Jumbo 1103

Author   sghansonPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Standard Jumbo fare – nothing that I think is contentious

Across
1 AT FULL BLAST – AT LAST = finally, around FULL = rich, B(achelor)
7 FICKLE – F(emale), (s)ICKLE = reaper
10 DRAB – DRAB = BARD = poet, reversed
14 PURITAN – RITA = girl to be educated, in PUN = wit, of a sort
15 LOBWORM – LO = see, BM = M.B = Doctor, reversed, around WOR = ROW = line, also reversed. Lobworms are big garden worms and excellent bait for most freshwater fish.
16 GLADDEN – GLADE = clearing, around D(emocrat), N
17 INTERIOR ANGLE – INTERIOR = domestic, ANGLE = invader (of England)
18 ROMAN NOSE – NO MAN ROSE = all us gents stayed in our seats, Spoonerised
19 TROOP – POOR = inadequate (analys)T, all reversed
21 COCONUT SHY – COCO(a) = bedtime drink, NUT = freak, SHY = retiring
23 GAUCHE – G(oals), ACHE = anguish, around U(nited)
25 DETHRONE – (OTHER END)*
26 DIAMOND WEDDING – (D,D,D,D, NOW, IMAGINE)*
29 NURTURE – NUR = RUN reversed, (R(o)UTE)*
30 CO-HOSTING – COSTING = estimate, around OK = surprised reaction
31 SPELL – double definition
32 MAJOR – MAJ = JAM = block, reversed, OR = gold
34 THIRD RAIL – TRAIL = lag, around HI = welcome and RD = way
37 TRUNDLE – TRUE = correct, around final letters in (chicke)N (an)D (vea)L
39 COLD-SHOULDERED – COLD SHOULDER = meat in salad, ED(itor)
41 DIPLOMAT – DI = I’D reversed, PLOT = plan, around M.A. = graduate
43 DRY RUN – double definition, the second cryptic with AA = Alcoholics Anonymous
44 ESCRITOIRE – (RECTORIES I)*
45 RIGID – RIG = fake, ID = papers
48 PLAINTIVE – PLAIN TIE = obvious connection, around V = quintet (Roman numeral)
49 HORSESHOE BATS – HORSESHOE = good-luck token, BATS = touched (as in slightly mad)
51 NAIVELY – NAY = no, around LIVE*
52 DIURNAL – DIAL = LAID = put, reversed, around URN = tea dispenser
53 WHITHER – WHITER = paler, around H(orse)
54 OUST – (j)OUST = formal contest where J(udge) is removed
55 SPONGE – either the one in the bathroom, or the one that takes your money. My last one in when I could not justify anything else.
56 EXPERIENCED – double definition
 
Down
1 APPOINT – AINT = isn’t, around P(ressure and PO = OP = work, reversed (up)
2 FIRST FOOTER – FIRST = best, FOOTER = game (football). The tradition is that the first person to cross the threshold on Jan 1 each year should be dark, not fair.
3 LATER – ALTER = reform, with L(iberal) moved to the start of the word
4 BONE OF CONTENTION – cryptic definition, where boxers are dogs
5 ALLIANCE – (d)ALLIANCE = casual romance
6 TO BEGIN WITH – (WE BOTH)* including GIN and IT
7 FROZE – alternate letters in FaRmEr around OZ = Australia
8 COMPREHENSIBLE – (COMPILERS BEEN)* around H
9 LEGUME – LEG = GEL = posh girl, reversed, on UME = EMU = bird, reversed
11 RADIOACTIVE – RADIO = set, ACTIVE = working. The definition must be “in period of decay”
12 BENZENE – BEE = working party around N(orthern), ZEN = Buddhist type
13 GAINSAID – GAINS = gets, AID = handout
20 PURSUER – REP = traveller, reversed, around US R.U. = American sport, all reversed
22 TAMES – T(h)AMES = banker
24 DWIGHT EISENHOWER – (WHOSE DITHERING WE)*
25 DYNAMIC – MANY = a lot, in CID = police department, all reversed
27 GILBERT – (G(rand) LIBRET(ti))*
28 ACHILLES TENDON – ACHES = pains, around ILL = awfully an TEND = lean, followed by ON = leg
31 SQUALOR – S(un), (e)QUAL = peer, O.R. = men
33 JELLY BABIES – JELLY = explosive, BABIES = little ones
35 DREAR – D(uke), REAR = rise
36 AGENT ORANGE – AGENT = one with power to act, ORANGE = royal house
38 DEMOGRAPHIC – DEM)(b) = discharge, GRAPHIC = striking
40 SQUANDER – N2 = (N SQUARED)*.
42 SIDESLIP – SIDES’ LIP = backchat from players
43 DIP INTO – I PIN(t) = single drink, in DO = party After Adrian Cobb’s comment below I realise I have parsed this incorrectly in haste. The wordplay is I PINT = single drink, in DO = party, and the definition is “Partake of, not finishing”
46 DESIRED – DEED = act, around R(esistance) IS reversed
47 TIDY UP – PUNDIT = guru with N(ote) replaced by Y(en), all reversed
49 HOUSE – HOE = work in garden, around US = American
50 EXILE EX = former, ILE = ELI = priest, reversed

15 comments on “Jumbo 1103”

  1. 50 mins. I found this one a little trickier than others of late. My LOI in was SQUANDER and I got it from the “blue” definition after much thought. It was only when I looked at it again this morning before I came here that I saw the wordplay, and I thought it was a little too close to being an indirect anagram.
    1. What is wrong with an indirect anagram? So long as the clue remains solvable? There is no law against one that I know of, should there be?
  2. Thank you, sir, for your blogs. Always useful!

    SQUANDER
    I thought squander would be “against the rules”, i.e. you shouldn’t have to think of a word (squander in this case) and then move its letters around; it should stay in the same order.
    Or has that “rule” been abandoned?

    DIP INTO
    I’m confused why you have “(t)” in your explanation. The T is not being added although the clue – cleverly? – suggests that the T is dropped. I think all of “Partake of, not finishing” is the synonym in this one?

    Many thanks,
    Adrian Cobb

    1. I think the expectation was that the only way this could be read was as N SQUARED, so it was fairly gentle as indirect anagrams go (though I agree that such things don’t normally (ever?) appear in the Times). Unfortunately for those of us solving online this appeared as N2, i.e. with the 2 being neither a subscript or superscript, and I assumed it was referring to the chemical formula for molecular nitrogen. I only saw the parsing after solving it from definition and checkers.

      I think your interpretation of DIP INTO is correct.

    2. Thank you – you are correct on 43D. On 40D I solved the puzzle on paper and if I remember correctly the 2 was in superscript indicating N squared more accurately, so I think the clue is fair, but a bit tricky
  3. Like others, I am troubled by SQUANDER. I saw what was intended by the clue and guessed it was the answer (my LOI), but I still don’t get it.
    OK, the anagram is there – with no anagrind apart from the question mark – but how do you make “blue” from “squander”? If it had been “blew” I would have understood. Am I missing something? Can anyone enlighten me?
      1. OK I concede – I only looked up SQUANDER in Chambers and not BLUE, silly me.

        Even so the Compact OED (that’s the 8 volumes squeezed into 2) doesn’t have it in!

        However purely out of interest I challenge anyone to cite a case of the actual use of BLUE in this sense.

        1. I’ve seen it in crosswords enough times to remember it, but I can’t recall encountering it in real life and I would certainly expect some odd looks if I busted it out in conversation.
          1. I remember coming across it in classic children’s books which were already old when I was a lad – characters would blue their pocket money or similar. I remember being baffled the first time I encountered such a usage, and I don’t think it’s become any more popular in the subsequent forty years.

            Mind you, we’re not far away from the centenary of the death of Beerbohm Bleeding Tree, and some setters show no sign of letting that go, either.

        2. I was very surprised by this and went immediately to peer myopically at my copy of the compact OED (that I haven’t looked at for a solid decade) in order to point out your error… but no, you are quite right, it does not mention this meaning at all! I am amazed by this. To blue money is a normal meaning to me and I could find dozens of examples of it in use, if I were blessed with perfect recall. The OED online has a whole entry for it, with lots of examples… and my compact OED is off to the next bootfair.
  4. I did most of this very quickly, but then couldn’t get 2dn. I didn’t know the term, and the definition really doesn’t look like a definition so it never occurred to me that the game might be the whole second word.
    I also slowed myself down by entering DIG INTO, which almost works.
    Like anon I was very surprised by SQUANDER: I thought indirect anagrams were an absolute no-no in the Times. A change of editorial policy perhaps?

    Edited at 2014-08-16 12:46 pm (UTC)

  5. I wrote in DIG INTO instead and it caused me immense grief as I thought of 1 GIN. When my fellow solver pointed that out,I got PLAINTIVE instantly.Also noted this one’s a pangram.Never heard of GEL=GIRL.BLUE=SQUANDER is in my dog-eared 1982 Oxford.Completed it after several hours.How long did you take to fill it,SG?
    C.ONG’ARA,
    Nairobi.
    1. Thank you for your comments – it is good to know that the blog is read far and wide.

      I did not make a note of the solving time – probably around 30-45 minutes for a regular puzzle – as I normally do the Jumbo in the paper and then submit online.

  6. I was wondering what N2 was; this was my LOI in part because I couldn’t make sense of that, in part because I didn’t know the relevant meaning of ‘blue’ (although in fact I’m pretty sure I’ve come up against it here, albeit some time ago). I went with the checkers, wondering if maybe ‘representation’ was somehow a homophone indicator (blue=blew, although that would mean ‘squandered’). COD to 28d.

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