Jumbo 881 – 24th July 2010

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time: Not recorded. It took several sessions over several days. Not because it was particularly difficult, rather that I’ve not picked up a crossword for a couple of weeks and I’m a little rusty.

There seemed to be lots of pairs in this puzzle – 2 Shakespeare plays, 2 novels by Dickens, 2 poems by Keats, 2 football teams, even 2 different words for Greek. But maybe that’s just me inventing patterns.

There were some words that were new to me: TATAMI, NEGEB, CAMORRISTA, and a new meaning for CORNET.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 CROSS(S)WORDS
7 SEARCHING + L(ivel)Y
13 BAR + GAINING + COUNTER
14 SWEAR – dd. If you don’t know what a swear-box is, maybe this clip will enlighten you.
15 EXCITE = “X SIGHT”
16 DID + ACT + I + C(lass)
17 TINY TIM – cd. He was the invalid child from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
19 TROUNCING = (GOT RUN IN)* about C(ell)
21 C(LAMB)AKE – Although isn’t a clambake more of a barbecue than a picnic?
23 (b)AX + ON – An axon carries tiny electrical impulses between nerve cells. The composer is Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953).
25 TEETH – dd.
27 MO(UR)NS – Ur is a chestnut nearly as old as the city itself. The Battle of Mons was the first battle in WWI to feature British involvement.
28 T(OUR NAME)NT
30 HOOD + WINK
31 TROUBLES + HOOTER
32 MANCHESTER CITY = (RECITE MY CHARMS)*
35 JU(st) + VENT + US – That’s two football teams in a single row.
38 BIG + B(R)OTHER – This was the all-seeing authority in Orwell’s 1984. The less said about the TV programme the better.
40 REC + ANT
41 SLO(w) + PE
43 LOTH(ario)
44 CRESSIDA = (SAD CRIES)* – The heroine of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, based around the siege of Troy.
45 O + VER(HAST)Y
48 PE(N(ewspaper) P(roprietors))ALS
49 GREENERY = GREY about RENE rev
50 CORNET – dd. The ice-cream meaning is clear, but the cavalry officer is less so.
53 O’HAR(e) + A – O’Hare is the airport that serves Chicago, while Scarlett O’Hara was the heroine of Gone With the Wind.
54 ISOSCELES TRIANGLE = (CELESTIAL SINGER SO)*
55 EVEN + (STARING)* – The planet Venus, being closer to the sun than us, is only visible from Earth near the horizon either just before sunrise or just after sunset. When seen after sunset it is known as the EVENING STAR.
56 T(RAVERS)ABLE
 
Down
1 CA(BLEST)TCH
2 (d)O(S)RIC – Osric was a minor role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but then could ‘Danish courtier’ ever be anything else?
3 S(MAR)TEN
4 WIND = “WINED”
5 RUNNING OUT – dd
6 SOCIAL + CONTRACT – Social & Do can be synonyms when both are used as nouns to mean a party or get-together.
7 STUNT + MAN
8 ATTIC can mean from Attica, a region of Greece famed for its bas-relief pottery. The urn in Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn was of this style.
9 CARETAKER = CARET + (RAKE)* – A caret is that little ˆ symbol that indicates inserted text.
10 Why did the Frenchman jump in the river? Because he was INSANE!! It’s a very, very old joke.
11 GREAT EXPECTATIONS – dd. A second reference to Charles Dickens that crosses with the first.
12 YORK + MIN(i)STER – The obligatory cricket reference. A yorker is a delivery that pitches right at the batsman’s feet. So, to york him is to present him with one of these deliveries. Although I’m not sure that it necessarily implies a dismissal as the clue seems to indicate.
18 DIAMONDS – dd. The mainly-US sport of baseball is played on a diamond.
20 The second reference to one of John Keats’ 1819 odes. This one to a nightingale.
22 B(ROLL)Y
24 BAR + ONE’S + S
26 HAWTHORN = (WHAT)* + HORN
29 RUNT + H(EG)AUNT + LET
32 SQUATTER – dd.
33 RECESS(ion)
34 MOBILE PHONE = (NOBLE HOME I + P)*
36 SEE EYE TO EYE = 102 in Roman numerals about TO
37 CAM + ORRIS + TA – This was a new word to me. It’s a member of the Camorra, a Venetian-based criminal organisation, similar to the Sicilian Mafia.
39 T(H)RUSTING
42 SILENCER = (RECLINES)* – An easy one for Scrabble players.
46 HOOKAHS = HO + OK + (HAS)*
47 TATAMI – A Japanese mat, although I don’t quite see the wordplay.
49 G((colone)L)O AT
51 NEGEB = BEEN rev about G(alilee) – Negeb (or Negev) is an arid region or southern Israel.
52 F(RE)E

2 comments on “Jumbo 881 – 24th July 2010”

  1. Wondered if the setter putting MANCHESTER CITY and JUVENTUS in there was making a prediction for the Europa League Final in the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin next May. The Stadium (ex-Lansdowne Road) opened this week.

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