Bleary-eyed greetings from London. I found this jumbo unproblematic (no 17a) although I didn’t know the US writer, the poison or the oration and only dimly recalled a few other things. My one error was a typo which, not being a competition solver, I didn’t give the full two hoots about. Only a single small hoot, perhaps a small cry of pain (48a). I enjoyed what the setter did in 17a, but my favourite was the neat &lit at 51a.
In a weird coincidence, two answers not commonly seen in the wild had crossed my path very shortly before solving. The 1a material was worn by a character in a book and the 33d quibbler featured in an article on the BBC news website. (These “weird coincidences” are of course as common as anything due to the number of things that there are.)
Enough of my ramblings – to the puzzle, then over to you. And not to forget to say thank you to the setter!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, [deletions] in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
| Across | |
| 1 | Material provided by trader, £50 being spent by gullible person (10) |
| SEERSUCKER — SE[ll]ER (trader) with L (£) and L (50) removed (being spent) is next to (by) SUCKER (gullible person) | |
| 6 | Best performances at athletics stadium in lists of achievements (5,7) |
| TRACK RECORDS — A literal interpretation of the answer might be best performances – RECORDS – at the TRACK, or athletics stadium | |
| 14 | Native beginning to settle in Lincoln (9) |
| ABORIGINE — ORIGIN (beginning) goes inside (to settle in) ABE (Lincoln) | |
| 15 | Top name for chocolate? (5) |
| BROWN — BROW (top) + N (name) | |
| 16 | Son and friend holding City of London area to be remarkably good (7) |
| SPECIAL — S (son) and PAL (friend) containing (holding) ECI (EC1, City of London area) | |
| 17 | Problematic jumbo, one of those things being ignored in Chambers! (8,2,3,4) |
| ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM — A whimsical cryptic definition | |
| 18 | 15 out of practice? (5) |
| RUSTY — Two definitions. 15 refers to the answer to 15a | |
| 19 | More than one group in Paris is absorbed by gangs (7) |
| SESTETS — EST (in Paris, is) inside (absorbed by) SETS (gangs) | |
| 21 | Fellow not upper-class embraces girl void of expression (6) |
| GLASSY — G[u]Y (fellow) without (not) U (upper-class) goes around (embraces) LASS (girl) | |
| 22 | Command to surrender one’s arms (8) |
| ORDNANCE — ORD[i]NANCE (command) giving up (to surrender) I (one) | |
| 24 | Foolish African dictator, old and twitching (7) |
| IDIOTIC — IDI (African dictator), O (old) and TIC (twitching) | |
| 26 | Bear, say, getting caught in elaborate trap, oddly (8) |
| TETRAPOD — The answer is inside (getting caught in) elaboraTE TRAP ODdly | |
| 27 | Old city goddess appears in street, looking back (6) |
| THEBES — HEBE (goddess) appears in ST (street), reversed (looking back) | |
| 30 | Use video device to show rugby player moving rapidly (4-7) |
| FAST-FORWARD — A FAST FORWARD might be a rapidly-moving rugby player | |
| 32 | Mother has performing career with that US writer (5,6) |
| DAMON RUNYON — DAM (mother) goes next to (has) ON (performing) and RUN (career) with YON (that) | |
| 33 | Organise office, beginning to end, providing areas for growth (11) |
| PLANTATIONS — PLAN (organise), then STATION (office) with the first letter at the end (beginning to end) | |
| 35 | Adriatic resort almost the best for a very brief period (5,6) |
| SPLIT SECOND — SPLIT (Adriatic resort) followed by SECOND (almost the best) | |
| 37 | Everything serf wanted after end of enslavement (3,3) |
| THE LOT — HELOT (serf) after the last letter of (end of) enslavemenT | |
| 38 | Misunderstanding of French hero going round America (8) |
| DELUSION — DE (of, French) + LION (hero) going round US (America) | |
| 39 | Trendy type greeting Bill, exuding love (7) |
| HIPSTER — HI (greeting) + P[o]STER (bill) without (exuding) O (love) | |
| 42 | Designer of home – bit of a hole with nothing right (8) |
| INVENTOR — IN (home) + VENT (bit of a hole) with O (nothing) + R (right) | |
| 44 | At end of loud game girl is restrained (6) |
| FRUGAL — After (at end of) F (loud) and RU (game) we have GAL (girl) | |
| 46 | Town sending family member round the twist (7) |
| SWINDON — SON (family member) around (round) WIND (twist) | |
| 48 | Hooter‘s small cry of pain? (5) |
| OWLET — A small OW (cry of pain) might be termed an OWLET | |
| 49 | Working group that may be sitting, despite what you may think? (8,9) |
| STANDING COMMITTEE — Some clues really don’t need further elaboration. Yes, a STANDING COMMITTEE might be SITTING | |
| 51 | What’s large and icy, endlessly moving? (7) |
| GLACIER — This is an anagram (… moving) of LARGE and ICy without its last letter (endlessly), &lit | |
| 52 | Secret societies? They pick up things (5) |
| TONGS — A double definition | |
| 53 | Loony ran up tree in delight (9) |
| ENRAPTURE — An anagram of (loony) RAN UP TREE | |
| 54 | Frenchman understood the thing about article editor dealt with afresh (12) |
| RENEGOTIATED — RENÉ (Frenchman) + GOT (understood), then IT (the thing) around (about) A (article), and finally ED (editor) | |
| 55 | It’s imprudent, not having more than one part, we hear (10) |
| INDISCREET — This sounds like (… we hear) INDISCRETE (not having more than one part) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Head of school was worried – dead body – terribly frightened! (6,5) |
| SCARED STIFF — The first letter of (head of) School, CARED (was worried), and STIFF (dead body) | |
| 2 | Escape as European heading north, then east (5) |
| ELOPE — POLE (European) reversed (heading north, in a down answer), then E (east) | |
| 3 | Most modest learner in expression of frustration over exam? (9) |
| SLIGHTEST — L (learner) in SIGH (expression of frustration) before (over, in a down answer) TEST (exam) | |
| 4 | Customers more or less right? Foremost of trusty shoppers (7) |
| CLIENTS — C (more or less, circa), LIEN (right), and the first letters of (foremost of) Trusty Shoppers | |
| 5 | When the light goes down, say, with poison being swallowed (7) |
| EVENING — EG (say) with VENIN (poison) inserted (being swallowed) | |
| 7 | Deployed soldier had to protect northern state (5,6) |
| RHODE ISLAND — An anagram of (deployed) SOLDIER HAD around (to protect) N (northern) | |
| 8 | Insincere talk about country’s division (6) |
| CANTON — CANT (insincere talk) + ON (about) | |
| 9 | Herb‘s woman (8) |
| ROSEMARY — A double definition | |
| 10 | Acting before moving home, maybe, one deals with financial matters (8,5) |
| CLEARING HOUSE — This could be something carried out before a house move | |
| 11 | Stops wickedness after period of monarchy, not good (5,2) |
| REINS IN — SIN (wickedness) after REI[g]N (period of monarchy) without (not) G (good) | |
| 12 | Lousy essay son’s penned badly in period not taken seriously? (5,6) |
| SILLY SEASON — An anagram of (lousy) ESSAY SON has surrounded (‘s penned) ILL (badly) | |
| 13 | Taken away, being scatterbrained (10) |
| ABSTRACTED — A double definition | |
| 20 | Well-presented fruits eaten by quiet zoo animal? (9) |
| SHIPSHAPE — HIPS (fruits) inside (eaten by) SH (quiet) + APE (zoo animal?) | |
| 23 | Supporting one of Ireland’s heads, offering a solution (8) |
| FORMALIN — FOR (supporting) + MALIN (one of Ireland’s heads). Not an Irish leader: Malin Head, the northernmost point of Ireland | |
| 25 | Minister – scoundrel and mischief-maker (6) |
| CURATE — CUR (scoundrel) and ATE (mischief-maker) | |
| 26 | Rips around socks? Hard to avoid that in prickly plants (3,5) |
| TEA ROSES — TEARS (rips) around [h]OSE (socks) without H (hard to avoid that) | |
| 28 | Ostracised son sent to bed, young lout as was (9) |
| BOYCOTTED — BOY (son) + COT (bed) + TED (young lout as was) | |
| 29 | Tin deposited on long grass (6) |
| SNITCH — SN (tin) deposited on ITCH (long) | |
| 31 | Offer made by generous tailor is no good at all (3,3,7) |
| FIT FOR NOTHING — A generous tailor might make an offer to FIT FOR NOTHING | |
| 33 | State of bewilderment in domesticated and wild animals gets one quibbling (11) |
| PETTIFOGGER — FOG (state of bewilderment) in PET and TIGER (domesticated and wild animals) | |
| 34 | Social activity after nine maybe, old tribe attending church (6,5) |
| SQUARE DANCE — After SQUARE (nine maybe) we have DAN (old tribe) by (attending) CE (church) | |
| 35 | Smart head – one concealed lack of generosity (10) |
| STINGINESS — STING (smart) + NESS (head) with I (one) inside (concealed) | |
| 36 | Ten men raged, out to create disorder (11) |
| DERANGEMENT — TEN MEN RAGED anagrammed (out) | |
| 40 | Oration of Greek character delivered with insolence – listener’s choice (9) |
| PHILIPPIC — PHI (Greek character) next to (delivered with) LIP (insolence) plus PIC, which is a homophone of (listener’s) PICK (choice) | |
| 41 | Spar bends on rough trip (8) |
| BOWSPRIT — BOWS (bends) on an anagram of (rough) TRIP | |
| 43 | Scoundrel is outwardly conceited, inwardly wicked (7) |
| VILLAIN — The answer is an envelope: outwardly VAIN (conceited) and inwardly ILL (wicked) | |
| 45 | Hannibal? Carthaginian finally making a stand (7) |
| LECTERN — LECTER (Hannibal?) and the last letter of (… finally) CarthaginiaN | |
| 46 | Old city captured by fantastic Masai warrior (7) |
| SAMURAI — UR (old city) inside (captured by) an anagram of (fantastic) MASAI | |
| 47 | Popular phrase – snare for a bloke, almost (6) |
| MANTRA — MANTRAp (snare for a bloke) without the last letter (almost) | |
| 50 | End of the short uprising, break from hostilities (5) |
| TRUCE — The last letter of (end of) thE followed by CURT (short) reversed (… uprising) | |
I don’t think DorsetJimbo does the Jumbos but he wouldn’t be pleased to see ‘young lout’ at 28dn. He and I have been waging a campaign against that description of Teddy boys for some years, and until this recurrence I thought we had won the battle.
P.S. Have I missed the blog for Jumbo 1419?
Edited at 2020-01-25 09:38 am (UTC)