JUMBO 1306

many, many thanks to Mohn2 for pointing me to the “magic” script and notes on getting it to work in Safari so that I could blog this puzzle in glorious technicolor with 5D Dolby surround sound.

Clues are in blue and therein definitions are underlined and anagram indicators emboldened.  Hopefully everything else in the explanations will make sense.

There were a few unfamiliar words in here which took my time to a shade over an hour inclduing taking notes and figuring out parsings so by my reckoning we’re in slightly tricky territory here.

First in was ARNO, last was NEWLY-WED

Across

1

Run down and tired horse originally looked energetic next to sheep (10)

RAMSHACKLE – HACK L(ooked) E(nergetic) after RAMS

6

Gamble involving everyone Asian with a passion for dance (12)

BALLETOMANIA – BET around ALL then OMANI A

14

Bloke briefly in a US city consuming hot fish (7)

ANCHOVY – Russian doll time… H[ot] in COV{e} in A N[ew] Y[ork]

15

American with friend in NATO, for example (7)

ACRONYM – AM[erican] around CRONY

16

Swiss citizen given information by Welshman? (7)

GENEVAN – GEN EVAN

17

Wading bird lives in the same place to the west (4)

IBIS – IS with IB (ibid being Latin for “in the same place”) to the West of it.

18

Make all-out effort, producing a little music (6)

STRAIN – DD

20

Ministerial friend entertaining old Times proprietor (8)

PASTORAL – (Lord) ASTOR in PAL

24

Effective ruler on whom the monarch may turn his back? (3,5,6,3,6)

THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE – CD

25

Bakery product member dropped in condiment container (7)

CRUMPET – M.P. in CRUET

26

The last word about warty amphibian, we hear, or worm (8)

NEMATODE – AMEN reversed then a homphone for toad

27

Duck first of objects thrown out of vehicle? (6)

SCOTER – SCOOTER with O(bjects) removed.  If you haven’t heard of a scoter, it looks like duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck…

29

Drop scone? It may make this on the floor (7,7)

PANCAKE LANDING – CD of sorts

31

Knight leaves Cornish resort with male groom, perhaps (5-3)

NEWLY-WED – NEWLY{n} W[ith] ED

34

Status of property built by army doctor right beside sea (8)

MORTMAIN – M.O. R[igh]T MAIN. You don’t need me to tell you that mortmain is the status of lands or tenements held inalienably by an ecclesiastical or other corporation.

36

Mystery writer chewing the rag at Ischia (6,8)

AGATHA CHRISTIE – (theragatischia)*

39

Carpeting for evaluation (6)

RATING – DD

41

Ugly old woman in bed beginning to eat game (8)

CRIBBAGE – BAG in CRIB E(at).  The daddy of card games if you ask me.

43

Accident involving veg in first half of meal (5-2)

SMASH-UP – MASH (mashed potato) in SUP{per}

46

Remain aliveconduct tidy performance of 1930s song? (4,4,3,4,8)

KEEP BODY AND SOUL TOGETHER – DD, the second presumably a reference to the 1930 song by Ruth Etting.  The song and singer were both unknown to me, indeed I didn’t even know the supposedly more famous versions by Coleman Hawkins in 1939 and by Amy Winehouse and Tony Bennett in 2011.  I do, however, have the excellent Joe Jackson Album of that name.

47

Relating to sound half of N African dish swallowed in a brief moment (8)

ACOUSTIC – {cous-}COUS in A TIC

48

Work hard in attempt to secure prize (6)

TROPHY – OP H in TRY

49

Man or woman ringing about fiddle (4)

SCAM – SAM around C[irca]

53

Two women cutting keys for an imposing building (7)

EDIFICE – DI and FI in E C E

54

Demanded move to block former press chief (7)

EXACTED -ACT in EX ED

56

Watchman’s funeral? (7)

LOOKOUT – DD, the second, I’m guessing, as in the phrase “If he wants to go out with Keeley that’s his lookout / funeral”.

57

Actively opposed worker striving for effect (12)

ANTAGONISTIC – ANT AGONISTIC

58

Soldiers in new red masks — one working on shift, perhaps (10)

DRESSMAKER – R.E. in (redmasks)*

Down

1

Level-headed about little girl’s spasmodic twitch (9)

REALISTIC -RE ALI’s TIC

2

Armed man’s outstanding feature, say, aristocratic in bearing (7-6)

MACHINE-GUNNER -CHIN E.G. U in MANNER

3

Gangsterone who wrote poems (4)

HOOD -DD. I assume we’re talking about Thomas Hood (23 May 1799 – 3 May 1845) who wrote “The Bridge of Sighs”, “The Song of the Shirt” and “There Was a Young Man from Nantucket”.

4

Method of communication confusing their cat, say — ESP? (14)

CRYPTAESTHESIA – (theircatsayesp)*, another term for ESP, but then you knew I was going to say that.

5

Grassland: source of enjoyment in the Hollywood area (3)

LEA – E(njoyment) in L[os] A[ngeles]

7

A small number crossing river, one flowing through Florence (4)

ARNO – A NO around R[iver]

8

Buddhist monk’s current movement keeping Muslim leader’s feast? (10)

LAMMASTIDE – LAMA’S TIDE around M(uslim)

9

How we may combine to collect present, in short (8)

TOGETHER -TO GET HER{e}

10

Girl left outside vault giving sovereign support (11)

MONARCHICAL -MONICA L[eft] around ARCH

11

New law over misguided introduction of this rock plant (9)

NAVELWORT -N + (lawover)* + T(his). A wild flower that grows in walls, stony banks and rocky areas, particularly in shade or damp places.

12

Area in E London to search for relative (4)

AUNT – A[rea] {h}UNT

13

Hand-out given to poor actor in former PM’s birthplace (8)

GRANTHAM – GRANT HAM.  For the uninitiated, Margaret Thatcher was born in the “picturesque” midlands town of Grantham.

19

Language fellow used about one propping up bar! (8)

ALBANIAN -ALAN around BAN on top of I (one)

21

Husband rings father about start of Liverpool game (4-2)

HOOP-LA – H[usband] OO +PA around L(iverpool).  I wrote this answer in at 7:41 on Saturday 27th Jan.  At 7:45 Liverpool’s televised F.A. Cup game against WBA kicked off.  Spooky.

22

Intuitive feeling of Conservative opening popular allocated work (8)

INSTINCT – C(onservative) in IN STINT

23

Resentfully envy and petition Barnaby? (8)

BEGRUDGE – BEG RUDGE

28

One in HMP stole sheep originally, the devil! (14)

MEPHISTOPHELES – I in (hmpstolesheep)*

29

Finally free in afternoon, what gamblers go for in Welsh town (8)

PEMBROKE – (fre)E in P.M. + BROKE (as in go for…)

30

What the setter has, being a drudge! (8)

DOGSBODY – DD (setter as in English, Irish or red rather than crossword)

32

Keep an eye on the hands — lest they do this? (5,3,5)

WATCH THE CLOCK – CD based on the idea that if you don’t watch your workers they’ll become clock watchers (i.e. naff off home at bang on 5).

33

Alert eccentric in court battle (8)

WATERLOO – (alert)* in WOO

35

It’s shattering, what a reluctant wind player may do! (4-7)

MIND-BLOWING – DD, one whimsical

37

Girl turns out to be murder victim (6)

ISABEL – IS ABEL

38

Eats with last of escapees, back inside: it’s boring (10)

DREARINESS – DINES (escapee)S around REAR

40

Health worker, one who believes criticism is accepted (9)

THERAPIST – THEIST around RAP

42

Turncoat’s article put away with mail (8)

APOSTATE – A then ATE (put away) after POST

44

Bounds of archaic poem kept in safe? (9)

PERIMETER – RIME in PETER.  I originally had this a PARAMETER but couldn’t figure out what an ARAM might be.

45

Like extensive wanderings? Yes, a don’s travels (8)

ODYSSEAN – (yesadons)*

50

Variable film supported by a character in Patras (4)

ZETA – Z E.T. on A

51

Saw second maiden cast off long dress (4)

MAXI – MAXI{m}

52

Nautical spar that’s never bust? (4)

BOOM – Boom and…

55

Beetle making staff sit up? (3)

DOR -ROD reversed

5 comments on “JUMBO 1306”

  1. I managed to catch the letters for CRYPTAESTHESIA in the wrong order as they fell ending up with CRYPTHESTAESIA, despite the fact I checked it on Google after typing it in to see if it existed, and still didn’t notice I’d got it wrong. A bad Saturday cryptic session for me. Missed a letter off the main puzzle too. 1:23:02 for the rest of it. I thought it was tough with lots of stuff I hadn’t come across before. Better luck today(after a bit of sleep I think). Thanks setter and Penfold.
  2. This evidently went in fairly smoothly, since I have almost no notes, and wrote out only 3 words to test the parsing (MONARCHICAL, BALLETOMANIA, and of course CRYPTOthing). DNK 29ac, LOI 4d of course, or 11d; and DNK the song, although I knew Ruth Etting (‘Ten Cents a Dance’, ‘Love Me or Leave Me’, ‘Mean to Me’, etc.). 7d struck me as an egregious gimme; and 53ac combined two of my least favorite clues: names and musical keys. COD to MORTMAIN.
  3. Straightforward one, this.. I knew mortmain, heaven only knows where from. Sellar & Yeatmans’ “1066 & All That,” probably. Nice to be all correct, after the Sibylline disaster of the previous week
  4. Of medium difficulty for me,LOI 4d after a lot of googling,knew it began with crypt…
    Ong’ara,
    Kenya.
  5. I had never heard of the game, but HOOP-LA it had to be.
    I see the clue for WATCH THE CLOCK as actually a “Double-Definition &lit (hence the question mark): “Keep an eye on the hands [one definition] lest they do this?” [entire sentence: another definition].
    Never heard of Grantham and not up on birthplaces of your PMs; I think I cheated on that one.

    Edited at 2018-02-11 12:23 am (UTC)

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