There was a mild panic when I opened last Saturdays Times to find Jumbo 923, since I figured I must have missed posting, however I can only assume that they snuck 922 in on the Bank Holiday Monday to confuse matters, as when I fished out my 921 it had a closing date of 5th May.
This was a fairly bland offering with a few quibbles (where I am probably wrong). Didnt take an age, but I never know when watching sport and doing a crossword, quite what percentage of time is spent on each. I guess it depends how gripping the game is!
| Across |
| 1 |
EPIDERMIC – R from recover inside EPIDEMIC=widespread disease, def=”of the skin” |
| 6 |
BUSHMAN – the BUSMAN doesnt enjoy his “BUSMAN’s HOLIDAY” apparently, although I never felt that it was meant to be a negative thing, just a quirky coincidence. Bored has double usage, for the wordplay it indicates that the H(ot) goes inside. |
| 10 |
DUCAL – LAUD backwards with C inside. def=”of high rank”. One of those clues that can only be an across due to the directional element. Works well on the surface to match the Conservative part. |
| 13 |
JOLLIER – J(udge) then (c)OLLIER |
| 14 |
ASOCIAL – OC=commander inside ASIA,L. Def=”avoiding company” |
| 15 |
LUMP SUM – LUMP SUM(o). I wonder at what point the size element of the word LUMP moved on to the “stupid”. Was there a correlation at some point? |
| 16 |
IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES – amusing punny type cryptic def suggesting that the BEST OF TIMES would include the best articles in this newspaper. |
| 17 |
ANN – dArNiNg |
| 18 |
ESPRIT – (reparte)E then SPRIT=spar |
| 20 |
DRY ROT – DR then TORY=right reversed. |
| 21 |
ABORIGINE – I GIN=drink (different part of speech) inside A(rea) BORE=tolerated. |
| 23 |
CARICATURE – RI=religious instruction (I always knew it as RE/education!) inside (accurate)* = something distorted. |
| 25 |
ELASTIC BAND – (its balanced)*. slightly long winded definition to aid the surface |
| 29 |
ROOTS – ROO=marsupial then ST=way backwards. ROOTS=origin |
| 30 |
PHILEMON – PHI=greek letter, then LEMON from the phrase “the answers a lemon”!. I did not know this phrase, but the book was clear. I still dont know if I understand the phrase having looked it up.
|
| 31 |
PLATINUM – PLUM=very desirable, eating A TIN=loaf |
| 34 |
MANITOBA – BOT=fly reversed in MANIA= huge excitement. Good to see the use of potentially to allow for definition by example. |
| 36 |
KNIGHTLY – K(ing), NIGHTLY=regularly – compared to KNIGHT |
| 37 |
TOWEL – TO(o) WEL(l) – TOO WELL=”with unnecessarily high quality” |
| 39 |
LIBERTY BELL – apparently a LIBERTY is a type of bodice, and BELL sounds like BELLE |
| 41 |
EAR TRUMPET – (met rapture)* – again with the enumeration it could be nothing but. |
| 43 |
HIT WICKET – dont know what to say, very clear word play to the point of being a non-cryptic clue. |
| 45 |
RETEST – TE=note inside REST=holiday |
| 47 |
GOALIE – GO=try A LIE=position for the player with the shirt number 1 in football. Good concise surface for a three part wordplay. |
| 49 |
LEO – LO=look around (hedg)E for one of the zodiac signs of summertime. |
| 50 |
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE – Another where the answer is itself a clue. DIM NIECE would be the answer to “ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE?” |
| 52 |
WASPISH – WISH=desire to “lock up” ASP=poisoner. |
| 53 |
ANGLING – NG=no good, spearing implies being inside of A LING. Semi &lit since ANGLING is the alternate to spearing the LING. |
| 54 |
TWIN SET – WIN=success inside TEST reversed. |
| 55 |
TAP IN – TA=thanks “right by” PIN=flag. Good surface derived from the TAP IN generally being “right by the flag”. Would it have been too harsh just to put “Right by flag, thanks?” as a full &lit |
| 56 |
PUFFERY – PU=backing up, F=fine, FRY=cook around (din)E. PUFFERY is an odd term for advertising. |
| 57 |
HEXAGONAL – HEX=curse A, (linesma)N inside GOAL=penalty, say. |
| Down |
| 1 |
ENJOINED – ENJOYED= had benefit of with Y=year becoming IN=home |
| 2 |
IN LAW – I guess this is a cryptic definition suggesting that someone needs to be married to become an inlaw, but the logic is wrong because someones brother in law can be single if you are married to their sister? |
| 3 |
EVIL SPIRITS – Whilst the answer is fairly clear for the devils, and the liquor being the SPIRITS, not entirely sure why EVIL = up LIVE = up HARD – ie HARD=LIVE. Unless it is just the suggestion that really HARD LIQUOR equates to EVIL SPIRITS ?? |
| 4 |
MARSHY – MARY=girl keeps SH=quiet – it appears to me that SH for quiet is becoming more popular these days against a decline for P |
| 5 |
CHAMBER MUSIC – (summer I c bach)* – an anagram where some of the content requires “refining” |
| 6 |
BROWSER – B(R)OWSER – a bowser is a tanker, or more commonly, this |
| 7 |
SLIP OF THE TONGUE – SLIP=fielder “OF THE TONGUE”=language’s – this is an often used trick where the answer is possesive but the surface suggests “IS”. With the enumeration and def though this cannot be anything but. As an aside, I can never read this phrase without humming this track |
| 8 |
MILITIAMAN – in speed mode stuck in MILITARIAL for a bit having seen “as fighter”, and noting the TIL in AIM would give MILITA.. however it was only later that I was forced to understand better when ABORIGINE went in. It is (‘NAM=theatre of war, TIL I inside AIM) all reversed. Still not sure why the “As” is there though. |
| 9 |
NELUMBO – uNwElL, UMBO is a boss on a shield. Guesswork here for me as I did not know UMBO and only knew of the word NELUMBO without knowing it was a lily. |
| 10 |
DOMESTIC CAT – (sitcom acted)* |
| 11 |
COSTA RICA – quite like this one – STAR=singer of fame, I=one, inside COCA=drug source. Need to lift & separate country singer + a good surface. |
| 12 |
LE MONDE – Maybe I have missed something, but this one doesnt scan right to me. The idea is great which is that LEMONADE less the A gives the newspaper LE MONDE, however “ONE” seems wrong referring to lemonade, and PAPER feels wrong on the surface. I know you can have “a lemonade” hence “one” but something doesnt quite fit. |
| 19 |
PLATOON – TOO(k) = almost captured inside PLAN=stratagem |
| 22 |
PALPABLY – PALLY=friendly around BAP=roll reversed. I guess you can call that a roll reversal…. |
| 24 |
ETERNAL TRIANGLE – (partne)R and I inside ETERNAL=endless, TANGLE=complication. possibly a hemidemisemi &lit if there were such a thing! |
| 26 |
TILTYARD – Not a word I knew but fairly obvious from tip=TILT cart up=DRAY reversed, especially with the checkers. |
| 27 |
DIMPLE – DIM=stupid PLE(a) = request not a – amusing definition as a “cheekily attractive feature” |
| 28 |
PRIMAL – PAL=mate goes “over”=around RIM=edge |
| 32 |
NEW DEAL – one of those clever ones where the wordplay is the answer to a clue provided by the answer. LEAD would be the answer to “NEW DEAL?” ie (DEAL)*. The effect was slightly spoilt by the definition and the enumeration which meant only one possible answer! |
| 33 |
AT ARMS LENGTH – AT LENGTH = eventually, securing ARMS=weapons. |
| 35 |
TERMINATION – (note martini)* – first of two glaringly obvious anagrams. |
| 37 |
TEMPORISING – (me sporting I)* – see above! |
| 38 |
BETTER HALF – BETTER=improved, HALF=little drink. Bit of a weak clue, although to be fair, my wife often improves given a little drink, but never sure if that is a little drink for her or for me !? |
| 40 |
BOTTOMS UP – BOTTOM=last SUP=to drink. |
| 42 |
PEDESTAL – hidden word inside euroPE DE STALinise – definition “place for hero”. Not sure about helping but i guess it is as in a helping of food ie a portion. |
| 43 |
HALFWIT – (FLAW)* inside HIT=success. |
| 44 |
KETCHUP – KETCH=boat UP=erected. Surface works as bottled boats are a (perhaps outdated) common hobby. Another one that seems to have gone is airfix. Then again, matchstick churches dont seem to figure much either – maybe it is the advent of the computer! |
| 46 |
TRINITY – What else could it possibly be ? 🙂 |
| 48 |
VERTEX – RTE is the Irish media inside VEX meaning to bother. Def=summit. |
| 51 |
IBSEN – starters implies first letters I(s) B(lind) S(pectacles) E(vidently) N(eeded). Linesman is a good cryptic def to make the surface work. |
8d: Agreed about “As.”