Jumbo 880

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time: maybe 25 minutes first time around

Apologies for the delay with this one – I had a very busy week last week, followed by the discovery that just about every blog I might write on the Fifteensquared site was due now and not yet written. I’d also failed to keep my original copy so had to re-solve. There are some patches of rather easy clues, so I’ve tried to choose the other ones. If I missed your tricky noe, let me know in a comment.

I don’t usually encourage report writers to guess the setter, but if this one isn’t by Brian Greer, someone else is doing a very good imitation. There are some very ingenious wordplays, and not a dud surface reading in sight.

Across
1 FORT(WIT)H,H
6 CHARACTER PART – 2 definitions – “section of letter” and “interesting secondary role”
13 (highe)R,(judg)E,BUT=nevertheless
14 ANTHOLOGISE = theologians*
15 (p)IRATE
16 ARCH(DU(e)),CHESS
27 TUB = reversal of but=yet
28 SUMMIT – 2 defs
29 S.(AIN’T)S.
31 MILL’S = philosopher’s, TONE = mood
34 ADRENALIN – Ireland* in AN=article
35 DECEIT = reversal of TIE(C.E.)D
36 AVERTS = turns away – AVERS = claims, with T inside, the answer to clue 7 being ABOUT TIME
43 PRANCER – I assume this is about the list of Santa’s reindeer, though I can’t see that it appears on that many Christmas cards. Maybe there’s some other explanation …
49 IMPRECATION = I,importance*
53 LIT=literature, RE = “about Latin” by the same logic as LE/LA/LES=”the French”
54 CARPETS = reprimands, WEEPER = one who loses, according to the playground phrase “Finders keepers, losers weepers”
55 LORD BYRON – a “Greek hero” as he fought for them in the War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire (which I didn’t know before checking his Wiki bioi) – Wordplay is two R’s (kings) in an anagram of (L, nobody)
 
Down
1 FORWARD = brazen, PASS = amorous advance – a forward pass in Rugby is followed by a whistle (assuming the ref spots it)
2 RUBICON – that crucial river of commitment crossed by (quick Wiki peek to check) Julius Caesar
3 HATED = couldn’t stand – anag. of either half of “the data he’d” – the sort of novel wordplay (combined with fairly gentle overall difficulty) that might signal a puzzle by Brian Greer
5 HO(T)SEA,T – see previous comment – the “time after time” here is a real gem
7 A BOUT = an attack of illness, TIME = “noted healer”
8 A TISSUE = network of lies, from the phrase “tissue of lies”
25 TRAINER – 2 defs
26 ARM=member(O=nothing),IRE – “Cabinet member” is a classic “lift and separate” phrase
32 SEVILLE = reverse of (EL = Spanish article, LIVES = survives) –
37 SIGHT UNSEEN = (shut engiines)*
38 OUTFIELDER = “his position isn’t silly” – the “silly” cricket fielding positions all being close to the batsman. Reversal of IF = although, in (OUT=unpopular,ELDER=senior figure)
40 ESPLANADE – hidden in Tories plan a development – long hidden words are another Brian Greer trademark
41 S=small,MARTEN = furry creature, UP = mounted (i.e. on a horse)
44 RAPHAEL – 2 defs – Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino and Raphael is probably the third best-known archangel after Gabriel and Michael

4 comments on “Jumbo 880”

  1. Byron was pretty sickly by the time his retinue got to Greece and he never actually fought for the Greeks, his contribution being mainly limited to filling a large number of begging bowls that found their way to his door. If you have never read his Don Juan, I cannot recommend it too highly. I never thought a poem would make me laugh out loud. His attacks on the “Lake Poets” and on the Poet Laureate Southey are a treat.
  2. Enjoyable puzzle, the two I have not so far understood are PRANCER, “Part of rhyming couplet often seen on Christmas cards” Thought it must be the reindeer and they would be on Christmas cards but not sure about the ‘rhyming couplet’ bit. The other is 48D “Developed further, like a better mousetrap” Got it right (RIPER) from the definition, but do not understand the ‘mousetrap’ part.
    1. If you look up “mousetrap”, you should find “cheese of poor quality” as a definition – one that I have met in real life.
    2. I think the couplet may be:

      ‘You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
      Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.’

      Hardly Dryden, but …

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