Jumbo 848

Author   sghansonPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Firstly, a Happy New Year to everyone.

This was a steady solve, although I did need to resort to aids to confirm 55A, but I don’t think I was alone.

I have left out a few solutions, but if I have missed anything you need clarifying please let me know.

Apologies for the confusion over the puzzle number. I was having trouble getting rid of lots of blank space after the intro and forgot to re-enter the title.

Across
1 OCCLUDED FRONT – (couldnt force d)*. I am still not sure how a cold front and a warm front mix and what weather they produce, but I have heard of an occluded front
8 ANGORA CAT – AN,GO,RAC(=car rev),A,(acciden)T
13 PANGA – PANG,A
14 BANOFFEE PIE – BAN,OFF,(w)EEPIE
16 STAG PARTY – STAG(PART)Y. Stagy is not a common word, but clear enough from theatrical
17 ROLL – Continuing success = on a roll
18 ANTIHERO – ANTI,HER,O = love
20 TURBAN – T(iara),URBAN = Pope
21 THE CHERRY ORCHARD – THE,CHERRY,ORC,HARD is the wordplay. My literary knowledge is not strong enough to comment on the “for the chop”
24 STALINIST – S(mar)T,AL(p)INIST
26 RHOMBUS – RH,O(=ring),M,BUS(y) = engaged
27 SKULL – SKILL with U replacing I as a “new heart”
29 DESIGNER DRUG – (used grinder)* + G
33 GUNSLINGER – GUNS (=snug rev),LINGER. The Snug is generally the lounge bar in a pub, generally smaller and cosier than the public bar.
35 KING OF HEARTS – KIN,(got far she)*
39 BARKING – double definition
40 FACETIOUS – FACTIOUS around (jok)E
42 EXPLETIVE DELETED – cryptic definition. Much clearer when the checking letters were in place
44 CAESAR – sounds like SEES A
47 KINSHASA – hidden in “WatKINS HAS Acquired”
49 HAKA – H(enry),AKA. The All Blacks’ dance before a rugby union international, based on a Maori war dance.
50 EXAMINING – EXA(=AXE rev),MINING
52 ACORN – A,CO(=firm),RN(= Royal Navy)
53 ON CLOUD NINE – cryptic definition
54 INGOT – IN(=home),GOT(=made it). A pig is a lump of metal (eg pig iron)
55 TEARSHEET – TEARS (sign of repentance) followed by (sh)E in (the)*. I did not know the character of Doll Tearsheet in Henry IV pt II, but when I started to search online and put the first half dozen letters into Google on the Saturday evening she was top of the suggestions, so it appears quite a few other people had the same thought. Anyone else own up?  
56 RADIANT ENERGY – (gate inner yard)*
 
Down
1 OPPOSITES – OPPO(SITE)S. Oppo is slang for friend, and it seems that “maintained” is the containment indicator
2 CENTAUR – CENT(AU)R(e)
3 UNAPPEALING – U(NAP)P,EALING
4 EMBARK – ME(rev),BARK
5 FANCY THAT – cryptic
6 OXFORD CIRCUS – OX,FORD CIRCUS, a busy junction in London (although less so since traffic changes) in case anyone was not aware
7 THE BLUE BOY – cryptic definition referring to the Gainsborough painting
8 ALPS – A,LP’S
9 GREENHOUSE EFFECT – (the scene of refuge)*
10 RISHI – RIS (=SIR reversed),HI
11 CALDERA- COLD ERA with the O (love) replaced by A (area).
12 THE GONDOLIERS – (holding stereo)*. Cleverly constructed with a nice anagram
19 TREBLING – TRE(e),BLING
23 FIRE AND BRIMSTONE – (a friend)*, followed by a type of yellow butterfly. Brimstone is the yellow sulphur found around the edges (brims) of volcanic vents (or see 11D) and I guess the butterfly was named for the colour
28 UNDERGO – cryptic. To under go is to not travel far enough
29 DOGS BREAKFAST – a slang expression for a mess
32 SINGLE HANDED – raised a smile and reminded me of the Disney Peter Pan cartoon
34 LODGE – LO(D)GE. I was not familiar with the French word for a theatre box
36 EXTRADITION – EXTRA (ad)DITION. After the French in the last clue I was slightly misled by l’addition for “bill” trying to work out the wordplay
37 CINEMAGOER – CINEM(=men I c reversed),AGO,E(age)R. Tricky wordplay and the definition “patron” was indirect.
40 FREDERICA – F,RED,ERICA. Erica is one of the two crossword heathers, and my first thoughts were to try and create something using the other, Ling.
41 SPRIGHTLY – SP(RIGHT,L)Y
43 PANDORA – PAND(O.R.)A
45 STINGER – hidden in “lo(ST IN GER)anium”
46 CAVEAT – vacate*
48 HONES – HONES(t)
50 SCOT – initial letters of “Socialism Caused Only Trouble”

6 comments on “Jumbo 848”

  1. I think the header saying which crossword this is has got lost.. the same thing happened to my blog too, maybe it’s a Livejournal blip.
  2. I only started wondering about the ‘for the chop’ some time after I got the solution. It occurred to me to wonder if it might be an allusion to the story of little George Washington; it also occurred to me to think no. It seems gratuitous in any case.
    Doll Tearsheet was a quickie for me, while I sweated over e.g. ‘banoffee pie’ (never heard of it) and ‘caldera’ (took forever to figure out why it was correct).
    ‘loge’ is widely used in US theaters, usually to refer to more comfy seats rather than boxes.
  3. Anybody else bothered by 1d? Given that “oppo” derives from “opposite”? (PS You accidentally skipped over 31a.)
    1. On 1D Chambers seems to suggest that “oppo” derives from “opposite number”, but yes there do seem to be too many opposites in the solving of the clue.

      The ommission of 31A was deliberate, as I felt it was one of the more straightforward solutions (SIDES,ADDLE as you suggest). It is always difficult to know how many to leave out, and which ones. I am happy to provide my thoughts on any not included in the original blog entry.

      1. Apologies. I’d marked 31a (your “straightforward” is my “stretchy?”), so noticed its omission. You included so many others, I failed to realize it wasn’t the only one!

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