l} (everything) BUM (of dreadful quality) | |
| 29 | Congress would not be able to pass such a measure (8,4) |
| CHASTITY BELT – Cryptic definition. Ho ho! | |
| 31 | Compensate district court with time rather than money ultimately (10) |
| COUNTERACT – Another tricky one. COUNT{y} (district) replacing the last letter of ultimately with ERA (time), CT (court). | |
| 33 | Board of international organisation keeping united front for Israel is inappropriate (10) |
| UNSUITABLE – UN’S (of International organisation) TABLE (board) outside [keeping] U (united) and first letter, [front for], of Israel. | |
| 35 | One who wastes more than most (6,6) |
| SERIAL KILLER – Cryptic definition. I’m not sure I like it. | |
| 38 | Fresh troops evacuated subway (5) |
| SASSY – SAS (troops) and outside letters of S{ubwa}Y, [evacuated].. | |
| 39 | Sick reindeer with docked tail requiring more attention (7) |
| NEEDIER – [Sick] (reindee{r})* without he last letter. | |
| 40 | Imbecile destined to possess brains (9) |
| FATHEADED – HEAD (brains) in FATED (destined). | |
| 42 | Tolerably polite act of manipulation that helps to build bridges (5,11) |
| CIVIL ENGINEERING – CIVIL (tolerably polite) ENGINEERING (act of manipulation). | |
| 44 | This may be viewed on the outside of computer’s case (6) |
| SCREEN – SEEN (viewed) outside the outer letters [case] of C{ompute}R. I think this intended to be a semi-&lit but the whole clue doesn’t quite work for me as a definition. | |
| 47 | Pardon me! It’s wrong to mention somebody you know (4-4) |
| NAME-DROP – (pardon me)* [it’s wrong]. I rather liked this one. | |
| 49 | Upmarket magazine uncovered what’s missing (4) |
| LOSS – {g}LOSS{y} (upmarket magazine) without its outside letters [uncovered]. | |
| 50 | Artwork certainly encapsulates pressure inherent in religious belief (9) |
| SCULPTURE – A Russian doll. P (pressure) in CULT (religious belief), in SURE (certainly) | |
| 52 | Helping mainly to get a sense of proportion (5) |
| RATIO – All but last letter of, [mainly], RATIO{n} (helping). | |
| 53 | Desperate state of French government’s rules repulsing Conservative (11) |
| DESTITUTION – DES (of in French), {con}STITUTION (government rules) without [repulsing] the CON (Conservative) | |
| 54 | Refusal to stop membership fee brought about unexpected reward (5) |
| BONUS – NO (refusal) in SUB (membership fee) all reversed [brought about] -> BONUS. | |
| 55 | Perverted server of queen seduced by Zeus? (3,6) |
| LED ASTRAY – LEDA’S (of queen seduced by Zeus) TRAY (server) | |
| 56 | Departure gate for vital flight? (9,4) |
| EMERGENCY EXIT – Cryptic definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Convey what one must do to reach the other side (3,6) |
| GET ACROSS – Double definition | |
| 2 | Well-known old man stops writer’s block? (7) |
| NOTEPAD – PA (old man) in NOTED (well-known). Nice deceptive definition. | |
| 3 | Evocative piece for theremin is centrepiece (11) |
| REMINISCENT – Hidden in theREMIN IS CENTrepiece. The theremin was an early and rather exotic electronic musical instrument. | |
| 4 | What breaks down fat in cheek when beginning to eat? (6) |
| LIPASE – LIP (cheek) AS (when) and first letter of Eat. | |
| 5 | Bad faith mostly behind cast’s rage (5,1,3) |
| THROW A FIT – THROW (cast) and [bad] (fait{h})* [mostly]. | |
| 6 | Boring relic I smashed is beyond repair (12) |
| INCORRIGIBLE – (boring relic I)* [smashed]. | |
| 7 | This fanatic could make us hesitant (10) |
| ENTHUSIAST – [could make] (us hesitant)*. | |
| 8 | Demerger of company possibly finishing early in March? (4) |
| DEMO – DEMO{b} (demerger (or discharge) of company (of soldiers)) without the last letter. | |
| 9 | Croatian celebrity’s mercurial character (5,11) |
| SPLIT PERSONALITY – SPLIT (Croatian) PERSONALITY (celebrity). | |
| 10 | Cruel king died at the foot of illustrious man (5) |
| HEROD – HERO (illustrious man) D (died) [at the foot; at the end of the down answer]. | |
| 11 | Imperial family’s month south of Italian capital (7) |
| ROMANOV – ROMA (Italian capital) NOV (November; month). | |
| 12 | Part of camera appearance on television perhaps satisfied former monarch (8,5) |
| EXPOSURE METER – EXPOSURE (appearance on television perhaps) MET (satisfied) ER (former monarch). | |
| 19 | Flowers merry widow laid regularly (8) |
| GLADIOLI – GLAD (merry) and alternate letters of wIdOw LaId [regularly] | |
| 22 | Remove level after end of game (5) |
| ERASE -Last letter of gamE, RASE (alternative spelling of raze; level; demolish) | |
| 23 | Court directive’s support reportedly governing organisation (11,5) |
| RESTRAINING ORDER – REST (support) RAINING [reportedly] (sounds like REINING; governing), ORDER (organisation). | |
| 25 | Brings together group involved in team assessments (7) |
| AMASSES – Hidden in teAM ASSESsments. | |
| 28 | Scrapped qualification overwhelming unprepared learner (7) |
| BRAWLED – RAW (unprepared) L (learner), in BED (B. Ed.; qualification). | |
| 29 | Vehicle regulator announced staff’s important role in experiment (6,7) |
| CRUISE CONTROL – CRUISE [announced] sounds like CREW’S (staffs), CONTROL (important role in experiment). | |
| 30 | Shot part of news report (8) |
| BULLETIN – BULLET (shot) IN (part of). | |
| 32 | Look convinced about president’s compulsion to emulate others (4,8) |
| PEER PRESSURE – PEER (look) SURE (convinced), about PRES. (president). | |
| 34 | Partially erected folly disturbed charming scene (5) |
| IDYLL – Reverse hidden in foLLY DIsturbed. | |
| 36 | Special ban destroyed last of industry inevitably (11) |
| INESCAPABLY – (Special ban)* [destroyed] and last letter of industrY. | |
| 37 | Intimate books yielding pleasant embraces (4,6) |
| GIVE NOTICE – OT (Old Testament; books) in GIVE (yielding) NICE (pleasant). I didn’t know YIELDING could be a noun, but it is here. | |
| 40 | Striking skill involved with boring pastime (9) |
| FINISHING – IN (involved with) inside, [boring], FISHING (pastime). No the clue is not saying fishing is a boring pastime, but I found it so when I tried it many moons ago. | |
| 41 | What evildoer owes according to Reverend Spooner’s service (6,3) |
| DINNER SET – Spoonerism of SINNER (evildoer) DEBT (what he owes) | |
| 43 | Brought up small child borne by very old daughter (7) |
| VOMITED – MITE (small child) in V (very) O (old) D (daughter). | |
| 45 | Rare event of horse scratching bottom on cow (7) |
| EQUINOX – EQUIN{e} (horse) without its last letter, OX (cow). | |
| 46 | Suddenly attack exciting idea? (4-2) |
| TURN-ON – Double definition. | |
| 48 | Angry with fivefold increase initially in rubbish (5) |
| DROSS – D{c}ROSS (angry), replacing the C (100) with D (500) – a fivefold increase. Clever. | |
| 51 | Notice faculty that’s disputed closure of university (4) |
| ESPY – ESP (extra sensory perception; faculty that’s disputes) and last letter of universitY. | |
DNF
Didn’t get DEMO, DESTITUTION, GIVE NOTICE, LOSS. Got FINISHING since it seemed likelier than ‘finessing’; and what does it mean? And how is giving notice intimating? DNK OFFICIAL RECEIVER. I liked SERIAL KILLER.
Re FINISHING – I neglected to say it is a football term for the skill of turning goal-scoring opportunities into goals. As for INTIMATE for GIVE NOTICE, yes it does seem a bit of a stretch, but the meanings of ‘make known’ and ‘inform’ respectively are close enough, I think.
Ah; that would explain why I couldn’t make sense of the clue. I can’t agree with you on GIVE NOTICE–well, I could, of course, but–but no point going on about it.
I struggled and biffed quite a few without bothering to work out all the wordplay which in some cases was quite intricate. I’m glad I wasn’t blogging this one, so well done, John, for persevering with it.
To give = to yield; verb?
Yes That’s true. But the clue has YIELDING, so to match that verb form in the cryptic reading of the clue, the answer should have GIVING not GIVE, hence my comment in the blog, where GIVE (noun) = the amount of yield or YIELDING (noun), def. “A giving way”.
Indeed this was a trickier example, and I scraped in just under the hour. Predictably (for me at least), CHASTITY BELT, though brilliant, was the real head-scratcher. I persisted in trying to decipher the wordplay, which of course wasn’t available. Ensuring Congress had that capital C was sneaky.
EQUINOX, occurring twice a year, is hardly a ‘rare event’.
I found this about three-quarters easy and a quarter very difficult. The last five or six clues required much head-scratching.
You have to squint a bit to see ‘yielding’ as a gerund equivalent to GIVE, but I think it works.
In 16ac I think you have to take the wordplay as a whole: a COPING SAW might be a saw (maxim) that helps you to cope (manage).