Jumbo 899 – 27th Nov 2010

Author   7dpenguinPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
This puzzle was a cracker, one of the best ever. Almost every
clue has something admirable in it. If you haven’t solved it, get it
printed out and have a go – I promise you won’t be disappointed. After
30 minutes I had 5 clues left to solve (37,47,53a and 47,49d) I was
almost resigned to coming on here moaning about a really good puzzle
spoiled by a few obscure clues, but it turns out they were perfectly
ordinary words deviously clued (except 49d, which is a bit obscure but
still left no doubt as to what the answer was). I stuck with it and
limped in 9 minutes later.  The words “thanks setter” seem
somewhat inadequate.

Across
1 BASIC – Hidded
in almanaC
IS A Book reversed
4 BY TURNS – Y[e]T
in BURNS
8 NO-FLY ZONE
– NN (news)  around (FLOOZY)* then E. 
13 LONELIEST –  LT
(lieutenant) around ONE,LIES
14 DOOM MERCHANTS – DOER
(performer) around O,MM (zero,marks) then CHANTS
15 YARD-A,RM
16 ALL STAR
– LS (hollow LaughS) in ALTAR
17 LE HAVRE – HE
rev in LAV (throne room) RE (touching)
18 CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST
– slightly cryptic definition hinging on the interpretation of LEFT
21 DRAB – BARD
backwards
23 INAUDIBLE –  (A
DUBLIN)* in IE
25 CHEWED
– I thought this was a poor double def at first (Roughly cut ground)
but it’s C (circa) + HEWED.
26 GODS,ON – “The
gods” are the seats in the higher balconies in theatres
28 GUYS AND DOLLS
– (SOUNDS GLADLY)*
30 CALL IT A DAY
– CALL (drop by) I.T. (computing) AD (bill) AY (I agree)
33 GET UP STEAM – TEAM
following GET UP’S (elaborate kit’s)
34 WICKET MAIDEN  –
“first door on the left” is brilliant. It’s MAIDEN (first) with WICKET
(door) to its left
37 ENCODE
– CO in E[dwardia]N D[etectiv]E. My last one in and what a clue! “Maybe
turn to Morse and co to crack Edwardian detective’s cases”. “Maybe turn
to Morse” is the definition. 
39 CARUSO – last
letters of comiC operA foR impromptU basS altO
40 STOP PRESS – ST
(road) then OPPRESS (cow)
42 NO-NO – it
took me ages to work this one out, but it’s simply NOON with the last N
moved. (movement for one knight in time). N is the chess notation for
Knight (the King insisted on using K)
43 HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU – (YOUR
EIGHT WOVEN SOFA)* A topical news quiz on the BBC (show off box)
46 RHU,BARB –  RHU=”RUE”
. Another tremendous definition (this stick is to be swallowed)
47 SCAFELL – SAFE,LL
(liberals) around C(onservative). I was convinced that the defintition
was “not threatening” which probably added to my problems with solving
this. SCAFELL PIKE is the highest peak in England at a
majestic 3209 feet (978m)
48 LASSOED
– (DO SALES)* easy anagram but suberbly disguised def (“as stock is
restricted”)
50 CORPUS CHRISTI – COP
around R, then US,  (Agatha) CHRISTI[e]. A college of
Cambridge University
51 REMAINDER
– REMINDER (some jogging) around A
52 RURAL,DEAN
53 SKELTON – SKEL[e]TON.
John Skelton was born in 1460 so “old” probably describes him well
54 EXTRA
– EX (late) then TRA (“train stopping on a”) – marvellous
Down
1 BELLYACHING – BELL,
YACH[t]ING
2 SENOR – [d]RONES
reversed
3 CALL A SPADE A SPADE – (maria)
CALLAS + PAD (flat) then PAD (flat again) in EE (repeated note)
4 BEER MUG –  BE
ER MUG (act as Royal idiot). “Best” here refers to Best Bitter, beer
which is neither cold nor fizzy, exactly as it should be.
5 TETE A TETE
– TEAT (one getting sucked) in TEETE[r]
6 RED BLOOD CELL
– RED (Bourdeaux) BLOOD (initiate) CELL (“sell”). “Tiny air carrier” is
the def
7 SHORT LIVED – (TV
DO RELISH)*
8 NAMUR – NAM[e]
the RU (rugby union) reversed. Maybe obscure but the wordplay left
little doubt, so perfectly fair in my book.
9 FORMLESS
– FOR (backing) the L in MESS
10 YO HO HO – Every
other letter of NOAH SO CHOOSY reversed. How clever is that?
11 OMNIVORES
– OM = MO reversed (flash up) then (VERSION)*.. “We’d all scoff”
is yet another example of clever defining
12 EASTER BUNNY –  EASY
around (BUNTER)* + N
19 ANALYST
– sounds like “Anna List”
20 LIE BACK
– make it up (lie) to sponsor (back)
22 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
– NORTH (former PM) A MP,TONS,HIRE
24 BIDETS
– [ma]ID[en] in BETS
27 CLOTH,O – the
youngest of the Three Fates. Obscure for me but, again, perfectly
fairly clued
29 OXALATE – (A LOT + AXE)* As
Jimbo will no doubt know, it’s sometimes abbreviated as ox when a
ligand, is the dianion
with formula C2O42−
also written (COO)22−
31 DODDERY –  ODDER
in DY (back yard or YD rev)
32 BIT ON THE SIDE – BIT
(champ), ON THE SIDE (in the team). “Other relations” indeed!
33 GREENGROCER
– GREEN (place for putting) then “GROSSER”
35 NESSUN DORMA – (MESS
AROUND+N)*
36 SUNG,LASSES 
38 CONQUEROR – COn
(do) QUER[y] OR. “humbler” here being one who humbles
40 SMELL A RAT –  SMEAR
(calumny) + AT around LL (LibeL case)
41 BARBECUE
– BAR,BE,CUE (prompt). Even more inspired defining with “do out”
44 SOLOMON
– SOON around L[ots] O[f] M[eat]
45 SAMUEL – SAME,
L around U. The Old Testament contains Samuel 1 and Samuel 2
47 SIREN
– IRE in SN (tin in the periodic table of elements). This clue gave me
heaps of trouble but I have no idea why – I knew Sn = tin and IRE is
always crosswordese for “HEAT”. Perhaps the clue was too easy and I was
looking for something far more devious.
49 ON DIT
– IT with [sec]OND above it. “One says” in French. A really tricky clue
to finish off with.

8 comments on “Jumbo 899 – 27th Nov 2010”

  1. A beauty of a puzzle, indeed; and, although I had about 10 clues that I got right without understanding why, after reading the elegant explanation above, I can’t find anything to quibble about. CODs abounding.But I don’t get OM=flash up; do tell me it’s British (ideally a cricket term).
    1. A “mo” is a colloquial and “chiefly British” short time period – short for “moment”. I can’t think of a sentence where “mo” and “flash” can be swapped really convincingly, but the meaning seems close enough.
      1. ‘I’ll be there in a mo/flash’ are close enough. I suppose ‘flash’ would generally be understood as that bit quicker than ‘mo’ by most people semantically, but since the expression works more as a general assurance than as a prediction of arrival time, it scarcely matters in pragmatic terms.
  2. Thanks, Peter, although I wish I hadn’t asked; I know ‘mo’, have known it for years, I was just too dull to think of the right sense of ‘flash’. Yet another ‘senior moment’, cryptic division.
  3. Was lured in by the promise of great things and enjoyed the experience of just my second Jumbo, I believe. Needed aids on 5 clues to finish, including the last one in, GODSON, which was good. Particularly liked the ‘vessel’ clues, YO-HO-HO and BIDETS.
  4. Yes indeed, a fine effort this one.. by both setter and blogger. I always appreciate the extra efforts needed by both in respect of jumbos.

    COD to yohoho, just look at that clue construction.

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