Hope everyone made it through the holiday season and safely arrived, bursting with rude health, into 2019. I was given an interesting present – a poster containing the entirety of Hamlet. Granted, the font size needed to cram it all onto one 70cm x 50cm sheet would test a hawk but I’m hoping that having this up on the wall of my loo or kitchen will help to improve my knowledge of the Bard more than the dusty copy of his complete works that I somehow always find an excuse to not open.
This puzzle was on the easy side, I thought, with only a couple of unknowns, both with seemingly unambiguous wordplay. I know even less about the poets referenced in 53A and 42D than I do about Shakespeare, and I recognised none of the works or quotations in their Wiki pages, though they have both appeared in the Times crossword enough that their names were familiar. Otherwise, a fairly gentle Jumbo with which to kick off 2019.
Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, dd = double definition, cd = cryptic definition
| Across | |
| 1 | Writing of law enforcer delayed by publisher at first (11) |
| COPPERPLATE – COPPER (law enforcer) + P{ublisher} (publisher at first) + LATE (delayed), to give (Chambers): “A fine handwriting based on the style used in copperplate engravings” | |
| 7 | Oft-repeated utterance at church he carps frightfully about (5-6) |
| CATCH-PHRASE – AT + CH (church), in (HE CARPS)* | |
| 13 | Reverse decision: support youth knocked over outside gym (4-5) |
| BACK-PEDAL – BACK (support) + reversal of LAD (youth), around PE (gym) | |
| 14 | Crummy seaside feature — more like a rough ride! (7) |
| BUMPIER – BUM (Crummy) + PIER (seaside feature) | |
| 15 | Having left for river, fetch glitzy jewellery (5) |
| BLING – BrING (fetch) with the r (river) replaced by an L (left) | |
| 16 | Well-built chair finally installed in workplace (6) |
| STURDY – {chai}R (chair finally) in STUDY (workplace) | |
| 17 | Open note about current opportunity for supplementing income (8) |
| OVERTIME – OVERT (Open) + ME (note) about I (current) | |
| 18 | Malevolent spirit in work unit left family trapped (3-4) |
| ERL-KING – ERG (work unit), around L (left) + KIN (family), to give (Chambers): “For German Erlkönig, a mistranslation (alder-king) of the Danish ellerkonge (from elverkonge king of the elves)”. I knew this word because I once looked up erk in Chambers for some other crossword and erl-king, being the next entry, caught my eye. | |
| 20 | Release Tom from confinement — and give the game away (3,3,3,3,2,3,3) |
| LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG – literal interpretation, with Tom being a tomcat | |
| 23 | British hooligan hanging around old women’s feast (7) |
| BLOWOUT – B (British) + LOUT (hooligan), around O (old) + W (women’s) | |
| 24 | Former actor holding opening of Macbeth to be over the top (7) |
| EXTREME – EX (Former) + TREE (actor) around M{acbeth} (opening of Macbeth). Clearly Herbert Beerbohm will be with us in Crosswordland for at least another year. | |
| 26 | Put in leafy recess, half of them submit with hesitation (7) |
| EMBOWER – {th}EM (half of them) + BOW (submit) + ER (hesitation) | |
| 28 | Promise shown by hero at Harrow (4) |
| OATH – hidden in herO AT Harrow | |
| 29 | Dutiful knight in parliament with recipient of lesser honour (8) |
| OBEDIENT – OBE (recipient of lesser honour, where an OBE (Order of the British Empire) is beneath a knighthood in the rankings) + DIET (parliament) around N (knight) | |
| 32 | Brainy chap with temperature, sick internally (9) |
| BRILLIANT – BRIAN (chap) + T (temperature) around ILL (sick) | |
| 35 | Old coach’s daily account written outside bar (9) |
| CHARABANC – CHAR (daily) + AC (account) around BAN (bar), to give (Chambers): “Formerly, a long open vehicle with rows of transverse seats” | |
| 36 | See viper slithering around church entrance initially (8) |
| PERCEIVE – VIPER* around CE (church), + E{ntrance} (entrance initially) | |
| 37 | Old Persian ruler’s quiet expression of pleasure (4) |
| SHAH – SH (quiet) + AH (expression of pleasure) | |
| 39 | Youth flustered man carrying high-class resin (7) |
| LADANUM – LAD (Youth) + MAN* around U (high-class), to give (Chambers): “A fragrant resin exuded from Cistus leaves in Mediterranean countries”, with Cistus being commonly known as the rock rose. I didn’t know this word but Chambers suggests it might be related to laudanum, which will perhaps be more familiar to most. | |
| 41 | Bachelor fled, but returned — to have a dip in this? (4-3) |
| BRAN-TUB – B (Bachelor) + RAN (fled) + reversal of BUT, to give (Chambers): “A tub of bran from which small presents, etc, are drawn eg at parties”, though all the usual sources have this as two separate words | |
| 44 | Emotionally stimulated, like Earl Grey sometimes? (7) |
| STIRRED – a cup or pot of Earl Grey may be stirred by a spoon | |
| 45 | He wrote our best love stories oddly adopting new name (6,5,9) |
| ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON – (OUR BEST LOVE STORIES)* around N (new), + N (name) | |
| 49 | Reportedly recognises trashy paper: one sustains blows (4,3) |
| NOSE RAG – homophone of KNOWS (recognises), + RAG (trashy paper), to give (Chambers): “(slang) A handkerchief” | |
| 50 | Fellow lessee’s hypocrisy involving books in French (8) |
| COTENANT – CANT (hypocrisy), around OT (books) + EN (in French). My incorrect inclination would have been to hyphenate this – all the usual sources have it unhyphenated (though ODO strangely doesn’t have it in any form). | |
| 51 | Course finally eaten in Eastern plane, perhaps? (6) |
| ENTREE – E (Eastern) + TREE (plane, perhaps) around {eate}N (finally eaten) | |
| 53 | Eg Ezra’s enclosure for stray dogs (5) |
| POUND – dd, the first referring to the poet Ezra Pound | |
| 54 | Allure of former county briefly belonging to us (7) |
| GLAMOUR – GLAM (former county briefly, i.e. the abbreviation for Glamorgan) + OUR (belonging to us) | |
| 55 | Councillor in row about old hooped skirt (9) |
| CRINOLINE – CR (Councillor) + IN + LINE (row) about O (old) | |
| 56 | Like emblem of Manx people —and like some other races (5-6) |
| THREE-LEGGED – literal description of the Manx flag, which depicts three armoured legs. The definition refers to a race most commonly (?) seen at school sports days. | |
| 57 | Boarding-school altercation that may make the feathers fly! (6,5) |
| PILLOW FIGHT – extended definition with a cryptic element, though I didn’t know that pillow fights were associated particularly with boarding-schools. Maybe the mention of boarding-school was just to suggest a bedtime activity. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Eg Picasso’s share of profits securing rise for sibling (6) |
| CUBIST – CUT (share of profits) around reversal of SIB (sibling) | |
| 2 | Bearer of message presenting a one-sided view? (7,8) |
| PICTURE POSTCARD – cd | |
| 3 | Quest for speed (10) |
| EXPEDITION – dd | |
| 4 | Groups of dolphins originally protected by Officers of the Day (4) |
| PODS – P{rotected} (originally protected) + ODS (Officers of the Day). Don’t think I’ve seen OD for Officer of the Day before. | |
| 5 | Ease a former son of Jacob snatched (9) |
| ALLEVIATE – A + LATE (former) around LEVI (son of Jacob). Childhood participation (well, I turned the pages of the sheet music for the bass player) in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat meant that I remembered the following lyric: “Reuben was the eldest of the children of Israel, with Simeon and Levi the next in line, …” | |
| 6 | Ban printers’ unit before pub game (7) |
| EMBARGO – EM (printer’s unit) + BAR (pub) + GO (game) | |
| 7 | Arrive to welcome German with note for board (9) |
| COMMITTEE – COME (Arrive) around MIT (German with), + TE (note) | |
| 8 | He leaves the grain for a moment (5) |
| TRICE – T{he} (He leaves the) + RICE (grain) | |
| 9 | Arab, possibly, has house in Home Counties, lucky thing! (9) |
| HORSESHOE – HORSE (Arab, possibly) + SE (Home Counties) around HO (house) | |
| 10 | Confusion from astronomer crushing fraudulent scheme (6-6) |
| HUBBLE-BUBBLE – HUBBLE (astronomer, i.e. Edwin Hubble) + BUBBLE (fraudulent scheme). I didn’t know this expression but the wordplay seemed clear. | |
| 11 | Enduring a loud noise — generous about it (7) |
| ABIDING – A + BIG (generous) around DIN (loud noise) | |
| 12 | Get involved, good about leaving fruit (6) |
| ENGAGE – {gre}ENGAGE (good about leaving fruit, i.e. removing g (good) and re (about) from greengage (fruit)) | |
| 19 | Plunge finally breaking Green supporter’s backbone, partly (8) |
| VERTEBRA – {Plung}E (Plunge finally), in VERT (Green) + BRA (supporter) | |
| 21 | Disapproving cry about drink going up? It’s on the house! (7) |
| FREEBIE – FIE (Disapproving cry) about reversal of BEER (drink) | |
| 22 | Hapless wife made an impression with king (8) |
| WRETCHED – W (wife) + R (king) + ETCHED (made an impression) | |
| 23 | Endlessly badger man requiring new green veg (8) |
| BROCCOLI – BROC{k} (Endlessly badger) + COLI{n} (man requiring new). Not sure how well-known brock is as a badger but I think we’ve had it a couple of times before. | |
| 25 | Connection I established at first in place to the north (3-2) |
| TIE-UP – I + E{stablished} (established at first), in reversal of PUT (place) | |
| 27 | Surviving without managers giving protection from the rain (15) |
| WEATHERBOARDING – WEATHERING (Surviving) around BOARD (managers) | |
| 30 | Sound measure of beauty, we hear, after start of month (7) |
| DECIBEL – DEC I (start of month, i.e. 1st of December) + homophone of BELLE (beauty) | |
| 31 | Wrong, turning up without a card (5) |
| TAROT – reversal of TORT (Wrong) around A | |
| 33 | Encroaching female brought up in home where flowers are displayed (8) |
| INVASIVE – reversal of VI (female), in IN (home) + VASE (where flowers are displayed) | |
| 34 | Bug ready to skip under farm building? That’s novel (7,5) |
| BARNABY RUDGE – BARN (farm building) + (BUG READY)*, to give the Dickens novel | |
| 38 | Author’s session in bookshop cancelled, ending programme? (7,3) |
| SIGNING OFF – SIGNING (Author’s session in bookshop) + OFF (cancelled) | |
| 40 | Home-buyer increasingly sore ultimately about time restriction (9) |
| MORTGAGEE – MORE (increasingly) + {sor}E (sore ultimately), about T (time) + GAG (restriction). Hmm – the usual sources all indicate that the mortgagee is the lender, not the borrower, with Collins stating that the borrower usage is American. | |
| 42 | Maturity teachers originally found in a mostly dreary poet (9) |
| ADULTHOOD – A + DUL{l} (mostly dreary) + HOOD (poet, presumably Thomas), around T{eachers} (teachers originally) | |
| 43 | Unexpected action in lab loosely relating to plants (9) |
| BOTANICAL – ACTION* in LAB* | |
| 45 | One who saves rupees, always pocketing shillings and copper (7) |
| RESCUER – R (rupees) + EER (always), around S (shillings) + CU (copper) | |
| 46 | Sheltered place some seamen once or students set up (7) |
| SUNTRAP – reversal of PART (some) + NUS (seamen once or students, i.e. National Union of Seamen (now part of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) or National Union of Students) | |
| 47 | Container for fluid, one not kept regularly inside (6) |
| INKPOT – I (one) + NOT, around K{e}P{t} (kept regularly) | |
| 48 | Act as judge, though initially deprived (6) |
| BEREFT – BE REF (Act as judge) + T{hough} (though initially) | |
| 50 | Resounding effect of Cosmo at first, one-time archbishop (5) |
| CLANG – C{osmo} (Cosmo at first) + LANG (one-time archbishop, referring to Cosmo Lang, a previous Archbishop of Canterbury) | |
| 52 | Warrant Officer imbibing at home, a heavy drinker (4) |
| WINO – WO (Warrant Officer) around IN (at home) | |
Thomas Hood on the other hand is a fine comic poet, well worth a read… “Ben Battle was a soldier bold, well used to war’s alarms. When a cannonball took off his legs, so he laid down his arms…”
Edited at 2019-01-13 10:36 am (UTC)