Jumbo 1200

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
A couple of unknown words, a couple of unexpected hyphens, and a questionable definition in an enjoyable puzzle without much in the way of 2Ds.

Solving time: 21m26

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

Across
1 SUPERCOMPUTER – cd, attempting to trick you into thinking about the police rather than computers
8 QUOTIDIAN – I’D (I had) + I (one), inside QUOTA (allowance), + N (new)
13 ACT UP – AC (account) + reversal of PUT
14 FAIR TRADE – AIR (attitude) + TRAD (traditional), inside FE (iron). I carelessly whacked in FREE TRADE here, which held me up at the end for a couple of minutes as it made 5D quite hard to make sense of.
15 DRIVE-IN – DR (Medic) + I (one) + VEIN (blood vessel), definition: “flicks here?”, where flicks should be read in the sense of movies
16 HEARTBREAKER – {Surfe}R (Surfer’s last) inside HEAT (warm) + BREAKER (wave)
17 INSENTIENT – (IT’S NINE TEN)*
18 LOLITA – LIT (Literature) inside LOA{ned} (first half of advanced)
19 TOE-NAILS – TON (Weight) + AILS (is bad), around {som}E (end of some). I can’t find this hyphenated in any of the usual online sources.
21 HASSLE – SS (Ship) inside HALE (sound, in the sense of healthy)
24 SANGUINARY – ({Tor}Y RUNS AGAIN)*. Though sanguine can mean hopeful as well as full of blood, all of the usual online sources only have the blood meaning for sanguinary, so I’m not sure about the validity of this definition.
26 BRING TO A HEAD – BRING TO (wake up) + AHEAD (on top, e.g. in a game)
29 PITY – PIT (mine) + {Ma}Y (closure in May)
30 IMPETIGO – I’M + PET (to treat gently) + I + GO (leave)
31 EARTHMEN – EARTHEN (Description of pottery) around M (male), definition: “males in general?”
34 EARPLUGS – {B}EAR (Unopened stand) + PLUGS (promotes)
35 SALT-MINE – (IN METALS)*
36 JOKE – JE (First person in Grenoble) around OK (acceptable)
39 SAFE AND SOUND – Reversal of AS (when), + (OF A SUDDEN)* around N (noon)
40 AT A STRETCH – TA (cheers) inside A + STRETCH (time in prison)
43 RETAIL – LATER (subsequently) around I (one), all reversed
44 OVERHEAD – OVER (linked to) + HEAD (school staff member)
45 PARCEL – PAR (standard) + CEL{l} (small room mostly)
49 GARAGE SALE – A (article) + RAGES (blows wildly), inside GALE (windy weather)
51 BODY LANGUAGE – (BEG A YOUNG LAD)*
53 OUTDOOR – OUTDO (Perform better than) + OR (soldiers)
54 SOURDOUGH – S{upply} (beginning to supply) + OUR DOUGH (money for us?)
55 LOTTO – LO (Look) around OTT (excessive)
56 PROSELYTE – POLYESTER*, with the dreaded pants serving as the anagram indicator. Nice surface, though.
57 ZERO TOLERANCE – ZERO (Love) + (TO LEARN)* + CE (church)
Down
1 SEA-SHELLS – cd, referring to the tongue-twister “She sells seashells on the seashore”. Another word that I can’t see hyphenated in the usual online sources.
2 PITFALL – PILL (medicine) around reversal of AFT (back)
3 REPETITEUR – reversal of RUE (Regret) + TIER (row), around PET (favoured). This came up in a Listener last year, which was the only reason I knew it. Chambers: “A person who rehearses opera singers, etc”
4 OXFORD – X (Times) + FOR (supporting), inside reversal of DO (party). Home of Oxford Brookes University.
5 PHILANTHROPY – PANT (Laboured breath) + H (hot) + ROPY (unwell), around H (hard) + I + L{ook} (start to look)
6 TATTERED – TA (soldiers) + {u}TTERED (spoke, dismissing leader)
7 ROAM – A (article) in ROM (memory)
8 QUEENSLAND – QUEENS (Powerful men, where men is used in the sense of chess pieces – there was a similar deceptive usage of queen in the New Year’s Day Jumbo) + LAND (secure)
9 OODLES – {B}OODLES (Bishop leaving London club). Boodle’s is apparently a prestigious London gentlemen’s club.
10 IDIOT SAVANTS – (DATA ON VISITS)*
11 IRENE – {s}IREN (Seductress abandoning son) + E (European)
12 NON-ATTENDANCE – DANCE (Caper) after N + N (notes) about (AT ETON)*
20 ABROGATE – GATE (spectators) after A + reversal of ORB (ball)
22 STEAMBOAT – cd. I had always associated chuffing with trains but it seems as though any old steam engine will do, including one in a boat.
23 UNHINGED – dd
25 NET PROFIT – NET (Web) + PRO (expert) + FIT (attractive)
27 TRAVERSE – TERSE (saying little) around RAV{e} (endless party)
28 STRAINER – ST (stones) + RAIN (water) + {tre}E {litte}R (last bits of tree litter), definition: “One gathers leaves”. Presumably this is referring to tea leaves, but a generic strainer could be used for other things too.
29 PRESSURE GROUP – PRES{s} (Curtailment of journalists) + SURE (certain) + GO UP (increase) around R (Republican)
32 FLOATING VOTE – cd
33 BIRTHDAY SUIT – cd
37 CONVALESCE – C (cold) + ONCE (as soon as) around VALES (glens)
38 TRIANGULAR – TRIA{l} (Court case curtailed) + {si}NGULAR (rather unusual to lose first two)
41 HELLEBORE – reversal of BELLE (beautiful girl), + OR (golden), all inside HE
42 RECORDER – REORDER (to try to get another) around C (chapter)
46 CLACTON – CL (Chlorine) + ACT ON (to influence)
47 OSPREY – O (old) + SPY (spot) around RE (about)
48 WARHOL – WAR HOL{e} (left unfinished Dug-out in No-Man’s-Land)
50 RETRO – reversal of {p}ORTER (hospital worker … having lost first of patients)
52 BUZZ – B (book) + U{sed} (used initially) + ZZ (two numbers to be found – a reference to z being a common variable in equations)

5 comments on “Jumbo 1200”

  1. I had exactly the same reservations as you did, Mohn: the odd hyphens and SANGUINARY, which latter seems just wrong; I waited forever before putting it in. It also took me forever for the ‘men’ to become clear at 8d, long after I’d determined that it had to be QUEENSLAND. I think we’ve had REPETITEUR once before, recently; there was a slight feeling of familiarity once I finally figured it out. (On edit: I remember wondering at the time if someone on the forum would object to the singular form of IDIOT; just checked and am relieved to see no one did. The word is no longer used, I’m happy to say, in the professional literature.)

    Edited at 2016-04-17 06:44 am (UTC)

  2. 42:49, which I would say means slightly harder than average for me. I didn’t think twice about SANGUINARY, and I happen to know a REPETITEUR, which helped.
    I knew Boodles, too. I used to have a colleague who was a member, and we organised a client event there once, in an upstairs private room. The club doesn’t admit women, but they made an exception for this sort of event. What they didn’t tell us was that women weren’t allowed to enter the club, so our female guests had to come in and out via a service lift round the back. It was awful.
    Thanks for the blog, m, although your comment at 4dn is a disgrace. 😉
    1. “Disgrace (Cantab)” is my middle name 🙂

      I can not imagine how embarrassing it must have been to have to break the news to the female guests at that client event. However I’m sure that that anecdote will help fix Boodle’s in my memory for future crosswording purposes, if such a meagre silver lining is any consolation.

      Edited at 2016-04-16 08:57 pm (UTC)

      1. The explaining was bad. Accompanying them in and out in the crappy little service lift was worse. We all laughed about it of course but it wasn’t really funny.
  3. Also got SANGUINARY from checkers though my dictionary doesn’t have it meaning ‘hopeful’.COD OUTDOOR. (ONG’ARA, NAIROBI )

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