Jumbo 704 – Theod in bellicose mood!

Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic

Solving time: 36:35

This time was around my median for a Jumbo.  I hope I am not being too harsh if I say that I would not champion this puzzle as a shining example of the art of cruciverbialism.  I am afraid that it came across as something of a rushed Friday afternoon job! There seemed very little imagination or invention in the cluing and furthermore I managed to find quite a bit to gripe about – most unlike me!

Now, I fully understand how tough it must be to write the amount of clues that are required for a Jumbo and I expect a few run-of–the-mill ones – but there were just too many!  Apologies to the setter if I am being unkind, but here goes…

Across

1

CUTLASS (i.e. CUT LASS) – I did not rate this clue on first read but one meaning of “cut” is “ to break off acquaintance with” so actually the “send to Coventry” bit works quite well.

9

CHAFES (H in CAFES) – can you guess what I am going to say?  Hindhead does not equal H, maybe?  Well I certainly subscribe to that school of thought, but my main point would be that it is so hackneyed – are then any solvers other than complete beginners that do not spot this “trick” immediately?  Surely the setter could try something a little more inventive?

17

EWER (W in E + ER) – yikes! – now we have got “wrong leader” = W.  I am sorry, but I do not accept that this is the same as “wrong’s leader”.

21

ILLOGICALLY (GI in OC all in ILL ALLY) – oh dear, I do seem to be moaning a lot!  I am not convinced by either “defend” or “stab” as concealment indicators.

24

ATONEMENT (MEN in AT ONE + Totally) – I thought the wordplay quite tricky to spot in this one.

25

ICE BOUND (ICE + BOUND) – I am not a great fan of clues that break down a word into what are its component parts anyway.  Lazy.

33

MISCELLENEA (I’S CELL in E in M + ANA) – good job I bothered to analyse the wordplay otherwise I probably would have spelt this MISCELLANIA!

36

SWALLOWTAIL (SWALLOW + TAIL) – see 25A – same comments apply!

38

NONE (2 defs.) – Chambers only gives the church service as “nones”, but “none”, singular, is in Collins.

41

INGLENOOK (sINGLE + NO + OK)

44

CISATLANTIC (TACTIC SNAIL*) – the prefix of “cis-“ was new to me so this never looked like it was going to be a valid word.

48

DIACONATE (A CON in DI + ATE) – again, check the wordplay – it would be easy to write in DEACONATE.

49

LAID (DIAL rev.) – are there many more hackneyed treatments than this!?

52

IBERIA (I + BERIA) – another clue that requires Collins.  This is the  Beria in question.

54

MUSKET (MUSKETeer I presume) – I am not sure what the clue is aiming at here – am I missing something?

55

STUD FARM (cryptic def.) – I quite liked this one.  At least the other meanings of “Arab” and “cover” gave a degree of misdirection.  Favourite clue.

 

Down

1

CO HOST (COHOS + T) – coho is a good crossword word.

2

THWART (2 defs.) – the “rower’s bench” definition was new to me.

3

ARROGANCE (GO rev. in ARRAN + C + E)

8

CONTRALTO (CON + The RiALTO) – is (the) Venice area “The Rialto” or just “Rialto”?

11

FIVE OCLOCK SHADOW (cryptic def.?) – I am not sure what the “party” bit is getting at – again, am I missing something?

15

ELEGANCE (LEG in sEANCE)

22

SALESMAN – a straightforward definition masquerading as a cryptic one.

28

SNOW (approx. 2 defs.) – well, more of an allusion to this Snow .

34

LINNAEAN (INN in LEAN) – a reference to Linnaean taxonomy.

42

ELECTRESS (ELECTRa + E + S + S) – nicely disguised definition nearly made this the favourite clue, but to indicate “ESS” with just “directions” spoilt it.

44

CADMIUM (ADMIn in CU + M) – as used in Nicad batteries.

46

SEA FAN (SEA + FAN ) – me, not a fan – see 25A.

One comment on “Jumbo 704 – Theod in bellicose mood!”

  1. This took me 20:21 but I fell for both ‘miscellania’ and ‘deaconate’, despite checking both wordplays – I saw ANA and decided that was enough, and didn’t think DIACONATE was very likely. I thought the bottom left was the hardest corner, with UNBEATEN and LINNAEAN my last two.

    I agree with some of your comments above, though I don’t mind words clued as the sum of their component parts provided that (as with ICEBOUND and SWALLOWTAIL here) the wordplay uses different meanings of the component parts.

Comments are closed.