Now and again you’re lucky enough to get a Jumbo to blog which is as good as this one. Taking 1hr 10mins it ranks as one of the most difficult Jumbos ever but it was worth every second. Like all things worth doing, there were times when I considered giving up and wasn’t enjoying it at all (At one point I hadn’t written anything at all in for about 10 minutes). Eventually though, things started to fall into place again and in the end, I was really glad that I stuck with it. There seemed to be a theme with his puzzle with a huge number of insertion and enclosure clues. Huge thanks to the setter for this one.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MOTHBALLS – BOTH MALLS with the initial swapped. . An excellent start |
| 6 | SICK AS A PARROT – “when a copy” leading to AS A PARROT |
| 13 | NEEPS – SP (odds) then last letters od pilE we’vE throwN, all reversed. Neeps are the Scottish word for turnips, but a Scottish turnip is what everyone else calls a swede. I don’t know what the Scots call turnips. It’s the traditional accompaniment to haggis and tatties. |
| 14 | NECTARINE – 1 in (ENTRANCE)* |
| 15 | LIAISON – L(eft) , 1, A1,SON |
| 16 | THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL – GAOL (stir) after THE BALL AD OF READING (university’s promotion of dance) – excellent stuff |
| 18 | BOYISHLY – IS in (BY HOLY)* embraces cleverly used as the insertion indicator |
| 20 | DEFENDER – FED (given ball) reversed then ENDER (closer) |
| 21 | MINIM – included in favouritisM IN IMpassioned. We’ve just had embraces as an inserticator, now we have “hugs”. What a romantic fool this setter is! |
| 23 | NO DICE – NOD (green light) then ICE (diamonds) |
| 24 | SLEIGH – this one may be wrong as I have no idea how it works. “Something to be heaved across pole, not river?”. Scrap that. After more head-scratching I’ve got it. “Something to be heaved”=SIGH ,as in heave a sigh of relief. That’s around POLE minus PO (not river)= LE. It then works as an almost &lit (all in one) |
| 25 | BUS TICKET – BET (chance) to hold U (posh), STICK (baton). Nice theme here to link in with the “Conductor used to offer this” def. |
| 28 | SCALE MODEL – SCALE (go up) , MODEL (ideal). What a staggeringly good definition, “proportional representation” |
| 29 | STUN – T[he] in SUN (a UK daily “news”paper). “Rounds” is this clue’s container indicator |
| 30 | LUDOVIC – (LOUD)* then V 1 (a flying bomb) then C[ape], Ludovic Kennedy was a British journalist and broadcaster. More clever stuff requiring Cape Kennedy to be separated |
| 32 | H,AIR,CUT – another great def, “less of a shock after this” |
| 34 | UNIT – TIN (can) then U[nfasten] reversed. “One” is the def and wheels the reversal indicator. |
| 35 | CORNISHMAN – IS H.M. (the queen) in COR (my) NAN (granny). Cornwall is the southwestermost county in England hence Sou’wester. I’ll be seeing a few Cornishmen in the next couple of weeks as I’ll be on holiday there. Hopefully I won’t be needing a sou’wester. |
| 38 | BUSHWHACK – BU[t] , SH (quiet) WHACK (allotment) |
| 39 | LIEBIG – LIE (concoction) then BIG (Major). An agricultural scientist. I was relieved to have got this one right. |
| 40 | JUICED – JU (JUst half) , ICED. I suppose “dried fruit maybe” just about qualifies as a fair definition |
| 43 | RUFUS – sounds like “ROOF US”. William II was nicknamed Rufus because of his red face |
| 45 | SUBGROUP – R (resistance) in GO UP (rise) after SUB (membership fee, subscription) |
| 47 | KNEE,SUP |
| 49 | PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION – the ONLY old music fact I know is that this was written by Mussorgsky. I knew it because I was asked the question in a pub quiz in the early 80s. I don’t know why but they laughed at me when I answered Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I’ve been waiting for this to crop up again ever since and what happens? The setter only goes and uses his first name (Modest) so I didn’t know it again. There’s only a bit of wordplay going on here, it’s A TAN in PICTURES (film’s) and EXHIBITION (showing) |
| 52 | ALCOHOL – COHO in ALL. Coho is an unknown-to-me salmon, but the clue was easy enough |
| 53 | AMUSINGLY – A,M (motorway) U (about turn) SINGLY (one by one) |
| 54 | ON CUE – Oz isn’t Australia, it’s OUNCE that has United “coming only fourth). I can’t really see what “only” is doing here other than to improve the surface but, hey, who cares. |
| 55 | DIPLOMATIC BAG – claim here as in the verb “to bag” |
| 56 | NEEDS MUST – ([ol]D SET MENUS)* |
|
Well, that’s the acrosses polished off and what a mighty fine set of acrosses they were. Let’s see if the downs can match them. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | MANITOBAN – MANIA + N(ew) around TO + B[e] (be curtailed) . More for you collectors of surroundicators, this time “clothing” |
| 2 | THE VERY IDEA – EVERY IDE in THA[t]. Where would our setters be without their favourite fish, the ide |
| 3 | BASRA – included backwards in feARS A Bloodbath |
| 4 | LENT LILY – LENT (expecting return – really clever) + LILY (girl). I couldn’t think what could posisbly fit with L?N? and almost settled for LAND. Thankfully it dawned on me just in time |
| 5 | SECEDE – first and last letters of StrikE CausE DirectivE |
| 6 | SNAFFLE BIT – SNAFFLE from appropriate, as in steal |
| 7 | CHINESE WHITE – (ITCHES IE WHEN)*. It’s a pigment used in making white ink. I’d never heard of it but the anagram made it pefectly accessible |
| 8 | AMENDED – PM in the clue post meridian, not Prime Minister. So when PM arrives, AM ENDED |
| 9 | ALL-IN WRESTLING – ALL IN (spent) + L (pounds) around WREST (prize, think prise) then IN, G(rand) |
| 10 | AMALGAM – A MAL[e] GAM[e] |
| 11 | RASKOLNIKOV – (RIVAL SOON + KK)* I . A character in Crime & Punishment. Not too keen on this. Dostoyevsky, fair enough, Crime & Punishment, fair enough, but a character in Dostoyevsky’s Crime & Punishment is going a bit too far methinks. Still gettable though with all the checkers and friendly-ish wordplay and deciding what the most likely way to fit in the rest of the letters is. |
| 12 | TANK – I think this must be a triple def but I can only work out two. We have “one has gun” and “place for petrol” but how does “bomb” work? Any ideas? |
| 17 | EMOTICON – [peopl]E then C(hapter) in MOTION (not still). The clue uses Smiley’s People to cunningly distract us |
| 19 | SACRED COW – SAW (dated, as in “are you still dating/seeing her?”) around CRED (reputation) + CO (firm). I think the idea must be an all-in-one but I can’t really see a sacred cow being “One that’s dated, holiding reputation firm?” Is it me? |
| 22 | BLUE FUNK – (FUEL)* in BUNK. My last one in. I tried all kinds of “bed” words with a jumble of FUEL in them. Having ?U?K as the last word and an F to fit in somewhere and thinking DECK may be the bed in question, I got a little worried at one point |
| 25 | BONHOMIE – IE after BOOM around NH (state, New Hampshire) |
| 26 | IN DISPUTE – [m]INDE[r] around 1’S PUT |
| 27 | SOUTH AUSTRALIA – (HOT AIRS USUAL AT)* |
| 28 | SCHUBERT – sounds like “SHOE” then BERT[h] |
| 31 | MILLERS THUMB – THUMB (finger) after MILERS (runners) crossing L[ine]. A fish I’ve never heard of. It’s a type of sculpin, a fish I’ve never heard of. I have no prolems with anything I’ve never heard of as long a the setter gives me a chance with the wordplay, as here |
| 33 | IT’S A FAIR COP – ASTI reversed + COP (busy, a slang word for the police, especially in Liverpool) around FAIR (exhibition) |
| 36 | MACHU PICCHU – (A HICUUP MUCH)*. The famous high up Incan site that somehow always looks like it’s spelt wrongly |
| 37 | SEQUENCING – SE[a] (water endlessly) then QUENC[h]ING (extinguishing) |
| 41 | DISINFECT – DI’S (girl’s) then IN FECT (how posh people say IN FACT). I speak with a strangely rhotic accent that makes me think that a lot of homophones don’t work, but this one was an absolute corker and made me LOL, as us young texters would say. |
| 42 | ANTITYPE – A [e]NTITY + PE |
| 44 | SATCHMO – SA (appeal) TO around CH (church) M (ass) |
| 46 | BASMATI – BAS (graduates) + MAT (tangle) + 1 |
| 48 | OXYGEN – Y[oun]G on OXEN. The definition is the minimalistic “O” |
| 50 | IRONS – two meanings referring to eating irons and clapped in irons. |
| 51 | BAWD – W (woman <- that’s opening) in BAD. Cracking &lit to finish, “Woman that’s opening immoral houses”. Although BAWDY is in common use I was unsure of BAWD, but it’s a woman who is paid for sexual favours. |
The only query I had was “To divert” = AMUSINGLY; but now I can see a possible commutation. “He did X to divert/entertain (implied Y)”. So … OK I guess.
Only knew the other meaning of BUSHWHACK, so there’s a bit of correction fluid blotting that one. And equally unconvinced by SACRED COW.