Jumbo 1150

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
This seemed harder than the solving time (15m 42s) would indicate, mainly because I had difficulty in expanding out from any of my entries and thus ended up with chunks of disconnected answers all over the grid. It was only right at the end that they all tied up together.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition

Across
1 TRANSOM – RAN (arranged) inside reversal of MOST (majority). Perhaps not the smoothest of surfaces.
5 BACKDROP – BACK (to support) + DR (medic) + OP (hospital procedure)
9 MASSIF – MAS{t}S (Poles) + IF (provided)
13 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE – cd, presumably referencing the Beatles song rather than the Eurodisco track of the same name by Coo Coo
14 MEMOIR – M (Mark) + reversal of ROME (European city) around I
16 FATAL – F (force) + AT AL{l} (in any circumstances)
17 ABSTAIN – ABS (sailors), + TIN (ready, i.e. money) around A (article)
18 EYE SOCKET – E (European) + YES (certainly) + {r}OCKET (spacecraft), definition: “orbit”
19 CAMERAMAN – CAME (arrived) + RAM{ad}AN (fast, i.e. the Muslim fasting month)
21 PLAY OUT – POUT (to pull a face) around LAY (song)
22 GRAVE – G (Good) + RAVE (wild party)
23 AUDIT – A + U (University) + {complete}D + IT (computer materials)
25 RESILIENT – I + L (left) + I, all inside RESENT (grudge)
27 EXPRESS – dd, the second one slightly whimsical (ex-press)
29 SHIMMYING – SING (Carol) around HIM (that fellow) + MY
31 CHAIN REACTION – anagram of OR A TECHNICIAN
34 COFFEE GROUNDS – GROUNDS (reason), after CO (firm) + F (key) + FEE (charge). Amusing definition: “Consequence of perks”, where we need to expand perks to percolators. I think I would like this a little better if perk was a shortened version of percolation, but I couldn’t see that equivalence in any of the usual dictionaries.
35 SNOWFIELD – anagram of LIES DOWN, around F (fine)
37 LUGGAGE – GAG (Crack, i.e. a joke) in LUGE (sledge)
39 TALK ROUND – YorK LATer contains talk round. Kind of a reverse cryptic.
42 CUT IN – CU (copper) + TIN (another metal), definition: “Start to work”, perhaps usually applied to electrical devices starting automatically
43 WHELP – W (with) + HELP (support), definition “Produce issue”. I carelessly put in “wrest” at first, simply because it fitted the wordplay.
45 LENSMAN – LEAN (not abundant) around N{ew} + S{ea} + M{issions}
47 MOTORCADE – anagram of MOOTED CAR
49 IN THE KNOW – anagram of THINK ONE, + W{isdom}
50 SANGRIA – SANG (Trilled) + reversal of AIR (tune)
52 LET-UP – UP (Ahead) after LET (misjudged service, e.g. a tennis serve that hits the net but still lands in the correct service court)
54 IMPAIR – AIR (Attitude) after IMP (brat)
55 NO LAUGHING MATTER – dd, the second cryptic and requiring us to think of creasing up in amusement
56 GOSPEL – GO (Leave) + SPEL{l} (period)
57 ATTESTED – reversal of TA (soldiers), + TESTED (challenged)
58 THERAPY – THEY (These folks) around RAP (charge)
Down
1 TRAFFIC JAMS – TRAFFIC (Commerce) + JAMS (improvises, musically speaking)
2 ALLOT – ALL O{u}T (full)
3 SPOILER – reversal of RE (regarding) + LIPS (kisses) around O (love)
4 MONDAY MORNING FEELING – cd requiring us to think of Sun as the short form of Sunday. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of this, although I did know the similar expression “Monday morning blues” – “feeling” seemed the likeliest alternative from the checkers (and was certainly better than the first word that came to mind, which inexplicably was “wetland”. Thanks, brain).
5 BLESSINGS – hidden in treBLES SING Services
6 CHINA – CHAIN (links) but with the A moved to the end
7 DELINEATE – reversal of E (Eastern) + NILE (river), inside DATE (time)
8 ORVIETO – {s}OVIET (old Russian) + O (ring) around R{ed}, for an Italian white
10 AGELONG – A + GEL (sticky substance) + ON + G{arden}, definition: “never going away”
11 STOCKTAKE – STOCK (Standard) + TAKE (approach, presumably in the sense of “What’s your take on this?”). This word looks much more awkward than the perhaps more familiar “stocktaking”.
12 FIRST PERSON – anagram of I PRESS FOR around T{he}, + N (North), definition: “I”
15 SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT – dd, the first referring to the skipping that can occur on a record player, though I’m not sure if the straightness of the record is one of the usual causes. I initially had “put” instead of “set” but 18A made me realise the error.
20 MIDRIFF – MIFF (upset) around DRI{p} (fluid supply, e.g. an IV drip)
21 PELICAN – anagram of ICE PLAIN without one of the Is
24 TEMPERA – TEMP (Short-term worker) + ER (hesitation) + A. Tempura also fits the wordplay however it’s as suitable for painting as tempera is for eating.
26 TONGS – G (good) inside TONS (large amount). Perhaps for salad or sugar-lumps.
28 PACIFIC – reversal of CI (Channel Islands) + FI (girl – a short form of Fiona, and others) + CAP (better)
30 GHOST – G{erman} + HOST (army)
32 ALSO-RAN – AN (Article), around LSO (capital orchestra) + RA (artist)
33 INERTIA – IN + ERA (time) around reversal of IT
34 CALL WAITING – cd, referring to the phone functionality that allows a recipient to switch between two separate calls to their phone
36 DINNER PARTY – N (New) + anagram of PARTNER, inside DIY (self-prepared)
38 GREAT APES – EAT (dine) inside GRAPES (fruit)
40 LAMPSHADE – AMPS (Quantity of current) + HAD, inside LE (the French)
41 UNMARRIED – anagram (Bowling) of UNDERARM + I
44 PREMISE – PRISE (Force) around reversal of ME
46 NEWPORT – NEW (No vintage) + PORT (drink)
48 RELEASE – REL{y} (Bank) + EASE (wealth). I don’t think I’ve come across this meaning of “ease” before.
51 NIGHT – reversal of TH{e} + GIN (alcohol)
53 TETRA – hidden in eliTE TRAwler

9 comments on “Jumbo 1150”

  1. Par for my course, at 76′. I, too, wondered about MONDAY MORNING FEELING, an expression I don’t think I’ve come across before. I toyed with ‘wetland’, but thought better of it. (Well, no, not really; but I did start with ‘put’ at 15d.) I liked 2d for its smooth surface, and 39ac. Is ‘hesitation’ the ‘definition’ for ER? I think I would have preferred “…worker hesitating”, or “worker voicing hesitation”; in any case it struck me as odd.

    Edited at 2015-06-06 05:05 am (UTC)

    1. I didn’t really think about the er=hesitation equivalence because of having seen it before, but there doesn’t seem to be anything in the usual dictionaries that supports it. So yes, a bit of dodginess going on there, perhaps.
      1. That’s what I was wondering: I know we’ve had ER and UM clued countless times by ‘hesitation’, but have we in fact had clues where that one word is the definition? (See Ong’ara’s comment below.) It struck me here, hence my comment; I’d hate to think that I’d overlooked it all those times.
        1. It seems to come up in the Quicky or the Mephisto more often than the normal cryptic, but here’s one from 25704 in February last year: “Fast driver’s hesitation to join motoring organisation” (5) (RACER) and one from Jumbo 1146 last month: “After hesitation, close to describing love for model” (6,3) (POSTER BOY). No-one commented about the er in either case. Either there’s an interpretation that we’re missing or it’s one of those crosswordy things that it’s best not to enquire too deeply about …
  2. Enjoyed this one more than the usual jumbo.. I did particularly like the defs. for 34ac and 34dn.
    Nothing wrong with 34ac, surely we have all heard the verb “to perk?”
    1. Never heard of it used as a verb (at least in relation to coffee) but surely a nounal meaning is needed if “Consequences of perks” is going to make any sense?
      1. no.. if one can perk, then coffee grounds are the consequence of those perks, aren’t they? My bad explanation perhaps.. if you have perked, then there has been perking going on.. a perk has taken place. The grounds are a consequence of that perk… maybe there were no percolators, in your house? 🙂
  3. Re hesitation=er is common cryptic fare even for beginners,so nothing wrong with it,IMO,found this quite hard,finished the next day.(ONG’ARA,NAIROBI)
  4. No time for this, because I dozed off, but I found it pretty hard and I didn’t finish it because I couldn’t get 34 down. I even considered CALL WAITING, but I didn’t see what the clue was getting at.

Comments are closed.