Times Cryptic Jumbo 1431 – If that bird comes near me I’ll break its neck and your b****y arm.

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
This puzzle felt quite tricky in places but took about 50 minutes including working out all the parsings so was probably just on the harder side of average, with a goodly amount of GK required or needing to be guessed/assumed.  As I was writing up the blog it seemed to me that there were several gratuitous question marks.  First in was MALAPROPISM and last, for reasons we’ll come to, was TREATMENT.

I hope it helped you all to fill some time during lockdown, wherever you may be.  No doubt many more people are attempting the jumbi these days so I’m expecting thousands of visitors to the blog.  Feel free to ask if something still doesn’t make sense.

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
Restricts little person that’s a bit of a jumper? (11)

CHAINSTITCH – CHAINS, TITCH.  Just in case “titch” is a Britishism it’s a nickname for somebody of limited stature

7
A learner needing a supporter is hugged by maidens saying the wrong thing (11)

MALAPROPISM – A, L[earner], A, PROP (not BRA!!!!!!), IS in M[aiden] x2.

13
Establishing standard old room in local (9)

NORMATIVE – O[ld] R[oo]M in NATIVE

14
No time for speech with men showing fatigue (7)

LANGUOR – LANGUage, O[ther] R[anks]

15
Rows of headless corpses (5)

TIFFS – sTIFFS

16
Soldier and reformer meeting a king (6)

HUSSAR – HUSS, A, R[ex].  Jan Hus, c. 1372 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as Iohannes Hus or Johannes Huss, was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a church reformer… That’s where I stopped reading.

17
Behavioural science Hoyle got wrong (8)

ETHOLOGY – (Hoyle got)*. I’ll bet good money that I’m not the only one who, never having heard of ethology, bunged in theology, and then wasted effort trying to justify “the shires” at 5d.  Come on, own up!  Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behaviour and is not linked to Ronology.

18
Rage, having to eat a dry fish (3-4)

RAT-TAIL – RAGE around T[ee]T[otal].  Rat-tails are also known as genadiers.  I’m no Jaques Cousteau or Rick Stein but I’ve never heard of them.

20
In Barbados, say, how you’d get the measure of the enemy? (8,8,4)

ATLANTIC STANDARD TIME – CD

23
Steps to keep the Queen uncontaminated (7)

STERILE – STILE around E[lizabeth] R[egina].  The surface reading suggests that H, Claire, Lee and the others are doing their bit during the Coronavirus crisis by disinfecting the loos at Buckingham Palace.

24
Pioneer crossword compiler entertains only third of solvers (7)

SETTLER – SETTER around the third letter of {sol}V{ers}

26
Research specialist only half way through stories (7)

EXPLORE – EXP{ert}, LORE

28
Light colour of old city church to the west (4)

ECRU – UR, C{hurch of} E{ngland} reversed.  One of those colours that only women can differentiate from all the other beiges like sand, taupe and fawn.

29
Girl’s best friend in a suit? (8)

DIAMONDS – DD

32
Biblical tribe, possible adherents of a god of wealth, dismissing leader (9)

AMMONITES – mAMMONITES

35
Community travel entangled after reversing set of instructions (9)

DECALOGUE – E[uropean] U[nion], GO, LACED, all reversed

36
Papa dislikes aspects of birthday celebrations (8)

PRESENTS – P[apa], RESENTS

37
A guerrilla gets hurt (4)

ACHE – A, Che (Guevara)

39
Uses swearword when coming across cat (7)

CUSTOMS – CUSS around TOM.

41
Walked, bumping into Peg in the tube (7)

TETRODE – TROD in TEE.  Whether you know a tetrode as a thermionic valve similar to a triode with the addition of a screen grid to protect the control grid, as a dynatron or as a dual-gate MOSFET, I think we’re all agreed that we can’t manage without one.

44
Onion in English allotment (7)

SHALLOT – hidden

45
Like good guys supporting the LA baseball team? (2,3,4,2,3,6)

ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS – DDCDH. I needed checkers to figure out if the last word was going to be angels, saints or summat else.  I know my American Football teams but my knowledge is a bit sketchy where basketball, baseball and ice hockey tems are concerned and the expression itself isn’t familiar to me.

49
Something frightening, British, and not half unattractive to put up with (7)

BUGBEAR – B[ritish], UG{ly}, BEAR.  I only knew bugbear as an object of annoyance or dislike but the dictionaries have it as something frightening too.

50
Car well able to convey limited number, offering independence (8)

AUTONOMY – AUTO, MY (as in goodness!) around NO.

51
Fashionable philosopher put to rest? (6)

INHUME – IN, HUME (David of that ilk, who could out-consume Hegel).

53
Turmoil when duke meets a divine being in India (5)

DRAMA – D[uke], RAMA

54
What get hot and black: ships carrying fuel (7)

BOILERS – B[lack], OILERS

55
Arguing about a boy, one no good (9)

REASONING – RE, A, SON, I, N[o] G[ood]

56
What is evident in weighty section of song (6,5)

MIDDLE EIGHT – One of those clues where the answer is in the clue and vice-versa, sort of – the middle of wEIGHTy is EIGHT.

57
Heeding Lent, possibly, being wise? (11)

ENLIGHTENED – (heeding lent)*

Down

1
Study church with a shell-like structure (6)

CONCHA – CON, CH[urch], A.  I didn’t know the word but it wasn’t a huge leap of faith away from conch.

2
Where naughty children run riskily in slum area (6,3,6)

ACROSS THE TRACKS – DDCDH

3
A peasant organised home to be very clean and tidy (4,2,1,3)

NEAT AS A PIN – (a peasant)*, IN

4
Holiday mishap (4)

TRIP – DD

5
Don’t move into these inadequate rural areas (3,6)

THE STICKS – STICK in THES{e}.  As mentioned previously I was trying to justify THE SHIRES on account of a wrong across answer.

6
Assist goddess with petulant expression (4,3)

HELP OUT – HEL, POUT.  Hel is/was a Norse goddess

7
Rainy season’s coming before long in Mediterranean country? No thanks! (9)

MONSOONAL – ON SOON (coming before long) in MALta. The ‘s is vital for the definition.

8
Envy destroying three leading characters? That’s very bad (5)

LOUSY – jeaLOUSY

9
Some game requiring quiet skill, game without leader (9)

PARTRIDGE – P[iano], ART, bRIDGE.  Aha!

10
Surpassing dodgy dealers, first to last? Excellent! (12)

OUTSTRIPPING – TOUTS with the first letter sent to the end, then RIPPING (as in Yarns).

11
Extend home and start to fall behind schedule (7)

INFLATE – IN, F{all}, LATE

12
Menu’s beginning with a cold dish, mostly spicy stuff (6)

MASALA – M{enu}, A, SALA{d}

19
Male talking thus may be grumbling (8)

UTTERING – A rare example of a clue where the definition isn’t at the start or beginning of the clue.  It’s also another of those clues that sort of works in reverse.  If you add M[ale] to the asnwer you get MUTTERING.

21
Floridly rhetorical poet given honour, not the first (7)

AUREATE – lAUREATE

22
Man joining the girl in risky enterprise that may help the rest (8)

BEDSHEET – ED, SHE in BET.  I can think of many other things that aid rest nore than a bedsheet but I guess it just about works.

23
Bird, needing drink, had to go inside (8)

SHELDUCK -SUCK around HELD

25
Not, we may deduce, travelling quickly (3-2)

TON-UP – And here’s another where the answer contains the clue, as it were.  TON written up would give you NOT.

27
Political lion somehow traps you and me — it’s not what it seems (7,8)

OPTICAL ILLUSION – (political lion)* around US

30
Prominent men wanting girl to undress (not showing bottom though) (7)

MAESTRI – MAE, STRIp

31
Old-fashioned office worker, good person one upset (5)

STENO – S[aint], ONE reversed

33
Wasn’t Emu naughty bird? (4,4)

MUTE SWAN – (wasn’t emu)*.  Great clue, but overseas and younger solvers might not get the joke.  Go on youtube and look for “1976 Rod Hull and Emu on Parkinson”

34
Secret observer won’t half yell when rumbled (3,2,3,4)

FLY ON THE WALL – (won’t half yell)*

38
Displaying message opposing capital punishment? (7,3)

HANGING OUT – DDCDH.  Shades of “Down with this sort of thing” a la Father Ted.

40
Always kept in outhouse, as car needs to be (9)

STEERABLE – EER (the poet’s always) in STABLE

42
Discussion of tricky matter with Treebeard? (9)

TREATMENT – (matter)*, ENT.  Now I’ve read LOTR so I knew about Treebeard but I’d completely forgotten that he was an ENT.  So I was reluctant to put the answer in unparsed and was worried that treebeard might an alternative name for some parasitic plant or some such.  Anyway, a quick Google of Treebeard provided enlightenment.

43
Terrible male here should keep quiet, being “here today, gone tomorrow” (9)

EPHEMERAL – (male here)* around P[iano]

45
Vigilant when a ground can get out of control (2,5)

ON GUARD – (a ground)*

46
Expression of disgust about head’s artifice (7)

FINESSE – FIE around NESS

47
This writer’s about to wait in the same location (6)

IBIDEM – I’M around BIDE

48
“Deeply” powerful male? (3,3)

SEA GOD – CD

50
Imitating a sort of sound (5)

APING – A, PING.  Of course we all know that the Welsh word for microwave is meicrodon, and not popty ping.

52
Made a call, cutting row short (4)

RANG – RANGe

16 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1431 – If that bird comes near me I’ll break its neck and your b****y arm.”

  1. A few DNKs as always: MIDDLE EIGHT, TON-UP, TETRODE of course, MUTE SWAN (the Emu thing was lost on me, as I’d never heard of Hull or Emu or Parkinson). Liked TIFFS. The Lord Chancellor in ‘Iolanthe’ has trouble sleeping, in part because of his BEDSHEET: ‘First your counterpane goes and uncovers your toes, /Then your sheet slips demurely from under you./The blanketing tickles, you feel like mixed pickles/ So terribly sharp is the pricking ….’
  2. One q, if I may:
    Where is “goodness” for “my” in 50 ac.?

    Many thanks as ever and even more so now to both setter and blogger.
    Adrian Cobb

  3. Thank you for the kind offer. We don’t often do Jumbos so are using this to fall back on and haven’t completed yet. We may yet ask for help. BTW, OH suggests a Latinate “jumbones” for the plural
  4. Very enjoyable. I arrived at several unknown answers by taking a chance on wordplay before checking they were correct, but my one failure was 51ac where I got as far as IN (fashionable), H?U?E (philosopher), but as things turned out I knew neither the man nor the target word so it was unlikely I would ever have solved it and I’m glad I abandoned the fight and resorted to aids to complete the grid.

    Edited at 2020-04-11 07:14 am (UTC)

  5. Trundled through this in a bit over 40 minutes, and I don’t recall any serious hold-ups. I thought MUTE SWAN was a fine and amusing clue, though I’m inclined to agree with Parky on the bird. Common assault is still common assault even if you have your arm up an emu’s neck!
    1. Entertainment, innit? And successful too, as evidenced by the fact we all remember it 44 years later. I remember thinking I wouldn’t want him to do that to me, but him doing it to the Parkinson, that seemed ok 🙂
  6. Steady solve, which is all one can really ask for with a jumbo.
    All I know about Emu is that Rod Hull died falling off his roof while trying to fix his tv aerial. What television gives ..
  7. “Easy downs”, it says on my copy. I got through most of this in about 35 minutes but then took another 8 minutes over my last 5. HUSS, RAT-TAIL, DECALOGUE and AUREATE, my LOI after an alphabet trawl, were all unknown. At least I knew CONCHA from walking in Marbella with La Concha as an ever-present backdrop. Does anybody build things with tetrodes these days, I wondered.

    Edited at 2020-04-11 12:28 pm (UTC)

    1. Triodes and Pentodes were the more common valves in the TVs I used to fix. Rarely came across a Tetrode! The extra supressor grid in the Pentode served to prevent secondary emission electrons emitted by the plate from reaching the screen grid, which caused instability and parasitic oscillations in the tetrode.
  8. 40:51. Quite tricky this one, with numerous unknowns. Yes, I will confess to bunging in THEOLOGY but even as I was writing it in I kind of knew it wasn’t right so I looked immediately at 5dn to check and managed to correct it.
  9. The extra time available tempted me, as Penfold anticipated, into doing this Jumbo. I found it quite enjoyable and made no effort to do it in a hurry. I finished up with 85:54 on the clock. ACROSS THE TRACKS took a while, and I wasn’t sure about CONCHA so looked it up after deriving it. My Dad had a TV shop so I grew up playing with thermionic valves and things. I still have a couple of Mullard Valve Data Books which give the specs and pin outs for them. In fact I still have a box in the garage full of valves, a lot of them unused! Thanks setter and Penfold.
  10. We found this hard work and not much fun. OH points out that chainstitch is embroidery not knitting
    1. Thanks for popping back to comment. My Chambers app says that chainstitch is “a stitch in knitting or sewing resembling the links of a chain”. That lets the setter off the hook so any beef your OH has is with the dictionary compilers (as is so often the case where specialist knowledge comes into play).
      1. Thank you for bothering to check. I must admit we used the nearest dictionary to hand to back up her grumble

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