A couple of parsings defeated me in this puzzle.
Replacing the clue numbers with the solutions, the preamble would read – “At Euston Station is a statue of a mapper with his feline friend called Trim. The mapper, whose surname the title suggests, famously worked all round New Holland, which he thought should be renamed Australia which it is now.”
I was unable to parse SEINE or ANCILE, although I’m sure the solutions and definitions are correct.
Those apart, (and it also took me a long time to see FINZI/SEIZIN), the rest of the puzzle was comparatively straightforward especially once you work out who the mapper was – Matthew Flinders (1774-1814).
Thanks, Pabulum.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TEASE |
Josh deploys endless cups and saucers etc (5)
|
| [endless] TEA SE(t) (“cups and saucers etc”) | ||
| 4 | AUSTRALIA |
Theme word (9)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 9 | STERNWARDS |
Austere lookouts aft… (10)
|
| STERN (“austere”) + WARDS (“lookouts”, as in people we look out for, or look after) | ||
| 11 | ESSAY |
…try gutted eels for instance (4)
|
| [gutted] E(el)S + SAY (“for instance”) | ||
| 12 | INCISOR |
Gross crostini out of Thailand I’ll help you eat (7)
|
| *(crosini) [anag:gross] where CROSINI is CROS(t)INI with T (IVR code for Thailand) out | ||
| 14 | THING |
Poor golf action (5)
|
| THIN (“poor”) + G (golf, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 15 | SEINE |
Catcher of many fish, whale not once (5)
|
| 16 | MODULE |
Small amount of Dutch, spy retains (6)
|
| MOLE (“spy”) retains Du. (Dutch) | ||
| 21 | RANCHERO |
Stock-farmer Anatole possibly skinned lion (8)
|
| (Anatole) (f)RANC(e) [skinned] + HERO (“lion”)
Anatole France (1844-1924) was a French poet. |
||
| 22 | STATION |
Theme word (7)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 24 | TRIM |
Theme word (4)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 25 | NEAP |
Tide’s down earl dives into (4)
|
| E (earl) dives into NAP (“down”) | ||
| 27 | PEEBLES |
Go and all but glorify Scottish town (7)
|
| PEE (“go”) + [all but] BLES(s) (“glorify”) | ||
| 28 | TACONITE |
Rock icon rocking in gallery (8)
|
| *(icon) [anag:rocking] in TATE (Gallery) | ||
| 33 | NIECES |
Sibling’s issue resolved since end of June (6)
|
| *(since e) [anag:resolved] where E is [end of] (jun)E | ||
| 34 | IRATE |
Raving rover ignores priest (5)
|
| (p)IRATE (“rover”) ignores P (priest) | ||
| 35 | AITCH |
Answer long letter (5)
|
| A (answer) + ITCH (“long”) | ||
| 37 | NEGRONI |
Like cruel tyrant mostly quaffing grand cocktail (7)
|
| NERONI(c) (“like cruel tyrant”, mostly) quaffing G (grand) | ||
| 38 | FINZI |
Composer with a lot of energy on hand (5)
|
| [a lot of] ZI(p) (“energy”) on FIN (slang word for “hand”)
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) was an English choral composer. |
||
| 39 | NEW HOLLAND |
Theme words (3,7)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 40 | ADAPTABLE |
Flexible female fit following exercise (9)
|
| ADA (woman’s name, so “female”) + ABLE (“fit”) following PT (physical training, so “exercise”) | ||
| 41 | BEING |
Person gambling loses time after time (5)
|
| BE(tt)ING losing T + T (time after time) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | THERMOSETTING |
Like some moulded plastic vacuum flask having no top (13)
|
| THERMOS (“vacuum flask”) + (g)ETTING (“having” with no top) | ||
| 2 | EUSTON |
Theme word (6)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 3 | STATUE |
Theme word (6)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 4 | ARCHER |
More mischievous novelist (6)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to Jeffrey ARCHER, the MP and novelist who died earlier this month. | ||
| 5 | UNCI |
Some runcible hooks? (4)
|
| Hidden in [some] “rUNCIble” | ||
| 6 | TANGENT |
Function in English under canvas? (7)
|
| Ang. (English (abbreviation of the Latin Anglice)) in TENT (so “under canvas”) | ||
| 7 | ADIEU |
All the best gold Pip mines (5)
|
| DIE (“pip”) mines Au (chemical symbol for “gold”)
Pip is an archaic word for die or die out. |
||
| 8 | IRON TREE |
Arbor in Ireland sadly not always upright (4,4)
|
| Ir. (Ireland) + *(not) [anag:sadly] + <=E’ER (“always”, upright) | ||
| 10 | PREPOSSESSING |
Attractive group of friends crowding outside (13)
|
| PRESSING (“crowd”) outside POSSE (“group of friends”) | ||
| 13 | ADVANCE |
Promote commercial veep (7)
|
| AD (“commercial”) + (JD) VANCE (the current “veep” of the US) | ||
| 15 | SACRED |
Nearly spoil wine that’s consecrated (6)
|
| [nearly] SAC(k) (“spoil”) + RED (“wine”) | ||
| 17 | ORNATE |
Decorated men navy had (6)
|
| OR (other ranks, so “men”) + N (navy) + ATE (“had”) | ||
| 18 | MAPPER |
Theme word (6)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 19 | HEMLOCK |
Poison in Hell upset springkeeper (7)
|
| [upset] <=OLM (“springkeeper”, or salamander) in HECK (“hell”) | ||
| 20 | FIANCE |
Unworldly spires church intended (6)
|
| <=NAIF (“unworldly”, spires (ie shoots up) + CE (“Church” of England) | ||
| 23 | TEA BREAD |
Short pause for refreshment with Dee providing eats (3,5)
|
| [short] TEA BREA(k) (“pause for refreshment”) with D (dee) | ||
| 26 | PIRANHA |
It gives you a hard nip swimming, no shred of doubt! (7)
|
| *(a har nip) [anag:swimming] where HAR is HAR(d) without [a shred of] D(oubt) and semi &lit. | ||
| 29 | ANCILE |
Shield canine, imbecile lashes (6)
|
| 30 | FELINE |
Theme word (6)
|
| See preamble | ||
| 31 | SEIZIN |
Tide’s up, we hear, covering freehold possession in Miami (6)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [we hear] of SEA’S IN (“tide’s up”) | ||
| 32 | STREP |
Flourishing son’s over bacterium (5)
|
| <=(PERT (“flourishing”) + S (son), over) | ||
| 36 | TELL |
Crossbowman in command (4)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to William Tell. |
SEINE is sei (a finback whale) + ne (obsolete – hence ‘once’ – for not)
ANCILE is a shield, wordplay C for canine inside (lashes/secures) anile (imbecile)
Thanks loonapick & Pabulum.
Enjoyed this one. As a regular user of Euston Station I’m all too familiar with the statue. Mainly it’s used by unsuspecting travellers as something to sit on. There’s also a pub in the area bearing the name of Captain Flinders which I may have visited once or twice.
For a long time it was rumoured that Flinders’ remains were buried under one of the platforms at Euston where a former church had stood. Then during the HS2 work his remains were unearthed were reinterred at the local church in Donington, Flinders’ home village.
I parsed SEINE and ANCILE as per Twmbarlwm. C for canine comes from dentistry of course and the shield is the one which protects Rome.
Thanks to Pabulum and loonapik.