Times Cryptic Jumbo 1401 – the fastest thing on two feet

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
A perfectly fine cryptic jumbo this with a couple of bits of advanced vocab. at 45 minutes including parsing everything, on my scale that makes it just on the harder side of average.

First in was BEDEW, last was er, I can’t remember, and I forgot to take a note.

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
Snow vehicle made by fellow with a lot of skill (9)

BOBSLEIGH – BOB, SLEIGH{t}

6
Garden plot you and I returned to sprinkle with water (5)

BEDEW – BED, WE reversed.  Lovely word.

9
Bully tried, we hear, to be animal minder (7)

COWHERD – COW then homophone of HEARD

13
Language used by girl in Gothenburg (5)

LINGO – hidden

14
Masterminds terrible crimes ultimately looked into by court (7)

DIRECTS – DIRE {crime}S around C[our]T

15
Soldiers protected by a welcome treaty (9)

AGREEMENT – A GREET around MEN

16
Not working in music drama, Victor invested in formal wear (11)

INOPERATIVE – IN, OPERA, V[ictor] in TIE

17
New gal on deck we indicate recognition of (11)

ACKNOWLEDGE – (gal on deck we)*

18
Fairly easy on the eye (6)

PRETTY – DD

19
Crazy about novelties at first, like some religious paintings (8)

MADONNAS – MAD, ON, N{ovelties}, AS

21
What may carry wine from a service in church (6)

CARAFE – A R[oyal] A[ir] F[orce] in C[hurch of] E[ngland]

25
Positions on network set up by spinners? (8)

WEBSITES – spidery CD

26
Capital speech revised finally by this US general? (7,7)

ESTUARY ENGLISH – ({b}y this us general)*.  Wot they speak in London and Essex and that.

28
Host’s decoration for gallantry mentioned in speech (5)

EMCEE – Sounds like MC (M[ilitary] C[ross])

29
Sweltering temperature not initially disagreeable (6)

TORRID – T[emperature], hORRID.  I normally think of the “having a torrid time” meaning but the hot and steamy meaning seems to come first in most dictionaries.

30
From which we may observe vehicle pulling timepiece behind? (10)

WATCHTOWER – DDCDH.  It took me a while to get my head around this as what I took to be the wordplay didn’t seem to work (with “behind” acting as some kind of positional indicator), but it’s just a case of a vehicle pulling a timepiece technically being a watch tower.

33
Fantastic hour we secured in model generating plant (10)

POWERHOUSE – (hour we) in POSE

35
Blokes in US city originally translating funeral song (6)

LAMENT – MEN in L[os] A[ngeles] T{ranslating}

36
Scent ultimately left by wading bird (5)

TRAIL – {lef}T, RAIL

38
Sick of rude Brit, find illicit pleasure (9,5)

FORBIDDEN FRUIT – (of rude brit find)*

40
Local woman keeping a fabric for making coats (8)

BARATHEA – BAR, THEA around A.  The only Thea I know of is Country singer Gilmore of that ilk.  Barathea is one of those words that women throw at you and expect you to know exactly what it is.  “She was wearing an ecru barathea coat with scalloped pockets”.  Huh?

42
Set free, once a ship has fuel (6)

ASSOIL – A S[ingle-screw] S[teamship], OIL.  One for Mephisto fans.

43
Old adversary giving up work as interpretative artist (8)

EXPONENT – EX opPONENT (OP = OPUS)

44
Girl oddly eager to enter for baccalaureate, say (6)

DEGREE – E[a}G{e}R in DEE.  Another hardly widespread girl’s name.  The only one who comes readily to mind is Dee Hepburn off of Gregory’s Girl, and she was overshadowed by Clare Grogan.

47
Expensive-sounding Society speech-maker’s peaked cap (11)

DEERSTALKER – Homphone for DEAR then S[ociety], TALKER.  What is it about those hats that make them suitable for stalking deer eh?

50
Objets-d’art I see in choir trips (11)

CHINOISERIE – (I see in choir)*

52
Genuineness, as it is revealed in certain lines (9)

SINCERITY – SINCE, IT in R[ailwa]Y

53
European heading off W African or Russian, perhaps (7)

IBERIAN – Take your pick from lIBERIAN and sIBERIAN

54
Split with first of boyfriends in Gt London borough (5)

BRENT – RENT with B{oyfriends}

55
Mechanic having rest over in Irish islands (7)

ARTISAN – SIT reversed in ARAN.  Just when I was getting used to TARSUS being plural we now get “islands” clued as Aran.  So the Aran Islands are also known as The Arans but, and here’s the clincher, they constitute the barony of Aran.

56
Prestige finally attained by university in Aegean island (5)

KUDOS – {attaine}D next to U{niversity} in KOS (aka the Ko Islands) (not really)

57
Resident in Bow primarily employed in role of carer (4,5)

EAST ENDER – E{mployed} AS TENDER.  My daughter told me she didn’t believe I was a real cockney, so I made her go up the oranges and pears to bed (after brushing her Haywards).

Down

1
Spicy dish served by restaurant finally in Indonesian island (5)

BALTI – {restauran}T in BALI

2
Try one’s hardest, having man support proteges around town (4,4,9)

BEND OVER BACKWARDS – BEN, BACK, WARDS around DOVER. I probably wasn’t alone in trying to think of a x ONE’S y expression.  Ben Dover is married to Eileen.

3
Waterside plant, most unrestrained, widely encountered (11)

LOOSESTRIFE – LOOSEST, RIFE. The wordplay gets you there, in a Poirot sort of way – once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

4
Single chap touring North Dakota, one from Mumbai, perhaps (6)

INDIAN – I, IAN around N[orth] [D]akota

5
Scold desperate man ousting Rex’s son? (8)

HARRIDAN – (desperate) DAN (is that a peculiarly British cultural reference?) replacing the SON in (Rex) HARRISON.  Scold in its nounal sense.

6
Composer’s joint function held after turning up for 44 (12)

BACHELORSHIP – The answer to 44a being “degree”

7
Superior female attorney protecting son almost entirely (10)

DISDAINFUL – DI D[istrict] A[ttorney] around S[on] then IN FUL{l}

8
Share wallop (5)

WHACK – DD

9
Scroll-like ornament needing attention outside area in Rugby (9)

CARTOUCHE – CARE around TOUCH

10
His products may be employed in revolutionary activity (11)

WHEELWRIGHT – CD

11
Some of them endeavour to improve (5)

EMEND – hidden

12
Vacillate, disheartening a digger of trenches (6)

DITHER – DITcHER

18
Authority framing key advert for cosmetic applicator (6,4)

POWDER PUFF – POWER around D then PUFF

20
One who is barely recognisable running in a public place (8)

STREAKER – CD.  Anyone else got a Ray Stevens earworm?  Or an Erica Roe eyeworm?

22
Infer warder is involved with a thief, an unreliable acquaintance (4-7,6)

FAIR-WEATHER FRIEND – (infer warder a thief)*

23
Chap in Albert Square who audibly identifies a species of penguin? (6)

GENTOO – GENT, ‘OO (soundee-likee for “who” as spoken by an East Ender)

24
Break for sailors and soldiers on meadow in southern resort (5,5)

SHORE LEAVE – R[oyal] E[ngineers] on LEA in S[outhern] HOVE

27
Spirit of quiet home this writer had abandoned (8)

PRESENCE – P[iano] RESi’dENCE

31
Doze setting up soldier, possibly, in beret (6)

CATNAP – ANT reversed in CAP

32
Undergarment, one thieves reportedly deposited at bottom of river (12)

CAMIKNICKERS – I, NICKERS homophone after CAM

34
State of decay our sinuses suffer around November (11)

RUINOUSNESS – (our sinuses)* around N[ovember]

36
List including partygoers that can be passed over (11)

TRAVERSABLE – TABLE around RAVERS

37
Having possessions, appeared at last with appropriate connection (10)

PROPERTIED – {appeare}D next to PROPER TIE

39
Dog frantically tailed a man dumping drug (9)

DALMATIAN – (tailed a man)* without E

41
Popular female in east holds it to be eternal (8)

INFINITE – IN F[emale] IN E[ast] around IT

45
Poems by Tasso regularly turning up in Ukrainian port (6)

ODESSA – ODES, then {t}A{s}S{o} reversed.  Word of the month in September crosswords?

46
Aims to get tips? (6)

POINTS – DD

48
He painted birds of prey, wasting energy and time (5)

ERNST – ERNeS, T[ime].  Max, the German surrealist.  I’m a Magritte man myself.

49
Inuit canoe seen going up and down (5)

KAYAK – Palindrome.  Don’t try to build a fire in one – you can’t have your kayak and heat it.

51
Go into hospital department, about to get rise (5)

ENTER – E[ar] N[ose and] T[hroat], RE reversed.

5 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1401 – the fastest thing on two feet”

  1. This took me forever for various reasons, many of which I’ve forgotten. But not knowing CAMIKNICKERS helped, as did not knowing where Albert Square is (Bow and Albert Sq in the same puzzle). I also had MANDALAS at 19ac (MA(N)D ALA [à la] and overlooking the S), which did not help matters. Actually, it’s Holmes not Poirot.
    1. Oops, so it was, thanks Kevin, sorry all. My intake of detective fiction is pretty much restricted to Raymond Chandler and Dangermouse.
  2. I surprised myself by remembering BARATHEA, CHINOISERIE, LOOSESTRIFE GENTOO and CARTOUCHE and had a similar mephistophelian moment with ASSOIL. I took a while to parse HARRIDAN, though. I liked the kayak joke! 38:39.
  3. I mangled my way through this in 1:14:38 having remembered CHINOISERIE , but having to wait for all the crossers to get the spelling correct. CARTOUCHE was another matter and I had to look it up. LOOSESTRIFE from wordplay. Can’t remember if I looked BARATHEA up before or after. One good point about these crosswords is that I now never spell dalmatian, as dalmation. Thanks setter and Penfold.

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