A puzzle of about average difficulty, with nothing particularly obscure for seasoned solvers, though I felt there were rather more unobvious definitions and deceptive surfaces than usually crop up in the Jumbo, which made the solving process a bit more challenging and also satisfying.
Definitions are underlined, dd = double definition, cd = cryptic definition, * = anagram, {} = omission
| Across | |
| 1 | Tasty sauce, striking (3-8) |
| LIP-SMACKING – LIP (sauce) + SMACKING (striking) | |
| 7 | Cannon made a hole, reportedly, in cap (11) |
| MORTARBOARD – MORTAR (Cannon) + homophone of BORED (made a hole) | |
| 13 | Was a journalist satisfied to write about bunk? (9) |
| SUBEDITED – SUITED (satisfied) about BED (bunk) | |
| 14 | Those taken to court for illegal activities (7) |
| RACKETS – dd | |
| 15 | Left wing touching front of aircraft, panic (5) |
| ALARM – A{ircraft} + L (Left) + ARM (wing) | |
| 16 | Bird heading for oven, one having stuffed part (6) |
| ORIOLE – O{ven}, + I (one) in ROLE (part) | |
| 17 | Throw cakes, not the first to go off (8) |
| UNSADDLE – {b}UNS (cakes, not the first) + ADDLE (to go off) | |
| 18 | Family member piercing fabric (7) |
| NANKEEN – NAN (Family member) + KEEN (piercing) | |
| 20 | Diarist isn’t seen puzzling, with jumbo being brought to life in book (13,7) |
| FRANKENSTEINS MONSTER – FRANK (Diarist, i.e. Anne Frank) + (ISN’T SEEN)* + MONSTER (jumbo), where you need to read “being” as a noun | |
| 23 | Story breaking the habit of an Asian composer (7) |
| SALIERI – LIE (Story) in SARI (the habit of an Asian) | |
| 24 | Bitumen, a compound containing a measure of acidity (7) |
| ASPHALT – A + SALT (compound) around PH (measure of acidity) | |
| 26 | Loose horse at catching distance? (7) |
| EARSHOT – (HORSE AT)* | |
| 28 | Shelter in bed, close to fire (4) |
| COTE – COT (bed) + {fir}E | |
| 29 | Malinger at work? That’s novel (8) |
| GERMINAL – MALINGER*, to give Zola’s work about striking miners | |
| 32 | A racehorse behind the leaders in sixth, naturally one’s beaten (5,4) |
| SNARE DRUM – S{ixth} + N{aturally} + A + RED RUM (racehorse) | |
| 35 | A party helping to produce love (9) |
| ADORATION – A + DO (party) + RATION (helping) | |
| 36 | Exactly above the “eye”, did you say? (2,3,3) |
| ON THE DOT – literal interpretation once you have homophonised “eye” to the letter i, though surely above the i is above the dot too? | |
| 37 | Covered by yarmulke, pillbox hat (4) |
| KEPI – hidden in yarmulKE PIllbox | |
| 39 | I head for Satan in dark vision (7) |
| INSIGHT – I, + S{atan} in NIGHT (dark) | |
| 41 | Bloodstained club for American giant (7) |
| REDWOOD – RED (Bloodstained) + WOOD (club) | |
| 44 | A difficult test match includes duck: I’m disgusted! (7) |
| TOUGHIE – TIE (match), around O (duck) + UGH (I’m disgusted) | |
| 45 | Avoid responsibility by looking down on one’s personal depression? (11,4,5) |
| CONTEMPLATE ONES NAVEL – literal interpretation of a figurative expression, with a smack of crypticity if you read depression as the mental condition rather than the lint-gathering device in your tummy | |
| 49 | State territory almost breaking into song (7) |
| ARIZONA – ZON{e} (territory almost) in ARIA (song) | |
| 50 | Settle order for shallow cleansing receptacle (8) |
| FOOTBATH – FOOT (settle, as in footing a bill) + BATH (order, as in Order of the Bath) | |
| 51 | Scrape away with a nail file, finally (6) |
| ABRADE – A + BRAD (nail) + {fil}E | |
| 53 | Popular song capturing the character of Mozart? (5) |
| LIKED – LIED (song) around K (reference to the Köchel catalogue of Mozart’s works that assigns each work a K number). Domenico Scarlatti also has K numbers, though in his case the K is short for Kirkpatrick. | |
| 54 | Horse I caught in front of a tree (7) |
| ARABICA – ARAB (Horse) + I + C (caught) + A | |
| 55 | Third of puzzle to fill in brutal cryptic that’s hard to crack? (6,3) |
| BRAZIL NUT – (IN BRUTAL)* around {pu}Z{zle} | |
| 56 | Ground wanting care, plants wetter? (8,3) |
| WATERING CAN – (WANTING CARE)* | |
| 57 | Venus, perhaps, prominent after flattening (7,4) |
| EVENING STAR – EVENING (flattening) + STAR (prominent). The “perhaps” is there because other planets (e.g. Mercury) are also sometimes called the evening star. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Punishment more exposed with this? (6) |
| LESSON – you would be more exposed with LESS ON | |
| 2 | Extraordinary calibre on list up for promotion (6,9) |
| PUBLIC RELATIONS – (CALIBRE ON LIST UP)* | |
| 3 | Slanderer beating single drum (10) |
| MUDSLINGER – (SINGLE DRUM)* | |
| 4 | Name location for hearing (4) |
| CITE – homophone of SITE (location) | |
| 5 | Country invaded by one’s nation (9) |
| INDONESIA – INDIA (Country) around ONE’S | |
| 6 | Rubbish bin initially put in place for mechanic (7) |
| GARBAGE – B{in} in GARAGE (place for mechanic) | |
| 7 | Church work feeding obsession in the country (9) |
| MACEDONIA – CE (Church) + DO (work), in (feeding) MANIA (obsession) | |
| 8 | Old chief magistrate always standing to receive judge, finally (5) |
| REEVE – reversal (standing) of EVER (always) around {judg}E | |
| 9 | Article penned by idiot formerly in sound agreement (9) |
| ASSONANCE – AN (Article), in ASS (idiot) + ONCE (formerly) | |
| 10 | Criminal traders in mob discussed possible ideas (12) |
| BRAINSTORMED – (TRADERS IN MOB)* | |
| 11 | A worker’s assistant utterly rubbish for starters, he won’t get paid (7) |
| AMATEUR – A + MATE (worker’s assistant) + U{tterly} + R{ubbish} | |
| 12 | One spotted hiding in wood, ominously (6) |
| DOMINO – hidden in wooD OMINOusly | |
| 19 | Disease where I must support bone with stout dressing (4-4) |
| BERI-BERI – BEER (stout) around RIB (bone), + I | |
| 21 | Painter putting vacuous art in skip at bottom of drive (7) |
| MATISSE – A{r}T in MISS (skip) + {driv}E | |
| 22 | Cat in agony given drug, malodorous substance (8) |
| PTOMAINE – TOM (Cat) in PAIN (agony) + E (drug) | |
| 23 | Asking questions of philosophy thus, credit timeless Greek (8) |
| SOCRATIC – SO (thus) + CR (credit) + AT{t}IC (or A{t}TIC) | |
| 25 | Mount international operation backing hosts (5) |
| PINTO – reversal of OP (operation) that hosts INT (international), to give (Chambers): “(US) A piebald horse” | |
| 27 | One’s lucky drawer? (9,6) |
| HORSESHOE MAGNET – cd, perhaps hoping to make you think of where you keep your clothes rather than something that draws | |
| 30 | Formula repeated on first of prey as femme fatale (7) |
| MANTRAP – MANTRA (Formula repeated) + P{rey} | |
| 31 | Outrageous penetrating look — you can bet on it! (5) |
| LOTTO – OTT (Outrageous) in LO (look) | |
| 33 | A position, say, abandoned, in defection (8) |
| APOSTASY – A + POST (position) + SAY* | |
| 34 | Speech impediment in a fraternity of comedians? (7,5) |
| GAGGING ORDER – a number of people who make gags could be described as a gagging order. | |
| 38 | Monotonous tone began in lost soul (5,5) |
| HUMAN BEING – HUM (Monotonous tone) + (BEGAN IN)* | |
| 40 | The horse requires treeless racecourse, however (4,5) |
| THEN AGAIN – THE + NAG (horse) + AIN{tree} (treeless racecourse) | |
| 42 | Cruel in North America, one with no heart, say, turning up (9) |
| DRACONIAN – reversal of NA (North America) + I (one) + NO + CARD (heart, say) | |
| 43 | Luton’s neighbour close to Bedford — not sure (9) |
| DUNSTABLE – {Bedfor}D + UNSTABLE (not sure) | |
| 45 | Jumper for mainly outdoor sport (7) |
| CRICKET – dd, though the “mainly outdoor” seems an unnecessary bit of hedging (and, bizarrely, is at odds with all the usual sources which specifically state it’s an outdoor game) | |
| 46 | Head-over-heels, me and a couple hug (7) |
| EMBRACE – reversal of ME, + BRACE (a couple) | |
| 47 | Not entirely challenging short for old actress (6) |
| HARLOW – HAR{d} (Not entirely challenging) + LOW (short), i.e. Jean Harlow | |
| 48 | Canine cement, perhaps? (6) |
| SETTER – cement is an example of something which sets | |
| 50 | Composer detailed in old money (5) |
| FRANC – FRANC{k}. Take your pick from Cesar, Richard, and Eduard Franck (maybe others) for the composer. | |
| 52 | Leaders of men are lacking in the country (4) |
| MALI – M{en} A{re} L{acking} I{n} | |
Re 45dn, you might be surprised at how popular indoor cricket is.. I certainly was