Jumbo 900

Solving time: 26:40 online, but 2 mistakes – one careless spelling mistake and one misremembered phrase.

Across
4 CHEW THE FAT – referring to the nursery rhyme – “Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean”
14 MINCE MEAT => team – wordplay in the answer
15 MAN,MAN,A GE(ME)NT
16 NOT ICED = the description of an unfinished cake
17 HANG-UPS – rev. of PUG = pugilist, in HANS (German equivalent of Jack – short fot Johannes)
19 CRIMEAN = war, D.,PUNISHMENT
21 CLEO = “woman carrying on” – LatE, in CO.
24 NO(r)TON – the clue makes a reference to Burnt Norton, first of T S Eliot’s Four Quartets – knowledge that was beyond me, but the surface was clear
29 FIRE = inspire, BRIG., ADE = “aid”
30 TALK IS CHEAP – double def. This is the one I got badly wrong, inventing the not very convincing “tell it cheap”
32 DISH,(r)EVELLED
40 (r)OSIER – osier = a willow shoot used in basketry, as well as the tree itself
44 MORE HASTE LESS SPEED – a good motto for any crossword competitor (homeless, S = son, desperate)*
47 CATHODE = “Cath ode” – a literary gag easy enough for me to laugh at
50 GA(P)Y,EAR – the playwright is John Gay, best known for the Beggar’s Opera, later adapted by Weill and Brecht
51 VICTOR, 1 ACROSS
54 GAY = not straight, GORDON‘S = general’s
 
Down
2 CONS = studies, TRICT = “tricked” = had, OR = golden
3 TRE(A CL)E
5 (t)HATCH
6 W(OMEN = token)IN, LOVE = nothing
7 HONOURS LIST – cryptic def based on the remote possibility of receiving a knighthood as opposed to the impossibility of getting a bishopric
10 BEETLE, triple def. – mallet, that village hall game again, and to hurry
13 DEAD AND ALIVE – I think I’d count this as a double cryptic def. (“deed” as the first word was my typing error)
20 PEN,TA(C)LE
22 O.E.D., 1P,A,L=pound
29 FI(D,D)LED
31 IN TRANSI(GEN.)T
36 CHINE, SEW ALL – here’s a def with “insurmountable barrier”
41 RIDE(R),LESS
42 KENT,(l)UCKY
46 COLON = :, Y = end of storY

3 comments on “Jumbo 900”

  1. Defective label can’t offer beautiful sound (3,5): “Defective” meaning the edges had broken off of “labelcantoffer”? Hmmm….
  2. My printed Times was held up in the mail. So at last, what were these two? I came down to B-S– and –T-O. I’m guessing BESOM (B + anagram of SOME, and a besom might well be described as having a handle) and ME-TOO where ME might be Myalgic Encephalitis which I’d never heard of until now. I hope I don’t have that, because I certainly have a headache!

    John in USA

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