Times Cryptic Jumbo 1414: Not Quite Blogged From 11dn, But Pretty Close

This was a pretty fun crossword with nothing too abstruse as I cast my eye over it for the second time, but there were enough speedbumps to keep me engrossed for a decently sized fraction of the hour. I liked 17ac although, eek, I’m closer to 50 now. I have measured out my life in cryptic clues and so much booze…

ACROSS
1 Anxious — unlocked is it? (10)
DISTRESSED – or un-locked, hair-wise, is DIS-TRESSED

6 Prayer treasured for rescuer at sea (5,7)
GRACE DARLING – GRACE [prayer] + DARLING [treasured]

14 Chapter I’d rewritten for a song? (4,5)
DIRT CHEAP – (CHAPTER I’D*) [“rewritten”]

15 Wander north into red mist? (5)
RANGE – N [north] into RAGE [red mist?]

16 Staff teacher in ancient kingdom (7)
MACEDON – MACE [staff] + DON [teacher]

17 Entering maturity, things better work out fab — forget senility! (4,6,2,5)
LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY – (FAB FORGET SENILITY*) [“work out…”]

18 Specific done deed? (5)
EXACT – or EX-ACT, a deed in the past…

19 Remains of ashes, perhaps? (7)
SAWDUST – cryptic def, the ashes being trees

21 About to happen, but not starting – far from it? (6)
ENDING – {p}ENDING [about to happen, “but not starting”], semi-&lit

22 Girl embracing fashion finally, swimmer in broad hat, possibly? (8)
SUNSHADE – SUE [girl] “embracing” {fashio}N + SHAD [swimmer]

24 Alone, dude in a shambles (7)
UNAIDED – (DUDE IN A*) [shambles]

26 In the box, fashionable items ultimately glittering (8)
TINSELLY – in TELLY [the box], IN [fashionable] + {item}S

27 At first, everything in hand before a party (6)
FIESTA – E{verything} in FIST [hand], before A

30 Difficult finding Russian bread in volume (11)
TROUBLESOME – ROUBLES [Russian bread] in TOME [volume]

32 Still about one metre of layered rock (11)
SEDIMENTARY – SEDENTARY [still] about I M [one | metre]

33 Women cursing very, very loudly outside, stops paying attention (8,3)
SWITCHES OFF – WITCHES [women cursing], SO FF [very | very loudly] outside

35 Important carrier ship joining race (5,6)
BLOOD VESSEL – VESSEL [ship] joining BLOOD [race]

37 Damned English pages left! (4,2)
EVER SO – E [English] + VERSO [pages left, as opposed to “recto”]

38 Anthem in lied, sung (amazingly) backwards! (5,3)
AGNUS DEI – hidden reversed in {l}IED SUNG A{mazingly}

39 Daring act one found in old story (7)
EXPLOIT – I [one] found in EX-PLOT [old | story]

42 Gradually moving to pinch queen’s ornament (4-4)
NOSE-RING – NOSING [gradually moving] to “pinch” ER [queen]

44 High-quality nurse covering surgery (3-3)
TOP-END – TEND [nurse] “covering” OP [surgery]

46 In flower (7)
CURRENT – double def; flower as in “river” of course, or indeed anything else that flows

48 Bird flying (5)
SWIFT – double def; flying as in “fast”

49 Plan of action in statement to peer who’s been stitched up? (9,8)
OPERATION OVERLORD – or else you might say “(the) OPERATION (is) OVER, (my) LORD”

51 What woman might have on Noah’s son, follows a patriarch (7)
ABRAHAM – BRA HAM [what woman might have on | Noah’s son] follows A

52 Hindu deity sees five parting Muslims (5)
SHIVA – V [five] “parting” SHIA [Muslims]

53 Soldier a degree east of Ulster peninsula caught by rifle, say? (9)
GUARDSMAN – MA [a degree], east of ARDS [Ulster peninsula], “caught” by GUN [rifle, say]. The Ards Peninsula is in County Down, can’t say I’d heard of it before but there’s quite a few patriotic Ulstermen in this hobby of ours.

54 US president manoeuvring to bring in new controls (12)
SUPERINTENDS – (US PRESIDENT*) [“manoeuvring”] to “bring in” N [new]

55 Censor has been extremely unhelpful, clip appearing blurred (4-6)
BLUE-PENCIL – (BEEN U{nhelpfu}L CLIP*) [“appearing blurred”]

DOWN
1 In America, nothing left in little house illegally occupied (6-5)
DIDDLY-SQUAT – L [left] in DIDDY [little] + SQUAT [house illegally occupied]

2 Line of text shoots up (5)
SERIF – reversed FIRES [shoots]

3 Pitch sure to be covered in stones (4-5)
ROCK-BOUND – ROCK [pitch] + BOUND [sure]

4 Reportedly insignificant skill (7)
SLEIGHT – homophone of SLIGHT [insignificant]

5 Sweep containers into river (7)
EXPANSE – PANS [containers] into EXE [river]

7 Where gold may be on display, contact thieves (4,7)
RING FINGERS – RING [contact] + FINGERS [thieves, as in pilfers]

8 One’s stoned, heading off drunk after companion (6)
CHERRY – {m}ERRY [“heading off” drunk] after CH [companion]

9 I’m not sure my cricket score is under five hundred in Test (5,3)
DUMMY RUN – UM MY RUN [I’m not sure | my | cricket score] is under D [500]

10 Clever stuff investing energy and time in geology, say? (6,7)
ROCKET SCIENCE – E + T “invested” in ROCK SCIENCE

11 State — nation not applicable (7)
INDIANA – INDIA N/A

12 Power in heat energy adapted for experimental engineering (4,7)
GENE THERAPY – P in (HEAT ENERGY*) [“adapted”]

13 Holiday: European hosts constant acrobatic entertainment (10)
BREAKDANCE – BREAK [holiday] + DANE [European] “hosts” C [constant]

20 Make arm bend in a sweep round (9)
WEAPONISE – (IN A SWEEP O*) [“bend…”]

23 Bloomers revealed by daughter in dressing, girl disheartened initially (8)
GLADIOLI – D [daughter] in AIOLI [dressing], with G{ir}L initially

25 German, one looking to shift stones, perhaps? (6)
DIETER – double def. Stones as in what we weigh ourselves in

26 Comprehensive, however, uncivilised (8)
THOROUGH – THO ROUGH

28 Soft rock beginning to shake pensioners — stress down below (9)
SOAPSTONE – S{hake} + OAPS + TONE [stress] underneath

29 Mark in trousers, mud generally (6)
SMUDGE – hidden in {trouser}S MUD GE{nerally}

31 Devil punching angel: one with a long reach (13)
BACKSCRATCHER – SCRATCH [devil, as in Old Scratch] “punching” BACKER [angel]

33 Somewhat dazed at the Oscars, say? (6,5)
SEEING STARS – double def

34 Fair, ok, somehow, in institute to get a great deal? (4,2,1,4)
FOUR OF A KIND – (FAIR OK*) [“somehow”] in FOUND [institute]. A great thing to be dealt in cards

35 Chirpy character has to fix car that won’t start after shift (10)
BUDGERIGAR – RIG [to fix] + {c}AR, after BUDGE [shift]

36 Inuit a tad confused between lines around the Arctic Circle, say? (11)
LATITUDINAL – (INUIT A TAD*) [“confused”] between L L [lines]

40 A bit on edge in game (9)
PARTRIDGE – PART [a bit] on RIDGE [edge]

41 Singular French figure on public land (8)
UNCOMMON – UN [French figure, i.e. 1] on COMMON [public land]

43 Put foot in it when racing to correct purist about last bit of grammar (7)
STIRRUP – (PURIST*) [“correct…”] about {gramma}R

45 Irish county tricked colleen (7)
DONEGAL – DONE GAL [tricked | colleen]

46 Caution required, carrying through eggs (7)
CAVIARE – CARE [caution] “carrying” VIA [through]

47 Tenant with not as much space, miserable ultimately (6)
LESSEE – LESS [not as much] + {spac}E {miserabl}E

50 Giant scratching head — very dense? (5)
OSMIC – {c}OSMIC [giant, “scratching head”]. Osmium is quite a dense element it seems