Times Jumbo 705

Solving time: 74 mins
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
4 COCK A TRICE It was buried in memory – eventually got it when I’d enough crossing letters. A mythical reptile.
14 SACRILEGE (girl cease)* Took me much longer to work out than it should have.
15 UNEM OT (to menu)< ION(a) ALLY
16 TH(em) OUGHT
18 HUMAN(e) Pleasing surface with “being” in a different sense.
22 PER F I D(a)Y
27 ST (ONY-HE)ARTED (honey)*
30 REVEL lever<
32 AGNUS DEI (I(E)’D SUNG A)< Latin for “Lamb of God” – part of the RC Mass, which was said in Latin until the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. E is the musical note (one of A to G) – see comment on 39 across below.
36 PROSPER O Duke from Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”
37 TEACH A very clever hidden that I did not spot for ages
39 PALETTE KNIFE Definition – cook uses this (a kitchen item) Wordplay: colourful range = palette (used by artists) – three elements K Ni Fe. I’ve noticed in recent years a sharp decline in usages such as this, the notes A to G, and the scale do, re, mi etc. The difficulty is that they may not be specific enough. There are over a hundred elements so in theory there are over a million combinations that could go in here. Admittedly these are common ones, and I doubt if anyone missed the answer after getting ?N?F?.
41 EDITORIALS (I lead riots)* A popular word in crosswords as “leaders” can nicely mislead.
44 DE FAC TO (Cafe’d)< to = closed nearly is a link, I think. Got the answer straight away from the definition “actually” esp with the enumeration, but the wordplay took much longer.
48 MISER (Res I’m)< More notes!
49 IN CUBA TOR
51 J ((n)UBILE) E Je is French for I.
53 PRONOUN (He for one i.e as an example) CE ABLE
54 EIND (HOVE) N (in end)*
55 John DRY DEN
56 PRO’S THESIS Tom = prostitute
57 AURA L

DOWN
1 PESETA Hidden – Spanish currency replaced by the euro in 2002.
2 M (I CROW AVE) OVE N Complex wordplay, but easy from definition and enumeration.
4 CHE ETAH (hate)< One of those I struggled with.
5 CHEQUE R BOARD Ditto
6 A QUA(T)INT Ditto
7 REEVE Ditto. (Double definition)
8 CROW N A GENT Ditto
13 GIVE UP (THE G(n)) HOST
20 ETHEL BERT
23 YIDDISHISM (is my dish, I’d)*
24 STAR-SHAPED (shade parts)*
29 S(COR)NFUL Cor for i in sinful! Excellent surface.
33 DR A (W A VE) I (L OVER)
34 HEAD (QUART) ERS Not all headers are passes, though.
42 EYE TEE (ref: golf) T H (first letters)
44 COR RODE o for a in car
46 HI JINKS “high” “jinx”
47 KE (RN) EL
48 MOP(p)ED
52 BO (HE)A Bizarre surface, but it was the last clue!