I found this Jumbo mostly quite straightforward but with one or two chewy bits, finishing in about 36 minutes. Maybe I got out of bed the wrong side, or I am being a bit dense, as a few clues didn’t quite work for me. But there was also plenty to enjoy, such as the flower at 6A, the Italian city at 54A and the spicy sauce at10D. Thank-you setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Artist is in shock with valuation (9) |
| APPRAISAL – RA (Royal Academician; artist) IS, in APPAL (shock). | |
| 6 | Plant thyme with March sun about (13) |
| CHRYSANTHEMUM – (thyme march sun)* [about]. Nice surface. | |
| 13 | Stout is left in sink (5) |
| BURLY – L (left) in BURY (sink). | |
| 14 | Oblong area for games with mat (9) |
| RECTANGLE – REC (recreation ground; area for games) TANGLE (mat). | |
| 15 | Bow you once nearly hit when reversing (7) |
| CURTSEY – YE (you, once) STRUC{k} [nearly] (hit), all reversed. | |
| 16 | Things ruin sodden salads — this could be one of them (8,6,8) |
| THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING – (Things ruin sodden salads)* [this could be]. A semi&lit. Hmm. Sorry, setter. Nice try, but I remain unconvinced. If the salad was sodden before adding the dressing it was ruined already. | |
| 18 | What shows resistance Her Majesty encountered in Scotland’s over (8) |
| OHMMETER – HM (Her Majesty) MET (encountered) in O’ER (Scotland’s over). | |
| 20 | Home outside of Tredegar entered by rough trespasser (8) |
| INTRUDER – IN (home), RUDE (rough) in outside letters of T{redega}R. | |
| 21 | Like chicken pasty? (5) |
| ASHEN – AS (like) HEN (chicken). | |
| 23 | Seconds not yet composed for final stage (6) |
| SUNSET – S (seconds) UNSET (not yet composed). Set/composed as in typesetting. | |
| 24 | Bostonian patriot ditching English tea vocally for his reply (6) |
| REVERT – Paul REVER{e} (Bostonian patriot) losing the E (English), T (sounds like tea). Read about the famous Bostonian here. I’m not sure why it is “his reply” as that meaning of REVERT is shown in the dictionaries as “mostly Indian”. What have I missed? | |
| 25 | US outlet charges rent (9) |
| BOOKSTORE – BOOKS (charges; “Book ’em Danno”) TORE (rent). Who remembers Hawaii Five-O? | |
| 28 | Partisan evaluated involving European Judges (10) |
| PREJUDICED – E (European) JUD (standard abbreviation for the book of the bible Judges), in PRICED (evaluated). | |
| 29 | Oxygen present in mostly unpolluted stream (4) |
| POUR – O (chemical symbol for Oxygen) in PUR{e} (unpolluted) [mostly]. | |
| 30 | Outstanding passage from theremin entertains (7) |
| EMINENT – Hidden in therEMIN ENTertains. We had the unusual early electronic musical instrument as an answer in a crossword earlier this month (see here). | |
| 32 | Plaintive note on current account (7) |
| ELEGIAC – E (note) LEG (on; side of cricket field) I (current) AC (Alternating Current; current). | |
| 34 | Float purchase blocked by Oscar (4) |
| BUOY – O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) in BUY (purchase). | |
| 35 | Weak leader of national board is pitiful (10) |
| LAMENTABLE – LAME (weak), first letter of National, TABLE (board). | |
| 38 | Increase the risk cracking the peanut (2,3,4) |
| UP THE ANTE – [cracking] (the peanut)*. Well cracking a peanut may increase the risk to someone allergic to them, I suppose. | |
| 39 | American nonsense is fair game (6) |
| HOOPLA – Double definition. | |
| 40 | Brave men, men consuming eggs (6) |
| HEROES –ROE (eggs) in HES (men). Yes HES is the plural of HE. That was news to me. | |
| 43 | Insect that’s metamorphosed one minute since (5) |
| IMAGO – I (one) M (minute) AGO (since). I struggled to think of an example of ago = since until I found this.. “I received your letter some time since“. | |
| 45 | Naughtily suggest including one’s husband (8) |
| IMPISHLY – I (one) ‘S H (husband) in IMPLY (suggest). | |
| 47 | Cuts parts off fish with its middle crooked (8) |
| LOPSIDED – LOPS (cuts off) IDE (fish) and it’s middle letter iDe. | |
| 49 | What may somehow result from racism petition division? (8,14) |
| POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION – Semi-&lit. [may somehow result from] (racism petition division)*. | |
| 52 | Army group also included in proposed idea (7) |
| PLATOON – TOO (also) in PLAN (proposed idea). | |
| 53 | Victor, chap in pain in alpine fall (9) |
| AVALANCHE – V (Victor in the phonetic alphabet) ALAN (random chap’s name), in ACHE (pain). | |
| 54 | Flat by centre of quad in Italian city (5) |
| PADUA – PAD (flat) and middle letters of qUAd. | |
| 55 | Bad hotels ignored entertainment in Venetian setting (3,10) |
| THE GONDOLIERS – [Bad] (hotels ignored)*. This Savoy opera by Gilbert & Sullivan. | |
| 56 | Popular song of the recent past (9) |
| YESTERDAY – Double definition. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Keen to get on circuit with promises of money (9) |
| AMBITIOUS – AMBIT (circuit) IOUS (promises of money). I didn’t know that meaning of AMBIT but is the first definition in Chambers. | |
| 2 | Presentation for each class with master introducing Newton (11) |
| PERFORMANCE – PER (for each) FORM (class) and N (Newton; unit of force) in ACE (master). | |
| 3 | Fool around near pit (5) |
| ABYSS – BY (near) in ASS (fool). | |
| 4 | Guest called in endlessly demanding (8) |
| STRANGER – RANG (called) in STER{n} (demanding) without the last letter. | |
| 5 | Need a moment talking about newborn’s nourishment? (6) |
| LACTIC – Sounds like LACK TICK (need a moment). | |
| 6 | Hero of Conan Doyle’s ill-fated craft (10) |
| CHALLENGER – Double definition. I didn’t know the Conan Doyle hero. Read about him here. | |
| 7 | Note sections of family into baroque restoration (12) |
| REGENERATION – RE (musical note) GENERA (sections of family in biological classification) (into)* [baroque]. | |
| 8 | Relative’s place accommodating papa and daughter (7) |
| STEPDAD – P (papa in the phonetic alphabet) and D (daughter) in STEAD (place). | |
| 9 | Like some subs round place were destroyed (7-7) |
| NUCLEAR-POWERED – (round place were)* [destroyed]. I don’t think the surface works, but maybe I’m not looking at it the right way. | |
| 10 | Hot and really intense spicy sauce, African originally (7) |
| HARISSA – Initial letters of Hot And Really Intense Spicy Sauce African. A nice &lit. Further more, it really is from Africa (Tunisia, in fact). | |
| 11 | Unsocial person Martin hopes to get thrown out (11) |
| MISANTHROPE – (Martin hopes)* [out]. “To get thrown” is just padding, I think. | |
| 12 | Salad dressing, month old (4) |
| MAYO – MAY (month) O (old). | |
| 17 | Confuse second of judges new on bench (8) |
| UNSETTLE – Second letter of jUdges N (new) SETTLE (bench). | |
| 19 | One managing river dock on limitless river (9) |
| EXECUTIVE – EXE (river in Devon) CUT (dock) and all but outside letters of rIVEr. Another strange surface. How can a river be limitless? | |
| 22 | Mirror put back together again without any silvering initially (8) |
| RESEMBLE – RE{as}SEMBLE (put back together) without the first letters of Any Silvering. | |
| 25 | Person lingering in large building, one holding fifty (8) |
| BARNACLE – BARN (large building), L (fifty) in ACE (one). | |
| 26 | Speed of pigs eating paper at first seems surprising (9) |
| SWIFTNESS – FT (paper) in SWINE (pigs) and first letters of Seems Surprising. | |
| 27 | Atmospherically managed broadcast about health (3-11) |
| AIR-CONDITIONED – AIRED (broadcast) about CONDITION (health). | |
| 28 | Musical piece duo plays with peril (8) |
| PRELUDIO – (duo peril)* [plays]. | |
| 31 | Fashionable individual’s a weak person, strangely atheistic (12) |
| SOPHISTICATE – SOP (weak person) [strangely] (atheistic)*. | |
| 33 | Make projections of additional ring in section of earth’s crust (11) |
| EXTRAPOLATE – EXTRA (additional), O (ring) in PLATE (section of earth’s crust). | |
| 36 | Secondary route tended to be liberal (5-6) |
| BROAD-MINDED – B ROAD (secondary route) MINDED (tended). | |
| 37 | Global seminar is among the very best (5-5) |
| WORLD-CLASS – WORLD (global) CLASS (seminar). | |
| 41 | Sitting in sun on the end of my outside garden (9) |
| SEDENTARY – STAR (sun) and last letter of mY, outside EDEN (garden). | |
| 42 | Righteousness over words in play in high school (8) |
| HOLINESS – O (over) LINES (words in play) in HS (high school). | |
| 44 | River creature seen on Wimbledon common? (7) |
| ORINOCO – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint referring to one of The Wombles. | |
| 46 | Quietly reverse trouble and win through (7) |
| PREVAIL – P (piano; quietly) REV (reverse) AIL (trouble). | |
| 48 | This part of Atlantic is about described by bay (6) |
| BISCAY – IS C (circa; about) in BAY. I maybe lack the required imagination, but I can’t see how the surface meaning for this clue works. | |
| 50 | Fruit perhaps preserved primarily in beer (5) |
| APPLE – Initial letters of Preserved Primarily in ALE (beer). | |
| 51 | See son with drug (4) |
| SPOT – S (son) POT (drug). | |
DNF
Never got BARNACLE or HOLINESS. I did get ORINOCO, but had no idea why; not up on my Wombles. Didn’t understand the Scotland in 18ac. DNK the Conan Doyle allusion. Didn’t (don’t) understand the ‘reply’ of Paul Revere. HOOPLA in the US isn’t nonsense; as ODE puts it, it’s ‘unnecessary fuss surrounding something’. The second half of The Gondoliers is actually set in the kingdom of Barataria. THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING is a pretty impressive anagram. I think one can interpret the clue as saying that the dressing, among other things, makes the salad sodden, hence ruins it.
Collins marks the relevant meaning of ‘revert’ (to reply to someone) as ‘US’.
Collins also has ‘nonsense, ballyhoo’ as a ‘US slang’ meaning of HOOPLA.
Mostly straightforward but I slowed at the end. I didn’t know anything for sure in the Conan Doyle clue but bunged in CHALLENGER as a word that fitted the checkers. Qualifying BOOKSTORE as ‘American’ was more hindrance than help. We have plenty of ‘stores’ on this side of the pond, so why not a bookstore?
In my experience it’s always ‘bookshop’ in the UK.
I did this in 20m but somehow managed to type PJEDUDICED without noticing it.
If the setter had written ‘Sodden things ruin salads’ the problem you identify wouldn’t have arisen and it would have been an entirely accurate description of the answer AFAIC.