Times Cryptic Jumbo 1456 – Charles Dickens, Joseph Heller and Bill Bryson walk into a bar

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
45 minutes.  Maybe slightly over my par time but not too tricky.  I had to check a few facts when writing up the explanations. First in was GAGSTER and last was MASS MEDIA.

If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation.

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
Channels in motorway area provide equine with water, not fresh (4,5)

MASS MEDIA – a combination of a less than obvious definition and complex wordplay made this my last one in.  ASS, MED[iterranean] in M[otorway] A[rea]

6
What may be read in a church in the country? (7)

MALACHI – A CH[urch] in MALI.  An Old Testament book.

10
Shut up, being a century old (5)

CAGED – C[entury] AGED

13
Make lace to cover plain silk fabric (7)

TABARET – TAT (to make lace) around BARE. An upholstery fabric of alternate satin and watered silk stripes. Four of my chaises longues are covered in it.

14
Comic’s funny stagger (7)

GAGSTER – (stagger)*

15
One may stand for this new idea, not local (7)

OVATION – innOVATION

16
Suggesting diner thought to start well-prepared (3,3,6,7)

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING – “reverse” clue: an anagram (running) of “hit the ground” would be “diner thought”.

17
Drop daughter off: how I refer to her? (3)

SHE – SHEd

18
I felt that food comes first for absentee (2-4)

NO-SHOW – OW after NOSH. Although it’s a bit chestnutty I always enjoy “I felt that” or “that hurt” leading to OW or OUCH.

20
Colour left on stick (6)

PASTEL – L on PASTE

21
Various items on table in afternoon for mother-to-be? (3,6)

TEA THINGS – CD.  I’m surprised this is in the dictionary.

23
Western hero’s individualist rage (4,6)

LONE RANGER – LONER, ANGER

25
Cheating gangster to achieve checkmate? (11)

HOODWINKING – HOOD, WIN KING

29
Piece attached to heel is hanging (5)

TAPIS – TAP, IS. A tap is a protective piece on a shoe heel.  We called them blakeys when I was at shool.

30
Income, including nice car, new demand from old lover? (8)

PALIMONY – PAY arounf LIMO N[ew]

31
Petulant display at sea is shifty (5,3)

HISSY FIT – (is shifty)*

34
Dictatorial boss of car firm? (8)

AUTOCRAT – CD more or less but the last three words just add a bit of crypticness

36
Castle, otherwise trapping one knight more in the centre (8)

ELSINORE – ELSE around I N {m}OR{e} (N being chess notation for Knight).

37
Like sheep, cow loses its head (5)

OVINE – bOVINE

39
Doesn’t go across stove with jug (11)

STRANGEWAYS – STAYS around RANGE W[ith] for the prison (jug) in Manchester.  When the Strangeways riot was in full flow in 1990 Mrs P needed to leave her car in that part of Manchester for a couple of days.  Given the huge police presence she decided it would be fine to leave it on a side street near the prison.  Needless to say when she returned a window had been smashed and the radio taken.

41
Work tongue into part of mouth and be highly successful with what I record (2,8)

GO PLATINUM – OP[us}, LATIN in GUM. In the UK you need to sell 600,000 singles or 300,000 albums to get a platinum disc.

43
A mile further, surprising remote Aussie native (9)

MONOTREME – [a] M[ile] ON, (remote)*.  A group on mammals including yer echidna and yer duck-billed P.  You really don’t want to know what they’ve only got one of.

45
Born abroad, want to be not too old (6)

NEWISH – NE (French), WISH

47
One ruling for now: note the convenience, in short (6)

REGENT – RE, GENT{s}

49
Port or bitter picked up? (3)

RYE – sounds like WRY.  The East Sussex port that isn’t.

50
Nowhere is unimportant (7,4,3,5)

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE – DD

52
Asking more questions about one is not so peaceful (7)

NOISIER – NOSIER around I

53
Turned up by chance in court (7)

CAMELOT – CAME, LOT

54
Strong cloth fine in warm wind (7)

CHINOOK – CHINO, O.K.

55
Mischief-maker’s accent not British (5)

ROGUE – bROGUE

56
Painter’s assistant is second to be accepted (7)

MATISSE – MATE around IS S[econd]

57
One doing exercises, but no header (9)

STRETCHER – DDCDH: stretcher and header are bonds used in bricklaying.


Down

1
Making a pair: marrying must involve church (8)

MATCHING – MATING around CH[urch]

2
Something afoot: no time for throwing a spanner in the works? (5)

SABOT – SABOTage. Do folk outside crossowords wear sabots?

3
Noble big beast heading off to follow procession (11)

MARCHIONESS – lIONESS after MARCH

4
Timid creature concealing mark that identifies when death is near (6)

DOTAGE – DOE around TAG

5
The equivalent of first prize for behaving well (2,4,2,4)

AS GOOD AS GOLD – DDCDH

6
One soldier embraces another, before returning to old war minister (7)

MAGINOT – MAN around G.I. then TO reversed.

7
Unconventional ideas after family visits foreign parliament (7,8)

LATERAL THINKING – LATER, KIN in ALTHING (the national parliament of Iceland)

8
My old folk in exalted ceremony (10)

CORONATION – COR, O[ld] NATION

9
Without James I at the front, a fierce battle (3,4)

IWO JIMA – W[ith]O[ut] JIM after I and before A

10
Be sold as a little money passes (6,5)

CHANGE HANDS – CHANGE, HANDS

11
What involve sliding, as you will hear (9)

GLISSANDI – (sliding as)* and I reckon an &Lit (possibly a semi depending on how you view the “what”) interrupting a run of straightforward charades.

12
Creatures put on islands (7)

DONKEYS – DON, KEYS

19
Attempt place in event (4,3)

SHOT PUT – SHOT, PUT

22
Fighter perhaps shows such exceptional speed over track (8)

WARPLANE – WARP, LANE

24
Numerous murals at last honoured unusual city fathers (7,3,5)

ROMULUS AND REMUS – (numerous murals {honoure}D)*

26
Flier needs a little speed to get up (8)

WHITECAP – WHIT, PACE reveresd.  Is it a bird? Yes.

27
One filleting fish maybe, good and thorough (6)

GUTTER – G[ood], UTTER

28
Secures small pieces that have sprung up (6)

STRAPS – S[mall] PARTS reversed

32
Regularly fear I invite disaster (7)

FAILURE – F[e}A{r}, I, LURE

33
People in a heap in the garden: one’s sane (6,6)

COMPOS MENTIS – MEN in COMPOST, I’S

35
Emperor presumably less trustworthy in the West? (11)

CONSTANTINE – CONSTANT IN E[ast]

37
No meat: bread roll for hungry boy (6,5)

OLIVER TWIST – O, LIVER, TWIST

38
Qualify to start work as surgeon? (4,3,3)

MAKE THE CUT – golf-themed DDCDH

40
Queen, charming, removing a first coat (9)

RENDERING – R[egina], ENDEaRING

42
Fast runner who’s barely noticed? (8)

STREAKER – Chestnutty CD.  Erica Roe eyeworm anyone? Ray Stevens earworm anyone? Don’t look Ethel!

43
Voyager’s home, having visited part of moon at end of tour (7)

MARINER – IN in MARE, {tou}R

44
Pointed remark when one confuses rook with magpie (7)

EPIGRAM – (R[ook] magpie)*

46
Manoeuvre bin (7)

WHEELIE – DD.  Insert own slightly racist chinaman joke here.

48
Agree to study dog (6)

CONCUR – CON, CUR

51
Patriarch backing solid husband (5)

ENOCH – CONE reversed, H[usband]

6 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1456 – Charles Dickens, Joseph Heller and Bill Bryson walk into a bar”

  1. DNK STRANGEWAYS, WHITECAP in the avian sense, and didn’t get STRETCHER, not knowing anything about bricklaying. LOI TEATHINGS, because I couldn’t figure out the mother-to-be part; still can’t.
    1. It’s a reference to the saying ‘I’ll be Mother’, a traditional part of the ancient English Tea Ceremony meaning ‘I’ll pour the tea for everyone else’.

      Straightforward compared with some recent Jumbos. I had one error though, the unknown (in this context) WHITE CAP where I trusted wordplay and arrived at WHITE CAR. My other unknown was WARP as ‘exceptional speed’ but I’d already biffed the correct answer to that one.

      Edited at 2020-09-12 04:49 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks; now that you mention it, I actually recognize the expression, but I never would have thought of it.
        I think I was thinking of ‘warp speed’, from “Star Trek”, but ODE has it as a general sci-fi term.
  2. Worked seadily through this in two or three sessions, I seldom have the patience to finish them in one.
    How I love 54ac helicopters. They look as if they shouldn’t be able to fly, but they do .. and the noise they make, as much vibration as sound
  3. Thanks for blog of what I found was a very good puzzle with lots of misdirection. In MASS MEDIA (my last entry) I think you need M1, not just M, for the motorway. Thanks also to the setter.

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