Bank Holiday Jumbo 1316

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Well this was a nice meaty puzzle for Easter Monday, full of clever stuff.  I didn’t record an exact time but I certainly took over an hour to wrestle this into submission so it was definitely harder than average.

First in was SETTLE DOWN, last was DANDY.  Definitions are undelined, hopfully the explanations all make sense.

Closing date for entries was Wednesday so I see no harm in scheduling this to appear on Thursday.  Hopefully folk looking for the blog for 1315 won’t be confused.


Across

1
Russian girl turned away from wife: such a flaming cheek! (5)

AGLOW – OLGA reversed next to W[ife], nothing to do wuth impertinence

4
Still did not pay each other’s bills? (6,4)

SETTLE DOWN – SETTLED OWN.  Boom-boom.

9
Humiliated when implicated in lying (6)

ABASED – AS inside ABED (lying down)

14
First two elements needed in travelling around, very often (2,3,4)

ON THE HOUR – HE[lium] and H[ydrogen] in ON TOUR.  I may not be much of a scientist but I do know that H and He are at the top of that chemical league table thingy.

15
Matter for debate involving ie Exodus Ten (qv) (5,8)

VEXED QUESTION – (i.e. exodus ten qv)*

16
Regret returning musical compositions for something inferior? (7)

EUROPOP – RUE reversed then OP OP.  I don’t think anyone is going to try and argue that Europop is superior music.

17
Pine used to be sort of tree associated with style (5,4)

WASTE AWAY – WAS TEA WAY

18
Wine-maker bottling spirit in miniature (5)

TOKAY – KA in TOY as in small dog.  Ka was the ancient Egyptian concept of vital essence or spirit.  The definition must be referring to the grape as it seems we now spell the wine producing region Tokaji.

19
Early solution amazingly is popular — or dim (10,4)

PRIMORDIAL SOUP – (is popular or dim)*.  Nice definition.

22
Body part I displayed on greeting athlete’s achievement (7)

HIPBONE – ONE (I) on (invariably after in an across clue) HI & P[ersonal] B[est]

25
Ace being in bar with VIP, and fit to drive (10)

ROADWORTHY -A[ce] in ROD + WORTHY

27
Maybe lean in, clutching a barrel that’s bottomless (12)

UNFATHOMABLE – UNFAT then A BL in HOME

30
Spots the writer’s article being withdrawn (5)

NAEVI – I’VE AN reversed.  New word for me.  It’s the plural of naevus, a congenital growth or blemish.

31
Any more messing and finally they will bring on the cavalry! (8)

YEOMANRY – (anymore)* + {the}Y

32
Row, chasing husband outside entrance to tavern, smashed (6,2)

STAVED IN – DIN after T{avern} in SAVE.  Hands up everyone who was trying to force an H in there somewhere.

35
Whistle to secure hospital blanket (5-3)

CATCH-ALL – H[ospital] in CAT-CALL

36
Rather fine judge briefly lives in New Hampshire (8)

THINNISH – THINk + IS in N[ew] H[ampshire]

37
Best forty Latin sounds (5)

EXCEL – sounds like XL off of Roman numerals

39
Colony Magnus developed features in magazine (5,7)

AGONY COLUMNS – (colony magnus)*

41
Primarily liking to fill stomach, to wit … (10)

GLUTTONOUS – L{iking} in GUT + TO NOUS.  Nice &Lit.

43
Nuts with plum and date, nice all shelled (7)

LUNATIC – pLUm aNd dATe nICe

45
Literary award for engaging fellow? (3,6,5)

MAN BOOKER PRIZE – a man booking someone would be a fellow engaging them, innit.  I caused myself problems by putting THE BOOKER PRIZE first.

48
Director’s level of interest in extremes of cinema (5)

CAPRA – A[nnual] P[ercentage] R[ate] in C{inem}A.  I think APR is used internationally

49
British students, on reflection, just brilliant! (9)

SUNBRIGHT – B[ritish] N[ational] U[nion] (of) S[tudents] reveresd then RIGHT for just.  Not a word you hear every day and it doesn’t seem to be in all the dictionaries.

51
Back row’s accommodating second sitting (7)

SESSION – NOISE’S reversed around S[econd]

53
Whiskers do remain, having withdrawn from shaving (7,6)

SWIZZLE STICKS – SWIZZLE (do as in swindle) then STICK and Shaving

54
Equine stuffing husky, race being broadcast (9)

HORSEHAIR – soundee-likee for HOARSE HARE

55
Girl has returned to proper governess (6)

DUENNA – ANN reversed after DUE (as in care and attention).  A word I’ve only ever seen in crosswords

56
Peter, minus pants, showing a bit of chest (10)

EPISTERNUM – (Peter minus)* with pants being the anagrind.  The episternum is a bone between the clavicles

57
President impressed by judge’s long opening (5)

FJORD – (Ex-president Gerald) FORD around J[udge].  Beautiful plumage.


Down

1
Highpoint of a sailor’s meeting with brother (6)

APOGEE – A P[etty] O[fficer] + GEE as in blimey.  Old hands will have been trying to construct something like ATARFR or AABBRO

2
A line a chap added to volume for US author’s rep (8,5)

LITERARY AGENT – A R[ailwa]Y A GENT after LITER (US misspelling of litre)

3
Young Women’s charity (5)

WHELP – W{omen’s] + HELP

4
Small receptacle for grain or grass (7)

SHOPPER – S[mall} HOPPER, grass as in informant

5
Cast having insufficient resolve (5,5,2)

THROW LIGHT ON – THROW + LIGHT ON (as in this blog is a bit light on humour)

6
Meekly removing leader, with scant regard for economy? (8)

LAVISHLY – sLAVISHLY

7
Go west, crossing eleven southern states (5)

DIXIE – DIE around XI

8
Sort of hairline fracture was poked underneath with one (6,4)

WIDOWS PEAK – (was poked)* under W[ith] I.  Very elegant lift & separate (hairline fracture)

10
Wait here, maybe, kitchenware payment being held up (3,4)

BUS STOP – reverals of POTS SUB

11
Black mass comes together to raise something with foul content (5,4)

STINK BOMB – reversal of B[lack] MOB KNITS

12
Those at core of rowdyism incurring fine (5)

DANDY – This one nearly had me beaten but all was fine and dandy in the end.    The middle letters of rowdysim are D AND Y

13
Floundering, but they reach almost the end row (4,3,7)

BURY THE HATCHET – (but they reach the)*

20
Endless malt whisky drunk with a lot of syrup (9)

MAWKISHLY – (malt whisky)*

21
Keep wrapper from butter, with or without manufacturer’s label? (3-5)

OWN-BRAND – OWN + B{utte}R + AND

23
Make last move to the fringes when casting vote (10)

ETERNALISE – ExTERNALISE

24
Stroke fawn below head (5,5)

FRONT CRAWL – CRAWL under FRONT

26
Two blokes and a bird erected compound in China (5,9)

ROYAL WORCESTER – ROY, AL then CROW reversed then ESTER

28
Picture lover with doctor, one struggling to retain self-esteem (9)

MOVIEGOER – M.O. then EGO in VIER

29
Conservative party to set about a quiet exploit (4,2,2)

CASH IN ON – C[onservative] + IN ON (party to) around a SH (as in shhhh!).  More lovely lift & separate and that old setters’ trick of changing the sense of a word between surface and cryptic (here “exploit” being a noun in the surface reading but a verbal definition)

33
Zoo had corgi originally associated with TV film (6,7)

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO – (zoo had corgi tv)*

34
Where warfare, as it were, is in the making? (5,7)

FIELD KITCHEN – CD based on the premise that war fare is made in a field kitchen.  A cheeky bit of Guardianese there, just about excused with “as it were”.

38
Pullover in need of a wash perhaps, that was given a spin (7,3)

HUMMING TOP – DD, one whimsical.  I’m pretty sure I had a humming top as a small boy buy I didn’t know that’s what it was called

40
After one-nil reverse, I help devastated Reds fan, probably (9)

OENOPHILE – ONE O reversed then (i help)*

42
Bread brought up of use when catching rabbit (8)

FOUGASSE – OF reversed and USE around GAS.  What we have here is a flat, French bread product usually from Provence and often leaf-shaped.

44
Turkish port with retro Australian bar featured in books (7)

TRABZON – Reversal of OZ BAR in N[ew] T[estament].  I used knowledge of the football team Trabzonspor to lead me to the likely answer

46
Stand Sunday lunch, perhaps, but not a drink (7)

ROSTRUM – ROaST + RUM

47
Used up some older units (6)

INURED – reverse hidden (more neat L&S)

48
Checked out in days, with luggage (5)

CASED -D[ays} with (no word order implied) CASE

50
Rattles one’s jewellery? (5)

ROCKS – DD

52
Bundle, not entirely secure, fellow’s opened (5)

SHEAF – HE in SAFe

8 comments on “Bank Holiday Jumbo 1316”

  1. I still can’t parse 57ac. Isn’t it the wrong way round? Ie J impressed by president, and not vice versa?

    I tend to solve jumbos (on paper, naturally) in odd moments over a few days and this one took me long enough that I only realised this morning that I never got round to submitting the thing… so, I hope you enjoy my prize, whoever wins it 🙂

    1. I didn’t notice anything amiss with FJORD either when solving or writing up the blog, but I can see why it might look A about F. I reckon you could argue it both ways (see Kevin below), a bit like “stopped”.
  2. Yes, quite a tough one with several unknowns and some tricky wordplay. I was going to quibble with your comment on 16A, as it and related genres comprise 95% of my listening fare, but having failed to convince any number of people over the years of the merits of that type of music I now recognise that it’s a losing battle. I’m blue*.

    I’ll publish 1315 on Saturday – it’s going to be out of sequence regardless, but at least it will mean that the Saturday regulars won’t need to go searching for it.

    * Not their best song.

      1. Haven’t heard any of their stuff but their Wikipedia page implies that they play guitars, which I personally feel is a big Europop no-no (an arbitrary constraint, I know). However YouTube is a godsend for trying out random bands so I will give them a whirl …
  3. This was a refreshing change from the last couple of jumbi, which had struck me as disappointingly pedestrian. I evidently forgot to go back to try to parse those I’d biffed, so I’m all the more grateful for the blog. DNK the cavalry sense of YEOMANRY, and DNK FRONT CRAWL; I only knew Australian. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I think FJORD works; FORD receiving the impression of J i.e. being marked by J. Lots of good clues; maybe 51ac for COD.
  4. A nice chewy one for the bank holiday, it took me about 100 minutes, but the perseverance paid its rewards as the clever clues were cracked one by one. I enjoyed seeing STINK BOMB as an answer… it takes me back to my ancient schooldays and SETTLE DOWN too, which was one of last ones in. Didn’t know KA at 18a and failed to see the ‘having’ withdrawal from ‘shaving’ at 55a, so thanks to penfold for the enlightenment and the setter for the entertainment.
  5. One the toughest jumbos l’ve ever filled. COD DR ZHIVAGO, remeber this film on the 70’s. Found use of ‘bar’ in both question and answer for TRABZON odd.
    Ong’ara,
    Kenya.

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