Jumbo 690 – African elephant?

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time 19:05

Just under the 20 minute that seems to be my Jumbo par at the moment. Some clever stuff in here – long hidden words, and repeated words used for both anagram fodder (35A) and hidden word material (43D).

Across
13 NIGER = REGIN(a)<=
21 EQUATORIAL GUINEA – 2 def’s, one cryptic. You might think there was a theme at this point, but this is as many African countries as we get.
24 S.,NOW,GOOSE – {goose = iron} comes up from time.
26 MOISTEN – I.O.M.<=, nets<=
35 SIEGE ENGINES – (seeing seeing)* – 29A being “seeing double”
38 PATTI = “patty”. Adelina Patti was a 19th-century opera star.
53 DEADLOCKING – load* in decking
 
Down
9 SPECIAL INTERESTS – (clearest ties spin)*
10 (r)ED WIN(e)
11 UTOPIAN – ref. Thomas More, author of Utopia
25 OVEREAT = ‘over, ‘eat
28 ANTONIO – (into (l)oan)* – title character in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice
37 DISSIMILAR – reverse hidden in “liberal, I misss ideas”
40 SHANGRI-LA – angril(y) in has*
43 TERMINI – hidden in “minister minister” = ‘one minister after another’

2 comments on “Jumbo 690 – African elephant?”

    1. Clue was: “Wherein response is, in a sense, at the tip of one’s tongue”. Just a cryptic definition – some taste buds are at the tip of your tongue, and they respond to (or provide) the sense of taste. Surface meaning is intended to misdirect you towards quizzes.

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