Times Cryptic Jumbo 1484: In A City Of The Future It Is Difficult To Concentrate

Off to the races on this uncomplicated jumbo, where many of the clues felt like old friends. FOI 1ac and 5ac, LOI 34ac as I convinced myself this nothing else would fit the bill: sadly this hesitation resulted in a testudinal time from me of 11:16, a full nine seconds behind Magoo’s blistering 11:07. Such is crosswords. I mostly liked the literary and historical references, the colourful phrase KICK UPSTAIRS at 20ac, and the Russian doll Scot at 30ac: thank you to the setter!

ACROSS
1 Exhausted, American journalist on horseback (4,2)
USED UP – US ED UP [American | journalist | on horseback]

5 Opening large part of church (7)
CHANCEL – CHANCE L [opening | large]

9 Fly in food sent back? Do nothing (8)
STAGNATE – GNAT in reversed EATS

13 Song always associated with religious magazine (3,5,3,10)
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER – ALL ALONG [always] + THE WATCHTOWER [JW magazine]

14 To co-operate, take part in a game prior to social function (4,4)
PLAY BALL – PLAY [take part in a game] + BALL [social function]

15 Given the wrong role in film netting endless money (7)
MISCAST – MIST [film] “netting” CAS{h}

16 Bad storm skirting North Carolina (6)
RANCID – RAID [storm] “skirting” NC

17 British chieftain‘s time in capital, mostly, note, with us (10)
CARACTACUS – T in CARACA{s} + C [(musical) note] + US

20 Ostensibly promote excitement by winning flight (4,8)
KICK UPSTAIRS – KICK UP STAIRS [excitement | winning | flight]

23 Briefly examine item of jewellery (4)
STUD – STUD{y}

24 Measure of paper covering AGM’s awkward situation (8)
QUAGMIRE – QUIRE “covering” AGM

26 Fresh buns – adjust heat to brown? (8)
SUNBATHE – (BUNS*) + (HEAT*)

29 Lends farmer a clapped out old warhorse (8,4)
FLANDERS MARE – (LENDS FARMER A*). Not to be confused with Anne of Cleves

30 A head entertaining lecturer in Rhode Island, a Scot (10)
ABERDONIAN – A BEAN “entertaining” DON “in” RI, a nice matryoshka clue

32 Few ordered in England originally, being ostentatiously modern! (10)
NEWFANGLED – (FEW*) in (ENGLAND*)

34 Inhalant supplied to order? (6,6)
FRIAR’S BALSAM – A cryptic definition of tincture of benzoin: the “order” here is to suggest an order of friars.

36 Faculty I refer to in speech (8)
EYESIGHT – homophone of I CITE

38 Learned line to utter repeatedly (8)
LITERATE – L ITERATE [line | to utter repeatedly]

39 Ballerina finally retiring, becoming pale (4)
ASHY – {ballerin}A SHY

41 Here, rest assured (4,2,4,2)
TAKE IT FROM ME – double def; handing someone something, or assuring them of its veracity

43 Bother involving religious instruction given by cunning old bishop’s assistant (10)
ARCHPRIEST – PEST “involving” R.I., by ARCH [cunning]

44 Fool can in turn with comedian (6)
NITWIT – reversed TIN + WIT

46 Show former partner and husband small piece about island (7)
EXHIBIT – EX + H(usband) + BIT, “about” I

48 Study including data about European rat (8)
RENEGADE – READ “including” reversed GEN, plus E(uropean)

50 Poet‘s literary colleagues do, upset about poem’s ending (6,6,9)
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE – (LITERARY COLLEAGUES DO*), “about” {poe}M

51 Fifteen from Ireland — some settle in sterling (8)
LEINSTER – rugby side hidden in {sett}LE IN STER{ling}

52 Seeing that on, this must be genuine (7)
SINCERE – SINCE RE [seeing that | on]

53 Fast, agent crossing river to the west (6)
SPEEDY – SPY “crossing” reversed DEE

DOWN
2 Delay beginning to seem unlikely (5)
STALL – S{eem} TALL

3 Child’s toy with red and navy floppy hat (5,6)
DOLLY VARDEN – DOLL plus (RED + NAVY*). A flat straw hat trimmed with flowers and ribbons named after a character in Barnaby Rudge. N.B. do not try to wear a Dolly Varden trout on your head

4 Friend, old singer, in a place in California (4,4)
PALO ALTO – PAL O ALTO

5 Waterway with biblical town on left (5)
CANAL – CANA [biblical town of wedding feast fame] + L(eft)

6 Employed by us, now and again? (2,5)
AT TIMES – the setter’s colleagues also (work) AT (the) TIMES

7 What may be brought with a Stilton? Check — see if keen, being curious (6,5)
CHEESE KNIFE – CH + (SEE IF KEEN*)

8 Pounds carried by monk’s beast of burden (5)
LLAMA – L “carried by’ LAMA

9 Weird curses involving wrecked tea clippers (9)
SECATEURS – (CURSES*) “involving” (TEA*)

10 Change flag when heading off (5)
ALTER – {f}ALTER

11 From time to time was successful, turned up with a profit (3,3,5)
NOW AND AGAIN – reversed WON + A GAIN

12 Row involving stray dog (7)
TERRIER – TIER “involving” ERR

18 Big guns, hostile placed in middle of major road (9)
ARTILLERY – ILL in ARTERY

19 Brief local authority by telephone (7)
COUNSEL – homophone of COUNCIL

21 Gallant French actor and singer (9)
CHEVALIER – double def with Maurice

22 Swimmers also not good climbing on board ship (4,4)
SAND DABS – AND [also] + reversed BAD, “on board” SS

25 After fine, slate major championship (5,4)
GRAND SLAM – after GRAND [fine], SLAM [slate]

27 Senior teacher having pains causes problems (9)
HEADACHES – HEAD having ACHES

28 Names within top party (3,5)
HEN NIGHT – N N “within” HEIGHT

31 Unreliable quote about a bishop coming over (7)
ERRATIC – CITE about A R(ight) R(everend), the whole reversed

33 Angler: he was in form spinning (11)
FISHERWOMAN – (HE WAS IN FORM*)

34 Plump, her tanned literary sleuth (6,5)
FATHER BROWN – FAT [plump] + HER BROWN

35 Advanced up cliff (7-4)
LEADING-EDGE – LEADING [up] + EDGE [cliff]

37 Fairly good hotel in a street in resort, close to pier (5-4)
THREE-STAR – H in (A STREET*) + {pie}R

40 Outraged at university, current members (2,2,4)
UP IN ARMS – UP [at university] + IN [current] + ARMS [members]

42 Leader in another paper under discussion (2,5)
AT ISSUE – A{nother} + TISSUE [paper]

43 Item the Parisian found under lorry (7)
ARTICLE – LE [the, in French] under ARTIC

45 Pay for another nurse (5)
TREAT – double def

47 Former US president in state of confusion, they say (5)
HAYES – Rutherford Birchard, homophone of HAZE

48 Bohemian poet‘s anger about Keats, primarily (5)
RILKE – RILE “about” K{eats}

49 Fear about being caught by the old man (5)
DREAD – RE [about] “caught” by DAD

10 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1484: In A City Of The Future It Is Difficult To Concentrate”

  1. DNK FRIARS BALSAM or LOI FLANDERS MARE. I only knew CARACTACUS thanks to Major-General Stanley, who can ‘tell you every detail of Caractacus’s uniform’ (he can also write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform). I biffed COLERIDGE from M Y O L, checked the anagrist later. I liked ABERDONIAN.
  2. Yes, this was mostly very straightforward as witnessed by the lack of scribblings on my print-out. My only unknowns were PALO ALTO and ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER.
      1. Thanks. I’m afraid in my ignorance Stanford is just a name to me and I had no idea where it is. I’d like to say I shall remember in future but I have my doubts!
  3. 33:50 Mostly straightforward but I had a lot of unknowns, including the JW song, the old warhorse, the inhalant, the bishop’s assistant, the hat, the fish and the former president. Like Kevin I remembered the chieftain from Gilbert & Sullivan (I was one of the major-general’s daughters in out school production). COD to TREAT for the elegant simplicity, but I liked SUNBATHE and ABERDONIAN too. Thanks (testudinal? ha ha) V and setter.
  4. Don’t remember a lot about this .. all went in OK though.
    “Flanders Mare” is what Henry VIII called wife no. 4, Anne of Cleves. Rather unkindly.. on edit, I see V has already mentioned it, sorry

    Edited at 2021-03-06 11:41 am (UTC)

  5. Certainly on the easy side: If I can complete a Jumbo in (37 seconds) less than 30 minutes there’s not much to fear.
    My query was FLANDERS MARE, which I promptly associated with Anne of Cleves rather than some form of warhorse, but I see history has deceived me. The warhorse is the original thing, and Anne was not so described in her lifetime.
    1. The OED thinks she was: “Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Reformation: 1st Pt. iii. 271 He [sc. Henry VIII] swore they had brought over a Flanders Mare to him.” .. but that quote is from the following century.
      I’m not precisely sure where Flanders began and finished in those days but Anne was born in Dusseldorf
  6. I cheated for CARACTACUS. I thought ‘I can’t be bothered to go through all the bloody capitals in the world to work out which one fits’, but as soon as I had looked up the answer I realised that _A_A_A_ would actually have been pretty easy!
    A couple of other unknowns but nothing that was difficult to figure out, even the cryptic definition for FRIAR’S BALSAM.
    Nice Jimi Hendrix earworm now. Said Dylan: ‘strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way’.

    Edited at 2021-03-06 01:11 pm (UTC)

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