Jumbo 941 – Just in before the Sabbath

Author   fathippy2Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
FROM EARLIER [Sorry for the lateness of this one. Unforeseen circumstances saw my wife bin the paper copy and me realise that my online subscription had expired a while back. It also seems long enough ago that I cant remember every answer immediately, so this may be up by sunfall!]

NOW….

A whistlestop breakdown below, not much padding. Gold star to the misleading use of “cold shower” in 16A.

Across
1 TEST MATCH – A gentle opener. TEST=trial MATCH=marriage
6 SPRUCE BEER – Not a drink I had heard of, got this from checkers. SPRUCE=neat, and then the interesting idea of “marginally” referring to the outer parts of BETTER – ie BE(TT)ER.
12 ANEURIN – A bit like SADAT a few weeks ago, one of those clues that could only be one thing once you saw “Bevan”. I didnt know it was a Thiamine, but there you go.
13 MONOMANIA – Another where I hadnt come across the term – “hobby horse” in this sense as opposed to the toy, was new to me. The word play is removing the R of rider from ROMANIA, after MON(S) the battle.
14 CUT UP – straightforward double def
16 DEMONSTRATOR – DEMONS + TRA(C)TOR, def-shower. I have to flag up a great lift and separate here “cold shower” mainly I guess because of the two distinct pronunciations of the word shower.
17 FOOLS SUITE – Big asterisk as to the construction here, because to me it requires the two S’s to be elided. Clearly “something” singular must refer to FOOL. so SWEET must be sound like S.SUITE, which to me it doesnt, there being two pronounced S’s.
19 UNDER SUSPICION – (pun in discourse)*
22 STARKERS – STARS around K,ER
24 BUNDLE – double def. In Australia swag is a bundle as in bag, knapsack or carried belongings. Which I guess is where the
25 STABLEMATE – STABLE=not likely to be disturbed, MATE=final defeat (chess)
26 INDRA – IN DRA(G)
29 REEL – RE(B)EL
30 INCREASE – (ceresin a)*. Anagrind is slippery, def= wax
32 TRUTH DRUG – RUTH=book, DR=doctor, inside TUG=boat
34 BRASSERIE – E(at) R(isotto) inside BRASSIE (old golf club)
35 CONGRESS – I suspect that the lift and separate double def is between “the other legislative” and “assembly” but since they are so closely aligned I dont know if this doesnt just become a straight def.
36 HERB – hidden – anotHER Boy
39 HALAL – H(orse) then AL, AL for the man twice. definition is “lawfully killed”
40 WORKING OUT – double def
42 ARTIST – (traits)*
44 MARIANAS – AS, after (maid) MARIAN for the Pacific group, best known for its “trench”
46 PAINT YOUR WAGON – (warn piano guy)*
48 THE RAINBOW – IN BOW = in the east end after (heart)*
49 PROSPECTUSES – PROSPECT=potential customer, USES=gets through
53 STEAM – S=small TEAM=crew
54 GRILL ROOM – ILL R=badly run, inside GROOM=curry
55 CAMERON – CAME ON=advanced, about R=river.
56 BRIDGEHEAD – BRIDGE=bit of a fiddle, HEAD=nut
57 SCROLL SAW – SCROLL=display more, SAW=grasped

Down
1 THERM – hidden inside weaTHERMan
2 SPRING ROLL – two parts of a gymnastic performance for the Chinese food.
3 MINOTAUR – MINOR=child, penning TAU=letter.
4 TAMPA – (tha)T, upset MA, PA for the US city
5 HANSOM CAB – (Bacon,hams)*
6 SUMP – SUM=problem, P=pressure
7 RANDOM – (B)RANDO, M=male
8 CHARLOTTE RUSSE – CHARLOTTE=female, RUSSELL=philosopher, minus a couple of L’s for pounds
9 BACK STRAIGHT – STRAIGHT=frank, after BACK=second
10 ENTWINE – quite complicated for so few words – ENTE(R) = put in short, “clutching” WIN=bag, for the verbal lace
11 LANDLUBBER – nicely rhyming clue, but probably in reality a bit of a weak cryptic definition, as it almost read straight.
15 PRESS GANG – Got this from the def of Shanghai, however with PRESS=crowd, I can only guess that GANG is go in Scottish dialect (hence for Burns). Can anyone clarify?
18 FORESEEN – (one’s free)*
20 DANCE HALL – DANE=european, HAL=prince, L=left, all outside C=clubs
21 PETER BERRY – PETER=safe, PEARS=fruit for the singer. This was a toss up between PETER PEARS and PETER BERRY, as I knew of neither.
23 CANTERBURY – got this from where BECKET fell, as I didn’t know the stand – apparently covers furniture and music stands as far as a search throws up.
27 DARKENING – DARING=brave, KEN=man admitted
28 ANDREW CARNEGIE – (we arranged nice)*
31 ARCHIVAL – ARCH RIVAL=principal contender, heartlessly – no R
33 AS CLEAR AS MUD – (damascus)* outside LEAR=king
34 BEHEMOTHS – BEHE=the odd letters of BREZHNEV, MOTHS=insects
37 BOTANISING – BOG=marsh, around TAN=shade IS IN=cool
38 DRAW STUMPS – DRAW=to create picture, STUMPS=puzzles
41 GINORMOUS – (gunroom is)*
43 LUPERCAL – L(O)CAL around (pure)* for the Roman festival
45 ROE DEER – sounds like RODE ‘ERE.
47 MOBILE – this city is far more common in crosswords than any printed word or popular press !
50 SUMER – Uncle REMUS was the story teller
51 SHREW – SHAW=dramatist with RE=about to replace A
52 GLAD – G=good LAD=boy

10 comments on “Jumbo 941 – Just in before the Sabbath”

  1. I believe 17ac is DOLLY SUITE.
    This took me ages – nearly an hour and a half. There were lots of unknowns, so I spent a lot of time painstakingly constructing answers from wordplay. Quite satisfying.
    1. that would explain my consternation. I did not do any looking up when solving originally and have to admit I skipped right past this when blogging without a thought. Given that I had a problem with it, that didnt make a lot of sense!
  2. Meant to say I had the same dilemma for PETER PEARS and confess I looked him up before submitting.
  3. I can’t believe I did this, or any cryptic, in less time than keriothe–76 minutes. I think I can promise it will never happen again. (Certainly not for 942, where I still have 5 unsolved, and probably unsolvable, clues.) You’re right about PRESS GANG: e.g. ‘The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/Gang aft agley’. I didn’t much care for the ‘marginally’ in 6ac: I assumed for a longish time that it meant BR. If it were ‘marginally interesting’, could that mean INTING? INTETING? etc. And I do think it’s a bit of a pity that GINORMOUS has found its way into a Times puzzle. But some wonderful clues; CODs, if one can have more than one, to 16ac, 32ac, 54ac.
    1. I’m afraid the damage was originally done some time ago with GINORMOUS, Kevin. No. 22,826 (19 November 2004) included “Using room to puzzle out jumbo (9)”.
  4. This is probably best known as the name given by Herman Melville to the condition of Captain Ahab in his obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick.
  5. Pretty tough one this, around 45 minutes over two sessions here.

    I’m pretty sure you meant to put PETER PEARS in at 21D in the end, as you’ve linked to him.

  6. 22:39 for me. All pretty straightforward if, like me, you’re a member of the Musical Mafia. PETER PEARS was a particularly easy win as I’ve sung in performances of Britten’s Spring Symphony and War Requiem where he was tenor soloist.
  7. I think I can suggest a better reading for 35a CONGRESS (The other legislative assembly). “A bit of the other” means sexual congress. Nudge. Nudge.

    At 14a I would quibble with CUT UP. The essence of collage is sticking, rather than cutting up (hence the name).

    Sadly I’d never heard of SPRUCE BEER, DOLLY SUITE or CANTERBURY=stand. And I don’t really believe BOTANISING is a proper word.

    Thanks for the explanation of STABLEMATE.

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