Jumbo 939 – August 20, 2011

Author   7dpenguinPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
An enjoyable but very straightforward 24 minutes. Probably one more suited to the less experienced solver. Not a lot more to be said really. as an aside, I’ve previously been able to choose to paste html and disable auto-formatting when creating blog posts. This option now appears to have been removed and carriage returns etc that I’ve used merely to make the html more readable have been translated into <br>s. Anybody have any idea why LJ have done this and whether there’s a simple workaround?

Across
1 COMPRISED –  (SEMIPRO)* in CD (recording)
6 PUFFIN,G
10 OASIS – O (nothing) AS IS
13 SIDEBAR – ED IS reversed then BAR
14 REVOLVE – REV (man in chuch) then (LOVE)*
15 OPINION –  PINION (operate arms control) after O (old)
16 MULTIPLICATION TABLE – cryptic def. A product can be the result of multiplying two numbers together, leading to the very clever use of “product placement”
17 WOE – sounds like “WHOA”.
18 RECIPE –  R (chess notation for rook) then (PIECE)*
20 JOB LOT – two biblical characters. “Flogging” in the clue is a slang word for selling.
21 FLEETNESS – NESS (head) after FLEET (a lot of taxis) – an accurate but rather odd choice of indicator.
23 FRANZ LISZT – F (fellow) RAN LIST (published catalogue) with two Zs (unknowns) inserted
25 AWE STRICKEN –  (CREW TAKES IN)*
29 HITCH – H (husband), ITCH
30 WHINNIES –  W (with) + HINNIES (other equines – a sterile cross between a male horse and a female ass). I struggled to see the wordplay to this one because, as usual with me, the word “with” just blended into the background and became invisible.
31 LEFT,OVER
34 THRESHER – two meanings, a farm machine for separating grain and husks and a shark
36 POLLUTED –  POUTED around LL (lakes)
37 PARK,A – Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer
39 POINTILLISM – POINT (indicate) then 1’S M (one’s medium) following ILL
41 RAISED CAIN – sounds like “RAISED CANE”
43 BANNISTER –  1 ST (SeaT unoccupied) in BANNER (standard)
45 NICK,E,L
47 VERONA – a barely cryptic definition requiring you to know first that Mercutio said, “a plague o’ both your houses” in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and then that this play was set in Verona. Nothing else would lead you to the answer other than _E_O_A. It’s Shakespeare though, so a clue like this is allowed. It’s my own fault for having no interest whatsoever in reading any of  his drivel. I got the answer after getting 50a which hints at The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
49 OAR – heads off tO wAR
50 GENTLEMAN’S GENTLEMAN –  Characters from 47 (Verona) are GENTLEMAN x2  and they surround S(small)
52 LANGUOR – LANGUR  (a monkey) around O (oxygen)
53 GONDOLA –  (LAGOON)* around D (duke)
54 MANX CAT –  MAN (fellow) CAT (whip) around X (cross)
55 TWEAK – T (“tea” pronounced) WEAK (watery)
56 MATISSE – hidden in forMAT IS SElected
57 SALTS AWAY – two meanings, one a bit whinsical (sailors at sea)
Down
1 CASH,MERE
2 MEDAL – D (daughter) in MEAL
3 RABBIT,PUNCH
4 SURELY – US rev + RELY (bank)
5 DIRECTORSHIP – RECTOR’S HI in DIP
6 PIVOTAL –  TO VIP reversed then A L (line)
7 FELLOW TRAVELLER – FELLOW (academic) TRAVELLER (representative)
8 IDENTIFIED –  nice build up. I DENT (I make an impression) IF (providing) 1 ED (limited edition)
9 GOODBYE – (DOG OBEY)*
10 OLIVER TWIST – O (old) TWIST (variation) around LIVER (organ)
11 SHIPWRECK – (WHIPS)* + RECK (heed) – I’ve never heard of RECK before.
12 SUNLESS –  S (son) + UNLESS (if not)
19 CURATOR – C (Consulted initaially) then (OUR ART)*
22 FLYWHEEL –  FLY (cunning) then “WE’LL”
24 TEN COMMANDMENTS – cryptically defined using a pharmacy theme
26 TRENDIES –  END in TRIES
27 NORWAY – NO WAY (certainly not) around R (king or queen)
28 SHUT UP – two definitions
32 VERTIGO – (RIG VOTE)*
33 STAINED GLASS –  (AT DESIGN)* + LASS
35 SITTING DUCK –  SITTING (in office) DUCK (nothing)
37 PICKET LINES – vaguely cryptic definition
38 MICROLIGHT – MIRO (Spanish artist) around C (cape) then LIGHT (land)
40 IGNORANCE – (CANOEING)* around R (river)
42 MAINSTAY – MA (parent) IN (at home) STAY (remain)
43 BOOKLET – BOOK (printed work) + LET (permit). Clueing BOOK as printed work is far too close to BOOKLET in my opinion. Poor clue.
44 TANTRUM – TNT around A (area) then RUM (odd)
46 CON,DONE –  a swindle and a swindled
48 ANIMAL – hidden in humAN I MALigned
51 MACAW – M[imicking] then A CAW.

4 comments on “Jumbo 939 – August 20, 2011”

  1. 45 minutes, my fastest Jumbo ever (and 1/4 the time of 940!). And it would have been at least 5 minutes faster if I had noticed that the clue for 23ac on my 2-page printed copy continued on to the 2d page; I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to come up with a one-word, 10-letter solution. Penguin, if you’d read a bit of Shakespeare (skip ‘2 Gentlemen’ if you wish), you’d have come across ‘reck’. I suppose it’s like the ‘ruth’ of ‘ruthless’ now.
    Small correction: 51d is M[imicking] (‘initially mimicking’)
    1. Thanks Kevin, I’ve now amended 51d. I suppose reck being reckless but without the less is pretty obvious but it never occurred to me.
  2. 17:33 for me. I thought I’d been a little faster, but a slow start stopped me posting a really decent time. No problems, no complaints.
  3. Just under the hour and a half, but a DNF as I couldn’t get THRESHER. Now if the clue had read ‘Machine used after harvesting wine merchant’s’, I’d have had no trouble! Liked JOB LOT, especially as the OT was nothing to do with the OT.

    After reading Kevin’s comment, I could be on for a 6-hour solve if I take on this week’s …

Comments are closed.