Jumbo 1141 – The one before the bank holiday Monday one !

Author   fathippy2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Not sure if it was the surroundings of a bank holiday weekend, the weather, or the puzzle, but this was lightning quick. Probably my quickest ever, possibly sub 20 mins. A lot of the harder wordplay was negated by clear definitions and helpful checkers, so many clues went in without really using/working out parts. A fair amount was parsed after the event!
Across
1 ANCESTRAL – (earls act)* around N=knight
6 TAFFETA – FAT reversed, then FETA=cheese, another one of those words that seems to feature above averagely often in xwds
10 FRANC – RAN=circulated, in FC=football club, (any chance of misleading with capital as a city slightly spoilt by the surface reading)
13 MINDING – MIN=least, DING=bell sound
14 GOADS – GODS=idols, with A(rsenal) inside. Def is Spurs, the verb
15 PIPE DREAM – (followe)D, REAM=a great deal, after PIPE=twitter
16 THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL – (now felt ill, left heathland)*
17 BASQUE – sounds like “BASK”
18 DECADENT – AD=advert=plug, inside DECENT=fitting
19 ABSTAIN – STAIN=corrupt, after AB=sailor. Def is “to go on wagon”
22 AT THE READY – double def, ready being slang for money.
23 IMMORTATLISES – (memorial sits)* the anagrist has one “e” removed
27 DROSS – D(h), ROSS=Lawrence’s alter ego. Whilst the answer was obvious from checkers, I didnt know the back story. I assumed DHL had an alter ego “Ross” although this would mean double use of “DH” (possibly acceptably). Quite a cleverly compiled clue as it was TE Lawrence who had that alias!
29 ORDERED – (b)ORDERED=went along
30 SHEATHES – SHE’s=the lady’s, around HEAT=fever
32 APPROACH – APACH(e)=short indian, around PRO=tart
34 JUNIPER – JUMPER=top, with M=marks, replaced by NI=ulster
36 HOIST – I(nsurgents) inside HOST
39 LIE OF THE LAND – double def
41 FISHMONGER – cryptic def where sole is the fish in this instance
44 OPEN AIR – O=old, PAIR=couple, outside EN=printing space
46 ENDANGER – A succinct manifesto for a peace maker might be “END ANGER”
48 STRAFE – RAF=fliers, inside STE(m)
50 STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT – double def, slightly convoluted situation when laundry workers might strike
53 ON THE TROT – double def, similar to the last one, STALINIST vs TROTSKYIST disagreement
54 SHORN – S=small, HORN=cape
55 COGENCY – GEN=news, C=hundred, in COY=shrinking
56 KUDOS – DOS(h), after UK reversed.
57 DECLAIM – (emi-clad)*
58 REPHRASED – (sharp)* inside REED=grass

Down
1 ADMIT – MD=doctor, reversed, inside AIT=key
2 CONVERSATION PIECE – CONVERSION=changing, around AT, PIECE=division
3 SLIDE RULE – SLIDE=decline, RULE=order
4 RAGBAG – RAG=newspaper, GAB=gossip, reversed
5 LIGHT HEADED – double def
6 TOADFLAX – L=line, inside FAX=transmission, after TOAD (from Wind in the willows)
7 FESTIVE – EST=french for “is”, inside FIVE=cardinal
8 EXPEDITIOUS – (pixie used to)*
9 APPLECART – APPLET=software, around CAR
10 FIDDLES – double def, “Arranges racket” and “strings”
11 ARENA – AR(s)ENA(l), two modifications of the one word, and a very true surface for anyone who is a fan!!
12 COMELINESS – COMES=appears, around LINES=wrinkles
17 BRAND – BRAND(y)
20 ANSWERING MACHINES – S=society, inside (new chairmen gains)*
21 FEDORA – FED=supplied, OR=troops, A(rmy)
24 MEDINA – hidden in (fa)MED IN A(rab)
25 LATCH – This is a visual clue, whereby CATCH=fastener, can have some of the first letter erased, to make LATCH. I am struggling to understand the “half” part, but assume it is inexact and refers to “some”
26 TROJAN – NT=books, reversed around R(i)OJA
28 SERIF – FIRES=lights, reversed
31 EARTHY – HEARTY=companion, with H dropping
33 HELLENISTIC – (cities)* around N, all after HELL
35 PRIZE WINNER – sounds like PRIES, W=wife, INNER=near centre
37 TERCE – (p)R(i)E(s)T, reversed, CE=church
38 BLOODSTOCK – double def
40 HARD WIRED – HARDWARE, with I=current, for A, then D(emo)
42 OUTRIGGER – OU=where, in French, TRIGGER=set off
43 INCHWORM – (rich womn)*
45 ANKLETS – (r)ANK, LETS, lower members here referring to the ankles!
47 DEEP SEA – EPS=records, in DEE=river, A
49 TOECAP – ACE=master, reversed, in TOP=elite
51 RATED – RATE=class, D=departs
52 TOYED – TO(r)Y ED

10 comments on “Jumbo 1141 – The one before the bank holiday Monday one !”

  1. Found this one slightly harder than average, with a number having to go in without full understanding of what was going on, e.g. 16A, 27A. I think 25D is referring to C (100) being halved to L (50).
    1. Of course, you are right, C to L as Roman numerals! Clearly not properly parsed afterwards!
  2. Yes 25dn is Roman numeral time. Whenever I see something inexact I am usually missing something, especially these days when it seems precision is all.

    I did like the 2 x Lawrence clue.

    Re 43dn, I assume a worm is a grub. I haven’t the stomach to check references..

  3. Did no-one have the version (online not the paper) where the word Atletico was used instead of Arsenal in 11 d?
    It made the clue a little harder!

    Edited at 2015-04-20 12:15 pm (UTC)

    1. Coming to this very late as I had a bit of a backlog of Jumbos and only got around to solving it today (from a printout I made on the day it came out).

      The wordplay obviously refers to Arsenal, so I still have no idea where Atletico comes into it, but what a strange typo! If anyone has a logical explanation I’d be glad to see it.

      Edited at 2015-04-30 09:23 pm (UTC)

  5. Fastener’s first evidently reduced by half to make another (5)
    The C (=100) in CATCH (a fastener) is reduced by half to L (=50) to make another fastener.
    Fair enough. But what part does the word “evidently” play in this clue? It seems to work without it. And it does not seem to affect the surface reading particularly.
    1. Its what suggested the visual side to me, so it clearly did a job in confusing me as to the real wordplay! But I agree, it is superfluous it seems
  6. Wow,your mind must work differently from ours! It took us 20 minutes a DAY for a WEEK to fill this in, and even then we didn’t understand 25D (well, apparently neither did you!)or 27A, or 34A. We found a lot of these clues maddeningly over-elaborated, and with some pretty dodgy semantics too.
    1. I have long appreciated that there is a very random element in puzzles, most people call it “the setter’s wavelength” but it may just actually be a random concurrence of the right ideas and the right clues for you personally on any given day.

      I also struggle to explain my own mind as to why some days things take longer than other days, and why you can pick up a seemingly impossible few clues an hour later and suddenly fill them all in instantaneously.

      As someone clever once said : “If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we couldn’t”

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