Times Jumbo 979 – with apologies

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
My first posting of this blog, on Saturday 26th, seems to have been locked or corrupted, so with apologies (and thanks to linxit, for alerting me), here it is again.

I can’t give a solving time for this, as I had several interruptions, but I didn’t think it was too difficult.

Across
1 BRATWURST – BURST, arount RAT + W
6 SPINNER – P in SINNER
10 SWOOP – S + P, outside WOO
13 STATION – double definition
14 LIGHTEN – N replacing the last letter of LIGHTER (type of boat)
15 GEEGEES – GEE (twice) = cries of wonder, + S (first letter of saluted), I think
16 LIE THROUGH ONE’S TEETH – cryptic definition (canines here are canine teeth)
17 SUE – SUE(z)
18 COWARD – CO-WARD = fellow protege. SCARAMOUCHE was a cowardly clown character in the Italian commedia dell’arte
20 MANANA – MA, around NANA(reversed)
21 RIDERLESS – RIDER + LES’S (RIDER as in author Rider Haggard)
23 BEADLESHIP – BEADS + HIP, around LE
25 TREECREEPER – cryptic definition of the bird
29 ADELE – can sound like a dell
30 INSULTED – anagram of silent + (b)u(d)d(y)
31 MINSTREL – MIST around N, + RE + L
34 SHOPPING – double definition – SHOPPING as in betraying someone
36 COLONIAL – IA replacing E in COLONEL
37 WIDEN – WI indicating London W1, the Mayfair area, +DEN
39 FLANNELETTE – anagram of N ALL TEN FEET
41 TAPESTRIED – APES + T(amper) in TRIED
43 KILLARNEY – ARNE replacing JO in KILLJOY
45 PARSON – P(reoccupied) + ARSON
47 ODESSA – O + (i)DEA round SS (steamship)
49 ERG – hidden in anothER Guise
50 HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD – double definition
52 SITWELL – IT (sex appeal) in SWELL
53 INHUMAN – HUM (smell) + A, in INN
54 PITFALL – PIT (sounds like Pitt) + FALL
55 PURSE – double definition
56 TREASON – RE (Royal Engineering Corps) in TA (Territorial Army), + SON
57 EIDERDOWN – RED + IE (reversed), + DOWN = blue (depressed)

Down
1 BASILICA – BASIC + A, around IL (Italian for “the”)
2 AWARE – A + WAR + E(rupt)
3 WEIGHBRIDGE – sounds like Weybridge (town in Surrey)
4 RANDOM – AND in ROM (Read-Only Memory, computing term)
5 TELEGRAPHESE – E + LEG + RAP, in THE SE (south-east, indicated by Home Counties). This clue contains the obligatory cricketing reference – on defines LEG, short for legside, which can also be referred to as the onside of a cricket field. Cricket enthusiasts, please correct me if this explanation is inaccurate!
6 SIGNORA – SIGN + OR (other ranks, hence men, in the army), + A
7 IN THE LAST RESORT – anagram of hoteliers start + n(oon)
8 NON-STARTER – anagram of Ann’s retort
9 RAGWEED – WE in RAGED
10 SHEPHERDESS – Cryptic definition. “You, we hear” indicates ewe
11 OVERSLEEP – O (ring), + PEEL’S REV(erend) reversed
12 POSTERS – T in POSERS. Forum here indicates online discussion/chat forum
19 WHERETO – HE (His Excellency; governor) in anagram of tower
22 REGIONAL – LAGER round NO + I (all reversed)
24 PULL ONE’S PUNCHES – PULL + ONE’S + PUNCHES. Pick up defines PULL in the sense of, as Chambers puts it, “to succeed in forming a (sexual) relationship with”. As in “Get your coat, you’ve pulled”
26 CHINLESS – cryptic definition, alluding to the phrase “chinless wonder”
27 RULING – RU (Rugby Union) + LING
28 MASSIF – MA’S + IF (poem by Rudyard Kipling), around S
32 REDRESS – R(outin)E + DRESS
33 MISPRONOUNCE – PRONOUN (indicated by “they possibly”), inside MI’S + CE
35 PENTATHLETE – anagram of lent the tape
37 WORLD-BEATER – anagram of bolder, in WATER
38 STRYCHNINE – TRY in SCH(ool), + IN in N + E
40 ALLIGATOR – A, + GILL (reversed), + A TOR
42 MANDOLIN – double definition, partly cryptic. A MANDOLIN can be a tool for slicing vegetables finely, as well as a plucked instrument
43 KNEES-UP – cryptic definition
44 NOTELET – TELET(h)ON reversed
46 RAILMAN – M in LA (Los Angeles), in RAIN
48 STUPID – P + I(ndustry), in STUD (defined by boss). I wasn’t convinced by barmy as a definition of STUPID
51 ERATO – ERA + TO. Erato was the Greek muse of lyric poetry

3 comments on “Times Jumbo 979 – with apologies”

  1. Thanks for the blog, Helen. It’s very rarely I venture into Jumboland but I was between books with time on my hands that weekend so I thought I’d have a go. I finished in 50 minutes which is around double what I spend on a weekday puzzle on a good day, so I reckon this must have been on the easy side. The following Saturday I tried again and gave up, bored with lack of progress with half the grid still empty. I’m no cricket expert but your interpretation of 5dn tallies with mine and I think it’s the correct one.
  3. 70′. Only on reading Helen’s blog did I realize how many DKs there were; I was all too casual in checking that I had understood the clues. With 24d, for example, I had no idea that PULL had that meaning; I just read pull=(roughly) pick up. Other DKs: MANDOLIN, NOTELET (my LOI, although probably simply because I overlooked it). Thanks for explaining TAPESTRIED; I suspect that there were a number of S-instead-of-D errors, an error that I saved myself from just in time.

    Edited at 2012-05-31 03:39 am (UTC)

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