Jumbo 823 – July 4, 2009

This took 18:58 so ranks as a quite easy jumbo – at least for someone who knew the composer and other arty references. As ever, I’ve tried to pick out the clues that may have caused difficulty, but if there are others for which you need explanations, ask in a comment.

Across
1	SPIN DOCTOR – (scored point – e)*
6	TAX AVOIDANCE – CD punning on duty=tax and the difference (in UK at least) between “tax avoidance” (legal jockeying to reduce taxes) and tax evasion (illicit ditto).
18	ETCHED = etc.,he’d
24	HORSE OF ANOTHER COLOUR – another CD, this time punning on horse=heroin and “of another colour” = dyed.
25	TABU,LAR(der) – “flat” is a difficult definition for “in a tabular (2D) layout”
26	EN(LAR(k))G.,ED.
36	AS THE CROW FLIES = (with less force a)*
41	GEN(ERO(s))US – this article on biological classification shows that a genus is a “member of family”
47	ARE,A/C,ODE=lines – “56” points us to the answer to …
56	ACCOUNT = “a count”
57	TENANT FARMER – CD punning on “ten ant” and non-ownership of the farmland
58	WALDTEUFEL = “flawed lute”. Here’s the bit of his music that you’ve all heard.
Down
8	AR(CHIMED)ES – Ares is the Gk. version of Mars
10	DELLA ROBBIA = rev. of (A1, 2xB=bachelor,ORAL,LED) – this sculptor or possibly one of his scuplting descendants
11	NEVERMORE – the version of “never” in Poe’s The Raven
13	S.,PA(DEF)UL – def = excellent = crack, in “chiefly black slang” (COED)
23	B(R)USSE(L)S – a wordplay which I don’t think I’ve seen before
35	THISTLEDOWN = “this, let down” with the T=temperature moved higher up in the grid.
42	O,LEANDER – a plant you could not avoid on my recent Italian Riviera holiday. ‘Swimmer’ is yet another xwd reference to the tale of Hero and Leander
45	KER=”cur”,CHIEF=lead
50	KNOT – 2 defs. Here is the bird.