Solving time: 32 mins, one mistake (42ac)
Definitely not at my sharpest when solving this, having suffered a spectacular bout of food poisoning the night before. The top left corner in particular took me ages, and anyone getting 1ac and 1dn quickly would probably have finished in half the time. Some very nice clues, several with an English flavour, and just a couple I’m not so keen on.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
Across |
1 |
SOCIAL (C)LIMBER |
13 |
IN (= ‘friends (with)’) + A (= ‘are’) + PT (= ‘jerks, perhaps’, as in weightlifting [Peter B has a better explanation – see comments]) – very difficult, & my last entry. |
15 |
A(M1)SS |
17 |
CASE (double definition) – ‘suit’ in the sense of ‘lawsuit’. |
21 |
BAR + CHESTER + TOWERS (= ‘looms (over)’) – a book by Anthony Trollope. See here for an explanation of ‘place with medieval shops’. |
27 |
[g]AMBLE[r] |
29 |
STAND-OFF (= ‘not to be involved’) + HALF (= ‘part of match’) – took me ages to understand. |
35 |
BOBBY (= ‘Constable’) + DAZZLER |
40 |
BOWERBIRD; (WORRIED + B[ritish] + B[orn])* – one of these. |
42 |
CLIFDEN NONPAREIL; (CORNFIELD IN NEPAL)* – not the unlikely ‘clinden folpernia’. This moth (see here) is apparently in Collins, though not Chambers or Wikipedia. |
50 |
A(FORT + I + OR)1 |
53 |
OPENING TIME; (ONE PINT E.G. I’M) – nice &lit. |
54 |
[p]IRATE[s] |
Down |
1 |
SWIPE + CAR + D (= ‘key’) – definition is a bit dubious here (‘lets you in with a flourish’). |
7 |
ROTISSERIE; (RESISTOR)* + I.E. – ‘rosisterie’ didn’t help me here. |
8 |
CA[lifornia] + NE[braska] |
23 |
PROFESSIONAL + FOUL (= “FOWL” = ‘game’) – not the first clue which might perplex non-British solvers. |
25 |
REAL ALE; (PLEASURABLE – PUBS)* – a rare compound anagram. Some might question the absence of a linking phrase like ‘could give’ between the two parts, but the anagram’s so good that I think that’s excusable. |
32 |
B(ON FIRE + NIGH)T – another very English clue. |
37 |
LIMPET MINE; (IMPLEMENT I)* – a mine attached to a ship’s hull by a magnet, or similar device. |
40 |
B(RIG)AD + I[t]E[m] + R |
41 |
DET(RIM)ENT[e] |
45 |
PRO (= ‘for’) + PANE[l] (= ‘advisory group’) – I don’t think this clue really works (“What fuel advisory group’s mainly supported for?“). |
46 |
BODEGA; rev. of (AGED + O.B.) |
51 |
[davy jo]NES’S [locker] |
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