Times Cryptic Jumbo 1501 – egg egg egg egg egg Florentine

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Well what do you know, the third consecutive bank holiday jumbo falls into my blogging lap.  Last time out, to avoid pushing in front of Kitty’s blog, I published some time on the Saturday afternoon and managed to amass three comments, one of which was me, replying to the first.  So if you happen to be passing this way, drop a line so I know someone’s reading.

Any road up, let’s get onto the puzzle, which was appropriately tricky for a holiday, with plenty of funny words and intricate wordplay.  It probably took me an hour and a half all told to unravel everything which suggests this was firmly on the harder side.  I don’t know if it was a false impression but there seemed to be an awful lot of reversing going on.

First in was SHORTHAIR and last was UNAWARE

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 P[ence]


Across

1
Decrepit bully gives up resistance after shake (4-5)

MOTH-EATEN – THREATEN without R[esistance] after MO[ment]

6
One aboard smack who performs rescue? (7)

SAVIOUR – I in SAVOUR

10
Dominant idea or word from French Count’s prison island (5)

MOTIF – MOT, IF (the island where the Count of Monte Cristo was banged up)

13
County short by pence, Berks keeps debt record hidden (13)

SURREPTITIOUS – SURRE{y}, P[ence], TITS around IOU

14
Italian port in urban area’s rejected pleasure-seeking (9)

SYBARITIC – BARI in CITY reversed.  Some solvers will know BARI from Football Italia but it also seems to be a bit of a crossword favourite.

15
Uneven-coloured edges of plate for old photo (7)

TINTYPE – TINTY, P{late}E

16
However many knobs (7)

BUTTONS – BUT, TONS

17
A month back, confined to home, like tropical native (7)

IGUANAS – AUG[ust] reversed in IN AS

18
Lawyer is one for admitting guilt to get prisoner released (12)

PROFESSIONAL – PRO, conFESSIONAL

20
Family with girlfriend: is the girl kind of blue? (10)

KINGFISHER – KIN, G[irl]F[riend], IS, HER

23
Maybe tokes from bit of grass after rolling (5)

DRAWS – SWARD reversed

24
Result united country without force or lasting power (9)

ENDURANCE – END, U[nited], FRANCE with F[orce] removed

25
Controversial elements of boom in filming? (7)

POLEMIC – POLE MIC[rophone]

26
Area sans valets after three identical dismissals could be this (11)

SERVANTLESS – (area sans valets)* without 3 x A

28
Treat oven as wrong for French toast (1,5,5)

A VOTRE SANTE – (treat oven as)*

30
Virginia’s tyrant having less power — it’ll raise blood pressure (11)

VASOPRESSOR – V[irgini]A’S OPPRESSOR with one P[ower] (take your pick) removed.

32
Some take up hem — I stick with aim of avoiding offence (11)

EUPHEMISTIC – hidden

34
Good time passed quickly in retrospect (7)

WELFARE – ERA FLEW reversed

36
English doctor attending Bart’s last was first beset by problems (9)

EMBATTLED – E[nglish], M[edical]

38
Part of an antler’s secured with cord (5)

TWINE – TINE around W[ith]

39
Detachment of detectives are dying to nab yours truly (10)

DISPASSION – D[etective] I[nspector]S PASS ON around I

41
Someone working in an army, possibly (12)

ARTILLERYMAN – TILLER in (an army)*.  Lovely &Lit.

45
Measure twisting in neck muscles (7)

SCALENI – SCALE, IN reversed

46
Lacking knowledge of course (not cooked, hardly cooked), with no starters (7)

UNAWARE – rUN, rAW, rARE

47
Conservative ready to drop good occupation (7)

CALLING – C[onservative], ALL IN, G[ood]

49
Unknown lake overlooked by wandering Brazilian islander (9)

ZANZIBARI – Z, (Brazilian)* without L[ake]

50
Ill-timed article used in ceremony after I nod support (13)

INAPPROPRIATE – A in RITE after I, NAP, PROP

52
Remove equipment from rocky ridge (5)

DERIG – (ridge)*

53
Proceed to enter special haunt, such as this? (4-3)

HANG-OUT – GO in (haunt)*

54
Water collection taking weight off security guards in court (9)

CATCHMENT – WATCHMEN minus W[eight] in C[our]T

Down

1
Bad move to cuddle up under young woman (7)

MISSTEP – PET reversed under MISS

2
A boy, never to break routine, picked up an old monster (11)

TYRANNOSAUR – reversal of A, SON, NARY in RUT

3
Artistic appreciation almost stifling member’s dismal verse (5)

ELEGY – EY{e} around LEG

4
Spuds stuffed with last of meat scraps (7)

TATTERS – TATERS around {mea}T

5
Butt or cask upended (3)

NUT – TUN reversed, butt as in headbutt, also known as nut.

6
It’s not shaggy or harsh: it needs grooming (9)

SHORTHAIR – (or harsh it)*

7
A stunner lives in number four, to the north (6)

VISION – reversal of IS in NO IV (or, indeed, IS in the other bits reversed)

8
Driven to repeat possible vices, move us off (9-10)

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE – (possible vices move us)*

9
Massage giving an impression of relief? (7)

RUBBING – DD (brass rubbing)

10
Animal god completed miracle, oddly ignored (9)

MARSUPIAL – MARS, UP, {m}I{r}A{c}L{e}

11
I disapprove Egyptian cross and I approve Egyptian king (11)

TUTANKHAMEN – TUT, ANKH, AMEN.  It appears there are no rules on how to spell this.  I spell it lion, water, leg, bird, arm, twisted flax, eye of horus, feather, arm. horned viper.

12
Fine places for the seriously ill house plant? (5)

FICUS – F[ine], I[ntensive] C[are] U[nits].  See fig 1.

16
Unemotional spin that led to James II’s downfall (9,10)

BLOODLESS REVOLUTION – two-word charade for a history thing I’d never heard of.

19
Imprint letters with press down under (7)

ENSTAMP – ENS on top of TAMP

21
European blocking repeat of republican revolutionary’s choice (9)

RECHERCHE – R[epublican] CHE x2 with a E[uropean] wedged in there somewhere

22
Operate motor, turning in to outskirts of Augsburg (6)

ENGAGE – ENGINE with IN changed to A{ugsber}G

23
Denied drops of water and eggs? Vicious perhaps in retrospect (9)

DISAVOWED – reversal of DEW, OVA, SID (of Sex Pistols fame).  He was a rubbish musician by all accounts but central to the band’s image.

24
Outermost part of Exeter sprawling across motorway (7)

EXTREME – (Exeter)* around M[otorway]

25
By nature, I had to see streaker in shower (7)

PERSEID – PER SE, I’D.  Great definition.

27
Author someone has to plagiarise for content (6)

SCRIBE – CRIB in S{omeon}E.  I can’t find any support for SE being an abbreviation for someone so I think it’s just the case that the content (i.e. everything but the first and last letters) of the word is replaced by CRIB.

29
Minder pocketing kilo is to flit (7)

SKITTER – SITTER around K[ilo]

31
Story of weaver furling sails and seaman skipping island (5,6)

SILAS MARNER – (sails)*, MARINER with no I[sland].  By George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Hobbs, the 6 Music DJ.

33
Dismissing last pair, win against furious coalition in power (11)

TRIUMVIRATE – TRIUMph, V[ersus], IRATE

35
A loss of energy in diminishing arousal (9)

AWAKENING – A, WeAKENING

37
Word antagonistic to avoiding split is “harridan” (9)

TERMAGANT – TERM, AGAiNsT.  The “split IS” device is clever

40
Saint Nick embodies a noted sailor’s source of strength (7)

SPINACH – S[aint], PINCH around A.  The sailor in question being Popeye of course.  It’s always a surprise when he buys some because no one expects the spinach acquisition.

42
Mark end of work, ignoring top management’s action against employees (7)

LOCKOUT – cLOCK OUT

43
Gentle custom involving constant oversight (7)

NEGLECT – (gentle)* around C[onstant]

44
Plain cloth covered in mystical icons (6)

CALICO – hidden

45
Prepared to attach paper of particular dimensions (5)

SIZED – DD, the first being what you do to walls before putting up wallpaper

48
It’s bad to be left in this list suddenly (5)

LURCH – DD

51
The writer puncturing anti-discriminatory image (3)

PIC – I in P[olitically] C[orrect]

10 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1501 – egg egg egg egg egg Florentine”

  1. I thought this on the harder side too, but not overly so. Struggled to parse 22dn .. and nho TINTYPE.

    I think quite a lot of folk read the blog, it is writing anything so long after the event they struggle with. That is what I tell myself, anyway 🙂

  2. are really only for ‘SADDOS’ like me! DNF so binned-it! COD to FICUS Benjemina – the weeping fig.
  3. Thanks, penfold, I’m reading. I hope it’s not too fussy to point out that ‘controversial’ seems to be the definition of ‘polemic’, and that the pole and mic are elements of the boom.
    fourlegger
  4. What Jerry said, except that with this one I do actually remember two whole things!
    The first is that I failed to finish without aids. I had followed the wordplay at 17ac by inserting AN AUG (a month back) into IN (home) to get IGUANAN, a word meaning ‘like tropical native’. I remember thinking ‘I didn’t know there was a region called Iguana’ but it obviously didn’t create enough uncertainty for me to question the N that made 12dn impossible. Even with aids it proved difficult, but somehow I eventually came across the word FICUS and realised my mistake.
    The second thing is that after constructing SILAS MARNER from wordplay, I remembered that we have had him defined as a ‘weaver’ before. I might remember it properly now.
    The puzzle aside, it was worth reading the blog for the very high quality jokes.

    Edited at 2021-06-12 11:30 am (UTC)

  5. Guessed SILAS MARNER from “weaver,” which I somehow knew. Of the (marvelous) George Eliot, I’ve read only Middlemarch (during the Covid lockdown).

    Loved the riff on hieroglyphs, Penfold.

    I hardly ever work a Jumbo, but it was a holiday then over here too, and seeing (I think it was) à votre santé first got me started. Didn’t seem too hard, and I worked the next Jumbo too—I love long answers, which means I might also print out the newest one…

    But I see now that I never managed to parse ENGAGE. D’oh!

    Edited at 2021-06-12 04:37 pm (UTC)

  6. i didn’t finish, and by enough to not really have comments, but I AM reading, penfold.
  7. That was Dorothy Parker’s title for her book review page in the New Yorker. But I do read you always. This was a DNF for me; a couple of solutions I couldn’t parse, like ENGAGE, and finally an inability to come up with, let alone parse, SCALENI. I’ve got ‘COD’ in the margins at PROFESSIONAL, SPINACH, SWARD; to which I should add TUTANKHAMEN, for the explication rather than the clue itself.
    1. …and some of us even further; but, be assured, the blog is always read and appreciated (I’m just thinking how I can bring the Popeye joke up at work)

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