Apologies for going walkabout for the my last few jumbos, although I am sure no-one really noticed! I had been led to believe that the blog was winding down at the end of the year as all of my colleagues subscriptions expired, and having never read anything to the contrary, took this to be a fait accompli. Clearly logging in to the blog at any time would have disabused me of this notion, but time constraints etc meant this was never done.
This particular jumbo was towards the easy end with nothing posing a major problem. That said, I think the week after was even easier. There are a few where I dont quite get the parsing, but the answer was fairly clear in each one.
| Across |
| 1 |
HOT POTATO – HOT=excited, P=power, OTTO=emperor around A |
| 6 |
MOUNTED – (wha)T (sh)E in MOUND |
| 10 |
GISMO – GI = fighter, S, MO = seconds |
| 13 |
SPECTRA – S=small, C=cape in PETRA |
| 14 |
EARLDOM – (me a lord)* |
| 15 |
SEAPORT – SE(c)=dry, A PORT=wine |
| 16 |
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE – (customers ire perhaps)* |
| 17 |
DIM – double def, slightly cryptically parsed |
| 18 |
DEFRAY – RA in DEFY |
| 20 |
FAMOUS – FA(natical) MO(bs) US(usually) |
| 21 |
INTUITION – IN=home, TUITION=schooling. Not sure I quite like “about” as a link word, nor can I see IN being “about home”. |
| 23 |
DIAGNOSTIC – C=clubs, ITS, ON=about, G=key, AID=support. All reversed |
| 25 |
INCESSANTLY – N inside (clients say)* |
| 29 |
APACE – A, P, ACE=top club (as in card) |
| 30 |
MEN OF WAR – (a new form)* |
| 31 |
DEFENCES – D=diamonds, E=european, FENCES=criminals |
| 34 |
EVENSONG – SONG = little price to pay, after EVEN = balance |
| 36 |
PEDICURE – PURE = clear, around ED = editor, I/C = in charge |
| 37 |
PLANE – PLAN E – An oft used trick where A,B,C,D,E are used as 1,2,3,4,5 ordinally. PLAN B is the common usage |
| 39 |
GENEALOGIST – (got lineages)* |
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| 41 |
NARCISSISM – (mans crisis)* |
| 43 |
WORLDWIDE – WORD WILDE, with the L=line moved |
| 45 |
BANDIT – AND=also, inside BIT=info on computer |
| 47 |
KITSCH – KIT=outfit, SCH=school |
| 49 |
LIE – double def |
| 50 |
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR – Adam = FIRST PERSON, strange = SINGULAR |
| 52 |
RETSINA – RETINA is “behind pupil” around S=second |
| 53 |
BOOKISH – BOSH=rubbish, around OK=moderate, I(talian) |
| 54 |
BAHAMAS – AM = american AHAB = whaler, reversed then S=south |
| 55 |
MARCH – double def, the physical action and the month |
| 56 |
SPEAKER – S=succeeded, PEAK=summit, ER=ruler |
| 57 |
PENITENCE – (o)PEN, (p)IT, (h)ENCE |
| Down |
| 1 |
HUSBANDS – H=hospital, US BANDS = american players |
| 2 |
THERM – (wea)THER M(ap) |
| 3 |
OBTUSE ANGLE – OBTUSE = stupid, ANGLE = perspective. There are five internal angles of 108 degrees in a pentagon. |
| 4 |
APATHY – A Y=year, around PATH=course. |
| 5 |
OVERREACTING – (contrive rage)* |
| 6 |
MOROCCO – double def – I had to put this in from checkers as did not know the book binding. |
| 7 |
UNDERESTIMATION – cryptic def, if it is not “highly” inaccurate, it is likely to be too low, hence underestimated |
| 8 |
TIME SWITCH – TIMES=paper, C=conservative inside WITH. |
| 9 |
DISGUST – IS G=good, inside DUST |
| 10 |
GRAVEN IMAGE – GRAVE=serious, NIM=game, AGE=long time |
| 11 |
SNOWDRIFT – (wind frost)* |
| 12 |
OTTOMAN – double def, seen this one before a few times 🙂 |
| 19 |
FRIGATE – FATE=”whats in store” around RIG=equipment |
| 22 |
COMMANDO – OM=decoration in CM=senior officer, AND, O=old. Not sure on what a CM is?? captain major? might have this wrong, but it seemed to be the wordplay. |
| 24 |
COFFEE TABLE BOOK – cryptic definition, where cups have coffee in, as opposed to perhaps champions engraved in. |
| 26 |
SHE DEVIL – SHED = abandoned, EVIL = vice |
| 27 |
YES MEN – S(tate) inside YEMEN. Definition is “Tools” which is not obvious, but suggests lackeys to be exploited. |
| 28 |
BAD EGG – I think this is one of those loose clues that purely relies on the fact that the answer can be constructed only from musical notes A-G. There is added help that one (G) is repeated. The def is “Old fashioned no-good”. I was tempted to use “one repeated” as the definition also as an actual BAD EGG would no doubt repeat on one!! |
| 32 |
CHASSIS – CH=church, ASSIS(i) |
| 33 |
GUARDIANSHIP – GUARDIAN’S = our (times) rival’s, HIP = trendiness |
| 35 |
STANDOFFISH – no idea on the school bit, but the definition of “tending to keep others away” and the checkers made it clear. Help gratefully received! |
| 37 |
PASSING SHOT – PASSING = handing over, SHOT = photograph |
| 38 |
DIGESTIBLE – (nov)EL BITS EG ID(eally) – reverse hidden |
| 40 |
NORWESTER – (new resort)* |
| 42 |
PHARISEE – (harp I)* then SEE = understand |
| 43 |
WOLFRAM – FLOW = run smoothly, reversed, then RAM = hit |
| 44 |
INROADS – the colossus is/was IN RHODES |
| 46 |
NASTIER – N(orth), S(outh) around A, then TIER = row |
| 48 |
GIBBON – NOB=head, BIG = of considerable size, all reversed |
| 51 |
LEMON – I guess, without knowing, that there is a colloquial differentiation between PEACHES and LEMONS, as two ends of the sweetness spectrum. Checkers made it obvious |
At 21ac I think “about” is just a word added to make the surface reading smoother. The only note I made at the time said that I entered PLANE unparsed, although the parsing is pretty obvious now. Looking at your blog and the clue again I’m surprised I also didn’t query LEMON. If I was happy with the parsing at the time I can’t see why now.
Re 35D, it’s STAND OF FISH (as in Custer’s last stand).
Re 51D, a peach is usually something excellent whereas a LEMON is a dud.
It must be either dedication, or immense vanity.
When/if it stops I will decide what to do. I suspect the withdrawal symptoms might prove too much to cope with 😉