Jumbo 1082

Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
I normally reckon I’ve done well to solve the Jumbo in anything under 30-35 minutes, so at 27:39 this was clearly well within the straightforward range. Certainly a pleasant solve, even though quite a lot went in at a cursory glance, and I don’t think there were many obscurities (anything I didn’t know came pretty clearly from the wordplay), but let’s see if anything crops up as I write the blog.

With Jumbos, which attract a far smaller audience than daily puzzles, I generally confine myself to discussion of answers which I think are a) less straightforward for inexperienced or non-UK based solvers, or b) especially elegant / questionable. In other words, unless it’s an exceptionally interesting puzzle, the coverage is unlikely to be 100%; however, as always, if a particular clue is not discussed, please feel free to raise it in comments for explanation or discussion.

Across
1 FEATHER STITCH – Energy in FATHER’S, Time, ITCH. Not a sewing term I was familiar with, but the wordplay was abundantly clear.
8 PROVENCAL – PROVEN, CircA, cataLonia. Not an actual &lit., of course, as the language is actually spoken a little further north, in southern France rather than northern Spain.
13 ICTUS – CACTUS (the prickly American native) with the account (A/C) removed and an I(current) at the front.
16 ANNE OF CLEVES – CLEVER surrounded by (FANSONE)*; fourth wife of Henry VIII.
17 MANAGERIAL – (ALINERAMAG)*, with a well-disguised definition in “on board”.
26 PRONOMINALLY – PRO(expert), NOMINALLY(in theory); “you” and “I” being pronouns.
30 INSTANCE – 1,CONSTANCE minus the CO.
31 ALLUVIAL – Lake x2 inside a U VIAL.
34 LEAVINGS – NG inside the late LEAVIS.
35 IMITATED – I ATE with Duke, outside MIT. A search of this site will reveal previous discussions about whether M.I.T. ought to be described as a college or not (general conclusion: in crossword-land, at least, hey, why not?)
40 MISSIONERS – the Scots beauty queen being MISS IONA minus the A, plus E.R.’S (a monarch’s). Very nice.
45 STOOGE – replace the CRedit in the famous reformed miser SCROOGE with Time.
49 OCCIDENTAL – O, ACCIDENTAL(as in the musical note) minus the A.
53 HEMLINE – HE(a chap), Left in MINE.
54 OVERSIGHT – one might demonstrate exaggerated distress by “OVER SIGHing”, plus regreT.
56 RACONTEUR – (TORUNRACE)*.
57 LONG TIME NO SEE – a very amusing play on the possible meanings of “see”.
 
Down
1 FRICASSEE – FRIday, CASSETTE without the non-drinking TT.
2 ANTONYM – (Mark) ANTONY, Motorway.
4 REDACT – where a Soviet play might be considered to have RED ACT 1, RED ACT 2 and RED ACT 3.
9 ORDEAL – OR(men, as in Other Ranks), DEAL(the wood, as in “something we saw”).
10 ENTREPRENEUR – New, (RUE)rev. after [PR inside ENTREE].
11 COATI – COAT(fur) + 1; not entirely sure that being a carnivore really distinguishes the coati from other animals, but there you go.
12 LITTLE BOY BLUE – (BUILTTOBELEYS)*. A handy mention of Lely for anyone who hadn’t yet worked out which Continental portraitist might be needed for 19ac.
23 IMPINGES – IMP(urchin), INGRES minus the Right. Another Continental painter who regularly appears in puzzles.
27 MELODIST – (OLDTIMES)*; a melodist is a creator of “airs”, certainly, but “graces”? I guess we have to accept it as mostly being there to make a nice surface.
28 HAYMAKER – double def. the flailing punch and the agricultural worker who proverbially comes out in good weather.
29 TELL ME ANOTHER – TELL(as in William, the archer), and (HOT)* in MEANER.
32 LIVERPUDLIAN – the two-course meal being LIVER for a main, followed by PUD, all topped off by (NAIL)rev.
37 TROUBADOUR =”TRUE”, Bachelor, A DOUR(stern). A partner for 27dn.
41 SHELDRAKEpooL inside SHE and Admiral Francis DRAKE; the male shelduck, one of those animals which could be a “swimmer” or a “flier” according to a setter’s whim.
42 UNREASON – Republican in UNEASY, ON.
47 SNEEZE – as in “Bless you!”.
48 DICTUM – (CID)rev. + TUM (corporation as in an unwanted stomach).
52 VEALREVEAL minus the RE:.

3 comments on “Jumbo 1082”

  1. Not a difficult one, certainly compared with this weekend’s monster.

    Re MELODIST, Chambers has “an ornament (eg trill, turn, acciaccatura) consisting of notes additional to the melody or harmony” as one definition for grace.

    1. That’s all good, then. If I hadn’t been blogging, I doubt I’d have even raised a metaphorical eyebrow, to be honest. This was one of those puzzles where I found practically nothing to which I could take exception, amongst clues which were occasionally excellent but mostly just solidly good (which makes for a pleasant solving experience and a slightly dull blogging one).
      1. I didn’t check at the time either, but I don’t like seeing a good blog post go uncommented on so this gave me my excuse to chip in!

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