Jumbo 1170

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
A puzzle that I found slightly harder than average, perhaps because of a few bits of general knowledge, e.g. 13A and 25A, that I either didn’t know or which had disappeared into the distant recesses of my mind. I can’t parse 44A to my satisfaction so feel free to chip in with any suggestions in the comments.

Solving time 20m 39s

* = anagram, dd = double definition, {} = omission

Across
1 PIRATIC – PIC (Film) around RAT (unpleasant character) + I (one)
5 APROPOS – A + PROPS (rugby player’s) around O (ball)
9 CLAPPER – dd
13 FINES HERBES – (BEEFS IN HER S{tew})*
14 DEAD LETTERS – Spoonerism of LED (guided) + DEBTORS (those in arrears)
15 ELAND – ELAN (dash) + {capture}D
16 AVOCADO – A + V (very) + O (old) + CAD{die} + O (round)
17 EXERCISED – EX ER (Queen no longer) + CE (Anglican church) around IS, + D (duke)
18 KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR – homophone of NIGHT IN (Evening at home), + SHINING (polishing) + ARMOUR (metal plate)
23 ON THE AIR – O (love) + {a}NTHE{m} (song) + AIR (simple tune)
25 PROCNE – PRONE (likely) around C{retan}. A minor figure in Greek mythology who was fortunately gettable just from wordplay.
27 EASEFUL – (USE LEAF)*
30 MAGIC – reversal of CIG (smoke) + AM (before lunch)
32 CHIPPER – dd
33 THESAURUS – HES (man’s) in TAURUS (house)
35 DETONATED – reversal of NOTE (Mark, with the capital M deceptive) inside DATED (old hat)
36 ATHLONE – A + THRONE (royal seat) with L (left) instead of R (queen)
37 ERNIE – alternate letters of hEaRs NoIsEs
38 SINKING – SIN (evil) + KING (man, in the sense of a chess piece, say)
40 RULERS – SLUR* around ER (King Edward)
41 BENINESE – NINES (figures) in BEE (meeting, as in spelling bee, for example)
44 LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE – I think the idea here is that a railway that is the most unlikely target of the maquis would be the LINE (railway) OF LEAST RESISTANCE (maquis), however I would have thought that the most unlikely target would have no resistance at all. I’m more used to seeing path rather than line.
48 TESTAMENT – TEST (match at Lords) + {l}AMENT (complain). Cricket fans will know the ground is actually called Lord’s, not Lords.
50 GRANDEE – {Etonia}N inside GRADE E (mediocre GCSE result)
53 BEECH – BEE (Insect that flies) + CH (chestnut – from horse breeding, perhaps?)
54 OPERATIONAL – alternate letters of COuPlEs + RATIONAL (thinking straight)
55 STONECUTTER – TON (heavy weight) inside SEC (little time), + UTTER (say)
56 SET DOWN – dd
57 RIGHT-ON – {b}RIGHT ON{e} (clever individual)
58 TAKE OFF – dd
Down
1 PUFFER – PERU* around FF (very loud)
2 RANSACK – RAN{k} (Soldiers in row mostly) + SACK (fire)
3 TEST-DRIVE – SET* + DIVERT*
4 CHELA – hidden in MiCHELAngelo. As found on, say, a crab.
5 AMBROSIA – AM (American) + BROS (relatives) + reversal of AI (top-class). Presumably a reference to the food of the gods, rather than the rice pudding manufacturer of the same name.
6 RASTA – (AT SA (Salvation Army) + R{ally})*
7 PADRONI – PAD (walk), + ON (about) inside RI (state, i.e. Rhode Island)
8 STAGE DIRECTION – reversal of RIDE + GAT (shotgun, maybe), inside SECTION (part)
9 COLLEAGUE – COL{t} (short young player) + LEAGUE (Sports association)
10 ARTIC – ART (Paintings) + I + C{ontainer}
11 PRESS CONFERENCE – SS (Social Security) + CON (Conservative), inside PREFERENCE (potential selection)
12 RESIDER – RE (on) + homophone of CIDER (alcoholic drink)
19 HAIRCUT – HAT (Perhaps helmet), around IR (Irish) + CU (copper)
20 STRIP MALL – TRIP (Outing) inside SMALL (minor)
21 RESHAPE – HAS*, inside RE (Religious Education) + PE (Physical Education)
22 DOLMADES – DOLES (small portions) around MAD (nuts). Stuffed grape leaves.
24 TIGHTEN ONES BELT – (THE GLOBES INTENT)*
26 CARTHORSE – THO (however) + R (runs), inside RACES*
28 LESSENED – reversal of NESS (head) inside LEED{s} (Yorkshire city briefly)
29 KINDERGARTENER – KINDER (More generous) + GARDENER (nursery worker maybe) with T (time) instead of D (daughter)
31 CENTIMO – CEO (Chief executive), around N (Northern) + TIM (fellow). A monetary sub-unit of various countries including Peru and Angola.
34 EVEREST – hidden in sEVERE STorm
39 GALWEGIAN – GAL (girl) + W (with) + EG (for instance) + IAN (Scottish fellow). Meaning of, or pertaining to, Galway.
42 INNSBRUCK – BR (British), inside INN (local) + SUCK (draw)
43 WIND DOWN – dd
44 LOTIONS – LO{ca}TIONS (Spots about to disappear)
45 TAGALOG – TAG (sticker) + A + LOG (record). Spoken in the Philippines.
46 ELECTRO – ELECTOR (picky person) with the last two letters reversed
47 SHERIF – SHE (female) + RIF{t} (split briefly)
49 ALAMO – A LA MO{de} (trendy)
51 ASSET – {b}ASSET (hound)
52 EJECT – C (a hundred) inside E (European) + JET (aircraft)

5 comments on “Jumbo 1170”

  1. I had a number of ?s in the margins of this one, but you’ve answered most of them; but I still don’t get the PC in 57ac. 12d struck me as a pretty poor homophone: I’ve never heard [zaydr] or [risayd].
    1. Politically Correct. On reflection, I tend to think of right-on as meaning trendy rather than politically correct but I suppose there’s some overlap.

      I think that the setter only wanted the homophone to apply to the SIDER part of RESIDER in isolation, rather than how it’s pronounced within the entire word – otherwise you would need to read cider in a stereotypical West Country accent in order to get the required Z in the pronunciation of RESIDER.

      1. I wonder if this is a UK usage. Where I come from, ‘Right on!’ originated–and pretty much remained–a black expression meaning, “Amen!” “Damn right!” etc. (One ready and easy way for a whitey to earn the contempt of his black interlocutor is to try to use the expression.)
  2. 21:43. I found this pretty straightforward: I rarely dip below 20m on Jumbos, and only partly because I am often interrupted and/or (as yesterday) I fall asleep half-way through.
    Fingers crossed for 25ac: PROCNE looked unlikely to me. I don’t think I’ve ever come across GALWEGIAN, either. It looks like a native of Galgow.
    I just bunged 44ac, but now it seems the wrong way round. If a railway line were lacking in resistance, surely that would make it a priority target? Overthinking this one seems like a bad idea.

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