JUMBO 1331

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Howdy folks.  How did you find this?  I thought it was pretty tough and it took me the best part of an hour to wrestle it into submission.  The high count of expertly hidden definitions may have had something to do with it.  In fact, looking at it more closely as I work my way through the blog, this is a fine example of the setter’s craft, with admirable precision all over the place.  Thanks setter.

AMAH was my first in and I finsihed with SMITHIES.  There seemed to be a lot of multi-word phrases on show here, none of which came immediately to mind.

Clues are in blue with definitions underlined, explanations are custom designed to be comprehensible but if I’ve failed in that regard feel free to quiz me.


Across

1
Whaler chap ain’t a bad sailor (7,4)

CAPTAIN AHAB – (chapainta)* + AB

7
Registering editor’s copy in front of gazetteer (11)

SUBSCRIBING – SUB’S CRIB IN G{azetteer}

13
Advantage that’s got out of hand? (1,4,2,4,6)

A CARD UP ONES SLEEVE – CD

14
Yellowish, not exactly pure honey (5)

CAMEL – CA (circa) + MEL.  MEL for honey came up in a daily puzzle fairly recently and prompted a fair bit of discussion.

15
On reflection, mayor liked displaying his name on walls once (6)

KILROY – reverse hidden woz ‘ere

16
Faithfully copied from East German with a British minister (8)

VERBATIM – MIT A B[ritish] REV[erend] with “from East” being the immaculately disguised reversicator.

17
Yellow, but also willing to carry the can (7)

GAMBOGE – BOG = can = lav “carried by” GAME

19
Grub supply that extends underground (9)

ROOTSTOCK – CD

21
Arm in support of old priest and doctor (8)

FORELIMB – FOR ELI MB

23
At heart, lame word said to dentist or nurse (4)

AMAH – {l}AM{e} + AH!

25
Anticipate a burden being picked up (5)

AWAIT – Sounds like “a weight”

27
Rail watchdog’s curt recommendation that’s put on for show? (6)

FINERY – (levy a) FINE (on) RY (railway)

28
Using little energy, performing amusing covers (10)

ECONOMICAL – E[nergy] then ON in COMICAL.  Lift & separate of “little energy” needed.  Clever stuff.

30
The speaker’s regularly late? So cavalier! (8)

KNIGHTLY – Sounds like NIGHTLY

31
Words accepting offer of dominion did fit, somehow (1,4,4,2,1,2)

I DONT MIND IF I DO – (dominion did fit)*

34
Landing increased sentence that’s imposed on motorists (8-2,4)

LIGHTING-UP TIME – LIGHTING UP TIME (as in prison sentence)

35
Remove from office one whose staff’s headed by a crook (8)

UNBISHOP – CD. Strange word.

38
Column by a Democrat blasted right-wing group (6,4)

MONDAY CLUB – (column by a D[emocrat])*

40
Stroll around lake and land (6)

CLINCH – CINCH (stroll as in something easy) around L[ake]

41
Dissenting voices will broadcast using a particular organ (5)

NASAL – Sounds like NAYS’LL

43
Departed to the west and elsewhere (2,2)

ET AL – LATE reversed

44
Sportsperson winding down played mostly small role (8)

SLALOMER – (small role)*.  Very neat definition.

45
I see people, escorted outside, doomed? (3-6)

ILL-OMENED – I then LO MEN in LED.  Flatpack clue.

48
Runner nearly died — and so did hound (7)

HARRIED – HARRIEr D[ied]

49
Better tally of available seconds essential (8)

OUTSCORE – OUT S[econds] CORE

50
Language teacher discarding one book in a hundred (6)

ARABIC – RABbI in A C

53
Limitless haste carries you so far (2,3)

AS YET – YE in hASTe

54
What’s shocking, still? (6,11)

STATIC ELECTRICITY – CD

55
Top class bits of meat by kilo: they’re delivered by hand (6,5)

KARATE CHOPS – A RATE CHOPS after K[ilo]

56
Eccentric English cyclist touring small plant (5,6)

SWEET CICELY – (E[nglish] cyclist)* around WEE


Down

1
Solver with rating perhaps that’s outstanding (11)

CRACKERJACK – CRACKER JACK

2
A little wisdom maybe from Labour’s leader at Conference? (5)

PEARL – PEAR L{abour}. DBE denoted by the question mark.

3
Couple in a hurry with horse going uphill (7)

ARDUOUS – DUO in A RUSh. More delightful lift & separating.

4
Scruff in Suffolk village refused introduction (4)

NAPE – sNAPE.  It may only be a village but it’s known as the home of The Maltings, a well-known concert venue.

5
Nagging top poultry farmer possibly to engage some muscle (10)

HENPECKING – PEC[toral] in HEN KING

6
A guarantee of freshness, though not in the matchmaking business? (4-6,4)

BEST-BEFORE DATE – Straight definition with a cryptic hint?

7
Punishment that sees company barred (8)

SOLITARY – CD

8
Look delighted to be swallowing head of raw fish (5)

BREAM – R{aw} in BEAM

9
My clanger unsettled minister (9)

CLERGYMAN – (myclanger)*

10
Returns home with invitation? (6)

INCOME – IN COME

11
Prince’s complaint at excessive tabloid exposure? (1,2,3,4,1,3,3)

I AM TOO MUCH I THE SUN – CD based on a quote from Hamlet, a play wot Shakespeare wrote.

12
Very early, extreme difficulty stops advance payment to recruit (6,5)

GOLDEN HELLO – OLDEN HELL in GO

18
Flag almost no one waves now? (8)

GONFALON – Semi &Lit (“now” stops it being a full-on example). You probably looked this up yourself so you don’t need me to tell you that a gonwhatsit is a type of heraldic flag or banner, often pointed, swallow-tailed, or with several streamers, and suspended from a crossbar in an identical manner to the ancient Roman vexillum.

20
Visiting part of prison, perhaps with a solicitor, unlikely to succeed (2,1,4,3,1,6)

ON A WING AND A PRAYER – ON A WING, AND, A PRAYER.  Capisce?

22
They stand in chimneys, containing rise of poisonous gas (6)

LOCUMS – CO (carbon monoxide) reversed in LUMS, the kind of Scottish chimbley favoured by setters.

24
Purpose before twelve part satellite transmission’s ending (8)

AMBITION – A.M. (before 12) BIT IO {transmissio}N

26
Artist coming across a hotel on S Pacific island (8)

TAHITIAN – TITIAN around A H[otel]

29
Giving Malian this old picture? (6,8)

ANIMAL CRACKERS – MALIAN is an anagram of ANIMALS hence ANIMAL CRACKERS.  Easy for me as a huge Marx Bros fan.

32
Of course, smaller Germany’s no complete entity, you’d say (4-4)

NINE-HOLE – Souns like NEIN WHOLE.  Clever definition.

33
Creator of surreal pictures of hairstyle quietly removing the odd bits (6)

BUNUEL – BUN {q}U{i}E{t}L{y}.  I knew of old Luis through his work with Dali, my second favourite artist after Magritte.

34
Girl to disappear in pursuit of hit dance (7,4)

LAMBETH WALK – BETH WALK after LAM.  Tricky for overseas solvers? OI!

36
Cold tap left three years in disrepair being fingered excessively (11)

POLYDACTYLY – (cold tap l yyy)*

37
Fraternize with European replacing right dodgy additive (10)

ANTIFREEZE – Anagram of FRATERNIZE less R plus E.  Oh how I miss the days when you could make nasty cheap wine taste better by adding antifreeze.

39
Copper on drug investigation going up blind alleys (4-2-3)

CULS-DE-SAC – CU LSD + CASE reversed.  Take that, people who say “cul-de-sacs”.

42
Chap’s turned old presses on, where hot metal’s worked (8)

SMITHIES – TIM’S reversed then HIES.  It took me ages to justify the answer which is why it was my last in.  To hie is an old verb meaning to go quickly.

46
Drink can ruin one’s clothing (7)

MARTINI – TIN (can) clothed by MAR I.  What a beautiful clue.

47
Knight is in time to help reversing unpopular decree (6)

DIKTAT – KT in a reversal of T[ime] AID.  Normally your crossword radar should be screaming N when you see “knight” but here it’s a real knight rather than a little plastic horse.

49
Series of books on past antipodean province (5)

OTAGO – O[ld] T[estament] AGO.  Somehwere in New Zealand apparently.

51
Felt article penned by composer too short (5)

BAIZE – A in BIZE{t}

52
Having relations up in Flint — Italian (2,2)

AT IT – Naughty reverse hidden.  It’s not referencing your aunt Mabel.  Or is it?

8 comments on “JUMBO 1331”

  1. DNK LIGHTING UP TIME, MONDAY CLUB, or SWEET CICELY, and never parsed GAMBOGE. BUNUEL took an embarrassingly long time to get, even with the BUN. LOI CLINCH. A lot of good clues in this one, like 41ac, and 32d, but my COD to MARTINI. Incidentally, Jumbo 1333 has a typo: 45ac should be ‘short’ not ‘shot’.

    Edited at 2018-07-14 09:03 pm (UTC)

  2. Definitely not on this setter’s wavelength. Gave up after an hour and a half still looking at a dozen unfathomable clues. Very tricky stuff, to be admired I admit. DNK GONFALON, AMAH, GAMBOGE, PALIDYYYYWHATSIT, and couldn’t see CAMEL as yellowish for the life of me. Well done P for an excellent blog, and thank you setter for testing the little grey cells further than their natural reach.
  3. Screwed this up royally in 1:55:28 with a typo at TAHATIAN and 2 errors. I AM NOT MUCH I THE SUN, and a careless DICTAT. I guess I had lost the will to carry on thinking properly by the time I finished. I think I started it around midnight expecting to take an hour, than carried on regardless instead of doing the sensible thing and saving it for later when it turned into a beast! Thanks setter and Penfold.
  4. FOI OTAGO.This was a hard jumbo but glad l completed it after a long time. As for LAMBETH WALK and other UKcentric stuff, google came to the rescue. For CRACKERJACK, looked at words beginning with ‘cracker’ and there it was in my Oxford.
    Ong’ara,
    Kenya.
  5. Can somebody explain the way you are supposed to crack this one….Semi &Lit ??
    Sorry if I’m being dim but it just seems to be impossible to crack from wordplay alone.
    Thanks –
    1. I can’t remember how I solved it–probably biffed from checkers (I knew the word)–but it looks like an anagram to me: (FLAG NOON) (almost no one).
    2. Sorry anon, I’ve only just noticed that I didn’t actually explain it.

      As Kevin has it it’s an anagram of FLAG NO ON{e} with WAVES as the anagram indicator. The definition is the whole clue, so NOW is part of the definition but not part of the wordplay, unless you consider WAVES NOW to be the anagrind.

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