This Jumbo was a proper workout to keep us busy on a Bank Holiday instead of getting too close to others on the beach. I had a meagre 12 answers after reading through all the clues first time and I began to worry if I was going to be able to complete it. Hard, but very rewarding with some cracking clues. I did need help to check the name of the mountain at 41D as it could have been a different spelling and had to check several other unknowns to validate I’d got them right from the wordplay. In all it took me about twice my usual solving time finishing all parsed in 1hr 39 minutes…. with a sense of satisfaction. Phew! Thank-you setter. More like this please. How did everyone else get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Whisky with wine hosts consumed did harm (10) |
| MALTREATED – MALT (whisky) RED (wine) outside [hosts] ATE (consumed). | |
| 6 | Sporting tournament press run (6,6) |
| SQUASH LADDER – SQUASH (press) LADDER (run; in a stocking). | |
| 14 | Girl in condition for race walk (2,7) |
| GO MISSING – This one had me puzzling for ages. It’s MISS (girl) [in] GOING (condition for race; horse race that is). Nice one. | |
| 15 | Good of heathen to go for English hymn (5) |
|
PAEAN – PA |
|
| 16 | Seeing that, husbands each quietly refuse (3-4) |
| ASH-HEAP – AS (seeing that) H H (husbands) EA (each) P (quietly). My first one in. | |
| 17 | The doggone Italian rogue, giving John’s address to singer! (3,2,1,11) |
| ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE – (The doggone Italian)* [rogue]. The poem by John Keats. | |
| 18 | Fragments of rock or crystal, usually after erosion (5) |
| TALUS – Hidden in crysTAL USually. I postulated this and looked up in the dictionary to find the definition “the ankle bone”.. failing at first to see the second definition until I checked again later. Doh. | |
| 19 | Scottish umpire and bookmaker? (7) |
| ODDSMAN – Another unknown for me. A bookmaker could be an ODDS MAN. | |
| 21 | We’d have girls coming out without anoraks, across pond? (6) |
| DWEEBS – DEBS (girls coming out) outside [without] WE. The surface reminded me of Geordie nightlife. Who wears coats on a night out? | |
| 22 | Sloth appearing in lake, by the side, briefly (8) |
|
FLANERIE – Another unknown for me. ERIE (great lake) after [by] FLAN |
|
| 24 | Like to go on home? It’s early days (7) |
| INFANCY – FANCY (like) after [to go on] IN (home). | |
| 26 | Find Toby desperate to get through (2,4,2) |
| BY DINT OF – (Find toby)* [desparate]. Even spotting it was an anagram, it took me a while to see the phrase. | |
| 27 | A word of annoyance is very bad, if said by drunk? (6) |
| SHUCKS – If something is very bad you might say something SUCKS. Slur your S like a drunkard and you get SHUCKS. | |
| 30 | Physicist canned grand scheming (11) |
| MACHINATING – MACH (physicist) IN A TIN (canned) G. In a tin. Brilliant. | |
| 32 | Run shower, not having yet risen? Crazy! (11) |
| HAREBRAINED – HARE (run) RAIN (shower) in BED (not having risen yet). Another sparkling bit of wordplay. | |
| 33 | Nice health food? (6,5) |
| FRENCH TOAST – If you wish someone good health with a glass of something you TOAST them. Do it in Nice and it would be a FRENCH one. Very cunning. | |
| 35 | Either way, an advantage men take away (4,2,5) |
| PLUS OR MINUS – PLUS (an advantage) OR (Other Ranks; men) MINUS (take away). Hands up if the “either way” got you on a wild goose chase to find a palindrome (like me). | |
| 37 | Months in precious metal barrel giving time to mature (6) |
|
AUTUMN – |
|
| 38 | Hunted rabbits: celebrated bagging stray (8) |
| FERRETED – FETED (celebrated) ouside [bagging] ERR (stray). | |
| 39 | Sweet little face turned to the front (7) |
| GUMDROP – I needed to squint to see how this worked. MUG (face) [turned] -> GUM [to the front] of DROP (little; as in a drop of water in your whisky). Which reminds me. My grandfather when asked how he liked his whisky used to say “50:50 whisky and water… and don’t be sparing with the water”. | |
| 42 | Champion’s cover lapsed (8) |
| BACKSLID – BACKS (champion’s; ignoring the appostrophe and converting to a verb) LID (cover). | |
| 44 | Large amount of red or white antelope marks on the mother (6) |
| MAGNUM – GNU (antelope) M (marks) after [with] MA (mother). A bottle size for wine the equivalent to twice the size of a standard bottle, i.e. 1.5L. | |
| 46 | Alien hot on crime (7) |
| INCOMER – (on crime)* [hot]. | |
| 48 | Quickly make approach (3-2) |
| RUN-UP – Double definition. Second as in a bowler’s approach to the wicket in cricket. | |
| 49 | Something legendary in range of pants: singular, fashionable — lots reduced (10,7) |
|
ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN – ABOMINABLE (pants) S (singular) NOW (fashionable) MAN |
|
| 51 | State place mostly that song’s about (7) |
|
ARIZONA – ZON |
|
| 52 | Revise opinion? Swell to have change of heart! (5) |
|
BUDGE – BU |
|
| 53 | Request from cameraman for one to desist (3,6) |
| SAY CHEESE – SAY (for one) CHEESE (desist). What? CHEESE = DESIST? I checked my dictionary. It’s not in Chambers. In despair I tried Collins and found it there. A slang term, apparently. Have you ever heard it? | |
| 54 | A major piece some catch still when acquiring books (5,7) |
| TROUT QUINTET – TROUT (some catch) QUIET (still) outside [when acquiring] NT (New Testament; books). The piece by Schubert It is, of course, in the key of A major. Nice one. | |
| 55 | Mediated, having done originally with priest (10) |
| INTERPOSED – (done priest)* [originally]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | In place of gentle breeding, sporting too grim a mug (11) |
| MAGGOTORIUM – (too grim a mug)* [sporting]. What a word! Amazing to that there are such things, but I’m not an angler. Gentle here meaning maggot. | |
| 2 | My problem, mulled over, has diminished (5) |
| LUMME – Sneaky definition! Reverse hidden… problem muller [over] -> relLUM MElbrop [has diminished]. | |
| 3 | Irish town’s trio regularly the last to rise in parliament (9) |
| ROSCOMMON – tRiO [regularly] and then COMMONS (parliament) with the last letter first [the last to rise] -> SCOMMON. | |
| 4 | French town, one plugging 5g in soon (7) |
| AVIGNON – A double insertion. I (one) inside [plugging] V G (five g) all [in] ANON (soon). | |
| 5 | Took part of our tongue, in short well past its sell-by date? (7) |
|
ENGAGED – ENG |
|
| 7 | Division of court’s seen new barrister initially put out cases (6,5) |
| QUEENS BENCH – Clever wordplay here… (seen)* [new] Barrister [initially] inside [cases] QUENCH (put out). | |
| 8 | War refugee late in because having to keep disappearing (6) |
| AENEAS – Another that had me scratching my head. It’s alternate letters [having to keep disappearing] (that’s a new one on me) of lAtE iN bEcAuSe.. | |
| 9 | Perfect pitch simply with nothing lacking! (8) |
|
HEAVENLY – HEAVE (pitch) |
|
| 10 | Running the marathon is something invigorating! (1,4,2,3,3) |
| A SHOT IN THE ARM – (the marathon is)* [running]. Ho ho. | |
| 11 | Liver finally pronounced healthier? That’s wrong! (7) |
| DWELLER – pronounceD [finally] WELLER (healthier), as a child might wrongly say [that’s wrong]. | |
| 12 | Gangs close to woods, hiding in grass, getting seized (11) |
| REPOSSESSED – POSSES (gangs) [close to] woodS inside [hiding in] REED (grass). | |
| 13 | Observed trouble — and there’s afters! (7,3) |
| SPOTTED DOG – SPOTTED (observed) DOG (trouble, the verb). The sponge pudding aka SPOTTED DICK. | |
| 20 | Wanting, if enticed, to misbehave (9) |
| DEFICIENT – (if enticed)* [to misbehave]. | |
| 23 | The regular activities in an Indian state, perhaps, are enough (2,6) |
| GO AROUND – GOA (Indian state) ROUND (regular activities). | |
| 25 | Looking down on good guy, Yankee is indeed in a ferment (6) |
| YEASTY – YEA [indeed] over [looking down on] ST (saint; good guy) Y (Yankee is its representation in the NATO alphabet). | |
| 26 | A stir in the navy assists, we hear, parts of the army (8) |
| BRIGADES – BRIG (the ship’s prison; stir in the navy) ADES sounds like [we hear] AIDS (assists). | |
| 28 | Something fishy about sister with unusual problem (9) |
| CONUNDRUM – COD (something fishy) [about] NUN (sister) RUM (unusual). | |
| 29 | Passed on wish in earnest for a slim figure (6) |
| OBLONG – OB (or obit. ; passed on) LONG (wish in earnest). | |
| 31 | Benefit from popular approach — winning in game (6,7) |
| INCOME SUPPORT – IN (popular) COME (approach) UP (winning) [in] SPORT (game). | |
| 33 | Fat creature holding up first two on ground floor (11) |
| FLABBERGAST – FLAB (fat) BEAST (creature) outside [holding] GRound [first two on] [up] -> RG. Another great word. | |
| 34 | Sailor and artist do stuff (11) |
| TARRADIDDLE – TAR (sailor) RA (artist) DIDDLE (do; con). | |
| 35 | A PE test not designed for powerful figures (10) |
| POTENTATES – (A PE test not)* [designed]. | |
| 36 | Manage to be both marvellous and mean (11) |
| SUPERINTEND – SUPER (marvellous) INTEND (mean). Another chuckle from me at this. | |
| 40 | Implant in animal? Note reptile with it (9) |
| MICROCHIP – MI (note) CROC (reptile) HIP (with it). | |
| 41 | Family united, gathering a party to climb mountain (8) |
| KINABALU – KIN (family) U (united) outside [gathering] A LAB (party) [to climb] -> BAL. More education for me. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Malaysia. I had to look this up to check. The latter part of the wordplay could have as easily meant (as I thought at first) A LAB (a party) [to climb] -> BALA and the answer KIBALANU. | |
| 43 | Bit of an odour from the mouth, if you ask me (7) |
| CENTIMO – Nice one! CENT sounds like [from the mouth] SCENT (odour) IMO (In My Opinion; if you ask me). | |
| 45 | Curse of old Liberal, domiciled in France? (7) |
| MALISON – Another unknown word for me but, to be fair, indicated as obsolete, L (Liberal) in MAISON (french domicile). If you are domiciled in France you could be in a MAISON. The opposite of a benison. | |
| 46 | Isn’t Ely laid out impressively (2,5) |
| IN STYLE – (Isn’t Ely)* [laid out]. | |
| 47 | A horse for a child’s birthday, complete with box? (6) |
| DOBBIN – DOB (Date Of Birth; birthday complete) BIN (box). | |
| 50 | Judge rises after giving out initial answers (5) |
|
MEETS – Another clever one to finish. |
|
I lost patience with this puzzle eventually and then resorted to aids to find several unknown answers such as KINABULU.
Edited at 2020-06-06 09:09 am (UTC)
Maggots and worms are two of several reasons why I don’t fish.
The cryptic being AU TU-M(onths)-N, with “in” being the insertion indicator and “giving” just being there for surface
I’ve seen M as an abbreviation for Months before but not for Mature, and “giving time to” would indeed be a poor II
– otherwise both eyebrows raised from me
And well done for completing this blog – I certainly wouldn’t have the stamina (especially with so little feedback)