Jumbo 717 (8th Sept)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time 28:04

I don’t often finish the Jumbo in under half an hour, so this was a quickish time for me. I was probably helped by the 22 multi-word answers. I don’t know if that’s a record, but it seemed a lot at the time.

Across

5 ALP,HATE,ST – I liked “one greatly inclined” for ALP.
14 SEMI-CONSCIOUS – neat cryptic def.
17 A,B(1,TOFF)LUFF – Chambers lists this as offensive slang, so I’m slightly surprised to see it. Good clue though.
23 BOSS,A,NOV,A – def. is “steps taken”
31 SEA(U)RCHIN – “Main thing” is the def, how loose is that?
37 BAN(SHE)E
42 C,HUBBY – last one I got, very deceptive. Definition is just “round”.
44 ETON COLLAR – (learnt cool)*
50 TRA(art rev),DE(ROUT)E – I puzzled over the wordplay for a while, but to tank can mean to rout.
55 GOR(B,LIME)Y

Down

5 AR(CHIP)E(a),L,AGO – I didn’t know Fiji was, then again I didn’t know Bahrain was either in a similar clue in the week.
11 A,LIQUO(r),T – one of those annoying words that I know but can never remember the meaning of.
12 SEMI-FINAL – I don’t get the wordplay at all.
13 FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN – the only work by Copland that I know, luckily enough. I was able to put in this and 3D straight away.
18 SU(BROS)A – USA*, unusual to see an anagram of an abbreviation!
27 SCH(is)M,O
34 GI(A)N,T(K)ILLER – tricky wordplay leading to the David who slew Goliath in the Bible.
49 NE,PAL – geographically inaccurate, but nice clue anyway.

7 comments on “Jumbo 717 (8th Sept)”

    1. This puzzle irritated me with its inconsistencies on SEMI. 12D is clued as 4-5. Does anyone hyphenate SEMIFINAL? But 14A is clued as 4,9 so SEMI is now a word in its own right!! I don’t think anyone would write SEMI CONSCIOUS.

      And while I’m here can someone explain “in sight” in 1A please

      2. Dictonaries are inconsistent on hyphenation. Although I agree with you about “semi conscious”, I don’t rely on the difference between 4,9 and 4-9.
    1. I think it’s MS=manuscript + M=mark inside ALAN. I know the way it’s written you’d expect it to be M + SM, but “on” can mean adjoining as well as above.

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