Times Jumbo 872

The usual Jumbo rubric: as the solution is available alongside (or indeed before) the blog, comment is confined only to references that might remain obscure to overseas / inexperienced solvers even with the answer visible, or anything I thought notably good or deserving a question mark; other clues happily discussed by request, please comment if required.

A straightforward solve, bar one word which was unknown to me – but was spelled out with unambiguous wordplay, which is all one asks – and a couple of slightly obscure allusions within clues which might not be known to all, especially the unmusical. Also more than one nice cryptic definition, which I always like to see in what are, after all, cryptic crosswords.

Across
4	RISIBILITY – VISIBILITY with R(ex) as its new leader.
15	SABRE RATTLING – [A BR. ERA + T(ime) + T(ime)] in SLING.
16	STERNER – STERNE + R (i.e. one of the Three ‘R’s).
17	PROBABLES – (LAB)* in PROBES; in more amateur days, or at lower levels, sporting teams are/were often picked after a trial match between the Possibles and the Probables.
18	GHOST – double def., one being a cryptic def. of the authorial sort of ghost.
19	STRIKEBREAKING – [E(uropean) BREAK] in STRIKING.
22	MAN HOUR – well disguised definition, as in the saying “Cometh the hour, cometh the man”.
25	BROADSWORD – BROADS + WORD.
31	NAINSOOK – N. + A + IN + SO + O.K., which is clearly spelled out, and is a fabric I’d never knowingly heard of before.
35	DOMINOES – another pleasing cryptic def. – I think it’s a worldwide game which shouldn’t be unkown to anyone.
36	FLANDERS – F(ine) + LANDER + S(outhern); lift and separate required to make me realise the final answer wasn’t in the south, but the north-west.
39	LETTER OPENER – “Dear” being the figurative version of the physical device.
41	CLAY PIGEON – CLAY (court) + (carrier) PIGEON; with the French Open still in progress, this came quickly to mind.
45	CRYPTOGRAPHERS – (TOGRASPCYPHERR)* an &lit. anagram which I’m sure I’ve seen variations on before now.
48	GOING – double def. as in “Going good to firm” and “Going, going, gone”.
53	VIOLONCELLIST – 1 in VOL. + ONCE + L(arge) LIST; not everyone may be familiar with the full version of what would almost always be called simply a “cellist” outside a full musical score.
57	TIGER – i.e. TIG(g)ER.
Down
1	ABBESS – A B(ishop) BESS, who is the regularly cited Good Queen.
4	RETIREE – RE: TIREE; Tiree is one of those names I couldn’t necessarily point to on a map, but have absorbed from Radio 4’s shipping forecast over the years.
5	SELF PORTRAIT – another cryptic def. that suddenly dawned on me…
6	BESTOWAL – BEST + (A in OWL).
7	LIBRA – B(ritish) in (RAIL)*; one that will come easier to those who lived in pre-decimal Britain, and thus knew L(ibrae) S(olidi) D(enarii) on a daily basis.
8	THEOLOGIAN – LOGIA in THE ON.
10	ANTIGEN – plANT I GENerate; I remember being confused by these terms in O-level biology: an antigen is the thing which prompts the immune system to produce an antibody.
11	POISONOUS – PO IS O. NOUS.
12	SIGHT =”SITE”; not sure whether ‘repeated’ is needed, unless I’m reading this wrongly.
13	PARSIMONIOUSLY – (SIMON in PAR IOU) + SLY, the penniless Simon in question being the one who failed to negotiate the purchase of pies.
20	INDIGENCE – (1 NEEDING C(ash)*.
24	EBB AND FLOW – [BAND F(ollowing)] in [E(uropean) BLOW].
29	PSALTERY – P.S. ALTER + (symphon)Y gives the ancient instrument.
47	SEINER – SEINE + R(iver).
48	GAVEL – GAVE + L; well disguised, as I was looking for something with the L inside a word for judge.