Jumbo 803
Solving time: 25:37
A quite easy jumbo for me, but with some interesting answers and quite a few clues to talk about, in a set with consistently good surface readings.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | SUB=bus rev.,LITTORAL=”literal”. “literal” is Brit. printer’s slang for a misprint |
| 13 | C(orn)Y(M.B.E.)LINE – very nicely-worked clue, with play, extremely corny, bit of dialogue and award all fitting together. |
| 14 | AZANIAN – a = A,then I think “zany Ian”, which is a slightly cheeky homopohone as the Y/I vowel is stretched out. Could be “zany Jan” instead, I guess |
| 17 | OP,EN SHOP=(phones)* – the setters seem to be resisting the “mobile phone(s)” temptation quite well … |
| 18 | TRIP=tour,OLI = “round centre of Polish”, with ’round’ meaning ‘turn round’. Anything that seems new for TRIPOLI is OK with me. |
| 28 | (g)REEK – two def’s (“smell smoke”) and wordplay |
| 29 | MICRODOT – turns out to be two def’s. I didn’t know the “small amount of drug” so was guessing at MICRO=small,DOT=dose (the second of which is a dud) |
| 35 | B,UR=R.U. rev.,ROUGHS – Tarzan author or drug-culture author, as you wish. |
| 36 | CHAUNTEUR = (a tune)* in Ch.,R |
| 41 | ME=writer,MP=P.M.r rev.,HIS |
| 44 | F,LOW(E)RY – for non-Brits, L S Lowry is our best-known primitive painter |
| 45 | LARK(RISE TO CANDLE)FOR,D – this series of books – doddle for Brit solvers as it’s the BBC’s current flagship Sunday night costume drama – or was as I wrote this. By the time you read this, the current series will be finished. |
| 51 | T,INCAN – easy but another well-worked clue. |
| 53 | SPOIL=butcher – I in LOPS rev. |
| 54 | HOOPOES = “who pose” – unmissable bird if you ever see one. |
| 55 | TRAIN MILE = I in terminal*. Slightly surprised that Wiki’s team of gricers don’t have an article up to explain this railway term in full. |
| 56 | DON(KEY)DERBY – derby=hat gets used again – I can never think of rural church Palm Sunday celebrations without the phrase “donkey derby Sunday” irreverently entering my mind. |
| 57 | N(ONE,XIS=six rev.)TENT |
| Down | |
| 1 | BUCK(O)S – for US solvers, our counties that end in “shire” often have an abbreviation converting shire into “S” (but sometimes doing more) – Bucks, Notts, Hants, Leics, Northants etc. But there are bizarre variations like Oxon, and Salop = Shropshire |
| 3 | PLEASANTRY=joke=crack (Brit slang) = (any plaster)*. |
| 4 | O(V,I)D(e) – this clue – Poet cut verse out of volume one – seems a good job of making something novel for a familiar answer |
| 5 | EYE-OPENER – another surprising double-def for me. In the US it’s an early morning drink with capital D – so precisely our “hair of the dog”. |
| 7 | STAGHOUND = (as hunt dog)*. Can I really never have seen this before? If not, hats off. |
| 8 | BLIMP – back to surprising double-defs – also a soundproof cover for a film camera. |
| 9 | I,G(NIT)ABLE |
| 12 | LUTE,IN – lutein is the yellow pigment in egg yolk. |
| 25 | M,EDOC=code rev. |
| 33 | EVEN=calm,FALL=defeat – evenfall is an archaism for dusk, from Collins |
| 34 | BORDER COLLIE – O in (Belloc,Rider)* |
| 38 | BOYFRIENDS – (Y-front’s, I’d bet)* without the T’s |
| 42 | M(A,TRIM,ON=No. rev)Y |
| 46 | CHANSON – hidden – a term for ‘song’ from French, which might help a bit with 36A |
| 48 | ON=cooking,H,EAT=tuck in |
| 50 | A,M(O)UR – hole = O |
| 52 | MARX – reversal of Ram = Aries = sign, then X=vote |
Nothing here was particularly hard – fortunately, I have the LP of Lark Rise to Candleford.
I was a little surprised by ‘Azanian’, having always thought Waugh’s island kingdom was completely fictional – as it is, but apparently the name is not.
36A CHAUNTER is not in the printed OED, or others I’ve checked, except dictionary.reference.com where it is not a singer:
Chaunt”er, n. 1. A street seller of ballads and other broadsides. [Slang, Eng.]
2. A deceitful, tricky dealer or horse jockey. [Colloq.]
He was a horse chaunter; he’s a leg now. –Dickens.
3. The flute of a bagpipe. See Chanter, n., 3.
John in USA