An excellent puzzle. These specials often have a theme or some other gimmick . . .
. . . but if one is involved here, it is eluding me entirely. All I see are solid clues, with a fun sprinkling of unusual and truly obscure words.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLACK BELT |
Martial artist’s dismal career (5,4)
|
| BLACK (dismal) + BELT (career) | ||
| 6 | GEEKDOM |
Heading to Greenland, I’m afraid daughters order anoraks (7)
|
| First letter of (heading to) G[REENLAND] + EEK (I’m afraid) + D (daughters) + OM (Order [of Merit]) | ||
| 10 | DIJON |
Detective and judge attached to French city (5)
|
| DI (detective) + J (judge) + ON (attached to) | ||
| 13 | COSMETOLOGIST |
Rank Scot “gloomiest beauty therapist” (13)
|
| Anagram of (rank) SCOT GLOOMIEST | ||
| 14 | LOTHARIOS |
I love being embraced by wild harlots and libertines (9)
|
| {I + O (love)} inside (being embraced by) anagram of (wild) HARLOTS | ||
| 15 | AUREATE |
Highly-decorated and honoured individual losing face (7)
|
| [L]AUREATE (honoured individual) minus first letter (losing face) | ||
| 16 | FIGURES |
Features important people (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | SMARTLY |
Tidy lady’s clothes without further ado (7)
|
| SMART (tidy) + outside letters of (clothes [of]) L[AD]Y | ||
| 18 | ARCHETYPICAL |
Techy pair edited computer-assisted learning textbook (12)
|
| Anagram of (edited) TECHY PAIR + CAL (computer-assisted learning) | ||
| 20 | LONELINESS |
Sad isolation of colonel in Essex (10)
|
| Hidden in (of) [CO]LONEL IN ESS[EX] | ||
| 23 | STASH |
Whiskers on small squirrel (5)
|
| S (small) + TASH (whiskers) | ||
| 24 | STYLELESS |
Dowdy and dishevelled, Tess yells (9)
|
| Anagram of (dishevelled) TESS YELLS | ||
| 25 | CASTLES |
Moves king about when followed by stalkers regularly (7)
|
| C (about) + AS (when) + alternate letters of (regularly) [S]T[A]L[K]E[R]S, in chess | ||
| 26 | ARTILLERIST |
Constable, perhaps arresting murderers, exposed gunman (11)
|
| ARTIST ([John] Constable, perhaps) around (arresting) [K]ILLER[S] (murderers) minus outside letters (exposed) | ||
| 28 | UNFLAPPABLE |
Composed intermittently funny story to entertain reindeer herder (11)
|
| Alternate letters of (intermittently) [F]U[N]N[Y] + {FABLE (story) around (to entertain) LAPP (reindeer herder, now apparently preferably referred to as Sámi)} | ||
| 30 | SOCKDOLAGER |
Serve beer after bash for Lulu in the States (11)
|
| SOCK (bash) + DO (serve) + LAGER (beer), with a capitalization misdirection, and with “after” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 32 | ATRABILIOUS |
Splenetic, withdrawn baronet getting into trouble promises to pay debts (11)
|
| {BART (baronet) reversed (withdrawn) and inside (getting into) AIL (trouble)} + IOUS (promises to pay debts) | ||
| 34 | ORCHARD |
51 tough fruit trees (7)
|
| ORC ([solution to] 51[D]) + HARD (tough) | ||
| 36 | HODIERNAL |
Al Gore, full of go, leads as of today (9)
|
| {HORN (gore) around (full of) DIE (go))}+ AL, with a capitalization misdirection, and with “leads” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 38 | RIPER |
More suitable epitaph for monarch (5)
|
| Cryptically RIP ER (epitaph for monarch) | ||
| 39 | EUPHEMISMS |
Hemp misuse condemned in polite terms (10)
|
| Anagram of (condemned) HEMP MISUSE | ||
| 41 | TIME-HONOURED |
Long-respected Mountie rode recklessly, capturing hearts (4-8)
|
| {Anagram of (recklessly) MOUNTIE RODE} around (capturing) H (hearts) | ||
| 45 | PROVISO |
In favour of reduced face protection for rider (7)
|
| PRO (in favour of) + VISO[R] (face protection) minus last letter (reduced) | ||
| 46 | INCISOR |
Tooth in front of cakehole is gold (7)
|
| IN + first letter of (front of) C[AKEHOLE] + IS + OR (gold) | ||
| 47 | INTRUST |
Put into care, it turns out (7)
|
| Anagram of (out) IT TURNS | ||
| 49 | ANIMATION |
American people welcoming one’s vitality (9)
|
| A (American) + {NATION (people) around (welcoming) I’M (one’s)} | ||
| 50 | RATIOCINATIVE |
Logically-minded relation, one born on Jersey? (13)
|
| RATIO (relation) + cryptically CI [Channel Islands] NATIVE (one born on Jersey?) | ||
| 52 | LASSO |
Bones left spinning in noosed rope (5)
|
| {OSSA (bones) + L (left)} all reversed (spinning) | ||
| 53 | TENABLE |
Sound intelligent on X (7)
|
| TEN (X, in Roman numerals) + ABLE (intelligent) | ||
| 54 | COR BLIMEY |
Green Party’s former leader mostly eats crumbs (3,6)
|
| [Jeremy] CORBY[N] ([Labour] Party’s former leader) minus last letter (mostly) around (eats) LIME (green). Formidable clue! | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BACHATA |
Welsh mate cheers after ace Caribbean dance (7)
|
| BACH (Welsh mate) + A (ace) + TA (cheers) | ||
| 2 | ABSTRACT ART |
Summary module with page censored – it’s not representative (8,3)
|
| ABSTRACT (summary) + [P]ART (module) minus (censored) P (page) | ||
| 3 | KEEMA |
Served up a mild curry (5)
|
| {A + MEEK (mild)} all inverted (served up) | ||
| 4 | ESOTERY |
Drunkard enthralled by weird secret doctrine (7)
|
| SOT (drunkard) inside (enthralled by) EERY (weird) | ||
| 5 | TOO |
Bore scratching backside excessively (3)
|
| I think this could be either TOO[K] (bore) or TOO[L] (bore) minus last letter (scratching backside) | ||
| 6 | GOING RATE |
Current price of energy? No thanks from this person (5,4)
|
| GO (energy) + INGRATE (no thanks from this person) | ||
| 7 | ENTIRE |
Complete and ultimately futile meltdown over tax (6)
|
| Last letters of (ultimately) [FUTIL]E [MELTDOW]N + TIRE (tax) | ||
| 8 | DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR |
Loud noises unsettled Freud, worried about old lady’s megalomania (9,2,8)
|
| Anagram of (unsettled) LOUD NOISES + {anagram of (worried) FREUD around (about) GRAN (old lady)} | ||
| 9 | MATISSE |
Partially undress – it amuses retired painter (7)
|
| Hidden in (partially) [UNDR]ESS IT AM[USES] inverted (retired) | ||
| 10 | DRAMATICS |
Histrionic behaviour amidst car crashes (9)
|
| Anagram of (crashes) AMIDST CAR | ||
| 11 | JOIN THE CLUB |
Scottish sweetheart pregnant? Me too! (4,3,4)
|
| JO (Scottish sweetheart) + IN THE CLUB (pregnant) | ||
| 12 | NASTY |
Unpleasant new rash, initially unnoticed (5)
|
| N (new) + [H]ASTY (rash) minus first letter (initially unnoticed) | ||
| 16 | FAIRY RING CHAMPIGNON |
Whimsical group munch on gin-soused mushroom (5,4,10)
|
| FAIRY (whimsical) + RING (group) + CHAMP (munch) + anagram of (soused) ON GIN | ||
| 19 | EXHALED |
Blew out flame once well ensconced at last (7)
|
| EX (flame once) + HALE (well) + last letter of (at last) [ENSCONCE]D | ||
| 21 | SUSPENSER |
Tense film from US upset English poet (9)
|
| US inverted (upset) + [Edmund] SPENSER (English poet) | ||
| 22 | MEDUSA |
Jellyfish in sea starts to unnerve some anglers (6)
|
| MED (sea) + first letters of (starts to) U[NNERVE] S[OME] A[NGLERS] | ||
| 23 | SOAPSTONE |
Soft rock ultimately improves oldie’s mood (9)
|
| Last letter of (ultimately) [IMPROVE]S + OAP’S (oldie’s) + TONE (mood) | ||
| 24 | SHELLED |
Novelist Mary nearly died under fire (7)
|
| SHELLE[Y] (novelist Mary) minus last letter (nearly) + D (died) | ||
| 25 | CHAEBOL |
Tea virus curtailed Korean business empire (7)
|
| CHA (tea) + EBOL[A] (virus) minus last letter (curtailed) | ||
| 27 | TIRADE |
Denunciation of reported robbery at men’s outfitters (6)
|
| I think this parses as: Homophone of (reported) TIE RAID (whimsically robbery at men’s outfitters) | ||
| 29 | PALERMO |
Less colourful second city of Italy (7)
|
| PALER (less colourful) + MO (second) | ||
| 31 | CACOPHONIES |
Leaders of Camorra aggressively compete over frauds and rackets (11)
|
| First letters of (leaders of) C[AMORRA] A[GGRESSIVELY] C[OMPETE] O[VER] + PHONIES (frauds) | ||
| 33 | OPPORTUNISM |
Self-seeking operator left university with first of several millions (11)
|
| OP (operator) + PORT (left) + UNI (university) + first [letters] of S[EVERAL] M[ILLIONS] | ||
| 35 | AMERICANO |
Cavorting on camera, I drink (9)
|
| Anagram of (cavorting) ON CAMERA I | ||
| 37 | ERIK SATIE |
Composer tries Ikea bunk (4,5)
|
| Anagram of (bunk) TRIES IKEA | ||
| 40 | IRONIST |
Person mocking press is German (7)
|
| IRON (press) + IST (is [in] German) | ||
| 42 | OLIVIER |
Bolivia and Peru both out of bounds for actor (7)
|
| {[B]OLIVI[A] + [P]ER[U]} both minus outside letters (both out of bounds), referring to Laurence Olivier | ||
| 43 | DITHERY |
Vacillating, hollowly deny having sex with that woman (7)
|
| Outside letters of (hollowly) D[EN]Y around (having) {IT (sex) + HER (that woman)} | ||
| 44 | SCARAB |
To wit, horse dung is what it eats (6)
|
| SC. (to wit) + ARAB (horse) | ||
| 45 | PEARL |
Drop stitch, so it’s said (5)
|
| Homophone of (so it’s said) PURL (stitch) | ||
| 48 | TRAIL |
Virginia abandoning toil for wilderness path (5)
|
| TRA[VA]IL (toil) minus (abandoning) VA (Virginia) | ||
| 51 | ORC |
Monster’s naked strength (3)
|
| [F]ORC[E] (strength) minus outside letters (naked) |
Loved this and spent a few happy hours on Saturday with it.
Lots of favourites – forgot to tick them but from memory some were: TIRADE, PALERMO, UNFLAPPABLE (loved the reindeer herder), GEEKDOM (is that really a word), ARCHETYPICAL, CASTLES, JOIN THE CLUB (remembering the Robert Burns poem John Anderson my Jo) FAIRY RING CHAMPIGNON
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Cineraria
Is it me, or are these Jumbos becoming more difficult? There were quite a few more NHOs than I expected and I finished with several answers unparsed.
I ticked BLACK BELT, IN TRUST, ENTIRE and OLIVIER
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Cineraria
An absolutely superb puzzle. Then again it is Rosa Klebb, so it is to be expected. Way too many favourites to list them all. Thanks Rosa and blogger.