Solving time: 15:39
I believe Peter recorded a new Jumbo PB for this puzzle. I didn’t find it quite that easy, although probably easier than average. I don’t think I had any significant hold-ups, just no real speed either.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | R(OS)EBUS + H |
5 | HARASS; rev. of (S + SARAH) – is Sally really a diminutive of Sarah? These days I think it’s probably a name in it’s own right; I’ve never met a Sally who’s actually called Sarah. |
14 | CURT + AILMENT – nice charade, my penultimate entry. |
15 | THE GAME IS UP (two defs, one cryptic) – ‘the beaters’ as in ‘those who are beating the opposition’. [Wrong – see first comment.] |
18 | TRANSUDES; (STAR’S NUDE)* |
19 | SOP + RANI – another good charade. |
23 | A SPIRE – I liked this (“…finish of steeplechase?”). |
28 | GET IT IN THE NECK – this went in straightaway, even though I’d never heard of torticollis (a neck injury or condition). If I’d thought harder, I might have realised that ‘-collis’ means ‘of the neck’ (‘collar’ comes from collum which is Latin for ‘neck’). |
38 | DEVO[n] + TE |
39 | LIVINGS + TON – ‘benefice’ can mean ‘a church living’. I didn’t know this and spent a while looking for possible alternatives. |
43 | COLOUR + SERGE + ANTS – nice surface. |
45 | BO(OKE)ND |
49 | EXOTICA; rev. of AXE around OTIC |
52 | BRAHMA + PUT + RA |
53 | KNOCK + ON + WOOD – ‘Grow old’ for KNOCK ON is excellent. |
54 | LIE-DOWN – a superfluous ‘the’ in the definition, as here, never feels quite right to me. |
55 | PE(SET)A – ‘put’ is subtly included here as a key part of the wordplay, but it didn’t fool me for too long because ‘old’ looked an unlikely definition. A more devious setter might have clued PEA as something like ‘garden plant’, to make the solver try to put a word for ‘old money’ inside a word for ‘garden’. |
56 | STATU(TE)S – the second use of ‘note’ = TE, which is slightly weak. |
Down | |
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1 | [c]RICKETS – ‘this’ here is superfluous (cf 54ac). |
2 | STRONG POINT – very clever (“Fort(e)”), and daring to omit a question mark but I think it’s fair. Apparently ‘forte’ in this sense is French, not Italian (as the musical term), so should be pronounced to rhyme with ‘port’, but I think you’d get some funny looks. |
3 | BO[y] + ATT(R)AIN – difficult construction which took me a while to see. |
6 | A STEROID |
7 | AS + TROPHY + SI (rev. of IS) + CIST – nicely broken down again, although ‘cist’ is hard. I confess to not considering the wordplay to this or the previous clue when solving. |
9 | BRA + V.A.D. + O – Voluntary Aid Detachment, apparently. |
11 | IN + SIDETRACK |
12 | EX + POS[t]URE |
13 | LENT (double definition) – my last entry. |
20 | ALIGHT (double definition) |
21 | WIN + SOME – not exactly sure how WIN = ‘finishing first’; I think you have to read it as a verbal noun (gerund?), but even then it’s a stretch for me. |
26 | ONE OF THESE DAYS – nicely contrasted with ‘one of those days’. |
29 | TAB(LEA)U |
31 | TOXINS; OX in TINS – this surely needs a question mark. |
40 | G + ROUND (= ‘o’) + NUT (= ‘head’) |
41 | ECOL[i] + ABEL – very good clue apart from the link-word ‘but’, of which I’m not a fan. |
42 | IN POCKET; (COIN KEPT)* – another superfluous ‘the’, this time as part of the anagram indicator. |
46 | D(OS)ADOS |
50 | IRON (hidden) – not so keen on this one (“Their only contribution to the club”). |
3 comments on “Jumbo 754 (Sat 3 May) – One of those days?”
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