Times Jumbo 906 – Saturday January 8th.

Author   fathippy2Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
This is my first offering so please be gentle! I am sure this was a fairly straightforward jumbo, however knowing that I had to blog it and making sure there were no howlers dragged it over three sessions so perhaps 90 minutes in total. It is hard to gauge exact times on the weekend when there is sport on TV as I often find I have been gazing elsewhere for minutes on end!

Across
1 QUILL – quell=put down, with the heart changed from e to i.
4 HARMONIUMS – HARM=injury, then (in sumo)*, slightly cryptic definition hinting at sports teams not musical instruments. Whilst the anglicized plural …UMS is clearly commonplace, should it not really be HARMONIA ?
9 TAXMAN – X=cross MA=parent in TAN=beat
14 IN AS FAR AS – I (ca)N AS,AS=likes FAR=a great deal. In speed mode earlier on stuck in IN SO FAR AS, so 2d was tricky for a bit.
15 CRY BLUE MURDER – slightly weak cryptic from Mrs Peacock who is the blue murder suspect in Cluedo.
16 CULPRIT – P(oo)R,I inside CULT=group, definition=offender
17 THRILLERS – def=”They grip”, H(ard)R(ight) inside TILLERS=helms
18 NIAMH – couldn’t tell you how to pronounce it but it is MAIN=leading, backwards,then H=horse.
19 JAMES CALLAGHAN – JA = germany’s agreed, then (a small change)* , definition PM. Thought this was a nicely concise surface for the wordplay & def.
22 NOSE OUT – one of the weaker ones for me, NOSE=bouquet, OUT=in bloom.
25 TARTAN ARMY – TART=bitter, ARM=prepare to fight cutting ANY=no matter what – Scotlands version of the Barmy Army
27 IMPULSE BUYER – (my pub leisure)* – a nice surface with complex as the anagrind.
30 EWELL – reverse engineered clue, where FAR (RAF reversed) plus the answer = FAREWELL = send-off. For me the “would” spoils the surface, and makes the word play clearer, “Gets” may have sufficed?
31 ANNUALLY – ANN=girl, U=posh, ALLY=mate=china, slightly cryptic def “as christmas is coming”
32 SELLABLE – SABLE=black, ELL=a certain length, Belts used as the contind(??!) works nicely with flogging for sales.
35 ALSATIAN – (Latin as a)* . Nuff said.
36 BASSANIO – AB=seaman turning=BA, then (O=round, IN A, SS=vessel) all “from the east”. Struggled on this due to lack of Shakespearian nous.
37 YALTA – choppY seA wilL affecT flotillA – all the last letters for the port in Ukraine, or, if you are a separatist, the autonomous republic of Crimea!
39 CARPENTER BEE – CARP=moan, ENTER=put in, BEE(f)=complaint less fine. This is what it looks like!
41 POSTAL VOTE – Cryptic definition, with cross being the vote and the sack being the postman’s.
43 SAN JOSE – tricky to break this down at first glance – JOS(h)=kid, almost, inside SANE=with marbles. Great misleading surface.
45 ZOOLOGICAL PARK – Z=unknown, OO=old couple, PARK=stop and leave, LOGICAL=hanging together, with bottles as the contind (there- I will keep using it!)
48 FAUNA – homophone of FAWNER=one creepy-crawly.
49 ACQUIESCE – ACQUIRE=get, with ESC replacing (hou)R. Def=to play ball.
51 MR RIGHT – RR=run twice in MIGHT=power.
53 VICE PRESIDENT – somewhat of a chestnut this one. VICE=corruption, P=quiet, RESIDENT=living
54 AMAZONIAN – AMAZ(e)=stagger endlessly, ON IN around A=area. Def=”of rainforest”
55 RED BOX – RED=cardinal, BOX=fight. The case for minister can be seen here
56 ??? – just coming to the end of the acrosses and realised I hadn’t omitted anything – so now I have!
57 YOGIC – mY lOnG pIeCe – def=”of mediatation”

Down
1 QUINCE – a guess on the dramatist for me, but here he is.
2 IN ALL FAIRNESS – IN=popular, (rallies fans)*
3 LIFER – porridge=time in jail, REFIL(l)=not finishing second helping, up=reversed.
4 HERETIC – HERE=you may take it TIC(k)=sucker curtailed, def=someone with controversial views.
5 RESETTLEMENT – RENT=charge, around SETTLE=square(as in a bill) & ME. I didn’t know Prison Officers did this, but now I do!
6 OK CORRAL – reverse hidden in popuLAR ROCK Opera.
7 IDYLL – I=one, then (L=pound, pLaYeD) all reversed. I always thought IDYLLs were rustic or pastoral, but I guess that they were generally blissful, and the adjective idyllic certainly suggests this.
8 MILLENNIUM – MUM=parent, welcoming (IN=home, NELL=orphan girl, I=one) all over. Def=age.
10 AQUINAS – A QU=question, INA’s=”of girl”. Def=saint.
11 MEDIATORY – MEDIA=press, TO, RY=railway
12 ????? – omitted – this is another old chestnut.
13 PEASANTS REVOLT – PET=sulk, outside AS, ANT=soldier, perhaps, LOVERS=fans mounting. Good use of perhaps to allay any DbE concerns!
20 EPAULETTE – (plea tutee)*
21 HUMBLEST – HUM=purr, BLEST=once happy.
23 TARGET AREA – TAR=pitch, GET=become, AREA=homophone for airier=draughtier. Slightly cryptic def for arsenal meaning weapons
24 UTTERANCES – UTTER=perfect, (fr)ANCES=girl with father lost. Def=words.
26 A DAY AT THE RACES – Marx brothers film and Queen album!
28 BELLYFLOP – (LP by fellow)*
29 SARAJEVO – reverse hidden – abOVE JAR ASsorted. Def=place.
33 BALLOT RIGGING – B=second rate, RIGGING=support system, ALLOT=give out. Nice definition of “Fixed casting”.
34 ANTONINE WALL – (want all in one)*. The less famous version of Hadrians Wall a little further north.
38 CRAZY QUILT – CRAZY=one out to lunch, QUI=who french, LT=officer.
40 RENOUNCED – OUNCE=cat (a xwd staple) with REND=tear outside.
42 HOUSETOP – USE=exploit, captured by (photo)*
44 ON APPRO – O=love, NAP=sleep, PRO=hooker. Not come across the phrase, but ON APPROVAL made sense.
46 ARMBAND – ARM(y)=military briefly, BAND=homophone for banned=forbade. Def = Ring for captain.
47 ETHNIC – N=any number in ETHIC= moral principle. Def = “of people”
48 FIVER – REV=minister + IF=in case, turning to get the clevely misleading “paper ready”- hence a fiver.
50 ILEAC – oIl and bLEACh (the middle letters thereof) gives a definition “of tube in body” – the tube being the ileum.
52 ROOMY – ROO=hopper, M(ainl)Y = mainly outside. Def=”having big space”

4 comments on “Times Jumbo 906 – Saturday January 8th.”

  1. Nice job. I took about 40 minutes for this one, but without any distractions, as I did it on the train.
  2. Great puzzle, 98 mins to solve. Think it might have a pangram. Thought 31A might be referring to “Christmas comes but once a year”. NIAMH is pronounced nee-av as in need and have
  3. Welcome fathippy to the strange world of Jumbo blogging. I cetainly didn’t find this an easy one but I did thoroughly enjoy it. In the end my stopwatch said 0:00:00 so I was either lightening fast or I forgot to press the start button. Biggest a-ha moment for me was POSTAL VOTE which I thought was an excellent clue. As usual, my last few accounted for a huge proportion of my total. My last in was OK CORRAL, I didn’t see the reversed hidden and it didn’t really dawn on me that a 2 letter word beginning with O could be OK. Well done to both setter and blogger
  4. Welcome aboard, Fathippy.. I didn’t find much to say about this jumbo, a steady unspectacular solve with no particular difficulty. I tend not to time jumbos as I do bits here and there when time permits, but this was quicker than average.

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