Jumbo 951 – An Irish nationalist and an Old Field Marshall walk into a crossword puzzle……

Author   fathippy2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
…..not for the first time though! Enjoyable puzzle this one, with some great clues here and there. I thought 20D could have been great, but was simplified a smidge. A selection of good lift and separates – “meals on wheels”, “cruelly shoots lover”, “election counts”, “Queen Victoria”, “house sitter”. All in all, a thumbs up from me.

Across
1 SLIPPED DISC – An amusing &lit to start with (give or take the quibble over using “what”) SIPPED=drunk slowly around L=large, DIS=officers, C=about.
7 DIP SWITCHES – ITCHES=longs=burns, on=after DIPS,W=sinks with, for the electronic components
13 COUNTERINSURGENCY – COUNT=consider, ERINS=outdated Ireland’s, URGENCY=hurry, for the security measures.
14 CRAWL – Double def, fawn the verb also.
15 NOTION – NOT ON=unacceptable, pinching I for the idea.
16 VERTEBRA – ZEBRA = wild horse, with its “head” becoming VERT=green
17 ARISTOS – ARISES = comes up, with TO replacing E(lection). Counts as the noun is an example of aristocracy.
19 GRASS CARP – GRASS as a snitch is the “shopper”, then BEEF=carp, for the fish
21 YODELLED – LL=couple of lines, in Y(ear) O(ld) DEED=act. Def is Sang.
23 OFFA – cOmFy FlAt (the even letters) for the dyke builder.
25 ENOCH – 99 perhaps being the ice cream CONE, reversed before (marc)H. A mans name, perhaps not used in many a decade though!
27 BARQUE – homophone bay=bark
28 PAY STATION – P=quiet, AY=approval, then (its not a)* with mess as the anagrind. Def=place of settlement (of bills).
30 SWIMSUIT – WI=W1=westminster, MS=mens (not sure if I have seen this before, or whether I like it!) clubs, maybe = SUIT around the outside, as in foremost.
31 SPACE TRAVELLER – (TV career a spell)* nice def of “journeyman who’s launched”
34 LEADING ARTICLE – Van=LEADING, truck=ARTIC, LE=emptied l(at)e. Def is “Whats carried in daily”
35 UNDERTOW – (tune word)*. Def = current.
38 SALESWOMAN – (was meals on)* anagrind is “wheels”
40 ESCORT – Cryptic def ?? not sure what the alternate read is, apart from a nondescript bemoaning.
41 TWIST – Double def, plot embellishment and call in a card game eg pontoon.
43 OUST – kO USTij – hidden word backwards
44 DE VALERA – DEAL=agreement around V=very (brief), then ERA=period. need to lift and separate “brief period”. This chap comes up far too often in crosswords. I suspect it is a go to for the pattern _E_A_E_A.
45 KITCHENER – KITCHEN=orchestra percussion=striking players, ER=little hesitation. Another name that features above averagely in Xwords.
48 EPOCHAL – O(ld) CH(urch) in E(astern) PAL=china, for historic.
49 GUMPTION – GUM=stick (in pot)* with fricassee (!!) as the anagrind. Def = sense.
50 SPOKEN – S=small, POKE=prod, N=penultimate letter of greyhouNd. Def = “out of the trap” . Nice surface construction here.
53 RUMBA – RUM=off the wall, BA=AB (stomach muscle) reversed, def = Steps.
54 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – DO=provide, MINI=small, CAN=prison for Americans, RE=on, PUBLIC=open, Definition is the quite loose “land”.
55 GUNSLINGERS – struggled with this one as I was convinced it must be GANGLANDERS on the basis that it fitted all the checkers so it must be right!! Parsing is SNUG=room of bar, reversed, then LINGERS=remains still.
56 LINCOLNS INN – LINCOLN=See (one of the lesser used ones – at some stage I ought to find a list of all possible “sees”) SIN=crime & N=another name, for one of the inns of court.

Down
1 SECOND GUESS – SECOND=supporter, GUES(t)S = invitees, out of time. Def = Anticipate.
2 INUIT – IN=home, then qUaInT (with odd parts obscured), Def = native.
3 PITEOUS – TE=”latin you”, PIOUS=”dedicated to worshipping” cops implys grabs=surrounds. Def = Woeful.
4 DERV – hidden reversal. Def = fuel
5 INNKEEPERS – PEEK=spy, reversed, inside INNER,S= secret society. Def = Taverners. Note that the first five downs have the definition as the first single word of the clue, making it quite easy if you have 1A in place.
6 COUNTRY BUMPKIN – COUNTRY=state, BUMP=impact (on) KIN=family, for the yokel.
7 DOGSBODY – DOGS=harrys, BODY=organisation for the servant. I have a question mark here that suggests it ought to be HARRIES. I know the surface wishes to mislead, but I cant see how Harry’s can be used to mean Dog’s in any sense as you cannot “belong to” a verb. I stand to be corrected.
8 PANDA – PAN=judge cruelly, DA=lawyer. Definition is “shoots lover”. This is probably my COD with the great definition, surface, and change in part of speech for “shoots”.
9 WAYFARERS – (s)WAYERS=persuading people, heading off, around FAR=a great distance. def = itinerants.
10 TUCK IN – TUC=workers, KIN(d)=generous, cut.
11 HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN – (for Hamilton I hated)* – nice spot here that two rival scottish football clubs could be clued together.
12 SILAS MARNER – SAL(girl) IS, upset, by MAR(I)NER=craftsman (as in on a craft, not practising), rejecting one, for the work by George (Eliot)
18 RAMBLING – RAM=stuff, BLING=showy etc. Def = wordy
20 ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN – from YETI = yet to meet one. I would have dispensed with the “in a word”, to make a very succinct &lit. The last bit spoils it.
22 LEAN TO – LENTO=slowly around A=article, Def=shed
24 SAFE SEAT – (see a fast)* – long winded definition, trying to maintain the playground surface.
26 HASTIEST – Def = rash, more than anything. HAS TIES=is connected with, T=temperature.
29 ECCLESIASTICAL – (is ill at ease, CCC)* interesting open ended amount of C=conservatives, but it was obvious.
32 ANNOTATE – ANN=girl, O=round, TATE=gallery. Def = mark
33 ERRATA – Def = slips, A, TAR=black coat, RE=on, all reversed.
34 LOSE ONES RAG – double def, a bullfighter traditionally has a red cape or “rag”. Alternatively the phrase “red rag to a bull”
36 WATERING CAN – W=wife, ATE=worried, RING=call, CA=about, N=new.
37 LOOK DOWN ON – LOOK = butchers, DO= party, W=with, NO, N=end of derisioN. Def = sneer at
39 OVERLADEN – OVER=finished, L=large, ADEN=port. Def = groaning.
42 TERMINUS – (though)T, MINUS=less, about ER=queen. Victoria is the example of a rail Terminus. Early on I stupidly bunged in TERMINAL, without thinking about the wordplay, and this cost a lot of time on 55A
46 HEPBURN – (urn)* = run, off, after HE=male, PB=lead. def = actress. A little bit of DbE here.
47 THRALL – TALL = unlikely, as in tall story. HR=short time, this always gets me, as I dont think of an hour as short, however it clearly refers to the shortening of the word, so I need to get over it.
49 GIMME – last letters (tips) of fenG shuI looM froM housE. Def = sitter. Nice lift and separate with “house sitter”
51 KULFI – I FLUK(e) = I very luckily obtain (short). reversed for the Indian ice cream – new word for me.
52 ZERO – HERO = leading character, initially changes to Z=last character. Def = Cipher.

7 comments on “Jumbo 951 – An Irish nationalist and an Old Field Marshall walk into a crossword puzzle……”

    1. You are absolutely right. That is clearly the intention, mine had a fairly surplus “who could”, but just about worked in a hazy lazy way.
    2. This may be obvious or not, but did the term twist in card games come from the character, ie “to ask for more” = to twist ? It would make sense if it had.
        1. sorry – another mistake. My shorthand for Definition by Example, which this isn’t as it is the wrong way around for that. Hepburn in the clue for the answer Actress, would be such. The only thing you could accuse this of would be a fairly generic definition, however in this case even that would be unfair.
  2. 41:31 here for an absolutely first-rate puzzle. My compliments to the setter.

    I read 41ac as a kind of double definition: “what’s a companion?” = ESCORT (as a noun); “what’s a companion to do?” = ESCORT (as a verb).

    I wasn’t too worried about 7dn, simply taking “Harry” = DOG followed by “‘s” = S.

  3. I thought this was a cracking puzzle. I read 30A as SW1 (Westminster) M = men’s foremost (1st letter) SUIT (clubs maybe)

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