Sunday Times Cryptic 4883, 29 XII 2019, by David McLean — Oh, just see what a glorious fill

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
As I had never blogged a Jumbo before, I was glad to find, once I got started, that this was all fairly straightforward, and a real holiday gift rather than a chore. We have every kind of clue here, from hidden words to the &lit (only one of those, but at least no half-assed “semi” or “sorta” variety!). Now, there are a few that I had to check with a dictionary, having never heard of ACATOUR, SEGETAL or ACADEMIC DRESS, but their shape was discernible through their wrapping. All will have noticed, of course, the sprinkling—almost a blizzard, actually—of holiday and wintry references in the clues as well as the answers.

I indicate (asangram)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.

ACROSS
 1 So smart to air choir’s boisterous seasonal music (9,8)
CHRISTMAS ORATORIO — (so smart to air choir)* J.S. Bach, 1734
10 Gift Mark’s given to freezing leader (5)
SCARF — SCAR, “Mark” + F[-reezing] The definition would no doubt not be deemed sufficient if it weren’t for the season of this puzzle’s appearance.
13 First of goodies one royal put in king’s stockings? (7)
LEGWEAR — LE (G[-oodies] + WE, “one[,] royal”) AR
14 Damn icy winds, with great strength (7)
DYNAMIC — (Damn icy)*
15 Good children could produce this twinkle (7)
GLITTER — G(ood) + LITTER, “children”
16 Relative laughing about upper-class outrages (9)
BROUHAHAS — BRO, “relative” + U(pper class) + HA HAs
17 Wife knocking rag that covers seasonal offerings (8,5)
WRAPPING PAPER — W(ife) + RAPPING, “knocking” + PAPER, “rag”
18 Pull cracker’s end with energy after everyone united (6)
ALLURE — ALL, “everyone” + U, “united” come before [-cracke]R + E(nergy)
19 Antiquated facilities toured by overworked man on board (3-7)
OLD-LOOKING — OLD, “overworked” on one side of LOO,” facilities,” and, on the other, KING, “man on board”
22 Quarrel over uninspiring presents (3-2)
RUN-IN — Hidden, indicated by “presents”
24 Group painting turns on crummy American shows (11)
ILLUSTRATES — SET, “group” + ART, “painting” <=“turns” on ILL, “crummy” + US, “American”
27 Secret agent unlikely to be seen here? (6,5)
CENTRE STAGE — (Secret agent)* &lit
29 Retired chap scoffed about tip for seasonal greeting (7)
NAMASTE — MAN, “chap” <=“retired” + A(S[-easonal])TE, ATE being “scoffed”
31 At front, snow by massed artillery is backed-up two feet (5)
IAMBS — Initial letters (“At front”) in reverse (“backed-up”); “two feet,” though any number over one would’ve done
32 Without oxygen, doctor animates bodies (9)
ANATOMIES — (animates + O)*
33 Song covered by piano act is a gift for the kids (9)
PLAYTHING — P(LAY)THING, THING being “act” in the sense of (Collins) “that which is done, has been done, or is to be done” (but, of course, the play’s the thing!)
34 Woman at work in grassland (5)
LEONA — LE(ON, “at work”)A
35 Movie set at Christmas I’d heard must be broadcast (3,4)
DIE HARD — (I’d heard)* I had no idea during what time of year the action in that story was supposed to have occurred.
37 Contrary youth with last of yule post shows hostility (11)
DETESTATION — TED<=“Contrary” + [-Yul]E + STATION, “post”
39 Dispatch calls on the radio that we might hear at Christmas (6,5)
SLEIGH BELLS — SLEIGH sounds like (“on the radio”) “slay,” or “Dispatch” + BELLS—Collins says BELL is British slang for “telephone call”
41 Those finishing turkeys imbibe top Asti then a shot (5)
SEPIA — Final letters in five words, interrupted by “then”
43 With cutlery, pare outer part of joint (10)
SILVERSKIN — SILVER, “cutlery” + SKIN, “pare”
45 Might one be seen in Bow this Christmas? (6)
RIBBON — CD. At last a clue referencing Bow that involves no dropped aitches!
47 Really weak royal, but with sound views (5-8)
RIGHT-THINKING — RIGHT THIN KING
50 Fire axe (9)
DISCHARGE — DD
52 Old caterer and a jazz fan associated with US (7)
ACATOUR — A CAT, “jazz fan” + OUR, alternative spelling for “acater,” which means means (Collins) “a buyer of and supplier of provisions; caterer”—which is news to me
53 Successful runner the Spanish support going round city (7)
ELECTEE — EL, “the[,] Spanish” + TEE, “support”
54 Religious book written by European model (7)
EPITOME — E(uropean) + PI, pious, “Religious” + TOME, “book”
55 Those under feet of snow regularly empty large spades (5)
SOLES — Alternate letters in SnOw, L[-arg]E, S(pades)
56 Say John and Paul score hit discs and flip out? (9,2,6)
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST — (score hit discs + flip)* This one has a slightly “green paint” feel to me; “Disciples of Christ” is the proper name of a denomination, so in that sense the phrase would have “dictionary status,” but the reference to John and Paul here is more generic.

DOWN
 1 Star helping to provide New Year shindig? (11)
CELEBRATION — CELEB, “star” + RATION, “helping”
 2 Kid at party left with large Christmas present (7)
RAGDOLL — RAG, “Kid” + DO, “party” + L(eft) + L(arge)
 3 Agricultural workers pressure woman to be put up in outhouses (9)
SHEPHERDS — SHE(P)(HER)DS
 4 Fragrance belonging to one’s theologian husband (5)
MYRRH — MY, “belonging to one” + RR, “theologian” + H(usband) I take RR to be “Right Reverend,” which is a title of respect (not the name of an office) for an Anglican or RC bishop; “theologian” made me try to fit an academic degree.
 5 Idling pet sits awkwardly, producing great mirth (4-9)
SIDE-SPLITTING — (Idling pet sits)*
 6 Resurrection authentic!—short report inside (7)
RENEWAL — I guess this isn’t the Skeptical Inquirer, eh? RE(NEW[-s])AL
 7 Maiden seen in bar with a port (5)
TAMPA — TA(M)P + A
 8 Function in part of a hotel (9)
RECEPTION — DD
 9 One accompanying one across Ohio river on rearing horse (5)
ORGAN — The instrument can be heard during 1A! O(hio) + R(iver) + NAG<=“rearing” EDIT: Thanks to Johninterred for pointing out what “one across” is doing here.
10 A very risky course is a must-have for skiers (8,5)
SLIPPERY SLOPE — A straight def and one cryptic
11 Law university about to hold power and influence (3,4)
ACT UPON — ACT, “Law” + U(niversity) + ON, “about,” clasping P(ower)
12 Those in van in support of European on skis (11)
FORERUNNERS — FOR, “in support of” + E(uropean) + RUNNERS, “skis”
20 Bring on the end of Christmas and Boxing Day etc (9)
OCCASIONS — OCCASION, “Bring on” + [-Christma]S
21 Wreaths and the like, secure in outbuilding (10)
GARLANDAGE — GAR(LAND)AGE
23 Fantastic arc in sales for anti-cancer drugs (10)
ARSENICALS — (arc in sales)*
25 Severely reprimand a saint following Jesus? (7)
LAMBAST — “Jesus” is the LAMB, with A S(ain)T at his heels
26 Appearance of medium and bishop, live in a spiritual event (9)
SEMBLANCE — SE(M)(B)(L)ANCE
28 Girl in massive trouble after avalanche at summit (7)
ABIGAIL — A[-valanche] + BIG, “massive” + AIL, “trouble”
30 I faint as costs build up for settlements (13)
SATISFACTIONS — (I faint as costs)*
32 Don clothing? (8,5)
ACADEMIC DRESS — CD Cap and gown, mortarboard… this is supposed to make you look serious.
33 Present said to change folk eschewing transport? (11)
PEDESTRIANS — (Present said)*
36 It isn’t deer flying around top of stacks in fairness (11)
DISINTEREST — (It isn’t deer + S[-tacks])*
38 One speaks ill of British people, for example (9)
ISLANDERS — Bigot! I (1, “One”) + SLANDERS
40 Somewhat happy being somewhat smart (9)
BRIGHTISH — DD, meh
42 Feature of ancient Mandarin is something difficult to follow (7)
PIGTAIL — PIG, “something difficult” (Collins has this, as “British informal”) + TAIL, “to follow”
44 Some flipping snail ate gessneria growing in crops (7)
SEGETAL — Reverse hidden Said of weeds; from Latin seget-, seges field of grain, crop
46 Piece of music one group knocked up for famous soprano (7)
BARTOLI — BAR, “Piece of music” + I (“one”) LOT (“group”) <=“knocked up”
48 King and queen seen in shrouds on occasion (5)
HEROD — ER, the queen (long may she wave), is here found inserted among alternate letters (“on occasion”) of sHrOuD.
49 Old people at home must get up after Frost (5)
ICENI — ICE, “Frost,” before IN, “at home”<=“must get up” British Celts!
51 One supporting quiet little chap Santa employs (5)
SHELF — SH, “quiet” + ELF, the “little chap…”

31 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4883, 29 XII 2019, by David McLean — Oh, just see what a glorious fill”

  1. I just realized that I’d never finished this, putting it aside with the 32s to do and a question mark at SILVERSIDE at 43d. So I quickly saw ACADEMIC DRESS, which meant SILVERSIDE had to be changed to DNK SILVERSKIN, and then saw ANATOMIES. ACATOUR, SEGETAL Mephisto words; anyway NHO here. BROUHAHAS=outrages? news to me, but no doubt it’s one of Chambers’s definitions.
    1. This word has an interesting, unexpected derivation, from the French, (Collins) “in medieval theater, cry of devil disguised as clergy: said to be < Heb bārŭkh hab-ba, blessed be he who comes, formula used by Levites to welcome to the Temple”

      Here we have to take “outrage” as meaning the reaction and not the thing reacted to. Collins has:
      A brouhaha is an excited and critical fuss or reaction to something.
      [mainly journalism, disapproval]
      …the recent brouhaha over a congressional pay raise.

      Of course, it can also mean just a generalized commotion, uproar…

      Edited at 2020-01-05 04:26 am (UTC)

      1. As I said, Chambers–or in this case, Collins–would no doubt have a definition. It still doesn’t work for me, especially as the word was given in the plural. And, not that I care that much, wouldn’t outrage as one form of brouhaha be a DBE?
        1. I don’t see one as an example of the other, either way round, but merely as broadly equivalent.
          1. “cry of devil disguised as clergy”? As I believe Sidney Morgenbesser was fond of saying, Believe it if you can.
  2. I messed this up by putting TIEPIN for the thing that might be seen in a bow (although now I think about it you wouldn’t use a tiepin with a bow tie). Then I didn’t know any sopranos so I just invented PARIOTI (RAP being the piece of music, I being one, and I never understood the OTI although ITO might be a group in the sense of a tribe). Oh well. It was a fun crossword anyway.
  3. I have a note on my print-out “Bloody hard work!”which best sums this up for me. Much of it was very enjoyable but it was spoiled to some extent by too many obscurities that, as Kevin suggests above, would be more suited to a Mephisto than a festive Sunday puzzle. To the ones he mentions I’d add ARSENICALS and NAMASTE.

    The slightest of MERs at ORGAN and PLAYTHING but a much stronger one at GARAGE as ‘outbuilding’ as there are probably just as many that are either attached to the main building or an integral part of its structure. My own for instance – and the one in the house where I was raised.

    My favourite clue in all of this was 27ac.

  4. I think this is the first time I’ve done a Jumbo. It was done in three sessions, with no time to offer. As a guy who usually eats up the religious clues, I was a long time on DISCIPLES OF CHRIST though. It does appear to be mainly a North American denomination. I needed all crossers and still had a slight MER at Paul being described as a disciple in the cryptic. He only claimed to be an apostle. I offer this quotation from Tom Lehrer on the brouhaha about brouhaha. “Life is like a sewer — what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. It’s always seemed to me that this is precisely the sort of dynamic, positive thinking that we so desperately need today in these trying times of crisis and universal brouhaha.” I’m not sure it helps but it’s my thought for today. I enjoyed the challenge. Thank you Guy and David.

    Edited at 2020-01-05 08:26 am (UTC)

  5. I don’t usually have the time or patience for jumbos, but I decided to do this one and submit, it didn’t take as long as I expected, a steady solve with no real hold ups. 40 minutes? SEGETAL AND ACATOUR were bunged in from wp then checked, the rest was in my Ken. Thanks for blogging, guy.
  6. 5 minutes short of the hour, with the impression that the welcome snowstorm of seasonal clues left David with several difficult to fill spaces, hence the sprinkling of arcana mentioned above.
    Mme Bartoli is (sic) not in my list of famous soprani, but is vaguely known as a tennis player, who turns up first in them wiki entries for that name.
    Many thanks Guy for ploughing through!
    1. That’s probably because she’s not a soprano proper: she’s a mezzo.

      Edited at 2020-01-05 03:06 pm (UTC)

  7. 55:43, so trickier than your usual Jumbo, I think. I could be wrong, but I think your underlining stops a word too early in 9D, Guy. I had a questionmark against this and only just spotted the cross-reference to 1A. Looking at the scoring described here I think the organ must be the continuo part, which makes sense of “one accompanying”. As for the rest: lots of good fun, but a bit of squinting needed in places to follow the wordplay – e.g. TAP for “bar” in 7D and some escapees from Mephisto-land as others have noted. 20D my rather appropriate LOI. Thanks Guy and David. P.S. Welcome to the Jumbo Bloggers Club.

    Edited at 2020-01-05 09:23 am (UTC)

  8. LOI was the error. I took a couple of mins before going with alamour instead of acatour. I don’t normally do any of the Jumbos either – but stumbled upon this one inadvertently this morning. I must have turned onto a trunk road!

    COD: DYNAMIC.

  9. I managed to plough through this in 81:54, but, like others, had to check NAMASTE, ACATOUR and SEGETAL. SILVERSKIN was also unfamiliar. Otherwise a pleasant enough excursion. Thanks Harry and Guy.
  10. Enjoyed this at the time, but now I am sulking because the website claims I had no less than three silly typos. I indignantly deny this, but there is no appeal..
  11. It was Christmas and I had time so I put a lot into this over several sessions. I was able to solve most of it without aids. In the end I had ABADOUR at 52a but checked before submission; that was after considering Cat for jazz fan. The Disciples of Christ were tough to derive but at least I saw the anagram.
    I watched Life of Brian last night which might have helped; Brian’s mother did not want the myrrh that was proferred but wanted to keep the gold and frankincense; which reminds me that I still do not know what myrrh is; is it a minor eyebrow raise?
    DNK Arsenicals or Segetal but was able to derive them.
    From my notes the late appearing ISLANDERS was my COD.
    Good fun.
    David

    Edited at 2020-01-05 02:08 pm (UTC)

  12. 48:56. I found this tough, partly because of the Mephistoish words, but I enjoyed it. I like working out obscurities from wordplay, and I had the time.
    Thanks to GdS for taking on the bonus jumbo blogging duty!
  13. Life is too short for Jumbos these days. I used to do them jointly with her indoors number one.
    This Jumbo appears to be a Club Monthly with tusks.

    FOI
    LOI
    COD
    WOD

    Time saved – one can become addicted.

    1. I don’t usually take time for Jumbos, but after working this one, I’ve done four more. (Tomorrow, though, it’s back to the daily grind.)

      Edited at 2020-01-05 03:44 pm (UTC)

  14. I am well impressed with how many seasonal references DM managed to stuff into this, and I’m happy enough to suffer the Mephisto-elese in payment. My only other comment is that I’ve never seen O as an abbreviation for Ohio – either the river or the state. Thanks GdS, DM, and PB
      1. I assumed it was – neither DM nor PB would have allowed it if not, and they’re both careful.

        Still, using the implied rule, how do we tell Nebraska from New Jersey, or Mississippi from Montana?

        1. Oklahoma? Oregon? I suspect the Collins reference may be justified by O’s use as a part of acronyms.
  15. How does SEPIA = “Shot” in 41a? And how is TAP the equivalent of “bar” in 7d? The TAP is the beer pump and “stop-tap” is when they stop pulling pints. But it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a “bar”. I think I must be missing something and, no doubt, some kind person will enlighten me. I’m another who normally gives the jumbos a miss. But I’m glad I did this one. Some unknown vocabulary but nothing that couldn’t be got from the cryptic. Most enjoyable. Ann
    1. SEPIA is a kind of photograph, snapshot.
      Collins has, for both US and British usages, TAP as short for “taproom.”
      1. Thanks. I can see the SEPIA clue now. I’ve never heard a taproom being called a tap. I’ve heard of the word taproom and assume it’s American because I’ve never experienced one in the UK. Maybe I’ve led a sheltered life…
        1. The pub attached to a brewery, or the one nearest to it serving its beers, is known as the Brewery Tap.
          1. You live and learn, as they say. Btw, when I googled “taproom” the first thing that popped was a bar/microbrewery owned by close friends of mine. Camra Welsh Pub of the Year a few years ago.
  16. it seems that Collins is now the dictionary of choice, as SEGETAL (44dn) is not listed in either Chambers or Oxford’s Lexico app.

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