My broadband connection was down all weekend, hence the lateness of this report.
Solving time 49:06 – a bit slower than usual, but as it was two weeks ago I can’t remember what I got stuck on now, although the anagram at 11D took me a while to get (mainly because I was trying to put it together with 45A).
Across
| 7 | THIN,GUM,A,JIG – one of nine different spellings of this given in Chambers! |
| 14 | N(ICH)E – ICH is German for I, nothing to do with any monarch called Wilhelm the first. |
| 15 | RHYMER – good cryptic definition with a football surface, while being an accurate definition too – not all poets (cryptic linesmen) use rhyme. |
| 16 | CLA(UDI)US(e) – UDI stands for Unilateral Declaration of Independence. |
| 27 | 0,INKED |
| 31 | THE LONG GOODBYE – one of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels. |
| 38 | RE(SO,LUTE)LY |
| 41 | RAISE – “rays”, i.e. sun rays, things that tan! |
| 44 | SCH,M,00,Z(o)E |
| 45 | B,OT,SWAN,AN |
| 49 | MAGICKED – G inside (kid came)* |
| 50 | 0VIED0 – VIED inside 0-0, a town in Northern Spain. |
| 53 | ISERE – “is ‘ere”. An alpine department of France. |
| 54 | PENNIES FROM HEAVEN – originally sung by Bing Crosby in the 1936 film of the same name. |
Down
| 1 | JACK,(R),US,SELL |
| 3 | ROE,D(E)AN – posh girls’ school in Brighton. |
| 5 | INTOLERANT – or “into le rant“. Another little tribute to Miles Kington perhaps, who died a couple of weeks before this puzzle came out. |
| 9 | GAY-L,US,SAC – I think he appeared in a recent Azed too. |
| 11 | JACOBITE REBELLION (reliable objection)* – what a great and unlikely-looking anagram! Took me ages to crack. |
| 12 | GUESST(“guest”),(I),MATE |
| 18 | SPOO(K,IE)R – bottles here is a verb meaning “contains”. |
| 20 | THE ENGLISH PATIENT – “Job description” for patient is brilliant. Booker prize-winning novel by Michael Ondaatje, and the film version won 9 Oscars. |
| 22 | COLON,Y – sneaky clue that’s always hard to spot. “Hive perhaps: ultimate in industry”, the colon after perhaps being part of the wordplay. |
| 26 | SHRIVE(L)S – shrive is an archaic word meaning to hear confession. |
| 32 | G(RAF,FIT)I |
| 36 | EX,EUN(T OM)NES – EUNNES around TOM being unseen*. Stage direction for all to leave the stage. |
| 37 | BUBBLE WRAP – or, as Spooner would say, “rubble bap”. |
| 39 | TECH,NO,POP |
| 42 | GOOGL(I)ES – a cricket-hating technophobe might have had trouble with this clue! To google means to search the Internet using Google. A googly is a type of bowling in cricket, an off break bowled by a leg-spinner. |
| 46 | W(A,VI)EST – more cricket, a boundary can be a 4 or a 6. |
| 51 | (s)ELVES |
| 52 | E(MI)R – clever one. RE reversed around MI, its successor on the musical scale. |
TIP(=upset),SIEST(a)