This was an entertaining jumbo at the easier end of the spectrum, but I did have to use aids to find my last 2 – the unknown TEAPOY and NANGA PARBAT to complete in about 25 1/2 minutes. My favourite clue, for the amusing surface was 15A but I liked 9D and 19D too. Thank-you setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | New technology briefly shown by couple blowing cover (10,12) |
| ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – {p}AI{r} (couple) without the outside letters [blowing cover] is an abbreviation [briefly shown] of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. | |
| 13 | Each penny invested in miniature table (6) |
| TEAPOY – EA (each) + P (penny) in TOY (miniature). My SLOI and I needed a wordfinder to get it as it was unknown to me. | |
| 14 | Former colour rarely gone forever? (7) |
| EXTINCT – EX (former) + TINCT (archaic name for the verb “tint”; colour rarely). | |
| 15 | Boastful character Humphrey stripped of Oscar for banter (8) |
| BRAGGART – RAG (banter) replacing the O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) in BOGART (Humphrey; the film star) -> BRAGGART. An amusing surface. | |
| 16 | UN struggles with libertarian anthem (4,9) |
| RULE BRITANNIA – (UN + libertarian)* [struggles]. | |
| 18 | One of the 28 alternately at rest? Why yes (6) |
| TETHYS – Alternate letters of aT rEsE wHy YeS. One of the Titans. | |
| 20 | Some trap a perch as escapist pursuit (5,5) |
| PAPER CHASE – Hidden in, [some], traP A PERCH AS Escapist. | |
| 21 | Case note drama that’s reviewed after the event (6,6) |
| ACTION REPLAY – ACTION (case in court) + RE (note) + PLAY (drama). | |
| 24 | At first, teaching IT in school is a bit of a pain (6) |
| STITCH – First letter of Teaching + IT all in SCH (school). | |
| 26 | Island nation PM lacks energy with broken tibia (8) |
| KIRIBATI – K{e}IR (Starmer; PM) without the E (energy) + (tibia)* [broken]. | |
| 28 | Tapioca, extremely filling preserves those of immense strength (6) |
| TITANS – Outside letters [extremely] of TapiocA in TINS (preserves). | |
| 30 | Perhaps Harris Tweed might be used to make this pilot’s clothing? (6,6) |
| BOMBER JACKET – BOMBER (Arthur “Bomber” Harris) + JACKET (tweed). | |
| 31 | Lindisfarne lyrics regularly censored in part of the Netherlands (4,6) |
| HOLY ISLAND – Alternate letters [regularly censored] of lYrIcS in HOLLAND (part of the the Netherlands). Well I never knew Holland was only part of The Netherlands until now. What we learn from crosswords! | |
| 33 | Wavering cut around edges of drive (10) |
| INDECISION – Outside letters [edges] of DrivE in INCISION (cut). | |
| 34 | Seventies car that’s shown off a flair for innovation (12) |
| CREATIVENESS – (seventies car)* [shown off]. | |
| 35 | Spy boss (English) runs agents in the old kingdom (6) |
| MERCIA – M (spy boss) + E (English) + R (runs) + CIA (agents). | |
| 37 | Factory working to import the ultimate in Greek seafood (8) |
| PLANKTON – Last letter [ultimate] in GreeK in PLANT (factory) + ON (working). | |
| 38 | Doctor that is short, vacuous, most unsympathetic (6) |
| DRIEST – DR (doctor) + I.E. (id est; that is) + S{hor}T without inside letters, [vacuous]. | |
| 40 | Technique practised by little ’uns before they can crawl? (6,6) |
| DOGGIE PADDLE – Cryptic definition referring to learning to swim. | |
| 41 | Pelt cargo reportedly laid off (10) |
| FURLOUGHED – FUR (pelt) + LOUGHED sounds like LOAD (cargo) [reportedly]. | |
| 43 | Repulsive husband extremely hot when topless (6) |
| HORRID – H (husband) + {t}ORRID (extremely hot) without the first letter [topless]. | |
| 45 | Criminal doing a little time (bird) (4-6,3) |
| LONG TAILED TIT – [criminal] (doing a little t)* with T for TIME. | |
| 48 | No end of appalling beer for one from Castle Combe? (8) |
| VILLAGER – VIL{e} (appalling) without the last letter + LAGER (beer). What was Castle Combe known for, I wondered? There’s a racing circuit there, I seem to remember. But that’s all irrelevant, it’s just a random village name! | |
| 49 | Welsh side extra gutted after pens? (7) |
| SWANSEA – SWANS (pens; female swans) + E{xtra}A [gutted]. | |
| 51 | Burning to get off (6) |
| ALIGHT – Double definition. | |
| 52 | Sauce named after a bunch of keys? (8,6,8) |
| THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING – Cryptic definition – a key is an island. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Large bird’s backside caught (4) |
| RHEA – Sounds like REAR (backside) [caught]. | |
| 3 | Setter’s new tipple — beer infused with dash of cognac, very slight (13) |
| IMPERCEPTIBLE – I’M (setter’s) + [new] (tipple beer)*, including first letter, [dash] of Cognac. | |
| 4 | Back in Scilly … divine, simply beautiful (7) |
| IDYLLIC – Reverse hidden in [back in], sCILLY DIvine. | |
| 5 | Where Hatton Garden is turning over diamonds? (3) |
| ICE – EC1 (post code of Hatton Gardens) [turning over]. | |
| 6 | Where soldier goes right in, surrounded by deceased (7) |
| LATRINE – R (right) + IN, [surrounded by] LATE (deceased). | |
| 7 | New unrestricted hangar section opened by airline in High Peak (5,6) |
| NANGA PARBAT – N (new) + {h}ANGA{r} [unrestricted] + PART (section) with BA (British Airways; airline) inside. | |
| 8 | Had to tidy without starter (5) |
| EATEN – {n}EATEN (tidy) without the first letter. | |
| 9 | Canadian region’s golden underwear item in Franglais (8) |
| LABRADOR – A golden underwear item in Franglais might be LA BRA D’OR. Ho-ho. | |
| 10 | Hard work, reversing a long way in sports car (5) |
| GRAFT – FAR (a long way) [reversed] -> RAF, in GT (sports car). | |
| 11 | Club’s dark blemish? (9) |
| NIGHTSPOT – NIGHT (dark) + SPOT (blemish). | |
| 12 | Breaking news: army trying Seal defence equipment (5,7,6) |
| EARLY WARNING SYSTEM – [Breaking] (news army trying seal)*. | |
| 17 | Might box contain these dark arts? (5,5) |
| BLACK MAGIC – A reference to the dark chocolate selection Black Magic. They were my mother’s favourite. | |
| 19 | Doctor Roger testing a stool, possibly? (18) |
| GASTROENTEROLOGIST – (Roger testing a stool)* [possibly]. Great surface as testing a stool is likely to be something a gastroenterologist does to diagnose a patient’s problem. | |
| 22 | Least tense, most impatient (9) |
| TITCHIEST – T (tense) + ITCHIEST (most impatient). | |
| 23 | Heard again about Tesla perhaps, as 9 might have done (9) |
| RETRIEVED – RETRIED (heard again by a judge) about EV (Electric Vehicle; Tesla, perhaps). A Labrador dog (answer to 9d) is a type of retriever. | |
| 25 | Various Three Magi works hung here (9) |
| HERMITAGE – [Various] (three magi)*. The art museum in St. Petersburg (see here). | |
| 27 | Concerning helpful light lit once more (9) |
| REKINDLED – RE (concerning) + KIND (helpful) + LED (light-emitting diode; light). | |
| 29 | Unusual gulf entrée catering for a dietary preference (6-4) |
| GLUTEN FREE – [Unusual] (gulf entrée)*. | |
| 32 | Where camels came down stairs having such carpets? (7,6) |
| LANDING STRIPS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. The camels here are Sopwith Camels, WWI biplanes. | |
| 34 | Poor chancellor masking onset of tears in auditorium (7,4) |
| CONCERT HALL – First letter of Tears in [poor] (chancellor)*. | |
| 36 | Smoke Channel Islands fish, not fit to accompany duck (9) |
| CIGARILLO – CI (Channel Islands) + GAR (fish) + ILL (not fit) + O (0; duck; score of 0 in cricket). | |
| 39 | Old Scots hag endlessly covers her pot (8) |
| CAULDRON – AULD (old in Scots) covered by CRON{e} (hag) [endlessly]. | |
| 41 | Thrill one who might be loving and giving? (7) |
| FRISSON – From this nursery rhyme, Friday’s child, FRI’S SON, who’s loving and giving. | |
| 42 | Scandal of power cut enveloping the centre of Paris (7) |
| OUTRAGE – Middle letter of paRis in OUTAGE (power cut). | |
| 44 | Artist drew Gdansk periodically (5) |
| DEGAS – Alternate letters, [periodically], of DrEw GdAnSk. | |
| 46 | Japanese-American I mostly see in province (5) |
| NISEI – I [mostly] + SE{e}, in NI (Northern Ireland; province). | |
| 47 | Ignore parade ground command (4) |
| SHUN – Double definition, the second the abbreviation of the military command “Attention!” | |
| 50 | Disaster Relief commercial covering India (3) |
| AID – I (India in the phonetic alphabet) in AD (commercial). | |
Thanks John for this blog. A few unknowns, gettable, but I did check NANGA PARBAT before submitting. At the easier end, as you say, but I still got one wrong – IMPERCEPTIBLE – which I spelled with ABLE at the end. There are more single errors than usual. I can’t believe everyone made the same silly one as me. I wonder about 22dn where people looking at the wrong end of the clue might have biffed TETCHIEST instead of TITCHIEST.
For the BOMBER JACKET, I knew of Arthur “Bomber” Harris, but my first thought was Ron “Chopper” Harris (Chelsea defender back in the day) where the chopper was a tempting link to the pilot.
DOGGIE PADDLE? No! It’s doggy paddle (or even dog paddle). DOGGIE PADDLE ges no hits on Google, just the redirection to DOGGY PADDLE.
It’s surprising to have so much space here to spread out
Thanks. I was watching the tumble-weeds roll by until you commented. I was one of the single errors having unaccountably submitted NANGA PARBIT despite looking up the correct answer, only to correct it in the blog. But at least I will avoid getting a 5th set of Times reference books if my name came out the hat – I’ve still got 2 sets to give away.
A few really nice clues here. La bra d’or is cheeky but my favourite was Fur Load.
Shame about the arcane Teapoy and the obsolete Tincture, although both were deducible from the wordplay.
Thank you John for the explanations – we got 22d as Tetchiest thinking it was a poor clue based on Stretchiest. Easy now you’ve shown the way!
Couldn’t parse 1a so thank you for explaining. Didn’t like the anagram indicator at 34a or the Castle Combe definition at 48a, and didn’t understand 41d. Hadn’t heard of 13a, 18a (though it was easy to guess), 26a, 7d or 46d.
Favourite: 9d.
Most disliked: 7d.
All correct apart from a random tetchiest- drat because I had teased out my other unknowns such as TEAPOY (my LOI) NISEI and KIRIBATI. I found the long answers helpful.