Jumbo 1155

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
I thought this was a very enjoyable offering, with some smooth (e.g. 15A, 27A) and amusing surfaces (e.g. 57A, 31D). Only a few unknowns and nothing too fiendish in the wordplay, leading to a solving time of 21m 2s.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, * = anagram

Across
1 STRIP CLUB – STRIP (band) + CLUB (hit)
6 SHALLOW – HALLO (greeting) in SW (Cornwall area, i.e. South-West)
10 WEILL – {prelud}E inside WILL (desire), for the composer of The Threepenny Opera and others. I spent some time pondering whether there was a composer Weish that I’d never heard of.
13 LABOURS – could be read as LAB(rador) OURS
14 R AND R – reverse hidden in absuRD NARratives, definition: “rest abridged”
15 ALTISSIMO – (I + IS + ALMOST)*
16 THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US – literal reading where US is to be read as U.S. This is a sonnet by Wordsworth with disappointingly no apparent connection to The World Is Not Enough. Not a poem I’d heard of but fortunately the checkers didn’t leave many options.
17 PIERRE – PIE (Shepherd’s, possibly) around ERR (stray)
18 FACTOTUM – FACT (no story) + OT (books) + UM (I hesitate to say)
19 BOHEMIA – HEM (border) + I (one), all inside BOA (Stole)
22 RAT-A-TAT-TAT – RA (artist) + TA (cheers) + TAT + TAT (shoddy stuff repeating), definition: “Sound of rap”. Nice use of “lift and separate”.
23 WEATHERSTRIP – (W{ith} + THREE + PARTS + I)* I’m not sure I’ve come across this word before but, seeing as it looked likely to begin with “weather”, there weren’t any other alternatives from the anagram fodder.
27 DIP IN – DI (say, Morse – a reference to Colin Dexter’s literary protagonist Inspector Morse, who presumably was at some point a Detective Inspector) + PIN (code, i.e. Personal Identification Number)
29 WOODRAT – WOO (Go after) + DRAT (damn), to give an alternative name for a pack-rat
30 HAYFIELD – F in (DAILY + HE)*, definition: “that’s worked best in the Sun”
32 DYE-WORKS – YEW (tree) inside DORKS (Idiots), definition: “plant that changes colour”
34 JANACEK – JK (couple coming after I, in the alphabet) around AN ACE (expert), for the composer of The Cunning Little Vixen and others
36 KABUL – alternate reversed in cLoUd BlAcK
39 PLAIN SAILING – PLANS (Schemes) + AILING (laid up), around I (one)
41 PRIZE MONEY – homophone of PRISE, + MO (second) + NEY (French marshal – one of Napoleon’s commanders). Chambers gives prize as an alternative spelling to prise, so the homophone indicator perhaps isn’t needed.
44 ROLLBAR – ROLL (List) + BAR (to exclude)
46 EMBER DAY – (READ + BY + ME)* Ember days are fasting days in some Christian churches.
48 ILL SAY – ILLS (Problems) + AY (without end, i.e. forever)
50 BUTTERFLIES IN THE STOMACH – dd, the second cryptic and referring to the type of butterfly known as a comma
53 IMPRECISE – EMPIRE*, around (closing) C (century) + IS
54 NAIRA – AIR (Atmosphere) in N (North) A{merica}, to give the monetary unit of Nigeria, definition: “change from W Africa”. A is a standard abbreviation for America and NA is a standard abbreviation for North America, so arguably the “to start with” isn’t needed.
55 AMENITY – AMITY (Fellowship) around EN (Parisian in)
56 MERCY – could be read as MERC–Y, i.e. like a Mercedes (posh car)
57 YTTRIUM – initial letters of Your Twin Tub Rolled In Under Mine, short and sweet definition: “Y”, the chemical symbol for yttrium
58 SWEETENER – WEE (Minor) + TEN (figure), inside SE (Home Counties) + R{ugby}, definition: “substitute in cup”
Down
1 SPLIT – triple definition, the peach one in the sense of being an informer
2 ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL – mildly cryptic definition playing on the fact that “peter” is a slang word for a safe
3 PLUTOCRAT – PLUTO (world) + C (cold) + RAT (despicable one)
4 LASTLY – ST (Stumped, as seen in a cricket score) + L (line), all inside LAY (song)
5 BURKINA FASO – BURKAS (Moslem garments) + O (old), around IN + A + F (fine), for the country once known as Upper Volta
6 SANCTITY – CT (court) inside SANITY (being all there)
7 AIRPORT – AIR (state) + PORT (left), Charles de Gaulle being one of the airports of Paris
8 LEAGUE MATCH – (MUCH + GLEE + AT + A)*
9 WATCHABLE – WAT (Temple) + CABLE (lead) around H (husband)
10 WASPISH – reversal of H (Hot) + SIP (drink) + SAW (marked)
11 IRISH – how a drunk might pronounce IRIS (flag, as in the plant)
12 LOOK SNAPPY – LOOKS (Beauty) + NAPPY (something applied to a baby), definition: “hurry”, as an imperative
17 PARED – RED (wine) after PA (a year, i.e. per annum)
20 MARYLEBONE STATION – (M + ALTERATIONS + BY + ONE)*, definition: “property on square”. I’ve only been near Marylebone Station a handful of times and I don’t recall any particularly obvious square there, so I’m assuming that this is a reference to a Monopoly board.
21 STOWER – S (Small) + TOWER (campanile, perhaps)
24 EXTANT – {s}EXTANT (Navigational aid, after taking the first), definition: “left”
25 SLICK – dd, the first “Showing Polish” and making use of a nicely misleading capitalisation
26 TROJAN – TRO{p} (almost too much for French person) + JAN (month), definition: “Paris for one”
28 NO-WIN – if you were once out then perhaps you are NOW IN
31 YAKUZA – YAK (Hairy creature) + UZ{i} (sub-machine gun cut down) + A
33 SELF-EVIDENT – (FIELD + EVENTS)*
35 CARPATHIANS – CAR (Vehicle) + PATH (lane) + IS around AN, for the mountain range in Central and Eastern Europe
37 LAY-BY – LAY (Release clutch, perhaps – think eggs) + BY (alongside)
38 OPPROBRIUM – OP (Work) + PRO (for), + I (one) in BRUM (Birmingham)
40 AIRY-FAIRY – AI (Fine) + RY (line) + FAIR (just) + {sadl}Y
42 MELLOWEST – M (Maiden) + ‘ELLO (greeting for Cockney) + WEST (bridge player)
43 CRONYISM – (R{ewarding} + M{ates} + IN + COSY)*, pretty much an &lit
45 BREWERY – R (right) + EWER (jug), inside BY. Definition: “Porter works, possibly”, where a porter is a type of beer.
47 BASENJI – BASE (Found), + J (judge) in NI (part of UK, i.e. Northern Ireland), for the hunting dog that doesn’t have much of a bark
49 ASHAKE – something fishlike might be AS HAKE
51 TAPER – dd
52 HEYER – HR (Personnel) around EYE (study), referring to Georgette Heyer, who died today in 1974. I know her more for her historical romances than her crime writings. Heyer is regularly mentioned on this blog as a useful source of crosswordese.

6 comments on “Jumbo 1155”

  1. I was wondering about LAY-BY; never thought of the egg clutch, so thanks for explaining that one. LOI 24d; rather nicely misleading clue. I wouldn’t have thought that mellow=kind-hearted, although that didn’t slow me down. Having recently had a drunk’s kiss=kish and now a drunk’s iris=Irish, it occurred to me to wonder if anyone has heard an actual drunk substitute SH for S; I’m pretty sure I never have.
    1. Collins has “kind-hearted, esp through maturity or old age” but yes, that’s not an equivalence I would have come up with if asked to define the word myself. I can’t vouch for how true the drunken S to SH device is to real life, but I’ve also seen it clued via a reference to Sean Connery.
  3. Finished in a few hours,re 7d,the def was John Lennon in another xword recently,also wrote in WEISH but corrected it later,the surface of 1a amusing,is Wat Temple a person?(ONG’ARA,NRB)
  5. Finished in just under an hour, I think. 16a was unknown to me as was NAIRA, but clear enough from the word play. Favourite was JANACEK. I rather like his Sinfonietta. Anyone else remember it as the theme tune to Crown Court in the 70s/80s?

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