Times Cryptic Jumbo 1346

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Holá tout le monde.

How was it for you?  I finished this comfortably inside the hour but I did have to use aids to get the pilgrim’s destination and had to check the unlikely looking dance at 1ac.  Working my way through the explanations it struck me that this was largely very straightforward.

I “lost” a week somewhere, only realising I had to get cracking on this puzzle when I opened the paper last week to be confronted by 1347.  Eek.  Or ‘Eck.

First in was ASIDE, last was OMBRE.  No hidden messages for me this week *sad face*.

Clues are in blue with the definition underlined.  Different brackets mean different things:

Square to expand a standard crossword abbreviation: L[eft]

Wiggly to denote letters not used:{afterthough}T

Rounded followed by a * to indicate anagram fodder: (forded)*

Rounded to add clarification: cool (as in trendy)

Deletions are denoted by strikeout

CD = cryptic definition, DD = double definition, I guess other stuff is spelled out for you.


Across

1
First of con artists back, leading attorneys a dance (7)

CSARDAS – C{on}, RAs reversed, DAs.  It’s a Hungarian dance but I don’t think I’ve seen it on Strictly.  Depending on where you look this is either the usual spelling or a variant on Czardas (please excuse the lack of accents).

5
Chap takes time crossing Italian river — it indicates distance (8)

MILEPOST – MILES T[ime] around PO

9
Main key carried by writer (6)

BALTIC – ALT in BIC

13
Put up with one’s impudence, determined to risk censure (5,4,4,3)

STICK ONES NECK OUT – STICK (put up with) ONES (ones) NECK (impudence) OUT (determined)

14
Quiet, and knowledgeable about ancient Japanese religion (6)

SHINTO – SH INTO

16
Mountain nymph’s old area enveloped in shade (5)

OREAD – O[ld] + A[rea] in RED

17
Complaint generated by lack of movement? No way! (7)

ILLNESS – stILLNESS

18
Check criminal’s means of transport (9)

CONSTRAIN – CON’S TRAIN

19
City popularly given award, housing Distiller’s Monthly, perhaps? (9)

BRUMMAGEM – I knew BRUM of course but not this full version.

21
Stop being loyal (7)

STAUNCH – DD

22
Winter sportsperson less safe leaving Rhode Island (5)

SKIER – riSKIER

23
One’s allowed to create a little detached territory (5)

ISLET – I’S LET

25
Joiner in food store supported by plant (9)

DANDELION – AND in DELI + ON

27
Yesterday’s man is not entirely penniless, do we hear? (3-4)

HAS-BEEN – sounds like has bean.  Not that the expression is normally used in anything other than the negative sense.

29
Specialist caught occupying chalet in novel (9)

TECHNICAL – C[aught] in (chalet in)*

31
Vocally support a city university, worried about scripture degree (13)

BACCALAUREATE – Homophone of back + A L.A. U[niversity] + ATE all around R[eligious] E[ducation]

34
Audibly tease a cleric, one leaving Midland town (13)

KIDDERMINSTER – Homophone of KID A (not the Radiohead album) then MINiSTER

35
Right sacrificed by a regular old American — that’s exceptional (9)

ANOMALOUS – A NOrMAL O[ld] US

37
Rapid reiteration of note? Lot more varied (7)

TREMOLO – (lot more)*

39
Act for army corps head, though lacking papers (9)

REPRESENT – R[oyal] E[ngineers] PRESidENT

42
Suitor introduced originally in Shakespeare, perhaps? (5)

SWAIN – I{ntroduced} in SWAN, one of ol’ waggledagger’s nicknames being the swan of Avon.  Ding dong.

43
Stockings worn by upper-class in Commons, possibly (5)

HOUSE – U in HOSE

45
Current head I visit mostly (7)

TOPICAL – TOP I CAL{l}

47
Line up before Morse? It tells us what we should assume (5,4)

DRESS CODE – DRESS + CODE

49
Drifting in boat, worry about things worthy of attention (9)

NOTABILIA – (in boat)* then AIL reversed

50
Place of horror? Conclude the answer is negative (7)

INFERNO – INFER NO

52
Card game that was dull? Not to begin with (5)

OMBRE – sOMBRE.  “that was” because people started playing it around the end of the 16th century.  The cards must be getting a bit dog-eared by now.

54
Fellow regularly stood prejudice (6)

TOBIAS – {s}T{o}O{d} BIAS

55
Tremble with fear, having accessed the pumps? (5,2,4,5)

SHAKE IN ONES SHOES – CD of sorts based around pumps being shoes. Quake in ones boots seems more familiar to me.

56
Team assembled by the Spanish, no less (6)

ELEVEN – EL EVEN

57
Chef’s requirement delivered by good club (8)

GRIDIRON – RID (delivered) by G[ood] then IRON

58
Old jailor of note in Mustafa Kemal’s country (7)

TURNKEY – N[ote] in TURKEY.  I think Kemal played left back for Besiktas.

Down

1
Habit the Italian wears only made to order (6-5)

CUSTOM-BUILT – CUSTOM then IL in BUT

2
A team in reserve (5)

ASIDE – A SIDE

3
Title of French Catholic dignitary touring our country (7)

DUKEDOM – DE DOM around UK

4
Doctor nags aide to write note about time in pilgrim’s place (8,2,10)

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA – (nags aide to)* (doctor being the anagrind) then COMPOSE LA around T[ime].    It’s in Spain at the end of some pilgrim route.  If you want to know more you’ll have to look it up yourselves.

5
Bruiser taking seafood, reportedly, with crew (9)

MUSCLEMAN – Homophone for MUSSEL plus MAN

6
Vassal say encountered in fiction (5)

LIEGE – I.E. in LIE

7
Asian’s endless alarm, carrying an old chest (9)

PAKISTANI – PANIc around KIST (a chest used for storing clothes and linen)

8
Suspicion of scam connected with starter? (7)

SOUPCON – CON after SOUP

10
Loyal friend’s main upset about gossip (7)

ACHATES – Reversal of SEA surrounding CHAT.  Achates was a close friend of Aeneas and his name became a by-word for an intimate companion.

11
Experimental shelter Peron set up (9)

TENTATIVE – TENT then EVITA reversed. “Peron” is a bit of a gift for experienced solvers.

12
Old coin — charge for protecting new heir to throne (5,6)

CROWN PRINCE – CROWN (five bob) then N[ew] in PRICE

15
Undertaking current athletics trial without pausing to think? (2,3,4,2,3,6)

IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT – DD, one cryptic.  I became fixated with ON THE SPUR OF… but couldn’t parse it.

20
Not given position quietly leaves, without a bit of spirit? (7)

UNLACED – UNpLACED

21
Novel opinion about king’s flavoured drink (7)

SHERBET – SHE BET around R.  She is the setter’s novel of choice, I think it’s BET in the sense of “It’s my bet she done ‘im in and buried the body in the garden”

24
Taste the Spanish initially observed in hybrid fruit (7)

TANGELO – TANG EL O{bserved}.  I’ve never so much as seen a tangelo outside crosswordland, let alone eaten one.  Mind you, all those crossword antelopes have got to eat something.

26
Antelope seen in many a land (5)

NYALA – Speaking of which. Hidden answer.

28
Top resorts scattered principally around ancient city (7)

SURPASS – SPAS S{cattered} around UR, where tangelos come from.

30
Labour leader in Queen’s vessel (5)

LINER – L{abour} IN ER

32
Clean or messy, like part of the eye (7)

CORNEAL – (clean or)*

33
A largely strident affair, but it bears fruit (7)

AVOCADO – A VOCA{l} DO

34
Where, admitting longing, a chap dined, some say (11)

KITCHENETTE – Semi &Lit, ITCH within a homophone of Ken ate (et)

36
Former nurses see about smaller amount in crazy way (11)

SENSELESSLY – S[tate] E[nrolled] N[urses] around LESS

38
Even-handed head of economics in Paris who heads board (9)

EQUITABLE – E{conomics} QUI TABLE

40
Ate out, having cut film first (9)

PICNICKED – NICKED after PIC

41
Part of bedding we’d ironed badly (9)

EIDERDOWN – (we’d ironed)*

44
Eagerly accept doctor secured by Eastern people (7)

EMBRACE – MB in E RACE

46
One who steals fish, say, and simmers it in water? (7)

POACHER – DD

48
Backer finally keeps Poles in substandard accommodation (7)

SPONSOR – {keep}S then N[orth] S[outh] in POOR

51
Brother or father adopting elevated bearing (5)

FRIAR – F[athe]R around AIR reversed

53
Badger bishop over seaside treat (5)

BROCK – B[ishop} on ROCK (with me little stick of Blackpool…)

5 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1346”

  1. One wrong, a stupid error: CHARDAS, where I unthinkingly followed the pronunciation (although it’s “chardash”), despite knowing that Hungarian orthography doesn’t use CH. (Clearly I biffed.) 54ac LOI. Like Penfold, I stuck with ON THE SPUR for a long time. I have an exclamation point by 10d, and now I can’t think why; maybe because I thought it was, like OREAD, a gimme from the definition.

    Edited at 2018-10-21 05:18 am (UTC)

  2. Only a couple of minutes more than for the 15, but I gave SANTIAGO an Italian rather than Spanish feel with DI rather than DE, despite the helpful anagram.
    Any CSARDAS I’ve ever danced has had a Z (obviously). I quite like the idea of artists on the RAZ but deferred to the setter.
  3. I discovered I’d only completed 78% of this puzzle when I checked to see how I’d done, so I had a go at finishing it off, but needed a bit of help with BRUMMAGEM, and the Pilgrimage site. Unfortunately I still got Brum wrong as I put an N on the end. Eejit. That gave me 2 errors as it counted MUSCLENAN as another error. My Nan wasn’t that muscly anyway! Just over 47 minutes with a bit of cheating and a lack of concentration when reading the cheat. Thanks setter and Penfold.
  5. 1a reminded me of the amazing and rather devilish Liszt piano piece, Czardas Macabre (as it was spelt on my record sleeve)with its scary chromatic sequences of open fifths. Fortunately I followed the wordplay to spell it correctly. Finished in about 42 minutes, so none too taxing, apart from BRUMMAGEM, which I had to look up and the unknown KIST at 7d.

    Edited at 2018-10-21 02:40 pm (UTC)

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