Times Cryptic Jumbo 1716 – an elf, an imp, an emu and a lion walk into a bar

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic

A perfectly acceptable puzzle of middling difficulty.  I can’t fully explain 38d.

First in was CAPER and last was REPETITEUR.

There seemed to be a lot of first and last letter shennanigans, but I did like some of the elements in the charade clues.

If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation.

The technical stuff:

Clues are in blue (unless you’re in dark mode) with the definition underlined.  Anagram indicators are in bold italics.

Notation:

DD: Double definition
CD: Cryptic definition
DDCDH: DD/CD hybrid where a straight definition is combined with a cryptic hint.

&Lit: “all in one” where the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.

(fodder)* denotes an anagram of the letters in the brackets.

Rounded brackets are also used to add further clarity

Squiggly brackets {} indicate parts of a word not used

Deletions are struck out

Square brackets [] expand an abbreviation or shortening like C[irc]A

If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation.

Across
1 Lark about with half-hearted nobleman (5)
CAPER – C[irc]A, PEeR
4 Full coverage of planet circling towards moon (10)
SATURATION – SATURN around AT IO
9 Help fool start to succeed in Congress (6)
ASSIST – ASS, S{ucceed} in IT (sex)
14 Very high key’s what ends Callas, if you ask me (9)
ALTISSIMO – ALT IS (computer key’s), {Calla}S, I[n] M[y] O[pinion]
15 Mass decree getting disorderly fellows the booze (5,2,6)
CREME DE MENTHE – (M[ass] decree)*, MEN, THE
16 Strain to bite around seed in salad (4,3)
PINE NUT – TUNE NIP reversed
17 FC shared a redesigned piece of apparel (9)
HEADSCARF – (fc shared a)*
18 Short shirt covers ribs, but not guts? (5)
TERSE – TEE around RibS
19 Trendy doll with rotating arm grasps bits of food (7,7)
CHICKEN NUGGETS – CHIC, KEN, reversal of GUN, GETS.  The first of three charade clues I particularly liked.
22 Finale turned into large-scale frenzy (7)
MADNESS – END reversed in MASS
25 Stop rave taking over a university eatery (10)
RESTAURANT – REST RANT around A U[niversity]
27 Car race perhaps contains large predictive software component (12)
AUTOCOMPLETE – AUTO COMPETE around L[arge]
30 Animal fur, primarily illegal (5)
COATI – COAT, I{llegal}
31 Juiciest moments involving India’s cricket match? (8)
MOISTEST – MOS around I[ndia], TEST
32 The Sun’s feature possibly recalled singers initially selling cannabis (8)
STARSPOT – reversal of RATS (singers as in informants), S{elling}, POT
35 Workshops had inventions eclipsing Rubik’s foremost (8)
ATELIERS – ATE, LIES around R{ubik}
36 Chief of ancillary staff constrained by refusal of French Emperor (8)
NAPOLEON – A{ncillary}, POLE in NON
37 Last ingredient in kebab I’d expect (5)
ABIDE – hidden
39 Wrongly interpret film before Kurosawa picture’s delayed (12)
MISTRANSLATE – MIST, RAN (a 1985 film I didn’t know), ‘S, LATE
41 Singing coach engineers small opening for useless tenor finally (10)
REPETITEUR – RE, PETITE, U{seless}, {teno}R.  I had to get this from wordplay.
43 Nuisance to pursue river with most bass (7)
DEEPEST – PEST after DEE
45 Respect, alas, yet to be remastered for this technology? (8,6)
CASSETTE PLAYER – (respect alas yet)*
48 Iron spirit set back bone (5)
FEMUR – FE, reversal of RUM
49 Rocket has spoiled dessert (9)
SHORTCAKE – (rocket has)*
51 Polish article in Die Welt reflects colourful phenomenon in the main (3,4)
RED TIDE – reversal of EDIT, DER
53 Fix us sautéed nosh of African provenance (5,8)
SOUTH SUDANESE – (us sauteed nosh)*
54 In middle of gardening drunk, plant mysterious things (9)
ESOTERICA – {gard}E{ning}, SOT, ERICA
55 Going through facts, knock out American language (6)
DAKOTA – DATA around K[nock] O[ut]
56 High time for a holiday? (4,6)
PEAK SEASON – CD
57 Chop tail off vermin with rodents about (5)
MINCE – {vermin} in MICE

 

Down
1 Secures shellfish I meant to add (6)
CLAMPS – CLAM, P.S.
2 Best, by far, way to add colour? (3,2,3,5)
PUT IN THE SHADE – DDCDH
3 Sticky thing, dealing with crime (5)
RESIN – RE, SIN
4 Chewed up list pet drops from mouth (7)
SPITTLE – (list pet)*
5 Furiously sound horn to help arrest (5,3,4)
TOOTH AND NAIL – TOOT, HAND, NAIL
6 Top up her grace, getting smashed (8)
RECHARGE – (her grace)*
7 Highlight missing the first strand of hair (5)
TRESS – sTRESS
8 Acting alone? (3-3,4)
ONE-MAN SHOW – CD
10 Fragrant setting snubbed conference organiser (7)
SCENTED – SCENe, TED (as in Ted Talks)
11 Italian side brought over English official to meddle (9)
INTERFERE – INTER (Milan), reversal of E[nglish] REF
12 Attention-grabbing sound in extremely trite melody (5)
THEME – HEM in T{rit}E
13 Arrogance of attitude worn by troublemakers more nakedly (4-10)
SELF-IMPORTANCE – STANCE around ELF, IMP, mORe. I liked the two rascals.
20 One might explain constant abuse of air rifle (9)
CLARIFIER – C, (air rifle)*
21 Paint two beasts, one consuming second (8)
EMULSION – EMU, LION around S[econd].  I liked the two animals.
23 Darling son, little man, tucking into pastry (10)
SWEETHEART – S[on], WEE HE in TART
24 Was trumpeter paid to play clubs ultimately well trained? (10)
PROCLAIMED – PRO[fessional], C[lubs], {wel}L, AIMED
26 Men request bard changes characteristic of old master (14)
REMBRANDTESQUE – (men request bard)*
28 Chopped fish tops a flatbread for each of us (3,6)
PER CAPITA – PERCh, A PITA
29 Couple of notes in map book where the ancients sank (8)
ATLANTIS – N[ote] and TI in ATLAS
33 Quality anime ruined with insertion of clear British line (5,8)
PRIME MERIDIAN – PRIME, (anime)* around RID
34 Always the learner, filling head still (12)
NEVERTHELESS – EVER THE L[earner] in NESS
38 Voters go for post-inaugural address (10)
ELECTORATE – I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here.  I guess ELECT can mean “go for” and to address can be to orate, but “elect” as an adjective suggests pre-inaugural.  Suggestions on a voting slip.
40 Crew captivated by bottle of retro-futurist design (9)
STEAMPUNK – TEAM in SPUNK
42 Supporters drinking beer back to coarse language at bar? (8)
LEGALESE – LEGS around ALE, {coars}E
44 Unopened fruit’s stolen here, we hear (7)
EARSHOT – pEAR’S, HOT
46 Appropriate to buy piece of meat when abandoning hunt? (7)
PURLOIN – PURchase LOIN
47 Suffer supporting live act (6)
BEHAVE – HAVE under BE
48 Joined force, displaying prior employment (5)
FUSED – F[orce], USED
50 Adjust whiskey cased in wood (5)
TWEAK – W[hiskey] in TEAK
52 Fancy sheets daughter’s set on (5)
DREAM – D[aughter] on REAM

 

6 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1716 – an elf, an imp, an emu and a lion walk into a bar”

  1. DNF
    Didn’t get MADNESS, SCENTED (‘conference organiser’ was beyond me; I thought TED talks were lectures), & NHO STEAMPUNK, where ‘retro-futurist design’ was meaningless to me (‘steampunk’ isn’t in ODE, but is in my English-Japanese dictionary; I can see why I NHO it). DNK AUTOCOMPLETE. I knew REPETITEUR from here, but took forever to recall it. SELF-IMPORTANCE was a long time coming, too, even with the SELF-. I liked the ELF, IMP.

    1. I’m surprised re AUTOCOMPLETE as it’s surely the bane of most computer-users’ lives. I thought perhaps ‘predictive text’ might be more widely used but amazingly Collins doesn’t even list it! It has ‘autocomplete’ though.

      I found this puzzle very hard although as things turned out it contained very little I didn’t know. RED TIDE was one and the TED in SCENTED was another.

      I agree with the comment about ELECT in ELECTORATE and am still confused as to how the clue as a whole is supposed to work.

      1. I thought the post-inaugural was just suggesting that the ORATE went after the ELECT. Nice puzzle, agreed about the pleasing charades. Almost all the anagrams were full, and solved in a row, which made it seem like there were a lot, but that was just an illusion.

  2. I think ELECT in 38dn is actually sELECT, ‘post=inaugural’ indicating ‘everything after the first letter’. ‘Select’ is a better fit for ‘go for’ than ELECT.
    Straightforward puzzle, no hold-ups.

  3. Not keen on Repetiteur – one of those clues where we worked out the answer then found it in the dictionary.
    But there were several neat clues. I especially liked Theme and Peak Season.

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