Times Cryptic Jumbo 1421 – The Vacillations of Reedy Corkscrew

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
These things seem to come around very quickly when you’ve had a couple of holiday specials but I’m not complaining.  I thought this was a fantastic puzzle, with some absolute gems among the clues.  Thanks setter.  I was all done and dusted in 40 minutes, starting with FOCAL and finishing with SPOONFED.

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
Feel wobbly and empty, sick inside (9)

VACILLATE – VACATE around ILL

6
New charger perhaps needs constant plugging in to central point (5)

FOCAL – C[onstant] in FOAL

9
It’s no use if it’s flat as a pancake? (7)

BATTERY – DDCDH with the cryptic bit straight out of the Uxbridge English Dictionary.

13
Minister taking on Brussels after U-turn — it’s a bit of theatre (5)

REVUE – REV[erend], E.U. reversed

14
Shady relative joining leader of anarchist resistance (7)

UNCLEAR – UNCLE, A{narchist} R[esistance]

15
Opener of Irish county’s team (9)

CORKSCREW – CORK’S CREW.  Word of the month? I can recall seeing it three times now in recent Times puzzles.

16
Back after divorce in a flash (5,6)

SPLIT SECOND – SECOND after SPLIT

17
Exactly where to press? (2,3,6)

ON THE BUTTON – DDCDH

18
Court maintaining right of possession for customer (6)

CLIENT – C[our]T around LIEN

19
Quickly take off Mel’s bra after fiddling with catch at first (8)

SCRAMBLE – (Mel’s bra c{atch}).  Brilliant surface reading. I’m still chuckling two weeks later.  Which Spice Girl did you think of?

21
Angel dust haul abandoned by a copper (2,4)

PC PLOD – PCP, LOaD.  I didn’t know the drug by either of its names (or its full name phencyclidine) but it was easy enough to infer.

25
Took off gripping comedian in the end, receiving undemanding pap? (8)

SPOONFED – SPOOFED around {comedia}N

26
Ruthless traders like places with tourists (5,9)

ASSET STRIPPERS – AS, SETS, TRIPPERS

28
Gourmand leaving starter to get thin (5)

REEDY – gREEDY.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard gourmand as an adjective before.

29
I’ll be seized by hallucinatory experiences after knocking back mescal? (6)

SPIRIT – I in TRIPS reversed

30
Gets into difficulty at dance that stays open late? (6,4)

CORNER SHOP – CORNERS, HOP

33
Bronze pater with child bust (5,5)

THIRD PLACE – (pater child)*

35
Go along with scam by scoundrel (6)

CONCUR – CON, CUR

36
Party to identify with opposition? (5)

BEANO – BE A NO.  A dandy clue.

38
On the other hand, I may be captivated by startled hooting call of birds (14)

ORNITHOLOGICAL – OR, I in (hooting call)*

40
Raise a miserable, tailless entrant for Crufts? (8)

COCKAPOO – COCK A POOr.  If I knew how to add pictures I’d add one of our cockapoo, Maddie.

42
Ruins girl entering high society with gentleman after rejection (6)

DEBRIS – DEB[utante], SIR reversed.

43
Macho types going topless by day? Correct (8)

EMENDATE – hE-MEN, DATE

44
I would love to interrupt hostile folly (6)

IDIOCY – I’D, O in ICY

47
State legislator and detective ringing space station repeatedly, before one (11)

MISSISSIPPI – M.P. P.I. around ISS x 2 & I.  Good stuff, this must be a really difficult word to clue.  The ISS (International Space Station) is the third brightest object in the sky.  If you’ve never seen it flying over it’s worth a look for the novelty.

50
Unorthodox religions embraced by established church adviser (11)

CONSIGLIERE – (religions)* in C[hurch of] E[ngland].  I’m not sure why established is needed.  Robert Duval in The Godfather.

52
Put slant on appeal: one’s encapsulated by Lewis’s girl (9)

ITALICISE –  IT, I’S in ALICE.  Clever def.

53
Literary festival town collecting listeners’ gossip (7)

HEARSAY – HAY (on Wye) around EARS

54
Places for audio visual experience (5)

SITES – sounds like SIGHTS (should it be “experiences”?)

55
Taser perhaps hurt one (4,3)

STUN GUN – STUNG ‘UN

56
Sample of titbit as temptation? (5)

TASTE – hidden

57
Star to write signature and stuff (9)

PENTAGRAM – PEN, TAG, RAM

Down

1
Corrupting influence of Lenin initially on Russia (5)

VIRUS – Vladimir Ilyich, RUS[sia]

2
King endorsed this polite refusal (5,12)

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE – DDCDH with a nod to Martin Luther King

3
Place property to get commission (11)

LIEUTENANCY – LIEU, TENANCY

4
Perception of area combined with space (6)

ACUMEN – A[rea], CUM, EN (printer’s space)

5
Invade enclosure with fish (8)

ENCROACH – ENC, ROACH

6
Shrink underwear? Could be a revealing error (8,4)

FREUDIAN SLIP – DDCDH

7
Cook could be on top of ratings — such a one? (6,4)

CORDON BLEU – (could be on r{atings})*

8
Sparked up around Jersey etc — it’s legal (5)

LICIT – LIT around C{hannel] I[slands]

9
Glance up captivated by stripper, one working in pub? (9)

BARKEEPER – PEEK reversed in BARER.  Hands up if you biffed bartender.

10
It may be useful for coverage of present time to publish Times, say (6,5)

TISSUE PAPER – T[ime], ISSUE, (news)PAPER

11
Water bird lifted out of detergent (5)

EGRET – reverse hidden

12
Unknown number in flight going off course (6)

YAWING – Y, A-WING

18
Players getting restricted food allocation having nuts taken away (10)

CASTRATION – CAST, RATION.  Ouch.  Belting definition though.

20
Settle North and South Carolina, held by English formerly (8)

ENSCONCE – N[orth], S[outh] C[arolina] in E[nglish] ONCE

22
Display tool that’ll forecast costs? (8,9)

OVERHEAD PROJECTOR – very clever DDCDH

23
Sly type overhearing cunning plan will (6)

WEASEL – sounds like wheeze’ll

24
Hopes dashed by record held by party lacking skill in political science (10)

PSEPHOLOGY – (hopes)* & LOG in PartY

27
Reveal record miss (8)

DISCLOSE – DISC, LOSE

31
What might indicate direction to Arctic strait (6)

NARROW – a N[orth] ARROW might point towards the Arctic, geddit?  Nice one.

32
To show deference, say, play second fiddle with diminishing level of skill (3,3,6)

BOW AND SCRAPE -DDCDH

34
Deciding to put off fossil fuel production? (11)

DETERMINING – DETER MINING.  Neat.

36
Drastic potential result of global warming’s course (5,6)

BAKED ALASKA – A rather brilliant DDCDH which made me checkle

37
Party defeats Greens? (4,6)

SIDE DISHES – SIDE, DISHES.  Not a terribly common meaning of dish.

39
Sob, racked with noises showing infatuation (9)

OBSESSION – (sob noises)*

41
Fails to meet to pay for drink (6,2)

STANDS UP – STAND, SUP

45
Filth put up with always initially in communications (6)

EMAILS – SLIME reversed around A

46
African party member lifting vote against (6)

LIBYAN – LIB[eral], NAY reversed

48
United supporters turning up for typical shambles (5)

SNAFU – U[nited] FANS

49
Fuel contains lead in Laos, one’s gathered (5)

PLEAT – L{aos} in PEAT.  I can’t hear the word pleat without thinking of David Pleat prancing around the Maine Road pitch in his beige suit in 1983 (if you don’t know what I’m talking about type “man city v luton town 1982/83” into a Youtube search and go to 1:15).

51
Course of salts? (5)

EPSOM – DD constructed around the bedfellows of horse racing and bubble bath.

10 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1421 – The Vacillations of Reedy Corkscrew”

  1. Notes on my print-out included a query on ‘gourmand’ as an adjective (26ac) because I had limited access to dictionaries at the time and was unable to find it in any of the usual on-line sources, Collins, Chambers or Lexico (Oxford). I have since found it in the Shorter Oxford which I have installed on my desktop PC. Complete news to me.

    NHO CONSIGLIERE and it’s such an ugly word that I doubt somehow I will remember it. I think ‘established’is needed for the surface reading, contrasting the established C of E with ‘unorthodox religions’ used in wordplay.

    No doubt I am overlooking a reference to something I should know, but I don’t understand the literal definition at 2dn. Which King endorsed CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE?

          1. Blind now as well as daft! I think I scrolled up to find out what DDCDH meant and must have neglected to go back and read the whole explanation.
    2. Gourmand as an adjective is in my Chambers app so I assumed it would be defined as such in most if not all of the other usual sources.

      Consigliere came into English (American) use largely as an advisor to a mafia boss. As mentioned in the blog I knew it via Robert Duval famously playing Tom Hagen, consigliere to The Godfather.

      1. Yes, it’s in my printed edition of Chambers published in 2011 which I didn’t have to hand at the time. I tend to use their 21st Century Dictionary available free on line which seems to be missing a lot of stuff and I’ve never established exactly what it’s supposed to be: https://chambers.co.uk/search/

        You’d think either it would be complete and up-to-date or they’d use it as a free ‘taster’ whilst taking the opportunity to promote paid-for upgrades to the full version.

    1. Not sure how bubbly, but Epsom salts are traditionally famous as bath salts. Also used as purgative though.
  3. I enjoyed this Jumbo with its generous sprinkling of clever clues, which pushed me to a solving time of 54:35, about 10 minutes more than average. I liked the juxtaposition of the surface of 6A and the answer for 9A, BATTERY. I had to look up Angel dust to find it was PCP and DNK Lenins first names or CONSIGLIERE, which I had to check was the right word. Favourites include WEASEL, BEANO, ACUMEN, NARROW and the topical DETERMINING and BAKED ALASKA. Thanks Penfold and setter.

Comments are closed.