| Time: 20 minutes
Music: Szymanowski, Violin Concerto #1, Kulka/Maksymiuk/NSOPRK This was, basically, a very easy Monday crossword, as I biffed quite a few early answers, including a rather incorrect ‘plain speaking’. Only the presence of a couple of words that are a bit on the obscure side force you to engage the cryptics, as I did for ‘ratafia’, ‘grisaille’, and ‘nucleon’. I was detained a bit in the SE corner by ‘aggro’, ‘oddball’, and ‘loose end’, but eventually the cryptics came to my aid. I do have a couple of blog announcements. Helen Ougham has had to resign from blogging the Jumbos ending in 4 and 9, and Verlaine has generously volunteered to take over. He apparently doesn’t have enough to do, now that the TLS blogging has come to an end. Our well-respected commenter and contrbuter, Galspray, has also had to resign. His blogging position will be taken over by long-time commenter Johninterred, who has undertaken to blog the Friday Quickie every other week, and the Jumbos ending in 2 and 7. I do admit that we have not had much luck in attracting interest in the Jumbo blogs, and I hope the new Jumbo bloggers can shake things up a bit. Since the changes to the Crossword Club, the Jumbos now print (at least for me) with a large grid on one piece of paper, and the clues on the other, which make them much more convenient to solve. I would hope that more people will now take them up, and remember to keep their copy for the two weeks until the blog comes out. I can tell you that Jumbo 1282 is really quite challenging, and I urge the more skilled solvers to give it a go. Across |
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| 1 | Round, round robin (8) |
| CIRCULAR – Double definition, where a ’round robin’ is more accurately a petition where the signatures are in a circle. | |
| 6 | Mourn with girl after Mike’s fallen off stern (6) |
| GRIEVE – GRI[m] EVE. It is rather unusual to see ‘Mike’ used to indicate ‘M’ outside of Mephisto. | |
| 9 | Very alarmed picnicker upset with ants (5-8) |
| PANIC-STRICKEN – Anagram of PICNICKER + ANTS, a fine surface that I saw through right away. | |
| 10 | Insect collections kept in ether regularly (6) |
| TSETSE – [e]T(SETS)[h]E[r]. | |
| 11 | Mark post for attention, which can keep up standards (8) |
| FLAGPOLE – FLAG POLE, where the whole phrase taken together is the wordplay. | |
| 13 | Place visited on tour is confused factor in voting (4,2,4) |
| PORT OF CALL – PO(anagram of FACTOR)LL | |
| 15 | Diamonds missed by detection system, one giving false response (4) |
| LIAR – LI[d]AR, a rather obscure detection system, but it does exist! | |
| 16 | Rather too pretty cut flower (4) |
| TWEE – TWEE[d], a chestnut. | |
| 18 | Youth has a benefit posted, reportedly (10) |
| ADOLESCENT – A DOLE + sounds like SENT. | |
| 21 | Worn out pointer, perhaps it’s back with warning light (3-5) |
| DOG-TIRED – DOG + IT backwards + RED. | |
| 22 | A fine fabric found around small area of France (6) |
| ALSACE – A + L(S)ACE. | |
| 23 | No mountain speech is an easy to understand tongue (5,8) |
| PLAIN LANGUAGE – PLAIN + LANGUAGE, barely concealed. | |
| 25 | Echo encountered in ravine in Washington? (6) |
| GEORGE – G(E)ORGE. | |
| 26 | Eccentric daughter about to view something unexplained (5,3) |
| LOOSE END – LOO(END)N + D. I was held back briefly because a ‘loon’ is usually crazier than a mere eccentirc, but eventually I stopped quibbling. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | I am beyond getting Oscar for picture-making skill (7) |
| IMPASTO – I’M + PAST + O, where Oscar is from the NATO alphabet. | |
| 3 | Notice stunt arranged for one MP seeks to attract? (11) |
| CONSTITUENT – anagram of NOTICE STUNT | |
| 4 | Philosopher seen stripping (5) |
| LOCKE – [c]LOCKE[d]….I think. Very far-fetched if I am correct, other suggestions welcome. | |
| 5 | Informant has an order cut back for almond liqueur (7) |
| RATAFIA – RAT + A FIA[t]. | |
| 6 | A girl lies wantonly in a style of painting (9) |
| GRISAILLE – anagram A GIRL LIES. If you haven’t heard the word, you’ll have to guess; it vaguely rang a bell for me. | |
| 7 | Tattoo colour loses power (3) |
| INK – [p]INK | |
| 8 | Usual article found in Roman house (7) |
| VANILLA – V(AN)ILLA. | |
| 12 | Guards art gallery where the Constables have great power? (6,5) |
| POLICE STATE – POLICES TATE. | |
| 14 | Scent of badger in nearby country (9) |
| FRAGRANCE – F(RAG)RANCE. | |
| 17 | Band involved in little wild revelry (7) |
| WHOOPEE – W(HOOP)EE | |
| 19 | Peculiar red, green, blue or black? (7) |
| ODDBALL – Double definition, reference to the point value of snooker balls. The colors are given in point order, 1, 3, 5, 7. | |
| 20 | Egyptian queen embraced by sister? That’s a very little matter (7) |
| NUCLEON – NU(CLEO)N. | |
| 22 | Difficulties mostly increase after a gun’s introduction (5) |
| AGGRO – A + G[un] + GRO[w]. | |
| 24 | Just missing the frequency for broadcast (3) |
| AIR – [f]AIR. | |
JSB