May I be the first to wish all Jumbo solvers a Happy New Year!
It had to come! I didn’t enjoy this one at all and the 1hr 10 minutes it took seemed like time wasted rather than time enjoyed. Usually a crossword that takes me around twice as long as average to complete is jam-packed full of chicanery, but this one seemed to be difficult just for difficulty’s sake and was jam-packed full of arcanery. There also seemed to be a lot of clues that had words which didn’t have any purpose. Perhaps it’s just me. Perhaps it was your favourite of the year so far 😉 Let me know
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | JACOBEAN – A COB in JEAN, a random woman |
| 5 | GANDER – two defs one being slang for “look” |
| 9 | ANANIAS – I in ANANAS. Our first venture into obscurity. Ananias was one of Jesus’ disciples who was struck dead keeping back some of his property when he was supposed to give all of it away. Ananas are what most people around the world call the pineapple. When I see it written on a box, I like to prefix it with a B to confuse the shopkeeper |
| 14 | PRO,CREATIVE |
| 15 | WITCH DOCTOR – WITCH being “which” and DOCTOR being Who, for example |
| 16 |
THEME – two definitions, one buried in one of the darker corners of the dictionary. Perhaps everybody but me knows that a burden is the main theme, especially of a book or speech. The other refers to musical variations on a theme |
| 17 |
NAUTILI – NAIL,1 around [o]UT. One got from wordplay. They’re sea creatures related to squid and octopusses. A bit obscure but the word play made it gettable and “nautilus” rang a few seafaring bells in my head. |
| 18 | OVERTHROW – OW (that hurts) after OVERT HR |
| 19 | RETREAT – 2 defs, one of them should be seen as Re-treat |
| 20 | CHAPTER AND VERSE – CHAPTER (Cathedral clergy) then N in ADVERSE. I can’t find a use for the word “location” here. Can you? |
| 22 | THROUGHOUT – sounds like “threw out” |
| 23 | LEASED – [p]LEASED |
| 25 | LOBE – L,OBE (royal recognition) one of my final three but for no good reason |
| 28 | FILLING STATION – two definitions, one whimsical. Dentist’s | place visited by Americans for gas? |
| 30 | ESCALLOP – POSE rev around CALL.I’ve only heard of the “slice of meat” escallop, but this one is also what I know only as a scallop, unless it’s an altogether different bivalve mollusc |
| 32 | EXORDIAL – EX,OR,DIAL . “old soldiers face” is wonderfully succinct |
| 34 | BACTERIOLOGIST – (REACT)* in BIOLOGIST |
| 37 | HEMP – P[olice] after HEM |
| 38 | NONAGE – (ONE)* around NAG |
| 39 | GILBERTIAN – (TRIAL BEING)* One of the few facts about old music I know is that Trial By Jury is a comic opera by Gilbert O’Sullivan, probably written when he was having a rest from writing Clair and Alone Again (Naturally) |
| 43 | WEATHERBOARDING – WEATHER = “whether” (if) + BOARDING (getting on). Another unused word , “required”, probably wasn’t |
| 45 | BACKERS – is it me? “Angels coping with reverses?”. An angel is a financial backer and reverses means backs but what’s going on? The surface doesn’t even make a lot of sense. |
| 47 | ETIQUETTE – QUE (in France that) in E,TITTE[r] |
| 49 | DECANAL – CAN in DEAL. One I wasn’t sure of, not helped by the vagueness of “coastal town” for DEAL and not having met DECANAL before. |
| 51 | EXCEL – EX,CEL[l] |
| 52 | SINFONIETTA – (IF IT’S A NONET)*. Another old music term I’ve heard of. I must be doing too many crosswords! |
| 53 | POLYTECHNIC – (HELP ON CITY)* + C[ampus]. “Needing” in the clue isn’t doing much other than helping with the surface |
| 54 | PALETTE – LET in PATÉ |
| 55 | YONDER – hidden in activitY ON DERwent |
| 56 | ADHERENT – AD,HER,ENT (eatr, nose and throat) |
|
|
|
| Down | |
| 1 | JUPITER – UP,IT in JER[sey]. Can we start a campaign to ban the use of “appeal” to clue IT and SA? |
| 2 | CHOLESTEROL – (COOL SHELTER)* cholesterol is an important constituent of all cell membranes, though some of us may have a little more than we’d like. |
| 3 | BORDEREAU – ORDER in BEAU. Another word from the darkest recesses. It’s a detailed note or memorandum of account |
| 4 | AGAINST THE GRAIN – two defs, one making me smile – “joiners sometimes saw this….” |
| 6 | AMERICAN – A MERCIAN (kinsman of Offa) with the I raised. “Like Garfield?” is the rather inadequate definition. It’s not just the cat, he was a US president for about 6 months. I wonder why the setter chose to use Garfield; it doesn’t really sit well with the rest of the clue and makes a bit of a nonsense surface. |
| 7 | DOWN IN THE MOUTH – the last clue was difficult, this was ludicrously easy. “where tall orthodontists may look dejected”. I ask you! |
| 8 | RETROGRESS – RR (rights) around ET (film), then OGRESS |
| 9 | ACHAEAN – A in ACHE + AN. Another silly word. It’s an inhabitant of ACHAEA |
| 10 | AFOOT – A OT (book) around FO (foreign office) |
| 11 | INTERTRIBAL – I can’t see anything remotely cryptic in this clue. “Like the relationship between Dan and Benjamin?” Dan and Benjamin were two of Jacob’s 12 sons, each being a patriarch of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. So it’s a definition only relying on biblical knowledge. It was the only word I could think of to fit I?T?R?R?B?L. Shocking clue. |
| 12 | SCRAWLER – S,CRAWLER. Is society OK for S? Is it really? Cue the “it’s in Chambers” brigade |
| 13 | LIE,U |
| 20 | CRUSTY – two defs, bloomer here being a loaf of bread. |
| 21 | VOLCANO – VOL (book) then CA (chartered accountant) then ON (just after) rising. Another unused “required” has been dropped in the clue. |
| 22 | TOFFEE – “the incompetent can’t do it for this” was a nice definition. |
| 24 | DISCOMBOBULATED – are you ready? It’s MB (doctor) then { LATE (recently) surrounded by O[ld] BUD (friend) } and all this follows DISCO (party). I do like a jigsaw clue |
| 26 | AT DAGGERS DRAWN – (GRANDAD GETS WAR)* – Wound for the anagram indicator was nicely done. |
| 27 | SPOT ON – I couldn’t see how this worked for a long time but “what the leading actor may have” is SPOT(light) ON. Extremely good clue. |
| 29 | IN DEPT,H |
| 31 | TRYING – two definitions, one seemingly put there just for obscurity’s sake. Have we all heard of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr? Wikipedia says he was an American judge and who am I to argue |
| 33 | OPERATIONAL – E (uropean) _ oRgAn in OPTIONAL |
| 35 | IRIDESCENCE – I RIDE then C (about) in SCENE. The word “viewing” is without discernible function |
| 36 | INNOCENTLY – IN then CENT in (ONLY)* |
| 40 | RECHERCHE – “on guerrilla leader repeatedly” is RE CHE, RE CHE then one point (E) is missing |
| 41 | SWEETSOP – SWEET SHOP (where rock may be obtained) without H. |
| 42 | DISCIPLE – DI’S + PIC reversed the LE. More biblical knowledge and more obscurity for the sake of it. Thaddeus is another of Jesus’ disciples, probably better know as Jude. So I suppose Thaddeus could be Jude The Obscure |
| 44 | RATLINE – TAR climbing + LINE. A ratline is a short horizontal rope used for climbing the rigging |
| 46 | SO,LICIT |
| 48 | U BOAT – O (duck) in U (posh) BAT (club). |
| 50 | NELL – sounds like “knell”. Miss Trent here is Nell Trent, a character in The Old Curiosity Shop. ’nuff said. |
9ac Ananias is a standard for ‘liar’ (as theologians would say a type of liar), one of those Biblical names (like Methusaleh or Jezebel) that have come to be used almost as common nouns.(He shows up often enough in the NY Times crossword as the clue to, or the solution for, ‘liar’)
20ac To cite something chapter and verse is to cite the specific location of a Biblical text (or by extension, law, regulation, etc.)
9d ‘Achaean’ shows up throughout the Iliad and Odyssey to mean the Greeks; hardly silly.
31d Holmes was a justice of the US Supreme Court, and one of the major American jurists of the 20th century. Of course, if you’re not American, I suppose he’s pretty obscure; say, like Campbell-Bannerman or Lord Acton for a Yank such as I. Nice to have the odds reversed for once!