Jumbo 935 (23rd July)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
I’m posting this on Dave Perry’s behalf as he’s currently on a beach in Greece.

Time: 1:15:09 according to the official timer, but I spent about 20 minutes looking at a paper copy before I started, so probably more like an hour and a half in total.

I needed aids to finish off a couple at the end – NEMATODE & TIPPET, and I don’t think I could have got them otherwise, no matter how long I spent on them. All my other comments, I’ve made against the individual clues. I may have been a bit picky in places, so sorry about that.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 BROAD’S WORD
6 OSSIFICATION = (I’S + SO) rev + FICTION about A
14 OR + A + T(O)RIOS – a trio being a musical work for a group of three musicians, as well as the group itself
15 A + GATE – the dictionary lists under ‘gate’: North England and Scot. habitual manner or way of acting.
16 aLI(A,I)SON
17 DRIVE A HARD BARGAIN = (HARD + BAR) in (VERDI)* + AGAIN – ‘bit’ = BAR as in the metal bar that goes in a horse’s mouth, I assume
18 O(BE)AHu – tricky one this. You need to have heard of either the kind of witchcraft or the Hawaiian island to have a chance. I didn’t know the witchcraft, although I have come across obi before. But Oahu should be fairly familiar as the location of the capital, Honolulu.
19 TA + MP + I + ON – A muzzle or plug for a gun, usually artillery. I didn’t know the word, and ‘after’ = ON had me confused for a while, but the etymology is the same as for tampon, a more familiar plug, so it wasn’t much of a stretch.
21 MO + T + O(W)N – ‘leg’ = ON in the cricketing sense
22 PEDESTAL – it took me an age to parse this. I think it’s PL (platoon) about E (a quarter) + DES (of the French) + TA (army). I’ve not come across PL as an abbreviation for platoon before, so I wasn’t expecting it, and I don’t like ‘the’ in ‘of the French’ – I doesn’t seem to serve any purpose. It is misleading, if not wrong, in the wordplay, and adds nothing to the surface. I thought ‘a quarter of the French’ was going to be EST for a while and was trying to justify ‘platoon’ = PEDAL somehow.
24 EELPOUT = “‘E’LL POUT” – Another obscure word, this one is a fish.
26 SO(C(I)AB)LE
27 TRITON = “TRY” + TO + N – The largest (by far) of Neptune’s 13 moons. In fact it has about 300 times the mass of all the other 12 put together. It’s also notable for being the only significant moon in the solar system to have a retrograde orbit, i.e. one that goes in the opposite direction to that of the planet’s rotation.
30 MAINTOPSAIL = MA + IN + (AS PILOT)*
32 KITCHENWARE = (RACKET WHEN I)*
33 S + TICKLE + BACK – apparently if you reach in to the water and stroke a trout gently on the belly, it goes into a sort of trance allowing you to easily scoop it up. This was a technique often used by poachers. I remember reading this as a lad in Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World, and it clearly stuck with me.
35 BRAIN-TEASER = RE removed from BRAINTREE + AS + ER. I’m originally from Essex, so the town of Braintree was quite familiar to me, but I can imagine that others, particularly overseas solvers, might have a little more trouble.
37 R(AD)IAL – The Rial being the unit of currency in Iran. Ready as a slang term for cash is quite a common device in these crosswords.
38 NEMATODE = (MADE NOTE)* – another obscurity and a poor clue, I thought. The consonants could go in pretty much any order, so if you don’t know this fairly uncommon word, you’re a bit stuck.
39 CHEKHOV = “CHEQUE OFF” – Uncle Vanya being a play by Anton Chekhov
42 droNE ON AT A Lecture – hidden
44 CITRON = “SIT” + Rest + ON
46 PROSPERo – The Duke of Milan in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
48 BATIK = KIT + AB all rev – A traditional method of textile decoration from Java. I didn’t know the word, but the wordplay was clear enough.
49 LAUGH UP ONE’S SLEEVE – dd
51 AGELESS = (E + LEG) rev in ASS
52 S(WED)E – I didn’t know the playwright, but the wordplay made it obvious
53 GUATEMALA = A + LA + MET + AUG all rev
54 DI(LETT + ANTI)SH – Lett being an archaic word for Latvian
55 INVESTMENT – dd, the second of which is listed as rare
Down
1 BLOODSTREAM = (MODEL BOATS)* about R
2 OK + A + PI
3 DUO(DEC I)MO – this had me stuck for a while, but as soon as I realised that ‘start of last month’ was going to be DECI rather than just D, the rest came straight away.
4 WEIGH-IN = “WAY-IN”, although my first thought when I read the clue was about shorts!
5 ROSTRUM = OR rev + STRUM
7 S + PAR(ROW + HAW)K – the definition being ‘it predates’ or acts as a predator.
8 ICE-CAP = I.E. + CAP about deCember
9 INLANDER = ISLANDER with N for S – with no checker for the second letter, I had to think carefully about which word was required. Some may slip up here.
10 ANA + TO + LE + FRANCE – Ana for ‘stories’ has cropped up several times before, but I didn’t particularly like ‘article’ for LE. The setter seems to be relying on its meer proximity to the word FRANCE to imply that it’s in french which seems a bit of a stretch.
11 INSPECT = INSECT about airPort
12 NON-CH(A + L)ANCE – Is non-chance a real term for no accident? I couldn’t find it listed anywhere. And ‘no’ = NON on its own doesn’t quite seem to work either. I think I’m just in a picky mood today.
13 SABBATICAL = (A BALTIC BASE)* with privatE removed
20 MOLLIFIED = wIvEs in (OLD FILM)*
23 FLAT + MATE
25 TIPPET = “TIPPETT” – I needed aids for this one as I didn’t know the scarf or the composer
26 SEA + FARE + Restaurant – although I tried to make SEASONER work for a while
28 TRANSSHIP = (THIN SPARS)*
29 P(H + ON)IC
31 TAKE ABACK + SEAT
33 SPRING + BOARD
34 KNAVISHNESS – dd, the first being cryptic, playing on a knave being a jack in a pack of cards
35 BIOGRAPHER – cd
36 REV + ER(BE)RANT
40 E + MOLL + IE + NoT
41 BAL(LIST)A – Lake Bala being the largest natural lake in Wales, and a defintion of ‘list’ that I wasn’t aware of – a border, or bordering strip, usually of cloth. I got this from the definition alone, and needed aids to break it down.
43 O + AT + MEAL
45 NONAGON = ON rev + NAG + ON
46 P(ASS)AGE
47 SUN + SET
50 ER(A)SE – Alexander Selkirk was the marooned Scotsman who probably acted as the inspiration for Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and as such presumably spoke Scots Gaelic, or Erse.

13 comments on “Jumbo 935 (23rd July)”

  1. I think 24ac is EELPOUT, a slightly less obscure fishy.. since tippet is correct (a familiar word to we fans of “The Tailor of Gloucester”) I assume it is just a typo, Dave
    1. Yes, I put EELPOUT in my grid, so I don’t know where EELMOPE came from. I think it may have been an earlier guess before I had the checking T. I would change the blog, but I can’t because Andy posted it on my behalf.
  2. 99 minutes, fairly fast for me. We had TIPPET in some form the other day, at least his name came up in the discussion; otherwise I might not have got this so quickly, although I did know the scarf; and that gave me the barely known EELPOUT. NEMATODE I remember from 8th-grade biology. And there’s a Braintree in Massachusetts (I’d never heard of the Essex one, but as with most New England names of non-Indian origin, I’d assumed it must be named after an English original.) Although ‘ana’ =collection of stories pops up all too often in the NY Times puzzles, I didn’t care for its use in 10d; since by that time I had figured out ANATOLE FRANCE (still remember a scene where the narrator’s slum apartment is being taken over by cockroaches) , I didn’t notice the vagueness of ‘article’; still since ‘his country’ is France, …
  3. It occurred to me at the time, and I just remembered, to think that 50d has two possible solutions: A in ERSE, or A in AlexandER SElkirk; would that be a legitimate hidden?
    1. I like your idea of ERSE hidden in AlexandER SElkirk, Kevin. I was worried that, as a native of Fife, he wouldn’t have spoken Erse, but your suggestion resolves the problem.

      I also came to the same conclusion as you about BAR (as in music) and GATE (as in, for example, Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate in York). I’m not too familiar with Scandinavian street names, but, now I come to think of it, GATE is of course related to the German Gasse meaning “a lane”. (Doh! Why had I never spotted that connection before?)

    2. Times Cryptic No. 23,702 (10 Sept 2007), 2dn: “Alexander Selkirk’s language (4)”. Answer – you guessed it.
  4. I should get myself organized; but anyway, 17ac: I took ‘difficult bit’ to =hard bar, as in music. And ‘gate’ shows up in street names in the North (cognate to the ‘gade’ in Scandinavian street names).
  5. Just a minor correction, I think?
    aLI(A,I)SON The I should be inserted for “current”.
    Regards,
    Adrian Cobb

    P.S. How do I become non-anonymous?

  6. I should have waited ’til I’d finished!
    24 ac should read “eelpout”.
    Adrian Cobb
    (but still anon)
  7. 20:47 for me for a pretty straightforward puzzle.

    I too wasted a little time wanting “a quarter of the French” in 22ac to be EST.

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