Welcome from sunny Milos - product of 100 volcanic eruptions, supplier of a quarter of the world’s cat litter and home to the extraordinary Eleonora’s falcon.

This was, on the whole, I would say, a pretty Mondayesque offering, which would not have been out of place on Verlaine’s watch of late. I managed it in bang on 18 minutes, showing rather less of the 13d that has characterised my recent attempts. Since I don’t have access to the magic widget on my iPad, this offering will be ‘imperial’ rather than ‘metric’, i.e. all answers and no clues. A bit like poor old Aphrodite without her appendages...

ACROSS

1 PLAYGROUND - PLAY G[ranted] ROUND
8 SPAR - DD (double definition)
9 INSOBRIETY - IN BRIE in SOT Y
10 BIRD - DD; girl=bird in many British people’s lexicons; a falcon is sometimes mistaken for a hobby
12 WATER BUFFALO - BUFF A[ctive] in WATERLO[o]
15 BILITERAL - B[ritish] I[ndustry] LITERAL; ME is a two-letter word, which is what the solution means
17 IRENE - I RENE (with acute disorder)
18 UPPER - [s] UPPER
19 PEACETIME - E in PACE (with deference to) TIM E
20 ESTRANGEMENT - STRANGE MEN in ET
24 EYED - sounds like IDE
25 TANTAMOUNT - ANT in TA MOUNT
26 SEMI - reverse hidden
27 STAFF NURSE - NUR (former rail union, run for eternity by the gloriously named Sid Weighell) in STAFFS (Staffordshire) [engin]E

DOWN

1 PRIM - P RIM
2 ALSO - A LSO (London Symphony Orchestra; geddit?)
3 GIBRALTARIAN - BIG reversed ALTAR in anagram* of RAIN
4 OLIVE - O [c]LIVE; Sir Robert Clive gained fame in India, but died, as I recall, in Quebec. His former residence in Kent is well worth a visit, along with Ightham Mote
5 NOTABILIA - BATON reversed I AIL reversed
7 PHILATELIC - LATE in PHIL IC
8 RADIOMETER - TRIED A MORE*
11 OF MICE AND MEN - COMMEND A FINE*; when Hitchcock told Truffaut that it was easier to make a film from a short story or a novella than a long novel, he could have been thinking about Lewis Milestone’s faithful adaptation of the Steinbeck story.
13 OBTUSENESS - extended definition, as some angles are obtuse, i.e. more than 90 but less than 180 degrees. (Yes, I had to look that up.)
14 SLIPSTREAM - PILS reversed MASTER*
16 REPUGNANT - PUG NAN in RET (to soak)
21 MOTIF - MOT (test for used cars in the UK) IF (the poetical ide of the cruciverse)
22 BURR - RUB reversed R (king). Apparently, some older Northumbrians produce their R in this way (along the lines of the French R in ‘restez ici’). Daniel Defoe picked this up in his travels through the land: ‘I must not quit Northumberland without taking notice, that the Natives of this Country, of the antient original Race or Families, are distinguished by a Shibboleth upon their Tongues in pronouncing the letter R, which they cannot utter without a hollow Jarring in the Throat, by which they are as plainly known, as a Foreigner is in pronouncing the Th: this they call the Northumberland R, or Wharle; and the Natives value themselves upon that Imperfection, because, forsooth, it shews the Antiquity of their Blood.’
23 STYE - T[ack]Y in SE

Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary. 4A is a perfect example.

I found this puzzle a bit harder than average

In the clues, definitions are underlined. Wordplay explanation is followed by very helpful comments.

ACROSS

4 Costs to include one million for optically inactive mixtures (9)
RACEMATES: R(ACE-M)ATES; a racemic mixture is optically inactive because of its molecular structure
10 A stake once again in winter resort (8)
AVIEMORE: A-VIE-MORE; a town in the Cairngorms National Park, in the Scottish Highlands.
11 Fresh early on, Ann leaves Indian office (4)
DEWY: DEW(ANN)Y;
12 Italian behind horse sedative (8)
BARBITAL: BARB-ITAL; BARB=horse; Barbital, marketed under the brand names Veronal for the pure acid and Medinal for the sodium salt, was the first commercially available barbiturate. It was used as a sleeping aid from 1903 until the mid-1950s.
13 Sure about areas of land in Shetland (4)
URES: (sure)*;
14 Back UK vote in front of Scotland’s leader? That’s bad in Perth (5)
ONKUS: UK-NO reversed-S(cotland);
15 Sort of bar to retain in towers (6)
MINARS: M(IN)ARS; battered Mars Bar is the unofficial national dish of Scotland
17 Stinking drunk outdoors after tons knocked back (7)
ODOROUS: (outdoors – t)*
20 Rural wrangling about one member of branch (7)
RAMULAR: (rural)* surrounds A-M;
23 Rope dance barred for an audience (7)
HAYBAND: HAY-sounds like “banned”;
27 Inferior Scottish trap, hell for leather at first (7)
SHILPIT: trap=shill then change final “l” to PIT=Hell;
28 Wrong about famous Doctor being reported — it’s a certainty (6)
SHOO-IN: SIN surrounds HOO which sounds like (Dr) WHO;
29 Sort of rice in shallow pan one’s extracted (5)
PATNA: PAT(I)NA;
31 Cook brought back duck dish from Greece (4)
GIRO: RIG reversed-O; more usually “gyro”;
32 Standard celebrated around a number of stadia in Persia (8)
PARASANG: PAR-A-SANG; a historical Iranian unit of distance
33 Good internet service provider creating stir (4)
GAOL: G-AOL; stir=prison;
34 Linden found touching in story (8)
LIME-TREE: LI(MET-RE)E;
35 Deliberate damage done in idle talk (9)
PONDERATE: PRATE surrounds (done)*;

DOWN

1 Timeless footwear in parties could be slippers (9)
BABOOSHES: BASHES surround BOO(t); a kind of slipper without quarters or heel, worn in Turkey
2 Drive a new vehicle endlessly around Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, say (7)
DVANDVA: DV-A-N-D-VA(n); drive=DV (as in street names); Germany=D; two words joined together to form a compound word;
3 Obscure Muslim ruler and king (4)
MIRK: MIR-K;
4 Plant again in February not following accepted ground (6)
REBURY: (February – f – a)*;
5 A weekday in Colombia with new footwear (7)
COTHURN: CO-THUR-N; a knee- or calf-length boot made of leather or cloth which laces closed, but is open across the toes
6 Song from honey is My Way essentially (7)
MELISMA: MEL-IS-M’-(w)A(y); M’=my as in M’ Lord; the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes
7 Hooked a dipstick that’s shortened (5)
ADUNC: A-DUNC(e);
8 After supply cut, able to work at high-speed (8)
TERAFLOP: (after)*-LOP; In computing, floating point operations per second is a measure of computer performance
9 Jugs seen in tight sweater (forgive a little tastelessness!) (5)
EWERS: (sweater – a – t)*;
16 Huge quiches coming up — that’s the plan (9)
STRATAGEM: MEGA-TARTS reversed;
18 Neat conclusion to Motley Fool, a figure of speech (8)
OXYMORON: OX-(Motle)Y-MORON;
19 Father as before folds smart church vestment (7)
MANIPLE: MA(NIP)LE;
21 Wickedness hard to work out in a mother (7)
ADHARMA: A-(hard)*-MA;
22 American cotton worker is a rebel (7)
AGINNER: A-GINNER;
24 Missing tail coat located by poet (6)
PLASTE: PLASTE(r); Spenser for placed;
25 Hostage initially inside so long getting ready for China (5)
CHIAO: C(H)IAO; more usually jiao, a tenth of a yuan;
26 Suitable packaging left for yellow plant (5)
GOOLD: GOO(L)D;
30 Take up bottom canvas sheet (4)
TARP: PRAT reversed;

I enjoyed this a lot. It seemed very fresh, and potent as well. There were several CDs, all very amusing; no (usually either dull or unfathomable) DDs; a not-untimely reference to a particular conjuncture in US-Russian relations; an invitation—to me, at least—to some historical/etymological edification (clue 18): and even a term (also US-centric) that reminded me, and in an agreeable way, of my own backwoods background, as well as of my all-time favorite singer (the song was at first, at least, more associated with Joan Baez, though she didn’t write it… either).

I do (armganas)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.

ACROSS
1	Old actress predicted modern movie formats (5,5)
	BETTE DAVIS — BETTED (“predicted”) + AVI (Audio Video Interleaved), plural. Anyone got Bette Davis AVIs?
7	One opening in long black robe (3)
	ALB — ”One” is A, then L[-ong] and B(lack). The L is clued this way because it’s not a conventional abbreviation for “long,” whereas B is conventional for “black.”
9	From its reading, novel completely changed (14)
	TRANSMOGRIFIED — (from its reading)*
11	Sporty husband into tactile dancing (8)
	ATHLETIC — (tactile)* with H(usband) inserted
12	Chief’s friend grabbing skirt (6)
	PRIMAL — P(RIM)AL
14	Lack of infrared type of film (4)
	NOIR — No I.R.
15	Reagan’s proposal to make love not war? (4,6)
	ZERO OPTION — CD. Yes, indeed, in 1981 US President Reagan proposed the withdrawal of all Soviet and United States intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe, and—although at this juncture anti-nuke activists accused him of making the offer only in full expectation of its being rejected, thereby giving him an excuse to up the ante in the arms race—there’s actually a good chance he was sincere. It was as if he had never realized what nuclear weapons could do until after he became president (which is not hard to believe). A few years later, after Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, serious nuke-reduction treaties were signed. (Oh, yes, those were the days…)
18	Fellowship found in unexciting marches (10)
	BORDERLAND — B(ORDER)LAND. This sense of “marches” does not derive from the fact that dividing lines between, say, England and Scotland or Wales have often been embroiled in conflict and thus have been patrolled by armed forces (my first thought!); “march” in this sense is derived from “mark,” originally meaning a boundary, or the sign of a boundary (and eventually only a sign). (Although the sense of walking purposefully and/or in step with others derives directly from an Old French term for “trample,” even that word may originate in a Frankish term meaning “mark.”) Did you know that the words “marquess,” “marchioness,” et “marquis” all derive from this sense of “march”? I didn’t!
19	Light brown part of pie crust (4)
	ECRU — Hidden
21	Small village managed 50 per cent of chores (6)
	RANCHO — RAN + CHO[-res]. I haven’t found support for this definition. Wiktionary says that in Spanish it means, “properly, a mess, mess room,” and gives two American definitions: a small hut or a “large grazing farm.” In Merriam-Webster, the first def. is simply “ranch.” I know there can’t be some odd UK alternative! There are towns with this word in their name, however—por ejemplo, Rancho Velos, in Cuba. Jackkt found the definition in the SOED, which I have not at hand.
23	Puzzling item opened by bank (8)
	THROWING — TH(ROW)ING. Cambridge: “A bank is also a row of similar objects: A bank of computers displays the latest weather data.”
25	Underwear for mum? (14)
	UNMENTIONABLES — CD
26	Complex parts with radius taken in (3)
	HAD — ”Complex” being “hard,” which lets go of its R(adius)
27	Rebel soldier in group is heading for trouble (10)
	SEPARATIST — SE(PARA)T + IS + T[-rouble]

DOWN
2	Stay inside weaving rather more material (9)
	EARTHLIER — LIE inside (rather)*
3	Fiddle one considers not hard (6)
	TINKER — T[-h]INKER
4	Miss one’s opening of French wine (10)
	DEMOISELLE — DE (of, Fr.) + MO(I)SELLE
5	Very mature rising star (4)
	VEGA — V + AGE<=
6	Bones touch and move the wrong way (8)
	STIRRUPS — STIR (“touch”—as in being, uh, moved emotionally) and “move,” SPUR<=
7	Saw a cross on an island (5)
	AXIOM — A + X + IOM (Isle of Man)
8	That imparted by a figure of speech? (4,8)
	BODY LANGUAGE — CD. A “figure” can be a “body,” which can express itself more or less eloquently
10	Artist realises old river branch is crossing (12)
	GAINSBOROUGH — GAINS, “realises” (in the financial sense) + B(O)(R)OUGH
13	Old criminal, still running? (10)
	MOONSHINER — CD. I learned when on vacation with my teetotaling parents many years ago that I had two great-uncles in Pennsylvania who used to run stills. Bob Dylan (who purveys some fine whiskey himself these days) is singing “Copper Kettle” in my head as I type. “We ain’t paid no whiskey tax / Since 1792.” The only time I’ve ever drunk moonshine was in the early 1970s at a bluegrass festival on a hill near my hometown—I was just so bored by the twanging banjos after a half-hour… I don’t remember much else about that night.
16	Wound in chest is something irritating (9)
	ITCHINESS — (in chest)*
17	My opinion is old-fashioned (8)
	METHINKS — CD. Now-quaint way of saying IMO
20	Ring, perhaps one created by Tolkien (6)
	HOBBIT — On top of an oven you will find a HOB, with a "ring" being a BIT of it.  [Previous entry: HOB is “ring” (a heating coil on top of an oven; I didn’t find a dictionary that defined it as a ring, but a picture is worth a thousand words), and BIT is “perhaps one” (the other OPTION being ZERO) Well,, that was fun while it lasted.]
22	Called me in and exploded (5)
	NAMED — (me in and)*
24	I’m initially placed under wide doormat (4)
	WIMP — W(ide) + IM + P[-laced]

Not much to say about this.  It was perfectly acceptable, occasionally witty, fare (albeit with a couple of rather odd CDs), taking around 35 minutes.

First in was MISINFORM at 1a, last was STALL.

Clues are in blue with the definition undelined.  Anagram indicators are in bold italics.

Notation:

DD: Double definition

CD: Cryptic definition

DDCDH: DD/CD hybrid where a straight definition is combined with a cryptic hint.

&Lit:  "all in one" where the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.

(fodder)* denotes an anagram of the letters in the brackets.

Rounded brackets are also used to add further clarity

Squiggly brackets {} indicate parts of a word not used

Deletions are struck out

Square brackets [] expand an abbreviation or shortening like N[orth]

Across
1	Head of Sixth leaving teacher in class to teach wrongly? (9)
	MISINFORM - MISS IN FORM with S{ixth} removed
6	Fat cat running courses (7)
	CROESUS - (courses)*.  Some rich king from somewhere ancient.
10	Passage in tabloid is rejected (5)
	SINUS - IN SUN reversed
13	Information not available about what constitutes place of punishment (7)
	GEHENNA - GEN, N/A around EH?  Precicely what form of punishment you'd get here depends on which religion you follow.  Wikipedia helpfully advises us not to confuse it with Gahanna, Ohio, where they probably object to Kings of Judah sacrificing their children by fire at the golf academy.
14	Block digital protection (5)
	STALL - DD.  A finger stall wasn't at the forefront of my mind so this was last to fall.
15	A criminal catching disease being loaded (9)
	AFFLUENCE - A FENCE around FLU
16	TV ad that'll cause some to switch over to the other side (5,9,9)
	PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST - CD
17	Bird having ring ouzel's head and eagle's tail (6)
	HOOPOE - HOOP, O{uzel}, {eagl}E
18	Device giving go-ahead for soldiers to penetrate area that's been shelled (3,5)
	EGG TIMER - CD
19	Paint a pack of hounds with vermin cut off (7)
	ACRYLIC - A, CRY, LICe.  I didn't know that a CRY was a pack of hounds but knowledge of the paint was enough to assume that it must be.
22	Scruffy pair? Mend it and press (5,5)
	PRINT MEDIA - (pair mend it)*
23	No right to get Chemistry, say, without one's submission (12)
	ACQUIESCENCE - ACQUIrE SCiENCE
27	Waste from metal symbolically rendered (5)
	OFFAL - OFF, AL[uminium]
29	Mobile or mikes for bugging (7)
	IRKSOME - (or mikes)*
30	Not initially fleeced, smaller lamb will be (8)
	HORNLESS - sHORN, LESS. Some might he unhappy that there's no "what a" "..." or "this" to complete the definition but I was fine with it
32	Idle fellow entertaining religious scholar with his belief system (8)
	BUDDHISM - BUM around D[octor of] D[ivinity], HIS
34	A racehorse with energy in first place, one hears (7)
	EARDRUM - A RED RUM with the E[nergy]moved to the front
36	Cleo cut short halfway through snake's embrace (5)
	CLASP - CLeo, ASP.  I liked the combo of Cleo and the ASP
39	Not a landowner — one with under a dozen workers? (6,6)
	TENANT FARMER - He's only got ten ants.  Geddit?
41	Artist’s endless row with journalist ultimately in newspapers (10)
	SCULPTRESS - SCULl, {journalis}T in PRESS
44	Potter receiving stick for Black going down? (3,4)
	CUE BALL - Whilst the surface works in terms of Harry Potter and Sirius Black the question mark is doing an anful lot of work to get the "literal" to work.  At a stretch a cue ball "receives" the stick (cue) then hits and pots the black but the "potter" is surely the player rather than the ball?  Very odd.  I spent a while trying to make B = black in some clever wordplay but don't think I'm missing anything.
46	Sap parasites returning to infest wood, edges chewed off (8)
	IMBECILE - More LICE (have we got an infestation?), this time reversed in tIMBEr
48	No longer healthy to produce emissions (6)
	EXHALE - EX, HALE
50	Web firm resolved perverse incentive to rid content of art (8,7,8)
	INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER - (perverse incentive to rid)*, {a}R{t}
53	Pony tour down to exclude beginners? That'll be without me! (2,4,3)
	ON YOUR OWN - pONY tOUR dOWN.  Neat.
54	Useless writer held back by sex (5)
	INEPT - PEN reversed in IT
55	Append final note — one of these? (7)
	ADDENDA - ADD, END, A, semi &Lit
56	Quaint end of old cloth (5)
	TWEED - TWEE {ol}D
57	Unconscious after drink, having to leave society? (4,3)
	DROP OUT - OUT after DROP
58	Soldier to change sides twice (6,3)
	DESERT RAT - DESERT, RAT

Down
1	Study of foolish character on horse (3,2)
	MUG UP - MUG, UP
2	Swingball in one’s backyard? (6,2,9)
	SPHERE OF INFLUENCE - Hmm.  Another CD where the question mark is doing a lot.  Swing is influence, a ball is a sphere, ones sphere of influence might extend to ones backyard...
3	Over-protective, vigorously criticise butter (5,4)
	NANNY GOAT - NANNY (as in state), GO AT
4	Speaker setting out opposing sides of argument between two alternatives (6)
	ORATOR - A{rgumen}T in OR, OR
5	Very old relative's problem with web page? (7,4)
	MISSING LINK - DDCDH, and a good one at that.
6	Things once drawn from events worse than Boston tea party? (8)
	CHARIOTS - CHA RIOTS.  Boom-boom
7	Give bribe, perhaps, for source of cosmetic ingredient (3,4)
	OIL PALM - DDCDH
8	Nasty smell between cliff and unpleasant seaside resort (11)
	SCARBOROUGH - B[ody] O[dour] in SCAR, ROUGH
9	Stifle vocal county rowing team (9)
	SUFFOCATE - homophone of Suffolk Eight
10	Vibration from milk production centre, quiet at first (7)
	SHUDDER - UDDER after SH
11	Killer policeman in Jamaica is hiding (5)
	NINJA - hidden
12	Departs after show with rings round the eyes? (10)
	SPECTACLED - D[eparts] after SPECTACLE
17	Fruit on Italian flower, one that's large and fleshy (5)
	HIPPO - HIP on PO
20	Outside design contractor secures head, up-and-coming Frenchman with pull (9,8)
	LANDSCAPE GARDENER - LANDS, CAPE then RENE DRAG reversed.  I asked a landscape gardener to come and give me a quote for some work but he said he couldn't help me as my garden is portrait.
21	House of stone in India (6)
	GEMINI - GEM, IN, I[ndia]
24	Fruit for woman to shout about (6)
	CHERRY - HER in CRY
25	Mostly hit it off, embracing love in gut reaction (5)
	COLIC - CLIC{k} around O
26	Leave me out of summons, to be consistent (6)
	COHERE - COme HERE
28	Young man being featured regularly in Loaded (5)
	LADEN - LAD, {b}E{i}N{g}
31	Run, walk, walk (6)
	RAMBLE - R[un], AMBLE
33	Mounted strike, getting unexpected rise — enthusiastic about gains via union (7,4)
	MARRIES INTO - RAM reversed, (rise)*, INTO
35	Remembered to gather in grass (11)
	RECOLLECTED - COLLECT in REED
37	Group of friends sit around smoking in van (5)
	POSSE - POSE around S{moking}
38	Don't give up project to introduce computers (5,2,3)
	STICK IT OUT - STICK OUT around I.T.
40	Deception of one pretending to be criminal? (9)
	FALSEHOOD - DDCDH.  A pretend criminal might be a false hood.
42	Socialist, the first character to get cross at elevating one cheating exchequer (3,6)
	TAX EVADER - reversal of RED, A, VEX, AT
43	Wrong blood group supplied to crash in West End? (8)
	OCCIDENT - ACCIDENT with O replacing A
45	A good circuit — but you won't be able to move after running it! (7)
	AGROUND - A G[ood] ROUND
47	Our Brit cooking that's eaten in Mexico (7)
	BURRITO - (our Brit)*
49	Wetland thoroughfares (6)
	BROADS - B ROADS.  Never been to the Norfolk Brods, really need to put that right.
51	Your old setter, one going to pot? (5)
	THYME - THY, ME
52	Tripe keeping when cooked a certain way (5)
	ROAST - ROT around AS

Is it Monday already? I jest, the days of the Friday puzzle usually being the toughest of the week are long behind us. This was a gentle crossword that will please those looking for good jumping-on points for graduating from the QC to the 15x15. My LOI, and COD, was 1dn; I thought this was nicely misleading, with the mention of Poles making me sure I was looking for NS inside something else, resulting in INSURERS or similar; well played, setter. Such familiar faces as NORMA and RHINO must become part of every hardened solver's arsenal, and likewise many of the abbreviations herein will serve the would-be regular 15x15 solver well. And that, I think, is all I have to say. Have a good weekend everyone!

ACROSS
1 Unable to get on topic, men bail out (12)
INCOMPATIBLE - (TOPIC MEN BAIL*) ["out"]

9 Assemble before empty court (5)
ERECT - ERE C{our}T

10 Unaware, left island blocking patent (9)
OBLIVIOUS - L I "blocking" OBVIOUS

11 Antenna limits radio telephony along major roads (8)
ARTERIAL - AERIAL "limits" RT

12 Miss transporting large old bishop everywhere (6)
GLOBAL - GAL "transporting" L O B

13 Game frequently interrupts society dance (8)
SOFTBALL - OFT "interrupts" S BALL

15 Save visibly embarrassed Europeans getting married (6)
REDEEM - RED [visibly embarrassed] + E E [(two) Europeans] getting M

17 Teacher ignoring note put weight on (6)
STRESS - MISTRESS "ignoring" MI

18 Johnny-come-latelies stumped in high-class roles (8)
UPSTARTS - ST in U PARTS

20 Some hide mate married on the rebound (6)
DEWLAP - reversed PAL WED

21 One wearing medals running funny business (6-2)
GOINGS-ON - I "wearing" GONGS + ON [running]

24 Find the lady maybe, daughter hiding in trailer with haystack (4,5)
CARD TRICK - D hiding in CART with RICK

25 It may charge money (5)
RHINO - double def

26 Divert RAF importing what keeps firm afloat (6,6)
PROFIT MARGIN - (RAF IMPORTING*) ["divert..."]

DOWN
1 They cover Poles in charge of room facing north (7)
ICECAPS - I/C [in charge of] + reversed SPACE

2 Dearth of screws spoiled clothing unit (5,2,7)
CHEST OF DRAWERS - (DEARTH OF SCREWS*) ["spoiled"]

3 Drive second to right (5)
MOTOR - MO TO R

4 Sort of farmer employing cook for fetching (8)
ADORABLE - ARABLE [sort of farmer] "employing" DO [cook]

5 Capri for one is nearly all rented out (4)
ISLE - IS LE{t}

6 Maximum efforts make flat worst! (5,4)
LEVEL BEST - LEVEL [flat] + BEST [worst, as in beat; a notorious pair of words that can be synonyms OR antonyms]

7 Pelican alongside zebra? That's cheating (6-8)
DOUBLE-CROSSING - two types of British road crossings

8 Shelter a poor area bringing in yen (6)
ASYLUM - A SLUM "bringing in" Y

14 Make mess of most of top pitch (9)
BESPATTER - BES{t} + PATTER

16 Small pot preserving queen's tooth (8)
SPROCKET - S POCKET "preserving" R

17 Win over French nobleman in match (6)
SEDUCE - DUC in SEE

19 Setting time's free in most quarters (7)
SUNDOWN - UNDO [free] in S, W, N [(three of the four) quarters]

22 Finish off standard musical work (5)
NORMA - NORMA{l}. Bellini opera well known in both crossword and classical music circles.

23 Hum very loudly after returning home (4)
NIFF - FF after reversed IN

Another fine crossword of medium difficulty, with a couple of somewhat obscure answers at 7d and 3d which were gettable from wordplay if you weren't a topologist or a bullfight enthusiast. The rest was good fun and fair; I'm not quite convinced 17d works and I liked 11a for its 'element of Labour' idea. About 25 minutes all told, delayed for a while by my initial perfect but wrong answer at 27a q.v. below.

Across
1	Seaman entering boozer to see what's afoot? (5)
	SABOT - AB = seaman, inside SOT = boozer.
4	Craftsman penning unlimited poems in rocker (9)
	SHOEMAKER - SHAKER = rocker, has (P) OEM (S) inserted.
9	Small case for diamonds? (5,4)
	MINOR SUIT - Small = MINOR, case = SUIT as in lawsuit. Diamonds and clubs are the minor suits in Bridge, as opposed to spades and hearts being the majors, ranking and scoring more highly.
10	Lustre perceived when heroin's injected (5)
	SHEEN - SEEN has H inserted.
11	Police officer probing one element of Labour opposition (13)
	CONTRADICTION - DI the Detective Inspector is inserted into CONTRACTION, "one element of labour".
14	Party threatening to ditch leader (4)
	RAVE - GRAVE loses its G.
15	Natural fibre, too much found in racket left on court (6,4)
	COTTON WOOL - OTT = too much, goes inside CON = racket, then WOO = court, L for left.
18	Visual aids having setter long for correction? (10)
	LORGNETTES - (SETTER LONG)*. Kind of specs with a handle instead of side pieces; derived from the French word lorgner which means to look sideways or squint at.
19	Pack animals to watch bears (4)
	STOW - Hidden word in ANIMAL(S TO W)ATCH.
21	Dad recalled agent introducing one couple, fifty or so (13)
	APPROXIMATELY - PA = Dad, recalled = AP: PROXY = agent; insert I (one), MATE (couple), L (fifty).
24	Senior retired Liberal in fashion again (5)
	OLDER - Reverse REDO with L inserted.
25	Almost complete backing for exhibit in church showing conversions? (9)
	CHANGEFUL - FUL(L) goes on the end of C (HANG) E where CE = church and HANG = exhibit.
27	During many deliveries, Dr West stripped off outer garb (9)
	OVERDRESS - I went wrong here and it took me a while to correct when I saw 17d didn't end in T: I had OVERTREWS being (WEST)* 'doctored' inside OVERS. Perfectly parsed. But then I corrected myself after 17d fell in, as it's DR and (W) ES (T) inside OVERS; WEST is stripped of its outside letters.
28	Limit old women's fund (5)
	ENDOW - END = limit, O(ld), W(omen).

Down
1	House group D? (10)
	SEMICIRCLE - house = SEMI, CIRCLE = group.
2	Exile's collar turned up (3)
	BAN - collar = NAB, reverse it.
3	Spanish fighter quickly ran mounted troops (6)
	TORERO - TORE = quickly ran, OR reversed.
4	Canvasses on display, reputable Society taking the lead (6,3)
	SOUNDS OUT - SOUND = reputable, S(ociety), OUT = on display.
5	Matter bringing down temperature of the eye (5)
	OPTIC - TOPIC (matter) has its T dropped down.
6	Campaigns fail, stopped by endless din from below (8)
	MISSIONS - MISS = fail, has NOIS(E) reversed inserted.
7	Unorthodox vessel's link to betel nuts (5,6)
	KLEIN BOTTLE - (LINK TO BETEL)*. I did remember this thing from maths days although I couldn't have defined it exactly; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle will explain it. Once you sort out BOTTLE from the anagrist you can probably guess the KLEIN from the remaining letters.
8	Regular payment slashed (4)
	RENT -Double definition.
12	Don't stop English composer hiding for instance in Tyneside (5,3,3)
	NEVER SAY DIE - SAY (for instance) inside E, VER DI inside N E = Tyneside.
13	Comprehensive strike has support of illegitimate offspring (4-2-4)
	BLOW-BY-BLOW - strike is the first BLOW and a BY-BLOW is an old term for a bastard.
16	Her vital statistics initially disrupted play (3,6)
	THE RIVALS - (HER VITAL S)*, S from statistics; play by Sheridan.
17	Dazzling feature of church in India (8)
	INSPIRED - Well, a church can be SPIRED and IN can mean India but for me that's not leading exactly to IN SPIRED, but either the clue doesn't quite work or I'm missing something (as usual).
20	Departs, with inclination to wave (6)
	DANGLE - D(eparts), ANGLE = inclination.
22	Auditor's dealing with file at the appropriate time (2,3)
	ON CUE - ON CUE sounds like ON QUEUE i.e. dealing with file.
23	Island shot guards Down Under (4)
	GOZO - GO = shot, has OZ inserted. A neat little clue IMO.
26	Rage following promotion (3)
	FAD - F = following, AD = promotion. RAGE = FAD as in 'all the RAGE'.

All the vocabulary known to me today, and the clues were easy enough to unpick, which led to a pretty quick time. I had to return to the two longish anagrams at the top and left of the grid. I think the latter because the letters to jumble were split up, and the former because I had always thought the phrase was spelled with a 'gh', but it's narrow rather than neat. One to add to the list that already includes 'shoo-in' (not 'shoe-in') and 'whet' (not wet) the appetite.

Anyway, definitions are underlined.

Across
1	Prudish doctor startled CIA (6-5)
	STRAIT-LACED - anagram of (doctor) STARTLED CIA.
9	Half of church service makes you heave (5)
	CHURN - half of the letters of CHUrch, then RN (Royal Navy, service).
10	Pretend Rilke’s got this curly hair? (7)
	TENDRIL - hidden in (...'s got this) preTEND RILke.
11	Peacekeepers felt in perfect condition (9)
	UNTOUCHED - UN (United Nations, peacekeepers), then TOUCHED (felt).
13	Drug put in army’s drink (3)
	TEA - E (Ecstasy, drug) inside (put in) TA (Territorial Army, army). Hopefully you were all paying attention to Vinyl's comments this week!
14	Crowded, as lunch may be? (6)
	PACKED - cryptic second definition.
16	Summary that’s almost exact (6)
	PRECIS - all but the last letter of (almost) PRECISe (exact).
17	Diaries occasionally displaying anger (3)
	IRE - every other letter from (occasionally) dIaRiEs.
18	Histrionics alarmed Mo terribly (9)
	MELODRAMA - anagram of (terribly) ALARMED MO.
21	Outfit for the tango follower? (7)
	UNIFORM - the letter after T (tango), in the phonetic alphabet.
23	Vicar taken aback by extremely strange poem (5)
	VERSE - REV (reverend, vicar) reversed (taken back), next to the outermost letters of (extremely) StrangE.
24	Second right-wing bank clerk is a liar (11)
	STORYTELLER - S (second), TORY (right-wing), anf TELLER (bank clerk).

Down
2	In which money may be kept tied up, you say? (5)
	TRUST - sounds like (you say?) "trussed" (tied up).
3	Made sauna boiling time after time (2,7)
	AD NAUSEAM - anagram of (boiling) MADE SAUNA.
4	Songbird perching on top of church, a little one (5)
	TITCH - TIT (songbird) above (perching on top of) CH (church).
5	Article about northern woman (3)
	ANN - AN (article, as in the part of speech) surrounding (about) N (northern).
6	Unpredictable boy catching rodent (7)
	ERRATIC - ERIC (boy) surrounding (catching) RAT (rodent).
7	Scout cooking with Primus? Yummy! (11)
	SCRUMPTIOUS - anagram of (cooking) SCOUT with PRIMUS.
8	Beardless son in spotless shelter (5-6)
	CLEAN-SHAVEN - S (son) inside CLEAN (spotless) and HAVEN (shelter).
12	Stupidly derailed Victor, a reckless type (9)
	DAREDEVIL - anagram of (stupidly) DERAILED and V (victor, phonetic alphabet again).
15	Scientific man Nietzsche mistrusted to an extent (7)
	CHEMIST - hidden in (to an extent) nietzsCHE MISTrusted.
19	Yours truly’s following lake north of Italian border (5)
	LIMIT - I'M (yours truly is) after (following) L (lake), all above (north of) IT (italian).
20	Concede Her Majesty must retire in time (5)
	AGREE - ER (Her Majesty) reversed (must retire), inside AGE (time).
22	Row after pig has head chopped off (3)
	OAR - bOAR (pig) without its first letter (has head chopped off).

All bar one went in uncharacteristically fast for an Izetti - in about 8 minutes. That one was 21ac which, with all the checkers had me stumped. I could see a name which fitted but was at a loss as to why it was the answer. With the clock ticking towards 10 minutes I’d come up with nothing else so bunged it in and all was well. I then spent some time doing a crash course in etymology and the Restoration period. That much wiser, here’s how I got on.
Definitions are underlined.

( Read more...Collapse )

A fine Mephisto for wordplay, which is to be expected from Don Manley, where my usual approach is wordplay first, and then check the definition. It also helped in this one that two of the more unusual words are very familiar to me.

Definitions, which are underlined can all be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the worplay in the blog.

Away we go...

Across
1	Destroy Scottish island (no small island) (4)
	SLAY - the island is ISLAY, remove the I(island)
4	Harmony around home associated with a fireplace (8)
	CHIMINEA - CHIME(harmony) surrounding IN(home), then A
9	Bacon that I get cooked for flatmate? (10)
	COHABITANT - anagram of BACON,THAT,I
10	Vehicle reversing by French river stopping short — something scraping (7)
	RACLOIR - CAR reversed, then the river LOIRE missing the last letter
13	Little old dam like this bursting? Caution! (6)
	ANICUT - don't often see a clue where the definition is hidden in the middle of the clue - "little old" means O, now take the O out of CAUTION and form the anagram to get the dam
14	My lord always backing soldiers (6)
	MENEER - EER(always) after MEN(soldiers)
16	Papal licence in the name of God ultimately (6)
	INDULT - IN, then D(Deus, God), ULT(ultimately)
17	Quiet repose making one ready, as before (5)
	PREST - P(quiet), REST(repose)
18	No longer chase after prize money, having got weak (6)
	PURSEW - PURSE(prize money), W(weak)
19	Difficult summer month to bear at one time (6)
	AUGEAN - AUG(August, summer month), EAN(bear)
22	Old-fashioned counsel taken on board by daredevil (5)
	AREDE - hidden in dAREDEvil
25	Vassal set to provide cattle food (6)
	MANGEL - MAN(vassal), GEL(set)
28	Come face to face with old bishop and one new to the faith (6)
	OBVERT - O(old), B(bishop), VERT(short for CONVERT, one new to the faith)
29	Learned man to mistreat half a dozen (6)
	MAULVI - MAUL(mistreat), VI(six, half a dozen)
30	Afterwards girl comes to meaningful agreement (7)
	SYNESIS - SYNE(afterwards), SIS(sister, girl)
31	Dearies apt to get excited get breathless (10)
	DEASPIRATE - anagram of DEARIES,APT
32	Homeless creature? Everyone needs to have food, Young Conservative admitted (8)
	ALLEYCAT - ALL(everyone), EAT(have food) containing YC(Young Conservative)
33	Letters from fourth man circulating (4)
	ETHS - the fourth man in the Bible is SETH - cycle it to start at the E

Down
1	Tortures pastors conjured up, having caught highway thief (10)
	STRAPPADOS - anagram of PASTORS containing PAD(short for FOOTPAD, highway thief). Had to laugh at this one, since I am currently playing Falstaff in a production of Henry IV (part the first) and one of the lines in the tavern scenes is "Zounds, an I were at the strappado or all the racks in the world..."
2	Solitary person outside a public library, say? (6)
	LOANER - LONER(solitry person) surrounding A
3	Summon old expert to squash common fellow (6)
	ACCITE - ACE(expert) surrounding CIT(common fellow)
4	Blackmail coming from China not acceptable (5)
	CHOUT - CH(China), OUT(not acceptable)
5	Islander, one wearing headgear — a Scotsman? (7)
	HAITIAN - I(one) inside HAT(headgear) then IAN(Scotsman)
6	Opinion being heard, proceeded secretly (5)
	MINED - sounds like MIND(opinion)
7	Centres in which one sees any number slave, cruelly exploited (6)
	NAVELS - N(any number), then an anagram of SLAVE
8	Friendly agreement? Not with one of two knights opinionated (6)
	ENTETE - the agreement is an ENTENTE, remove one of the N's(knight)
11	Bishop is coming in ruined, upset, in knots (6)
	KNURRS - RR(bishop) inside SUNK(ruined) reversed
12	Embroiderers in Cheshire town registers (10)
	CREWELISTS - the town of CREWE, then LISTS(registers)
15	Internet facility providing e-tunes possibly? (6)
	USENET - anagram of E-TUNES. An internet service of bulletin boards. Anyone still around from the days of rec.puzzles.crosswords?
18	Tree in China at foot of which is girl (7)
	PALMYRA - PAL(China, mate), and MYRA(girl)
20	Cart heading off to deliver piece of armour (6)
	UMBREL - the cart is a TUMBREL, remove the first letter
21	Crocodile gets through biting into girl (6)
	GAVIAL - VIA(through) inside GAL(girl)
23	Net for fish gets some quite sleepy going upstream (6)
	EELSET - hidden reversed in quiTE SLEEpy
24	I’m stupid, restricting power and seeking peace (6)
	DOVISH - Homer Simpson's favorite expression D'OH(I'm stupid) containing VIS(power)
26	Like wine that’s dull from US but with hidden power (5)
	GRAPY - GRAY(dull) containing P(power)
27	Prohibition slapped on revolutionary army in part of Hungary (5)
	BANAT - BAN(prohibition) then a reversal of TA(army)

10:30. Another excellent puzzle from Bob, which I didn’t find particularly hard but nonetheless managed to stuff up, paying insufficient attention to the wordplay at 13ac and bunging in the wrong vehicle. Drat.

Loads of neat stuff in here: the clever device at 2dn is particularly, well, clever.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*, anagram indicators like this.

Across
1	Takes back fruit unopened (2-7)
	RE-ENGAGES - gREENGAGES. To take back in the sense of re-employing someone, I think.
6	Remains of old underwear
	STAYS - DD. ‘Corsets with bones in them’ (Collins).
9	How you write this answer in wins medals
	VICTORIA CROSSES - VICTORI(ACROSS)ES. Very neat!
10	Drink in small local
	SHANDY - S, HANDY.
11	Inevitably do without mass and church
	PERFORCE - PERFORm, CE.
13	Drag grand star back to an unoccupied carriage
	LUGGAGE VAN - not a term I remember coming across before, so I bunged in LUGGAGE CAR without hesitation. If I had paid the slightest attention to the wordplay I'd have realised that CEGA is not the name of a star, whereas VEGA is. Reverse that, add it to LUG, G (grand) at the beginning and AN at the end and you get the right answer. 'Unoccupied' looks misleadingly like a wordplay instruction.
14	Police unit following a tart
	ACID - A, CID.
16	I popped into friend’s for a beer
	PILS - I ‘popped in’ to PALS to replace the A.
17	He attends an opening ceremony, with one who retains the gold
	DOORKEEPER - DO (ceremony), OR KEEPER. Nicely disguised definition: lift and separate! OR is a heraldry term.
19	A US city concealing an Athenian element
	ANTIMONY - A, N(TIMON)Y. You don’t have to be a Shakespeare expert to know about Timon of Athens.
20	Fight to block the French tariffs
	LEVIES - LE(VIE)S. As Donald Trump is discovering, tariffs are a tax on your own consumers and about as effective a way of getting what you want as punching yourself in the face.
23	Totally innocent, listen as each law is broken
	CLEAN AS A WHISTLE - (LISTEN AS EACH LAW)*.
24	Afterthought added to artist’s files
	RASPS - RA’S, PS.
25	Detectives indict or acquit
	DISCHARGE - DIS, CHARGE.

Down
1	Fumes on board endanger a vessel
	RAVES - contained in ‘endanger a vessel’.
2	How to make Mo and Damon correspond
	EXCHANGE LETTERS - if you exchange the letters in MO AND you get DAMON. Clever!
3	Large number turn to rum and ale unfortunately
	GOOD DEAL - GO, ODD, (ALE)*.
4	Carriage crowd in conversation
	GAIT - sounds like ‘gate’, the crowd at a concert, football match etc.
5	Cabinet has covert broadcast cut short
	SECRETAIRE - SECRET, AIREd.
6	I’m sorry about fatuous, hollow pranks
	SPOOFS - reversal (about) of OOPS (I'm sorry), FatuouS.
7	Pollock, perhaps digest rope securing a boat
	ABSTRACT PAINTER - ABSTRACT (digest), PAINTER. A PAINTER is ‘a line attached to the bow of a boat for tying it up’ and a very useful word for crossword setters. See also ‘sheet’. The one word for a rope that never seems to be used by sailors is ‘rope’.
8	Hose attachment’s main sales feature in poster
	SUSPENDER - S(USP)ENDER. USP stands for ‘unique selling point’.
12	Disco genre newly appreciated
	RECOGNISED - (DISCO GENRE)*.
13	Record about a reindeer, one barely performs
	LAP DANCER - L(A)P, DANCER.
15	Frantic swimmers lapping incessantly
	FEVERISH - F(EVER)ISH. ‘Laps’ in a swimming pool are what North Americans call ‘lengths’.
18	Makes changes to what happens at noon
	AMENDS - AM ends and PM begins.
21	Hide from kids influenced to be outspoken
	SUEDE - sounds like ‘swayed’.
22	Cries to axe top Members of Parliament
	OWLS - hOWLS. ‘Parliament’ being the collective noun for owls, of course.

Apologies for this arriving later than Kitty's excellent blog for 1385 - this was a Bank Holiday Monday puzzle of course, and so through my timings all out of whack. It was also a deeply straightforward crossword, requiring nothing much beyond an understanding of containment and anagram indicators, plus a few common crosswordland abbreviations and the most basic tier of general knowledge to make swift progress.

Despite the presence of clues like 30ac and 45dn, I'm afraid little of this made a lasting impression on me. I *did* like the sea-led monks at 15, and the &littery at 5dn, oh yes, and the appearance of the Lunar Excursion Module in 20dn. And many of the services were commendably succinct. But it was all enjoyable enough while it lasted. Thanks setter!

ACROSS
1 Engineer endlessly longing to be cloaked in obscurity (9)
MACHINIST - ACHIN{g} to be "cloaked in" MIST

6 Is drink placed in old hat wasted? (10)
DISSIPATED - IS SIP "placed in" DATED

12 Startle artilleryman, heading off before end-of-war celebrations? (7)
UNNERVE - {g}UNNER before V-E

13 Nice way of describing a hedonist? (3,6)
BON VIVANT - Nice way, as in "in the manner of a French place"

14 I brought in copies done over in shade of brown (5)
SEPIA - I "brought in" reversed APES

16 Secret plans for monasteries under maritime directions? (6,6)
SEALED ORDERS - whereas SEA-LED ORDERS would be maritime-directed monasteries!

17 Non-participant, beginning to watch everyone, beginning to feel less prominent (10)
WALLFLOWER - W{atch} + ALL + F{eel} + LOWER

19 As adept with pen as with sword? (5,2,3,4)
QUICK ON THE DRAW - a definition that can imply speed of unsheathing a weapon, or possibly of creating a picture

22 Appropriate to involve Times, sure to revise regular items (8)
FIXTURES - FIT to "involve" X, + (SURE*)

24 Suppose administrator seizing power will want end to unrest (6)
EXPECT - EXEC "seizing" P, + {unres}T

25 Dairy product down? Something said to produce a smile (4,6)
BLUE CHEESE - BLUE [down, as in sad] + CHEESE!

26 Much enthusiasm about brother finding wild horse (5)
ZEBRA - ZEA{l} "about" BR

29 Perhaps, the Opposition article backed by Frenchman (4)
THEM - THE [(definite) article] backed by M. "Us v them."

30 Puritan accepting new money, making an impression (8)
PRINTING - PRIG [puritan] "accepting" N TIN

32 Function hosting a performance offering little amusement (9)
SATURNINE - SINE "hosting" A TURN

34 The same may be represented in dialect (9)
IDENTICAL - (IN DIALECT*)

35 Atmospheric phenomenon? Study source of turbulence and fume (8)
CONTRAIL - CON [study] + T{urbulence} + RAIL [fume]

36 Tree? China has millions (4)
PALM - PAL has M

39 Sign of error in new rate for special edition of paper (5)
EXTRA - X [sign of error] in (RATE*)

40 Article in verse including record in sorry state (10)
APOLOGETIC - A [(indefinite) article] + POETIC [in verse] "including" LOG

42 Remarkable note penned by prisoner is handed over (6)
SIGNAL - N "penned by" reversed LAG IS

44 Sporting contest: plan to finish early or late in the day (8)
EVENTIDE - EVENT + IDE{a}

46 Action subsequently engaging lawyers to succeed in arbitration? (6,1,7)
STRIKE A BARGAIN - STRIKE + AGAIN "engaging" BAR

48 Very annoyed: silver reduced into small pieces retaining only 40% of value (10)
AGGRAVATED - AG [silver] + GRATED "retaining" VA{lue}

49 Erotica? Men with it possibly showing some speed in response (8,4)
REACTION TIME - (EROTICA MEN + IT*)

53 Blame hard to be accepted by group of thinkers? (5)
THANK - H to be "accepted" by TANK. Who do we have to thank for this?

54 Public official: origins linked to male in Arab state (9)
OMBUDSMAN - BUDS linked to M, in OMAN

55 I name support from near the coast (7)
INSHORE - I N SHORE

56 I agree: positive response seen in territory in the past (10)
YESTERYEAR - YES [I agree] + YEA [positive response] seen in TERR

57 Prepared with a line about study describing many office jobs? (9)
SEDENTARY - SET with A RY, about DEN

DOWN
1 Fellow, one with a passion (5)
MANIA - MAN, I with A

2 Take control of stimulus — something footballer takes (6,4)
CORNER KICK - CORNER [take control of, e.g. a market] + KICK [stimulus]

3 Reserve to move briskly, feeling the cold (3-5)
ICE-BOUND - ICE [reserve, as in frosty demeanour] + BOUND [move briskly]

4 Plant grew tall, avoiding cold lake (5)
IMBED - {c}{l}IMBED

5 Town in Kent has fashionable people cross (9)
TONBRIDGE - TON [fashionable people] + BRIDGE [cross]

6 Daughter, not fully mature, weak character (4)
DRIP - D + RIP{e}

7 Pretending to have support of a new religious figure (6)
SHAMAN - SHAM [pretending], to have support of A N

8 “Elitist leaning” may represent us (14)
INTELLIGENTSIA - (ELITIST LEANING*), semi-&lit. Unless of course "us" is just a definition for crossword enthusiasts!

9 More than one sailor loves to carry an instrument in the coldest temperature (8,4)
ABSOLUTE ZERO - ABS [more than one sailor] + O ZERO [(two) loves] to "carry" LUTE [an instrument]

10 Enable soldiers to turn up, bearing military captive (7)
EMPOWER - reversed REME [soldiers, as in Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers], "bearing" POW [prisoner of war]

11 Later question beginning to engage some number in smaller group (10)
SUBSEQUENT - QU + E{ngage} + N, in SUBSET

15 Love coming in fast — the stuff of jets and rockets (9)
AEROSPACE - EROS [love] "coming in" APACE

18 Source of disease: head about to keep note (8)
PATHOGEN - PATE about HOG [to keep], + N

20 Instrument in Apollo lander: I’m restrained about that (9)
IMPLEMENT - LEM [Apollo lander] - I'M PENT about that

21 Hold hard — young chap has fallen badly in between (4,6)
HALF NELSON - H SON [hard | young chap] has (FALLEN*) in between

23 China’s problem with crime (3,7)
TEA SERVICE - TEASER with VICE

27 National symbol? Scots own up after it’s found in refuse (9)
BRITANNIA - reversed AIN [Scots "own"] after IT is found in BRAN

28 Opener to meal with taste, left out as expression of sovereign’s thanks (5-3-6)
GRACE-AND-FAVOUR - GRACE [(spoken) opener to meal] + AND + F{l}AVOUR

31 Isle of Grain not entirely undeveloped (8)
INCHOATE - INCH [isle] + OATE{n}

33 Sailor following Channel, and French providing restriction (12)
STRAITJACKET - JACK [sailor] following STRAIT, + ET [and, French]

34 One cricket side taking article into practice area? That’s awkward (9)
INELEGANT - I + LEG AN [cricket side | article] into NET [practice area]

37 Paper upset about delay identifying shirker (10)
MALINGERER - reversed REAM about LINGER

38 End up accepting witches I found in Pacific lands (10)
MICRONESIA - reversed AIM "accepting" CRONES I. Gets everywhere in crosswords recently, does this clue.

41 Outermost layer is primed to disintegrate after input of energy (9)
EPIDERMIS - (IS PRIMED*), with insertion of E

43 Help is turning up after former schoolmate gets stuck on Northern rock (8)
OBSIDIAN - AID IS reversed, after O.B., gets stuck on N

45 Go wild after English impress deeply (7)
ENGRAVE - RAVE after ENG

47 Weak grouse sent skyward ends in trivial chase (6)
FEEBLE - reversed BEEF [grouse, as in complaint] + {trivia}L {chas}E

50 Punished, or preserved half-heartedly (5)
CANED - CAN{n}ED

51 Club comedy, ultimately satire (5)
IRONY - IRON [(golf) club] + {comed}Y

52 IT expert losing top in German river (4)
ODER - {c}ODER