This was a pretty easy Jumbo, taking me less that 30 minutes to knock off but it was fun and inventive with a couple of delightful anagrams to savour.
First in was BUTTONS and last was RIVET.
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 G[olf]
| Across | |
| 1 | Scots lassie without golf ball tours royal estate (8) |
| BALMORAL – MORAG without G[olf] inside (toured by) BALL | |
| 5 | Republican lodging in a bogus religious retreat (6) |
| ASHRAM – R[ebublican] in A SHAM | |
| 9 | Makeshift fit-looking opener for Essex goes in (7) |
| INTERIM – IN TRIM around E{ssex} | |
| 14 | Troop carrier starts to roll off Jutland in stormy North Sea (6,5) |
| TROJAN HORSE – R{oll} O{ff} J{utland} in (NorthSea)* | |
| 15 | What innately corrupts Genesis records? (8,3) |
| ORIGINAL SIN – CD (I think), with a surface reading that suggests popular prog/pop beat combo Genesis, with “records” being nounal in the surface reading and verbal in the real meaning. | |
| 16 | Earth Switzerland found in mineral deposit (5) |
| OCHRE – CH in ORE | |
| 17 | One gram gold coin that’s common (7) |
| IGNOBLE – I G[ram] NOBLE | |
| 18 | Street cleaner that is Captain America? (9) |
| SCAVENGER – SC[ilicet] (namely / that is), AVENGER (Captain America is one of the Avengers in the Marvel comics / movies). | |
| 19 | Now and again, she eats key natural condiment (3,4) |
| SEA SALT – S{h}E{e}A{t}S, ALT (key on computer keyboard) | |
| 20 | Historical event in which those in stocks took a beating? (4,6,5) |
| WALL STREET CRASH – CD | |
| 22 | Up for discussion like dishes? (2,3,5) |
| ON THE TABLE – DDCDH | |
| 23 | Market counter welcoming extreme characters at first alienated (6) |
| BAZAAR – BAR arouns A, Z, A{lienated} | |
| 25 | Doctor engaging modern technology for domestic help (4) |
| MAID – M[edicinae] D[octor] around A[rtificial] I[ntelligence]. That’s the first mention of AI I can recall in a crossword but I dare say there have been others. | |
| 28 | Compound stored by barnacle, ignoring case (6,8) |
| SODIUM CHLORIDE – NaCl in lower case is in the word barnacle. | |
| 30 | Got former pupil taught without resistance (8) |
| OBTAINED – O[ld] B[oy], TRAINED minus R[esistance] | |
| 32 | TV appearance certain to follow trade fair (8) |
| EXPOSURE – SURE after EXPO | |
| 34 | I catch felons: be worried! (5,9) |
| CHIEF CONSTABLE – (I catch felons be)*. Brilliant &Lit. | |
| 37 | Food store I managed when retired (4) |
| DELI – reversal of I LED | |
| 38 | Sailor put in inverted elliptical washbasin (6) |
| LAVABO – A[ble-]B[odied seaman] in reversal of OVAL | |
| 39 | Second Hill’s left Formula One? (10) |
| MOTORSPORT – MO, TOR’S, PORT | |
| 43 | Cause of rash settling in gent’s pants? (8,7) |
| STINGING NETTLES – (settling in gents)*. Another great anagram clue. | |
| 45 | Means to access the German devil-may-care attitude? (2-2-3) |
| DO-OR-DIE – DOOR, DIE | |
| 47 | Milan players call getting into the ground (9) |
| INTERRING – INTER, RING | |
| 49 | Supervise poetry written in Old English (7) |
| OVERSEE – VERSE in O[ld] E[nglish] | |
| 51 | Rue sacking leading right winger (5) |
| EGRET – REGRET with the first R[ight] deleted | |
| 52 | Turn up with cider, tipsy — cheerio! (11) |
| ARRIVEDERCI – ARRIVE, (cider)* | |
| 53 | Game gal — Omani — absolutely filled with this lust for power (11) |
| MEGALOMANIA – hidden | |
| 54 | Chap normally seen in toga modelled catsuit (7) |
| TACITUS – (catsuit)* | |
| 55 | Prolong film finale, inserting kiss (6) |
| EXTEND – E.T., END around X | |
| 56 | Where pens are kept — specifically those with quills? (8) |
| SWANNERY – CD | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Panto character getting leg stuck in barrels (7) |
| BUTTONS – ON (leg side in cricket) in BUTTS | |
| 2 | Stout cat tried to bite Lawrence initially (4-7) |
| LION-HEARTED – LION HEARD around T.E. (Lawrence) | |
| 3 | Typically concerning type of road fury (2,7) |
| ON AVERAGE – ON, AVE[nue], RAGE | |
| 4 | Story of festive spirits? (1,9,5) |
| A CHRISTMAS CAROL – CD | |
| 6 | Two-tone bias screamed out loud (8) |
| SKEWBALD – SKEW, homophone of BAWLED. I must have encountered this before as once I had the S and E checkers I knw what I was after, and it’s not a huge leap from piebald. | |
| 7 | Small state socialist layer (5,6,3) |
| RHODE ISLAND RED – RHODE ISLAND, RED | |
| 8 | An eccentric with Marmite’s generally accepted (10) |
| MAINSTREAM – (an marmite’s)* | |
| 9 | Copy current partner importing tech (7) |
| IMITATE – I (current S.I.), MATE around I.T. | |
| 10 | Old noble gas knocking out setter (5) |
| THANE – METHANE without ME | |
| 11 | After short nap, Joe upset country in leaving of office (11) |
| RESIGNATION – RESt, G.I. reversed, NATION | |
| 12 | Step outside working yard in King’s territory (8) |
| MONARCHY – MARCH outside ON, Y[ard] | |
| 13 | Little bird starts to warble regularly, every night (4) |
| WREN – initial letters | |
| 20 | Wife lazily overtakes learner driver, not in a controlled way (6) |
| WILDLY – W[ife}, IDLY around L[earner driver] | |
| 21 | Small firm agreement saving millions (7) |
| COMPACT – CO[mpany], PACT around M[illions] | |
| 22 | Some boys terrified creature found in bed (6) |
| OYSTER – hidden | |
| 24 | Pole outside old house collapsed — that hurts Puck! (5,10) |
| ROBIN GOODFELLOW – ROD outside O[ld] BINGO, FELL, OW. | |
| 26 | British pint? Oo, I suspect he might ban it! (14) |
| PROHIBITIONIST – (British pint oo I)*. Yet another great anagram. | |
| 27 | Commercial diamonds smuggled by State Trooper initially (6) |
| ADVERT – D[iamonds] in AVER T{rooper} | |
| 29 | Increases profit — good period of economic growth (7) |
| UPSWING – UPS, WIN, G[ood] | |
| 31 | Answer next to centre, unlike this clue (6) |
| ACROSS – A[nswer], CROSS (cross and centre having the same meaning in soccer, to pass, or a pass from out wide into the penalty area or thereabouts (or row Z if your team is crap). | |
| 33 | Primitive power excited rich Tories (11) |
| PREHISTORIC – P[ower], (rich tories)* | |
| 35 | Renovated gondola bore fruit (5,6) |
| BLOOD ORANGE – (gondola bore)* | |
| 36 | Innovative ’ampshire town area for cultivation incomplete (5-5) |
| AVANT-GARDE – hAVANT, GARDEn. Some of you may have found this tricky but I have the advantage of having gone to school in HAVANT until I was 8. | |
| 40 | Head of State prods male mouthpiece (9) |
| SPOKESMAN – S{tate}, POKES, MAN | |
| 41 | Diatribe in support of a special international candidate (8) |
| ASPIRANT – RANT under A, SP[ecial] I[nternational] | |
| 42 | Chap with less hair ousting British senior councillor (8) |
| ALDERMAN – BALDER MAN with B[ritish] deleted | |
| 44 | Nymphs developing an idea succeeded (7) |
| NAIADES – (an idea)*, S[ucceeded]. A wee bit tricky if, like me, you didn’t klnow how to pluralise NAIAD | |
| 46 | Mouth version of English? (7) |
| ESTUARY – DD | |
| 48 | Join stream shortly before 3rd of October (5) |
| RIVET – RIVE{r}, {oc}T{ober} | |
| 50 | Flag American literary opus (4) |
| SAGA – SAG, A[merican] | |
FOI ASHRAM, LOI BAZAAR. DNK I=international, Y=yard. NHO the Hampshire town. I took ‘Lawrence initially’ to be L, which made 2d hard to get; finally thought of TE. ‘Devil-may-care’ is an odd definition for DO-OR-DIE. Penfold, you’ve left out the chloride in 28ac: NaCl in ‘barnacle’.
Thanks Kevin, fixed.
I have no workings on my print-out and wrote only two words in the margins ‘ Dead easy’.
I can’t remember now whether this was the second or third within the past few weeks but we’ve had three occurrences of the cross/centre device in close succession. I know this can’t have been the first because it caught me out on that occasion but this time I was ready for it.
Pretty straightforward. I didn’t understand centre=CROSS, so thanks for that. I have tried and failed to identify wordplay in 15ac: I can’t get beyond genesis=ORIGIN. Without it it’s a bit of a weird clue.
About 40 minutes
– Had to trust the wordplay for LAVABO and SKEWBALD
– Kevin has questioned DO-OR-DIE above – I agree, and in fact I think it’s a mistake. Devil-may-care means cheerful/reckless, and a do-or-die situation is one where you absolutely have to win/succeed or everything is lost (I’m prepared to be proved wrong though!)
– SWANNERY went in with a shrug
Thanks Penfold and setter.
FOI Wren
LOI Scavenger
COD Prohibitionist
I also, Penfold, but no doubt some years before you, went to school in Havant from the ages of 7 to 8. We lived there for a year, 21 East Street. We then moved to Hayling Island, where I came up with the earth-shattering “I haven’t heard that it’s hailing”.
Enjoyed this, much better than some recent Jumbos. Got everything apart from 18a – didn’t know the Latin or the comic hero reference.
Relatively easy but still enjoyable with some nice creative or humorous clues. I especially liked the B-alderman clue.
Glad there were none of those words you have to look up in the dictionary and then it says “archaic” or “obsolete”. And no heraldry references either.
Just a thought, ET came out in 1982 but seems to the only film used in Jumbo crosswords. The setter should get out more!
Very pleasant solve. Not too hard but no less enjoyable for that. Thanks to blogger and setter.