A first Jumbo from one of our newer setters, and it’s a good one with lots of witty clues. I liked the slurring young lady, the half-dressed communist, the consortium of debtors, the cheesy party and the old Ford among others. My last one was 15D which took me a while to spot and I was held up by trying to make 30A a PICNIC lunch, but I finished in about 40 minutes – about an average time for me. ELAN VITAL was new on me as was REPROGRAPHY, but I always enjoy learning new words in a Jumbo. Thank-you setter! How did you all like it?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Pasteur unexpectedly becomes visibly emotional (5,2) |
| TEARS UP – (Pasteur)* [unexpectedly]. | |
| 5 | Young lady slurred after second drink, causing fight (8) |
| SKIRMISH – S (second) + KIR (drink) + MISH = MISS (young lady) slurred. | |
| 9 | Bachelor delivered a line regarding woman soon to be married (6) |
| BRIDAL – B (bachelor) + RID (delivered) + A + L (line). | |
| 13 | Assign, if I can, to the retail banking partner (11,5) |
| SIGNIFICANT OTHER – Super 16 letter hidden [banking] in asSIGN IF I CAN TO THE Retail. | |
| 14 | Retired upper-class twit with unrestricted bank capital (6) |
| NASSAU – U (upper-clas) ASS (twit) and bANk without its outside letters [unrestricted] all reversed. Capital of The Bahamas. | |
| 16 | All that is poetry following a French upstanding character (8) |
| UNIVERSE – UN (a in French) + I (upstanding character; vertical letter) + VERSE (poetry). | |
| 17 | Religious leader married friend from Paris after revolution (4) |
| IMAM – M (married) AMI (friend in French; from Paris) all reversed [after revolution]. | |
| 18 | Wake communist on time, at least half-dressed? (9) |
| TROUSERED – T (time) + ROUSE (wake) + RED (communist) with a bit of a whimsical definition. | |
| 20 | Again considered the worth of key state reversing university probes (8) |
| REVALUED – U (university) in DEL (delete; key on your keyboard) + AVER (state) [reversing]. | |
| 21 | The art of copying Gaugin’s first happy error in a new way (11) |
| REPROGRAPHY – (G{augin} [‘s first] happy error)* [in a new way]. | |
| 24 | Cooking too much on account of celebration in Ghana’s capital (9) |
| OVERDOING – OVER (on account of) + DO (celebration) + IN + first letter of G{hana} [‘s capital]. | |
| 25 | A hotel reserved by artist from South Pacific island (8) |
| TAHITIAN – A + H (hotel in the phonetic alphabet) in, [reserved by], TITIAN (artist). | |
| 26 | Knowing what ruler has in common with Greek mathematician? (4) |
| ARCH – monARCH (ruler) and |
|
| 29 | Trick men collecting money for groups of soldiers (11) |
| CONTINGENTS – CON (trick) + GENTS (men) containing [collecting] TIN (money). | |
| 31 | Having people for dinner? (11) |
| CANNIBALISM – Cryptic definition. Ho ho! “What’s for supper?” asked the missionary. “‘Beins”, answered the tribe chief. “What sort of beans?” he asked. “Human ‘beins” was the reply. | |
| 33 | Cocktail club started by society men (11) |
| SCREWDRIVER – S (society) + CREW (men) + DRIVER (club) | |
| 36 | Home-made meal didn’t include alcohol for Spooner (6,5) |
| PACKED LUNCH – LACKED PUNCH (didn’t include alcohol) would be how the Reverend would transpose PACKED LUNCH. I tried in vain to make PICNIC LUNCH work at first. | |
| 38 | Thieves and southern outlaw sent the wrong way (4) |
| NABS – S (Southern) + BAN (outlaw) [sent the wrong way]. | |
| 39 | More dismissive of finer fish almost cooked (8) |
| SNIFFIER – (finer fis{h} [almost])* [cooked]. | |
| 41 | Creative principle found in all native working (4,5) |
| ELAN VITAL – (all native)* [working]. A new phrase to me. | |
| 44 | Atheist, bishop, priest, and US soldier overwhelmed by debts (11) |
| IRRELIGIOUS – RR (Right Reverend; title for bishop)+ ELI (priest) + GI (US soldier) all in IOUS (debts). The surface suggests an unlikely sounding betting consortium, which made me smile. | |
| 45 | Spot person tackling wide defensive players (8) |
| SWEEPERS – W (wide, in a cricket scorecard) in SEE (spot) + PERS (abbreviation for person). | |
| 48 | Damage the reputation of embarrassed-looking relations on record (9) |
| DISCREDIT – DISC (record) + RED (embarrassed looking) IT (sexual relations). | |
| 49 | Check report of bad weather (4) |
| REIN – Sounds like, [report of], RAIN (bad weather). Among dedicated walkers there a saying that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only a bad choice of clothing. | |
| 50 | Extremely short, cheesy party? (8) |
| BRIEFEST – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint – a cheesy party might be a BRIE FEST. A bit of a chestnut, perhaps, but it still raises a smile. | |
| 52 | Prompting learner to give up on part of crossword in anger, essentially (6) |
| CUEING – C{l}UE (part of crossword) without [to give up] the L (learner) + IN + middle letter [essentially] of anGer. | |
| 53 | I’m pregnant, for I’ll put out — might this have prevented it? (7-5,4) |
| MORNING AFTER PILL – (I’m pregnant for I’ll)* [put out]. Entertaining, although the surface doesn’t quite work for me. | |
| 54 | One who posts poet’s missing page (6) |
| SENDER – S{p}ENDER (Stephen Spender; poet) missing the P (page). | |
| 55 | Go ferret for disturbing jumper (4,4) |
| TREE FROG – (go ferret)* [for disturbing]. | |
| 56 | Expected lean fighter in Chicago (7) |
| DUELIST – DUE (expected) + LIST (lean; the verb). An American spelling, hence “in Chicago”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Primarily, trees supply paper (6) |
| TISSUE – First letter of [primarily] Trees + ISSUE (supply). As for the surface, indeed they do. While a student, I had a summer job in Finland working in a paper pulp factory and saw at first hand how it was done… and suffered mild chlorine dioxide poisoning all summer. | |
| 2 | Periodically, mad Nigel hit an old Ford (6) |
| ANGLIA – Alternate letters, [periodically], of mAd NiGeL hIt An. Thanks for the memory. My parents first car was a Ford Anglia called, I know not why, Bobo. | |
| 3 | Old tender of Yorkshire, Berkshire etc? (9) |
| SWINEHERD – Cryptic definition.. Yorkshire and Berkshire are breeds of pigs. | |
| 4 | Careful instruction to produce a royal portrait including son (11) |
| PAINSTAKING – PAINT A KING (instruction to produce a royal portrait) including S (son). | |
| 5 | Capsized vessels break apart (4) |
| SNAP – PANS (vessels) turned upside down -> SNAP. | |
| 6 | Bullies close friends, stealing papers (11) |
| INTIMIDATES – INTIMATES (close friends) outside, [stealing], ID (papers). | |
| 7 | Playing to him camper sort of rock (11) |
| METAMORPHIC – [Playing] (him to camper)*. | |
| 8 | Alcoholic imbibes small measure of liquid in best part of club for shots? (5,4) |
| SWEET SPOT – WEE (small) TSP (teaspoon; small measure of liquid) in SOT (alcoholic). The sweet spot on my golf clubs must be very small as I can never seem to hit my ball with it. | |
| 10 | Bring confidence back to Erasure’s dancing (8) |
| REASSURE – (Erasure’s)* [dancing]. Erasure is some sort of pop group, I believe. Do they dance? I wouldn’t know. | |
| 11 | Too much wine drunk by detectives, supporting one charged at case’s conclusion (16) |
| DISPROPORTIONATE – A bit Ikean this one, but just follow the instructions… PORT (wine) inside [drunk by], DIS (detectives) + PRO (supporting) + ION (one charged) + AT + last letter [conclusion] of casE. | |
| 12 | Washed clothes — load regularly wet, possibly? (7) |
| LAUNDRY – Alternate letters, [regularly], of LoAd + UNDRY (wet, possibly), a word from the Uxbridge English Dictionary, perhaps? | |
| 15 | Cricketer and American president taking black cab with no cabbie (8) |
| ROBOTAXI – B (black), in ROOT (Joe Root; cricketer) + A (American) + XI (president of China). Nice misdirection – you need to separate “black cab” and “American president”. | |
| 19 | Encourage Northern Echo to plug television writer (8) |
| TURGENEV – URGE (encourage) + N (Northern) + E (echo in the phonetic alphabet) in [to plug] TV (television). The Northern Echo is a regional newspaper based in Darlington and was my local newspaper at school in Barnard Castle. | |
| 22 | When is accomplice flipping trapping snake? (8) |
| MOCCASIN – Reverse hidden [flipping trapped in] in wheN IS ACCOMplice. | |
| 23 | Bartenders on Nile supply conductor (7,9) |
| LEONARD BERNSTEIN – (Bartenders on Nile)* [supply]. Conductor and composer… and educator. I remember his brilliant series of 6 lectures The Unanswered Question about the history and development of music and its relationship to poetry from the 1970s, which introduced me to the music of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Eric Satie, Darius Milhaud and Schoenberg among others (including the Charles Ives piece that was the title of the series). | |
| 27 | Care worker in Beatles record (4,4) |
| HOME HELP – HOME (in) + HELP (Beatles record). | |
| 28 | Clever technology cracking British Library’s security (4) |
| BAIL – AI (clever technology) in [cracking] BL (British Library). | |
| 30 | Satellite seen above Washington State (4) |
| IOWA – IO (satellite of Jupiter) above WA (abbreviation for Washington state). | |
| 32 | Caught injecting drug, Republican laughed (8) |
| NICKERED – E (ecstasy; drug) + R (Republican) in NICKED (caught). | |
| 34 | To some extent, hoped a general turned traitor (8) |
| RENEGADE – Reverse hidden [to some extent… turned] in hopED A GENERal. | |
| 35 | In crease, run after beating extra cover? (11) |
| REINSURANCE – (In crease run)* [after beating]. | |
| 36 | Churchgoer maybe cut up about sage monk lacking boundaries (11) |
| PARISHIONER – REAP (cut) [up] -> PAER, about RISHI (sage) mONk [without boundaries]. | |
| 37 | Irritated, state worked to remove leaders (11) |
| EXASPERATED – {t}EXAS (state) {o}PERATED without the first letters, [remove leaders]. Nice bit of wordplay. | |
| 40 | Entrance French working men touring studio every so often (5,4) |
| FRONT DOOR – FR (French) + ON (working) + OR (other ranks; men) about alternate letters [every so often] of sTuDiO. | |
| 42 | Bank of Scotland supports tennis champion cycling back, partly? (9) |
| VERTEBRAE – EVERT (Chris Evert; tennis champion) [cycling] -> VERTE + BRAE (Scottish bank). A nice reminder of one of the greatest ever tennis players. Her record is astonishing. | |
| 43 | Criminal protecting my city (8) |
| FLORENCE – LOR (my) in FENCE (criminal). | |
| 44 | Persuades civil engineer to visit banker (7) |
| INDUCES – CE (civil engineer) in INDUS (river; banker). | |
| 46 | Artist accepted by key international group of stars (6) |
| GEMINI – EMIN (Tracey Emin; artist) in G (key) + I (international). | |
| 47 | Wire design ultimately magnificent (6) |
| STYLET – STYLE (design) + last letter [ultimately] of magnificenT. | |
| 51 | Endlessly alter drape (4) |
| HANG – {c}HANG{e} (alter) without the end letters. | |
DNF
DNK ROBOTAXI, and NHO the cricketer (or any cricketer except Grace). And DNK the pigs, so had no idea about 3d. Biffed GEMINI; DNK Emin. I had a ? at ‘in Chicago’; it only occurred to me just before I came here that there’s a UK/US spelling difference. (I can never remember which is US and which UK; whether I spell ‘traveled’ or ‘travelled’, for instance.)
I have this noted as very easy with the exception of ROBOTAXI which I NHO and has never appeared here before. It’s also missing from many of the usual sources I think, but I cant be bothered to check them all again now.
It doesn’t seem to have made it into any of the dictionaries yet but it’s only a matter of time: they are already in extensive use in several cities in the US and will no doubt be here soon.
I found this pretty straightforward. MER at ‘extra cover’ for REINSURANCE because that’s not really what it is, but it’s close enough for crossword purposes.
I can never quite believe that MOCCASIN doesn’t have two Ss.
A bit surprised to see DUELIST in an English puzzle but I guess the setter got him/herself trapped in that corner and the only alternative is the Chambers-only DIETIST.
SIGNIFICANT OTHER is an absolutely spectacular hidden, particularly as the surface is impeccable. Bravo setter!
In now have an Erasure (A Little Respect) earworm, which is fine.
Yup I wrote “fine” and given that was accompanied by a thumbs up drawing, I think I meant as in good rather than merely ok (despite a number of NHOs)! No cards. 👍
PS although engaging my brain about 26A I’m not sure your explanation is correct but put me on the right lines: Plutarch was not a mathematician but rather a philosopher. I rather think that “Greek mathematician” was referring to the much better known Archimedes which still satisfies the clue since there was nothing indicating that is had to be the end of the word… 🤷♂️
Good spot. Thanks. That’s better. I’ll update the blog.
You’re very welcome! Thank you for all your blogging efforts here!
There were some tough spots (especially Robotaxi) but several really nice clues. Top marks for Significant Other! Also, I really liked the clue for Arch.
Absolutely agree with Keriothe about Reinsurance – not completely accurate but fair enough.
Also thank you John for your Christmas cracker cannibal joke.