Jumbo 1009 (1st Dec)

Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Posted on Helen’s behalf as her PC’s playing up.

I wasn’t able to time myself for this puzzle, but I thought it was on the difficult side, with nicely misleading surface readings for several of the clues.

As ever, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 MOSQUITO NET – MO’s + QUIT + ONE + patienT
7 MINUTE WALTZ – MINUTE + WALT (Disney) + Z
13 CONFINING – double definition (con-fining = making a criminal pay)
14 NORFOLK – NO + R + FOLK. “Broad area” refers to the Norfolk Broads
15 LEWIS – hidden in Brindisi welterweight, reversed. “Busy” is the definition, referring to the fictional policeman Lewis in the Inspector Morse books and TV series, and more recently with a series of his own
16 OBELUS – OB (short for obiit, meaning he or she died) + bELt + jUSt
17 STEFANIE – (seen fit)* around A
18 AUBERGE – UBER (German for “over”, if you ignore the missing umlaut) in AGE
20 A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW – (top artist will be)* + ALLOW
23 BOUQUET – double definition
24 TRUNDLE – TRUE, around Necessarily Deviating Left. 44 refers to 44ac, TROLLEY
26 SINATRA – IN in SAT, + RA (Royal Academician – I’m not sure about the use of “drawer” to indicate an RA!)
28 REEKgREEK, as in “it’s all Greek to me”
29 SUCK UP TO – SUCK UP + TO
32 SCARECROW – S + CARE + CROW
35 EL ALAMEIN – ale (reversed) + LAME + IN. “Best” indicates beer, as in “best bitter”
36 REIGNITE – “supporter of royal power” could indicate a REIGN-ITE
37 HAKEBeetHoven + AKA (also known as)
39 LAD MAGS – (glam ads)*. Amusing clue!
41 TOTEMIC – TOTE (carry) + MIC (short for microphone)
44 TROLLEY – TransporteR + O, + yell, reversedT
45 CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG – BANG BANG (reports), after HIT in CiTY (twice)
49 OPENAIR – O + PEN + AIR
50 RICHMOND – RICH + MOD round N
51 CLUEDO – (could + decide)*
53 DEREK – D + ERE + walK
54 IN PRINT – alternate letters of “sign up”, + RI (relegious instruction) + NT (New Testament)
55 READINESS – REES’S around A DIN
56 SHOW THE FLAG – (Who gets half)*
57 DAWN REDWOOD – DAWN + RED + WO (without) + OD (overdose).

Down
1 MICRON – (no RC + I’m), reversed. “an Anglican” indicates “no RC”, i.e. “not a Roman Catholic”
2 SUNSET BOULEVARD – (as bold US venture)*
3 UBIQUITOUS – U BUS around I QUITO
4 TWIGshirT + WIG
5 NIGHTSPOT – NIGH (= to hand) + TenniS + POT
6 TANKFUL – ThANKFUL
7 MARINATED – (Rain at Med)*
8 NOOSE – soon (reversed) + E
9 TAKEAWAYS – TAKE AWAY’S
10 WELL-BALANCED – WELL, + LANCE in BAD. WELL and LANCE are the two “different types of shaft”
11 LOWBROW – LOW (sound made by a cow) + BROWn
12 ZESTER – hidden in gaZE STERnly
19 GERTRUDE – Reg (reversed) + T + RUDE
21 STEPSON – STEPS ON (indicated by “Crushes”)
22 WAR-WEARY – WARY around WEAR
23 BORDELLO – (doorbell)*. Clue indicates a “knocking shop”!
25 UPPER – double definition (UPPER in the sense of part of a shoe)
27 TURN A BLIND EYE TO – INDependent in TURNABLE, + YET + O
30 KINETIC – KINE (KINE and neat are both old words for cattle), + TIC
31 OPIUM – O + PIU + M
33 ASTATINE – IN in A STATE
34 SAFARI JACKET – J in (Africa takes)*
38 POT-BELLIED – top (reversed), + BELIED around L
40 SATURNINE – TURN IN + E (= ecstasy pill), after SA (= sex appeal or “it”)
42 TWITCHING – TWIT + CHeatING
43 CABIN CREW – C, + C in (wine bar)*
45 CHEERIO – CHEER + IO (satellite of Jupiter). The definition is “see you”
46 TEMPTED – Toast + EMPTiED
47 HORDES – HORDES sounds like hoards, hence “coming out of traps” where “traps” = mouths
48 MOSSAD – MOSS-AD (poster for a kind of plant). MOSSAD is the national intelligence agency in Israel, but I wonder about “Middle East plant suppliers” as the definition. What do others think?
50 REPEL – P in REEL
52 PAIR – I think “Sound of French pop” is supposed to indicate something that sounds like the French for father, i.e. p&egravere. Maybe if you’re Joey Barton or Edward Heath, it does…

2 comments on “Jumbo 1009 (1st Dec)”

  1. Thanks for the blog Helen/Andy, I couldn’t work out the wordplay for 40dn – the antique “it” and “sa” get me every time.
    No problems here with Mossad or pair.. père/pair are a clear homophone in received English. As for Mossad, they seem to plant things all the time – explosives, bullets as well as people – all in the name of “peace.”
  2. 42:47 for me, so I too found it difficult. This is one of those puzzles where I’d dearly like to know who the setter was. I thought it a real tour de force – indeed one of the most remarkable crosswords I’ve ever come across. Although there were a lot of quite convoluted clues (something I’m not usually too keen on), their ingenuity was such as to stifle any objections I might have had.

    I wasn’t too worried about the père/pair (non-)homophone, particularly as I’d recently noted (here) that Ximenes apparently sanctioned “Herr” and “hair” as homophones!

    I’ve noticed RA = “drawer” more than once recently. I suppose the justification could be that drawing has always been considered an important feature of the RA, but I can’t say I’m madly keen on it.

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