Times Jumbo 729

Across

1

TAPSTER (Plonk in TASTER??) – I presume this is the wordplay, but I cannot find TASTER specifically to mean “wine cup” – am I missing something?

10

AFRO (A FROg) – “shock” referring to hair

14

CONTEMPLATIVE (TEMPLe in CO-NATIVE)

17

PONY EXPRESS – a PONY is £25; being able to use a commonly used word like “say” as part of the actual wordplay means it is well-disguised.

19

SERIALISED (ER + IS IDEAL*) – I am not sure why  ER = “singular version of The Queen”, but at least it pinpointed the indirect element of the anagram fodder.

21

SHERPA (HER in SPA) – I am not convinced by “visiting” as a containment indicator.

23

ALTERABLE (BALLET ARE*) – not sure whether “characters in” is regarded adequate as the anagram indicator or “likely to change” is doing double duty here.

31

TOTALISES (vALISE in TOTS)

35

BASSO PROFUNDO (BrASS + PRO + FUND + O)

37

EYESPOT (YE + SPOT on vegetablE)

44

RHINOCERAS – the play referred to is  this.

46

TROVE (Treasure + ROVEr) – decent & lit.

50

SQUEEZE BOX – “squeeze” was a nice new meaning for me – girlfriend (or boyfriend).

53

LEAMINGTON SPA (MING + TONS in LEAP + A) – I was convinced for some time that this was an anagram of “porcelain lots”.

Down

2

PANNED OUT (“PAN DOUBT”)

3

THE SORCERERS APPRENTICE (cryptic def.) – like the Philistine who thinks of The Lone Ranger when hearing the William Tell Overture, I think of Disney’s Fantasia when I hear this.

9

EIFFEL (IF in FEEL*) – Eiffel towers above other engineers.

11

FRISEUR (FRI + RUES rev.) – one of the last I wrote in as I was convinced it had a double S.

20

INGRESS (INGRES + makeS)

22

PRETORIA (RE + TOR + I in PA)

27

IBSEN (NESBIt rev.) – I was able to get the playwright from just the initial I.

34

SHEPHERDESS (HEP + H in DRESSES*) – had to work out the wordplay afterwards for this one.

36

OPPORTUNITY (OPen + PORT + UNITY)

39

ROCK SNAKE (ROCKS + NAKEd)

41

PROCONSUL (PRO CONS + UnusuaL)

43

AVERRED (i.e. AV ERRED)

51

TAUT (“TAUGHT”)