Times Cryptic Jumbo 1376 – the one where it isn’t Ross from Friends

1376 was the Saturday puzzle from that glorious Easter weekend.  Thankfully it was very much on the gentler side so we were all able to knock it off pretty quickly and get back into the garden, weren’t we? (may not apply to overseas solvers).

I was all done and dusted in about 30 minutes, starting with MOB-HANDED and forgetting to note what my LOI was.  Duh.

Clues are in blue with the definition undelined.  Anagram indicators are in bold italics.

Notation:

DD: Double definition
CD: Cryptic definition
DDCDH: DD/CD hybrid where a straight definition is combined with a cryptic hint.

&Lit:  “all in one” where the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.

(fodder)* denotes an anagram of the letters in the brackets.

Rounded brackets are also used to add further clarity

Squiggly brackets {} indicate parts of a word not used

Deletions are struck out

Square brackets [ ] expand an abbreviation or shortening like N[orth]


Across

1

Doctor put into a group round hospital with many others (3-6)

MOB-HANDED – M[edical] O[fficer] BANDED around H[ospital]

6

One who’s not genuine scarecrow (3,2,5)

MAN OF STRAW – DD

12

Runner arrives in haste at start of relay (7)

HARRIER – ARR[ives] in HIE then R{elay}

13

Meeting of alumni? There’s a thing (9)

OBSESSION – O[ld] B[oy] SESSION

14

One page coming out of directory (5)

RECTO – hidden

16

A quiet period assembling for a fast start (3,9)

ASH WEDNESDAY – A, SH, WEDNESDAY. Period for Wednesday struck me as a bit odd.

17

Receive two presents but not make further advance (3,7)

GET NOWHERE – GET, NOW, HERE.  Neat.

19

Old police supervisors choosing what to close round wrists? (5,9)

WATCH COMMITTEE – DDCDH. In England and Wales, watch committees were the local government bodies which oversaw policing from 1835 until, in some areas, 1968.

22

Fair experience very popular with creep (3,5)

BIG WHEEL – BIG, W[ith] HEEL

24

Defector from Scottish party returning her dress? (6)

TARTAN – NAT[ionalist] RAT reversed

25

Politician tending to arouse lecherous thoughts, by agreement (10)

CONSENSUAL – CON[servative] SENSUAL

26

Violinist, say, during and at the end of recital? (5)

BOWER – CD playing on two different senses (and pronunciations) of BOW

29

Go over and over something on the drums (4)

ROLL – DD

30

Heavily defeat male, since all but untouchable (8)

MASSACRE – M[ale], AS, SACRE{d}

32

Even biography is an art form (5,4)

STILL LIFE – STILL, LIFE

34

This term oddly tires me out (9)

TRIMESTER – T{e}R{m} (tiresme)*

35

Inopportune fret by half back (8)

MISTIMED – MIST (as in sea fret, say) + DEMI reversed

36

Manages to drop daughter in marshland (4)

FENS – FENdS

39

Get cracking, say, to open container (5)

BEGIN – E.G. in BIN

40

Plant second holy book (good!) in church (4,6)

MOCK ORANGE – MO, then KORAN G[ood] in C[hurch of] E[ngland]

42

Presumably happy about one omitted from speech (6)

UNSAID – “UNSAD” around I

44

Searching for this, Marcel fell behind (4,4)

LOST TIME – DDCDH with the cryptic bit based around Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu

46

Illnesses later devastated island group (6,8)

LESSER ANTILLES – (illnesses later)*

48

Summarily dismissed in speech all the time (10)

THROUGHOUT – sounds like THREW OUT. Any dissenters?

49

Current situation of the national myth? (3,2,3,4)

LIE OF THE LAND – DDCDH

53

Meaning to float along (5)

DRIFT – DD (get my drift?)

54

Principally relied on such a drive in a British vehicle (5-4)

RIGHT-HAND – DD

55

One may be boring these days, joining in rough fight (7)

BRADAWL – A[nno] D[omini] in BRAWL

56

Where is the college porter?” barmaid said (4,6)

BEER CELLAR – Sounds like BEER SELLER.  Any dissenters?  “College” just seems to have been added to aid the story in the surface reading.

57

Setter chosen — assess regularly for brevity (9)

TERSENESS – {set}TER {cho}SEN {ass}ESS.  Unusual but perfectly OK.  “Regularly” doesn’t always have to mean alternate letters.

Down

1

Slowly transform school party going over hotel (5)

MORPH – PROM reversed, H[otel]

2

Literary castle often veiled (10)

BRIDESHEAD – DDCDH.  I can’t help thinking there’s a “that’s” or similar missing.

3

A monarch abandoning modern art, rejected as without purpose (2,6)

AT RANDOM – A, (modernart)* without the E[lizabeth] R[egina].  “Rejected” strikes me as a slighly flaky anagrind.

4

Refuse Duke Lawrence (5)

DROSS – D[uke] Ross.  Apparently T.E. Lawrence was also known as John Hume Ross. *shrugs*

5

Philosopher taking sort of lead, with children round about (9)

DESCARTES – Back on familiar territory with one of the philosophers from the Monty Python song.  Constructed by putting SCART (one of those video leads with the funny-shaped ends) into SEED reversed.

6

Paste is inserted by doctor (4)

MISO – IS in our doctor from 1 across.

7

Properly fixed, having got worse after November (6)

NAILED – AILED after N[ovember]

8

Paper money minister initially covered in restrictions (9,5)

FINANCIAL TIMES – FINANCIAL, M{inister} in TIES

9

Delivered curve ball, perhaps, got very upset (5,1,6)

THREW A WOBBLY – DDCDH

10

In a Med island clubs grow together (7)

ACCRETE – C[lubs] in A CRETE

11

Wheatear chewed and eaten by senior bird (10)

SHEARWATER – (wheatear)* in S[enio]R

15

Excessive lavender and rosemary at first in round border (9)

OVERLARGE -L{avender} A{nd} R{osemary} in O VERGE

18

Not so much needed to cover girl, being thin (8)

LEANNESS – LESS around ANNE

20

Sensational preoccupation about running water (9)

THRILLING – THING around RILL

21

Crazed drummer’s means of transport (10)

MOONSTRUCK – (Keith) MOON’s TRUCK

23

Nursing leg, shot — by him? (10)

GUNSLINGER – (nursing leg)*

27

What everyone supports the tiniest bit: government (9)

WHITEHALL -EH, ALL under (supporting) WHIT

28

No atmosphere? I’m having to change double act (9,5)

PANTOMIME HORSE – (no atmosphere I’m)*

31

Made manure as temperature dropped in calm (8)

COMPOSED – COMPOSTED with T[emperature] kicked out

33

Paste up a brunette, top of torso retouched (6,6)

PEANUT BUTTER – (up a brunette T{orso})*

34

Not to be touched on behind, daughter ordered (9)

TABULATED – TABU, LATE, D[aughter]

37

Inch round close to the blue delta, not across the bay? (4-6)

SIDE-SADDLE – SIDLE around {th}E SAD D{elta}.  Great definition.

38

At home, box inlaid with pine missing its top — turn to ash (10)

INCINERATE – IN CRATE around pINE

41

Stalin as a vicious aggressor (9)

ASSAILANT – (stalin as a)*

43

Not mentally sound, take horse out? (8)

UNSTABLE – DDCDH

45

Set of dishes for ceremony (7)

SERVICE – DD

47

Good-time girl’s sort of infection (6)

FUNGAL – FUN GAL

50

Stranger backing Communist Party (5)

ODDER – RED DO reversed

51

President commonly received a text (5)

ADAMS – ‘AD A MS (manuscript)

52

Hollywood figure perhaps, half naked (4)

STAR – STAR{kers}

22 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1376 – the one where it isn’t Ross from Friends”

  1. I wrote on my hard copy by 2d “that’s?”. I also wrote “castle”? A number of DNKs, as usual: WATCH COMMITTEE, MOB-HANDED, ROSS, Kenneth MOON, MOCK ORANGE. LOI 35ac–finally remembered ‘fret’. I’m afraid I still don’t see how DESCARTES works.
    1. A scart lead is what we used before hdmi came along .. still got some, somewhere… and children = seed is reversed around it
      1. Thanks. Good to know that I wasn’t missing something I knew. Now I’m off to look up ‘hdmi’.
        While I’m here, and since I can’t edit my comment, I meant “castle?” not “castle”? Didn’t think Brideshead was a castle.
  2. Enjoyed this one, don’t usually get jumbos all done and dusted in one sitting. Liked double act = horse..
  3. Most likely you will find one or the other, or both, plugged into the back of your telly.
    I would always write “Castle?” but did I once read somewhere that some or all Murcans write “Castle”?
    1. None of the kids in my set do. (I assume you meant that some Murcans write “‘Castle’?”.)
  4. A careless MISTIMES for 35A leaves me with a pink square. I has MISTIMED on my paper copy and “or S?” against the clue and put in the wrong one online. Grr. Like Kevin, a couple of DNKs, including 44A, WATCH COMMITTEE and parsing of DESCARTES, so thanks for those. COD to TABULATED. 37:52.
  5. I entered THROW A WOBBLY, so my 41 minutes was in vain: the penalty, perhaps, for speeding. Otherwise a straightforward solve, though I didn’t understand the wordplay on DESCARTES. I look forward to Shostakovitch (Dmitri) so we can modernise our cables.
    1. Bloody typical that the clue I omitted the parsing for is the one that caused people problems. It probably looks like I didn’t have a Scooby myself and hoped no one would notice the omission.
  6. Under the hour for me at 56:18, so not a difficult solve. I didn’t know MISO as a paste or MOCK ORANGE, but the wordplay was clear. Nice puzzle. Thanks setter and Penfold.
  7. Apologies for not parsing DESCARTES. I put in the Monty P comment when I was running through the clues underlining the definitions and then forgot to add the parsing on the next run-through.

    Having neither read nor watched Brideshead Revisited I have no idea if it’s a castle, stately home, mansion or manor.

    1. I finally looked it up, and it turns out that the name of the place is Brideshead Castle; the TV series used Castle Howard in Yorkshire. So I take it all back.
      1. I went to Castle Howard two years ago and had the Guided Tour which points out the scenes of interest used in the TV series. Catherine Howard grew up there and became one of the wives of Henry the Eighth. A most enjoyable day out, for me, if not for the ill fated Catherine.
  8. Yes Penfold, this foreign solver (Kenyan) was not as fast as you lot over there but completed this. COD CONSENSUAL.
    ONG’ARA,
    NAIROBI.
    1. Thanks for dropping by and commenting. The reference to overseas solvers was in relation to the weather that weekend – here in the UK it was positively balmy whereas in parts of the Med, for instance, it was cold, wet and windy.
  9. 33:56. I made things difficult for myself by putting in SHEERWATER and failing to revisit it for ages.
    Never heard of WATCH COMMITTEE. I assume they weren’t watching for wildlings and white walkers.
    In 3dn ‘rejected’ would indeed be a flaky anagram indicator, but it isn’t. It’s a reversal.
    When I look at my solved puzzle on the website it won’t let me scroll down to the bottom, so I can’t see anything I’ve put in under DRIFT. Does anyone else have this problem?
    1. I have that issue in Chrome. If you go to settings and increase and then decrease the size of the font, it will let you scroll down. A proper nuisance!
      1. Thanks! Very weird, but it works.
        I’m also having a problem whereby every so often I get a ‘bad request’ message and I have to clear cookies to regain access to the site. Do you have that problem too?
        1. Yes, it’s a proper irritation. Happens with other browsers too. I have Chrome Firefox and Edge, and sometimes they all go wrong at the same time. It’s infuriating when you’re trying to comment on a blog and can’t pull up the required puzzle! It happens on my desktops and laptop too.

          Edited at 2019-05-05 10:03 am (UTC)

          1. It’s a new problem for me: only been happening in the last few weeks.
            1. I’ve seen it commented on quite a few times in the blogs since the Club site was revamped.
    2. Cheers K, good spot. I won’t go back and edit at this late stage.

Comments are closed.