Jumbo 1027

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
27:14 on the Club timer, which would normally indicate a not-too-difficult puzzle; however, this one had its fair share of slightly obscure vocabulary – not Mephisto-level obscure, but above average for a Jumbo, certainly. However, I think the wordplay was clear enough in every case to enable a solver to make a reasonably confident guess, even for the likes of STIPEL or OFFSIDER or ASPHODEL. (As it turned out, I was all correct, so I would say that, wouldn’t I…)

Anyway, nice puzzle; and while I suppose (from a purely technical point of view) it’s probably the least important part in the overall construction of a puzzle, I thought the surfaces were particularly good here.

With Jumbos, which attract a far smaller audience than daily puzzles, I generally confine myself to discussion of answers which I think might be a) less straightforward for inexperienced or non-UK based solvers, or b) especially elegant / questionable. However, as always, if a particular clue is not discussed, please feel free to raise it in comments for explanation or discussion.

Across
5 COMMONS – double def.; an archaic term for shared provisions, and the large green space you can find in both places.
13 MOTHERS RUIN – M(=thousand) OTHERS(=different people) RUING. This is a term which goes back centuries, as depicted in Hogarth’s Gin Lane.
17 DEEP SOUTH – returning to this after a couple of weeks I can’t remember what I made of it at the time – I can see there’s a reversal of HERERO + SPEED, with OUT(=rejected) in the middle of it, but I can’t quite make that tally with the clue…
25 STIPEL – LE PITS(rev.); a “stipel” is, apparently, a very small stipule at the base of a leaf. If you’re me, this leads to the question “What on Earth is a stipule?” Apparently it’s one of the usually small, paired appendages at the base of a leafstalk in certain plants, which I also didn’t know.
27 ERELONG – LONDON in E-REG; according to the DVLA, an E reg car would date back to 1987(prefix) or 1967(suffix), so either would be pretty old.
32 CHINOOK – CHINO, OK; old Native American tribe now better known for the helicopter given that name.
33 OUTWITTED – bOsUn TWITTED.
35 DECLASSEE – DECREE with LASS replacing the Republican.
36 AUSTERE – A ULSTER E.
37 LAMAISM – [M.A. IS] in L.A. + Master
41 OFFSIDER =”OFF CIDER”. Apparently an Australian or NZ term for a wingman, though comments on a recent puzzle from Antipodean residents suggested that “cobber” is a word used by Poms imitating Aussies, and hasn’t been heard down under for 30 years; I wonder if this is the same?
50 RATAFIA – RAFFIA with the first Fine replaced by TA.
54 CHICKENFEED – HICK in C.E., Not, FEED (as in “paid a fee”).
55 NULLIPAROUS – NUMEROUS with (APILL)rev. instead of ME. I don’t think I knew the word, but deduced it by extension from oviparous or viviparous, which I do.
56 RAGWEED – Rex + AGREED, as pronounced by Jonathan Ross or Roy Hodgson.
57 TAXICAB – TAXI(=move before take-off) + CA(around) + Belgian.
58 MEERKAT =”MERE CAT”. Best known in the UK these days for advertising insurance.
 
Down
3 CREPITANT – PI in CRETAN, eaT. I suppose this makes Rice Krispies crepitant.
4 OASES – OATES, the companion of Scott who famously went outside, with the middle letter changed.
5 CLUBLAND – CLUB(=priest, a term from angling) + LAND(=secure). The St. James’ area of London is the site of many gentlemen’s clubs
6 MANIA – ROMANIA minus RoOt.
8 SWORD SWALLOWER – cryptic def.; Toledo in Spain is a historic centre of sword production, hence the name of a particular weapon.
10 CUTIS – CUT 1’S.
12 SILK HAT – (SILK HAT)*. An example of the fine surfaces in this puzzle.
19 DEFECTS – double def. depending on where you put the inflection.
21 OPENING – double def., one literal, one legal.
22 ASPHODEL – (HOPELADS)*; my botany remains patchy, but I knew this one from the multitude of references in classical literature.
24 UNACCOMMODATING – cryptic def. depending on the knowledge that Mrs Hudson was Sherlock Holmes’ landlady.
26 PAKISTANI – KIST in PANIC. Another unknown to me, a kist (or cist) is “A stone-lined grave, especially a tomb consisting of a pit lined with stones and often having a lid of stone or wood.”
28 GADGETRY – [Daughters GET] in GARY. Michael Jackson’s home town seems to have cropped up several times just recently.
39 MULLIONED – ONE in [MULL I.D.].
42 SHELDRAKE – Loch inside SHE DRAKE(as in Sir Francis, the famous player of bowls).
45 PARADOX =”PARA DOCKS”.
46 SUFFOLK – a Suffolk Punch is a breed of large draught horse.
47 BEDSIT – BEDS(Bedfordshire) + IT(sex appeal).
49 ANKLE – RANKLE.
51 TONIC – (NOT)rev. + 1 Cheek; hard to spot the tiny definition, which is “Do”, which is the first note in the Do-Re-Mi scale, and thus the tonic.
52 AXIOM – 0 in [A XI(cricket or football team) Member].

2 comments on “Jumbo 1027”

  1. DEEP SOUTH: H SPEED (‘race’, rev), containing OUT (‘determined’ to enter), no?
  2. 83′, but at least no errors this time–I seem lately to be getting one per Jumbo. I was held up by the 5’s, my LOIs, since I didn’t know CLUBLAND and didn’t know that meaning of ‘club’. I liked TONIC and BEDSIT, but my COD goes to RAGWEED, which I actually laughed out loud at.
    I’m repeating myself, but the Chinook are American Indians; native Americans are natives of the US, like me (and no doubt just about all Chinooks).

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