Jumbo 824 – 11th July 2009

Far be it for me to lower the tone, but I decided to start this one whilst perched on the lav. Trouble is, it was such a cracker of a crossword I couldn’t drag myself away from it and ended up 46:30 later, hardly able to walk and almost crippled by pins and needles in my feet. Must get myself a comfier bog seat. This is exactly how I like ’em – lots of trickiness and subterfuge but not much obscurity. Where obscurity existed the wordplay was straighforward enough to assure you that your answer was correct. Mathematical poser: When I blog these Jumbos I always use my previous blog as a template. I’ve noticed that so far it has ALWAYS been the case that the number of clues, across and down, never varies from one crossword to the next – 30 acrosses and 30 downs. Is this coincidence or how it is destined to be? I hope nobody minds, but I’ve included all the clues as well as the answers for this one.

Across
1	Poet in digs changes lodging (10) DEPOSITING – (POET IN DIGS)
6	Partner’s succeeded in checks, to leave everything ready (3,7,2) ALL SYSTEMS GO – S in ALLY + STEMS + GO. “Partner’s” should be interpreted as “partner has” for the wordplay
14	Military command initially expecting two words of compliance (4,5) E,YES RIGHT
15	Private happy to confess (3,2) OWN,UP
16	Series of millionaire bigwigs returning from SW Europe (7) IBERIAN – hidden and reversed. Am I getting bad at spotting hidden words or are the setters getting more and more accomplished at hide and seek? This one took me an age to see
17	Letter from abroad by youth intent on stirring rebellion (6,2,3,6) MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY –  MU + (BY YOUTH INTENT ON)*
18	Conceal, oddly, art of great lexicographer (5) ROGET – every other letter of ART OF GREAT. Is it me or is this concealed evenly? Or maybe the setter is asking us to conceal the odd letters leaving the answer in view. Yes, that’ll be it
19	Power cuts bug vet (7) INS(P)ECT
21	Fashionable repeats, defended by director general at lunch? (6) D(IN,IN)G
22	Get wide, in time, to fill grand little jumper? (4,4) GROW INTO – W,IN,T in G,ROO. I think I can just see “get” as the definition. A wee bit of a stretch though.
24	Director backing Britain a bit off the wall (7) KU,BRICK – KU being UK rev.
26	Gang one can stop! (4,2,2) PACK I,T IN
27	In France, I brief shy fellow (6) JE,THRO[-w]
30	Game, merry wife, content in Wells (11) TIDDLY W,INKS – “content in Wells” for inks is fab
32	Mainly cruel manoeuvres by count (11) NUMERICALLY – (MAINLY CRUEL)*
33	This child’s arm might need a tap (5,6) WATER PISTOL – nice cryptic def
35	Bloodsucker, sadly, piercing bull’s head, also called for a pudding! (5,6) BAKED ALASKA – KED ALAS in B[ull],AKA.  A ked is a sheep tick and AKA is “also known as”
37	Caper cut and put on chunk of meat (6) LAR[-k],DON – one of my unknowns. A lardon is a strip of pork used to dress meat for cooking
38	One attending lessons in school this early needs extra reading at first (8) LISTENER – first letters all words from “lessons”
39	With little sign of victory in field, I surrender (5,2) LEA(V),E GO
42	Horse moving damn badly needed to make ground? (4-4) H,ANDM,ILL – ANDM being (DAMN)*
44	Fox News in charge, first to comment (6) FE(NN)E,C –  “news” is the plural of “new”, thus NN. Another word beyond my ken. It’s a little African fox with big ears
46	Top post leads to fortune (7) MAIL,LOT – two never-heard-of-its in a row. It’s an item of clothing that can’t make its mind up – it’s either a cycling top, dancing tights or a women’s one-piece swimsuit. As Michael Barrymore used to say….top, middle or bottom?
48	Slimy stuff from host embracing posh American (5) MUCUS – MC around U + US.
49	What puts the “flag” in flag days? (10,7) COMPASSION FATIGUE – I really like this one. Others may not
51	Check to perform involving horseshoe battle formation (7) TEST,U,DO – a cover of overlapping shields used by the ancient Romans to protect an attacking force. I knew this but I don’t know why.
52	Graceful runner ranks alongside one second-rate one (5) OR,I,B,I – OR = “other ranks” – members of the British army, marines or air force who are not commissioned officers. The navy equivalent is “ratings”
53	Volunteers chose a trip around one PM in Dublin (9) TAOISEACH – TA + (CHOSE A)* around I. Ireland’s equivalent to Prime Minister and a word that even Brian Cowen struggles to spell. When I first heard it on the telly, I thought they were saying “tea shop”
54	Enormous creature with nothing on it’s recalled in celebrity ball (5,2,1,4) WHALE O,FA(TI)ME – TI is IT reversed
55	A ruminant and a horse shut up inside army vehicle (5,5) JACOB SHEEP – A COB + SH in JEEP. Excellently use of “shut up”
Down
1	Ideal candidates, having let attention wander, slip (5,6) DREAM, TICKET
2	Petition on time, it’s gathered (5) PLEA,T
3	English twice resting shattered reserve for game (9) SERENGETI – (EE+RESTING)*
4	Vessel drawing mild disapproval when sticking in a bog, anyhow (7) TUGBOAT – (A BOG)* in TUT
5	Being without enemies in the East End is commented on (7) NOT ‘ATED – I don’t know about you but I’m getting a bit fed up of East Enders’ dropped aitches. This one did raise a smile though
7	See evil overwhelming new legal association (8,3) LINCOLN,S IN – we all know that SEE=diocese but surely we deserve more than “see” for LINCOLN
8	Drink and eat, with digestion initially going flat out (6) SUP,[d]INE
9	What made Queen Mary dispatch sleuths? (8) SHIP,YARD – Queen Mary being the ship. For the benefit of our overseas solvers sleuths refers to Scotland Yard, the HQ of the Metropolitan Police Service in England, often known as “The Yard”
10	One can draw on what surprises may send up (7,6) EYEBROW PENCIL – nice but easy cryptic definition
11	A tad slow-witted, son, if looking up info (7) SMIDGEN –  DIM,S rev + GEN
12	Turned up ornamental box and old diary in your study (11) ORNITHOLOGY – INRO rev + O,LOG in THY
13	He’d watch stars score in Cup upset (10) COPERNICUS – (SCORE IN CUP)*
20	Employee on paper getting bottom pinched by admirer (9) SU(BED)ITOR – superb!
23	One good perm ultimately stops person coming to him ? (3-5) WIG MAKER – 1,G,[per]M in WAKER (person coming to)  Even better than 20d
25	King with acceptable hold on nation (6) K,U,WAIT – Somebody recently asked on this blog why U=acceptable and were told to remember it because it comes up quite frequently. Here it is again. In fact it’s also used for “posh” in 51ac
26	Possibility when locks long to play in scrum? (8) PONYTAIL – (TO PLAY IN)* the definition is “possibility when locks long”. Pure, unadulterated genius
28	Harold’s and Nick’s place stocking fine case of seafood (4-5) HAL(F)S,HELL – a good excuse here to add a little bit of high culture: Splinter taught them to be ninja teens [ he’s a radical rat ] Teenage mutant ninja turtles Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines [ that’s a fact, Jack ] Teenage mutant ninja turtles Raphael is K00L but rude Michaelangelo is a party dude Teenage mutant ninja turtles Teenage mutant ninja turtles Teenage mutant ninja turtles Heroes in a half shell, turtle power
29	New union member’s shot in labour uprising (6) BRIDAL –  RID (get shot of) in LAB rev.
31	Rum sold for Muriel, the chief reveller (4,2,7) LORD OF MISRULE – (SOLD FOR MURIEL)* . Read all about him here
33	Actor opening Disney store in London area (11) WALT,HAM,STOW – the cryptic reading here is “put HAM in WALT STOW)
34	Protestant doctrine hard to find in one Ulsterman, unexpectedly (11) LUTHERANISM – H in (1 ULSTERMAN)*
35	Upon which one slips out to lunch with family (6,4) BANANA S,KIN
36	Drinks round after joint in missionary’s office (11) A(POST)LES,HIP
40	Crunches, having an extra bite? (4,5) ACID TESTS – I think I may be missing something but I think  “extra bite” just gives an added nod to ACID. No, sorry, I can’t really explain it.
41	Stop Labour and Conservative slogan supporting open door policy? (5,3) C,LOCK OFF – “slogan supporting open door policy”  LOCK OFF ! This setter has a twisted mind.
43	Capital not available when firm’s broken into two internally (7) NICOSIA –  CO’S in II all in NA
45	Pelt across river, ripping up land (7) CROATIA – C(R)OAT + A1 rev. “Ripping” here means “excellent”
46	Chairman hugging small girl — true family man (7) MAFIOSI – MAO around FI[ona] + SO
47	Weight that’s borne by incoming cargo ship? (6) IMPORT – the only double def of the day. Is this a record?
50	Wine shortage that’s not acute (5) GRAVE[-s]