Jumbo 842

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
The usual Jumbo rubric: as the solution is available alongside (or indeed before) the blog, comment is confined only to references that might remain obscure to overseas / inexperienced solvers even with the answer visible, or anything I thought notably good or deserving a question mark; other clues happily discussed by request, please comment if required.

I came up short as a result of my usual lack of botanical knowledge, though on this occasion there were other gaps. I hope this indicates a tougher than usual puzzle rather than just shortcomings on my part; while there were several easily spotted long words, filling in the gaps proved a slightly stiffer challenge than usual, which made for an enjoyable hour.

Across
5 POWER BASE – “POW!” + E.R. + BASE.
14 UNINTENTIONAL – 1 N(ew) TENT in UNION + AL(e).
16 CHEESED OFF – CHEESE + DOFF; Derby is a multi-purpose word in crossword terms as it can indicate the place, the cheese, the hat worn by Laurel and Hardy, a sporting event, and probably many more besides.
18 ABOVE – AB OV(o) + E.
21 SINDHI – S(tate) + IND + “HI!”; lift and separate, as this is purely a language of Pakistan.
25 SCOPE – [EPOC(H)S] rev.
31 TELLURIUM – (William) TELL + URI + yoUng M(ale).
33 TRIENNIAL – RIEN in (LATIN)*; the Festival switches between Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester; Gounod could, of course, have just as easily been Ravel or Berlioz or Debussy.
37 CROESUS – CROSS with E and U inserted, though “split” i.e. not together, which is not the usual way, but happens twice in this puzzle.
38 GEOID – nice &lit made up of the first letters of the definition.
44 STEAM YACHT – STEAMY + ACHT; extra layer added by needing to parse “rowing crew” as “eight” before translating it.
46 ULEMA – found concealed in reversed Mamelukes, i.e. sekULEMAm.
52 TRACTATES – [SET A T(ime) + CART]rev.
56 SINE DIE – Hmmm. I can see what it is but I can’t see why it is. Is the girl Sinead? If so, what is the function? Anyone like to share? Not Sinead but EDIE: see Adrian’s comment below for explanation.
 
Down
3 TO THE BEST OF ONE’S ABILITY – TO THEBES + (TOSANITYFOIBLE)*.
4 PINHEAD – IN HE in PAD, referring to the stereotypical theological discussion of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
5 PHILODENDRA – PHIL + O(ld) DEN + DRA(b); as usual I was unfamiliar with this house plant.
6 WIND FARMS – (FIND)* in WARMS; I expect the misleading capitalisation will be disliked by some solvers.
8 ARBORESCENT – (SORBTREECAN)*; I am no botanist but I can recognise a word derived from Latin…
12 PULVERISE – (I REV)rev in PULSE.
13 CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION – (MPSCONUSCOPIOUSUNCTION)*; not the trickiest anagram – it rather leaps off the page as long ones often do – but clearly the product of some thinking provoked by the MPs’ expenses sacandal, turned into a very nice surface.
20 CLOSEST – (plac)E in SS (i.e. on board) insode CLOT.
27 IDIOT – IDIO(m) + T(iresome).
29 INIGO – IN + 1 GO – the architect in question is this Inigo.
34 LEGITIMISES – (appearanc)E in LEG IT + I MISS.
41 OVERSPEND – OVER + SP(ecies) + END.
43 RUTLAND – charade-like clue, i.e the LAND of RUTs; the origin of the name, amongst other information on England’s smallest county, can be found here.
45 TUT TUTS – TUTUS with two more Ts in, the second occurrence of inserted letters going in at different points.
49 NEUME – aNgElUs + ME. Must admit I was taking a one in three guess here, and would just as likely have gone for NEURE or NEUTE if I hadn’t checked the true solution first.

6 comments on “Jumbo 842”

  1. This was one of several clues for which I needed your explanations. And thank you for all the others!
    WIth this one – is the function “sine” and thus the girl is not Sinead? But sine(a)d does fit rather well which leaves IE to explain………
    Nit much help, sorry!
    Regards
    Ardrian Cobb
    1. In which case it must be SINE (function), minus the E (and thus “briefly”) + EDIE (the girl), all meaning “without a date”. As someone whose maths education stopped at O-level, I wouldn’t have come to that meaning of function without prompting. And I guess the fact that DI appears in so many puzzles was stopping me seeing any other names.

      Thank you, Adrian, I think we’ve got there between us!

      1. Many thanks. I agree re Di being the cause of extra confusion.
        Don’t know anyone called Edie other than my father’s aunts!
        Regards, Adrian
        1. Edies: Adams, Brickell, Falco, McClurg, Sedgwick. I’m guessing that at least three of the five will be familiar to you.
  2. Although Croesus is well known from the account of his fate by the Greek historian Herodotus, he was not a Greek, but a Lydian.

    John in USA

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