Solving time: 53 mins
Maybe a little bit more difficult than an average Jumbo, but I think I’m still a bit slower with these than usual.
Plenty of novel answers and clues, from which I hope I’ve chosen the right selection.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CATAPLASM = (pasta,clam) – a plaster/poultice = dressing |
| 10 | B(L)UFF – bluff = cliff = bank |
| 13 | MA(R.E.)N,GO – a battle whose name got attached to a chicken dish and Napoleon’s horse. |
| 16 | EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK – 2 defs |
| 21 | SINHALESE = Sri Lankan – INHALES in S(pac)E |
| 23 | O.,(PEN,SEA)SON – pen = female swan = bird, sea = main |
| 31 | OVER,HAUL=”hall” |
| 37 | CO,LON(don) – Colón is the Spanish version of Columbus, so I’d expected there to be any number of ports with this name. But wikipedia only knows of one in Panama. |
| 39 | DI(S=saon,TIN=can)CTION – not mad keen on “achieve” between wordplay and def. |
| 50 | I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES – cryptic def., ref. Psalm 121 which starts “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help” |
| 52 | IN,SPECT(acles) |
| 53 | TAKES IN – 2 defs, smoothly combined – “Offers accomodation to / kids” |
| Down | |
| 3 | PENNY=piece,A,LINER |
| 5 | MUSICICANSHIP – (US champion is – O=ball)* |
| 6 | DO(R,KIN)G – for those who learned about Orpington in this week’s daily puzzle, note that this is also a breed of chicken. |
| 9 | DRAG,(s)OON |
| 10 | BLACKMAILER – ma in (cab, killer)* |
| 19 | TAPSTER – T in RE SPAT, all rev. |
| 22 | TECTONIC = “tec tonic” with tec = detective = solver. ‘tectonic’ is probably most familiar by way of plate tectonics, the 60s revolution that all our A-level geography teachers got so excited about. But ‘pertaining to construction’ is the original meaning |
| 28 | P.A. USED |
| 32 | AL-LOVER from Al Capone |
| 33 | SUFFOLK PUNCH – 2 defs – “One helping to deliver” / “drink for Aldburgh festival?”, Aldeburgh being a town on the Suffolk coast with a music festival founded by composer Benjamin Britten, singer Peter Pears, and librettist Eric Crozier. |
| 35 | F,LIGHT(I)NESS |
| 38 | MICRO=computer,LITES = “lights” = ‘Windows said’ |
| 40 | SURPASSED = “Sir, past” |
| 42 | MONS,i.e.,UR |
| 43 | PIE DISH = “pied-ish” – def & cryptic def., the def. ref. the nusery rhyme line “Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.” |
| 44 | SWIFTIE – (if wits)*,E – Aus. term for a deceptive trick (in COD, not Collins or Chambers). |
I’m not convinced by 38D. Surely the small aircraft are always spelled MICROLIGHTS! (MICROLITE is something else altogether.)
I happened to know 50A (I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES), having ahd to learn the whole psalm at some time in the past, but thought it might be verging on the obscure for some solvers!? (Don Manley at work again?)