Times Cryptic Jumbo 1536 – Two legs bad, no legs…?

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Me again already.  The bank holiday Jumbos squeeze the schedule and our customary 5 week “rest” gets condensed to 3 weeks.  Oh woe is we bloggers on our zero-hour, zero-money contracts.  I solved this with half an eye on some footy and took about 50 minutes so I think we’re in the territory of average or slightly below average difficulty.

First in was FIST and last was, um, pass, I forgot to make a note and have forgotten.

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 R[uns]


Across

1
Cover for head of state overturning treaty (4,3)

FLAT CAP – FL[orid]A, PACT reversed

5
Dives underworld figure runs guarded by animal (9)

PLUTOCRAT – PLUTO then R[uns] in CAT.  I assume this is a reference to the parable of the rich man (aka Dives) and Lazarus.

10
Article on pop art movement (4)

DADA – A on DAD

14
Potentially cheater, with envy, is feeling this? (5-4,4)

SEVEN-YEAR ITCH – (cheater envy is)*

15
Better housing one’s to throw together (9)

IMPROVISE – IMPROVE around IS

16
Country club perhaps fools around with no tension (10)

UNSTRESSED – U[nited] N[ations] (a club of countries) then DESSERTS (perhaps fools) reveresd

17
Area of science involving endless loop and geometry (11)

METEOROLOGY – (loop geometry)*

18
Don’t stick tip of spear into Josh (5)

TWIST – S{pear} in TWIT (twit as a verb can mean to tease)

19
What musicians learn about second note in number (10)

THREESCORE – THE SCORE around RE

21
Penning note, a manager cut further documentation (6)

ANNEXE – AN EXE{c} around N[ote]

23
This person twice burying Asian invader’s bones (9)

METATARSI – ME, I around TATAR’S

25
Hard worker set off to unload goods (5)

TRIER – TRIggER

26
Great genes uncovered of both sexes (7)

EPICENE – EPIC gENEs

28
Helping to hold one after old rugby player’s seizure (13)

EXPROPRIATION – RATION around I after EX PROP

31
Those with swag bag’s contents? (3,6)

TEA LEAVES – DD, the first being rhyming slang for thieves

33
Physicist entering lake in waterproof covering (9)

TARPAULIN – PAULI in TARN

35
Making uneasy old Austrian ready to accept deal? (5-8)

SPINE-CHILLING – SCHILLING around PINE

37
Scholar‘s problems returning after many years (7)

ERASMUS – SUMS reversed after ERAS

38
Leaves hotel to be hosted by queen, say (5)

CHARD – H[otel] in CARD

40
One who orders programmer to engage male staff (9)

COMMANDER – CODER around M[ale] MAN

42
Learned person stayed put without vehicle (6)

SAVANT – SAT around VAN

44
Clean items smashed in a hundred pieces (10)

CENTESIMAL – (clean items)*

46
Offer to host games for baddie in Animal Farm? (5)

BIPED – BID around P[hysical] E[ducation].  Four legs good…

48
Some power to keep ruler near throne room (5,6)

WATER CLOSET – WATT around E.R. CLOSE.  Throne room is brit slang for khazi.  It wasn’t until she was in her twenties that my elder daughter discovered that W.C. stood for water closet and not wheelchair.  For years she had to hold on until she found a toilet for non-wheelchair users.

50
Preacher in say one part of church spinning record (10)

EVANGELIST – E.G. NAVE reversed then LIST

52
Care to play what sounds like harsh Stradivarius? (9)

RACEHORSE – (care)* then homophone of HOARSE.  A multiple winner of the Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood cup.  Unknown to me but eminently guessable from wordplay.

53
Woman drinking beer and spirit is game for romance (4,3,6)

SPIN THE BOTTLE – SHE around PINT then BOTTLE (nerve)

54
Scuppered French quintet in audition? (4)

SANK – homophone of CINQ

55
Like unhealthy foods around large mouth, mostly? (9)

CALORIFIC – C[irc]A, L[arge], ORIFIC{e}

56
Performed some opera, wanting a drink (7)

SANGRIA – SANG aRIA

Down

1
Maiden losing heart for one of the dukes (4)

FIST – FIrST

2
Believer very entertained by a person putting on braces? (9)

ADVENTIST – V[ery] in A DENTIST

3
In which one’s king is in check? (14,8)

CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY – CD

4
Parking message again, perhaps, in dodgy grounds (7)

PRETEXT -P[arking], RE-TEXT

5
Israeli politician joining triumvirate for reform (11)

PERESTROIKA – (Shimon) PERES, TROIKA

6
Least smart lingerie? Time to gather it up (9)

UNTIDIEST – UNDIES T[ime] around IT reversed

7
Error of player, one who overplays old characters (5)

OGHAM – O[wn] G[oal], HAM.  An early medieval alphabet and a word that is forever etched in my memory as it did for me in the heats of the championship one year.

8
Alter view of it and repent half of errors anew (11)

REINTERPRET – (it repent err{ors})*

9
Singer grasping piano composition in class (6)

TIPTOP – TIT around P[iano], then OP[us]

11
Model needing to follow a diet, not half fat (7)

ADIPOSE – POSE after A DIet

12
In one fancy net, see rising gas (9)

ACETYLENE – ELY reversed in ACE (net)*

13
Divine hosts have a clue party with nothing on is to prove a flop (2,4,4,1,4,7)

GO DOWN LIKE A LEAD BALLOON – *Takes deep breath*… GOD-LIKE (divine) around OWN (have), A LEAD (a clue), BALL, O, ON.  I’m probably the only person on the planet who bothered to parse this, and that was only to fulfil my duty.

18
Art employed briefly in play’s titular event (7)

TEMPEST – (thou) TEMPEST would be an olde worlde way of saying you temp.  Given the quirkiness (were temps called temps in Elizabethan times?) I expected a question mark.

20
Lesbian character ill-disposed to wine (7)

CHIANTI – CHI (Lesbian as in from the isle of Lesbos hence Greek), ANTI

22
Mash ripe bananas — they’re heavenly! (8)

SERAPHIM – (mash ripe)*

24
Render bucolic river with hill around it (8)

RURALISE – URAL in RISE

27
How poem ends in unbroken voice (5)

ENVOI – hidden, not a meaning I knew.

29
Serving man dressing king in jacket (5)

PARKA – PARA[trooper] around K[ing]

30
Sort of coffee colour seen during this month (7)

INSTANT – TAN in INST

32
Effuse endlessly about a wine that’s sweet (7)

SUGARED -reversal of GUSh, then A RED

34
Strong metal peg left after change in America (6,5)

NICKEL STEEL – TEE, L[eft] after NICKELS

36
Praising cosmetician after a make-over (11)

ENCOMIASTIC – (cosmetician)*.  Nope, me neither.

37
A property manager’s moving ecstasy to China, say (9)

EASTWARDS – A STEWARDS with the E[cstacy] moved to the front

39
Criticise and contradict female for doubting (9)

DISBELIEF – DIS, BELIE, F[emale]

41
One having an account in prose? Do badly with it (9)

DEPOSITOR – (prose do it)*

43
Two vessels touring isle that’s a sacred place (7)

VATICAN – VAT & CAN around I[sle]

45
Three sheets to the wind on the French steamer (7)

LEGLESS – LEG (on side in cricket), LE, S.S.

47
Like secretary’s work, dropping a line for father? (6)

CLERIC – CLERICAL without A L[ine]

49
Stunner was a model once more, making a comeback (5)

TASER – RE-SAT reversed

51
Star not quite following a strict diet (4)

VEGA – VEGA{n}

8 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1536 – Two legs bad, no legs…?”

  1. DNK STRADIVARIUS the horse. Is the VATICAN a sacred place, even to Catholics? I dithered over TWIST–in fact, I see that I never got around to submitting– because I didn’t (don’t) see how the definition applied. I liked a number of the clues, including WATER CLOSET, SPINE-CHILLING, CHIANTI, LEGLESS.
    1. It’s a reference to various card games, 21, Pontoon etc in which you can choose to take another card (twist) or not (stick). If you make the wrong choice and the card is too high your total of cards held can exceed 21 in which case you go ‘bust’.
      1. Thanks; I never got close. I don’t know Pontoon, but it sounds like blackjack, where I’ve never heard those terms.
        1. Hi Kevin, yes it’s the same as blackjack. So if you’re playing that what do you say to the dealer when you do / don’t want another card?

          Sorry for not clarifying the definition. It didn’t occur to me that the usage in the card game might not be widely known and stick or twist has crept into the language in other contexts meaning to try and decide whether to take no action or make a change. It’s also the name of a pub in Leeds.

          1. It’s been years since I’ve played blackjack, but one would/might say ‘Hit me’ if one wanted another card, or say nothing but make a sweeping gesture towards oneself with one’s two cards; I don’t recall a fixed phrase for declining another card. [On edit]: I just looked up ‘twist’ in ODE, and two of the three example sentences they give are marked as American English. As I say, it’s been years–decades, actually.

            Edited at 2022-01-22 01:09 pm (UTC)

  2. Liked this one, not too stretching but some nice clues.
    NHO the horse or encomiastic though I had heard of an encomium so not much of a stretch.
  3. First the bad news. When I looked back I saw I had abandoned this puzzle after 44 minutes with 19 per cent done. Clearly not one for me.
    Now the good news. I completed Jumbo 1534 in 1:05:40. A personal best on the one-year anniversary of my first ever Jumbo. Yay. There. Now that I’ve made my announcement I can stop looking for the blog. Who needs it now anyway when the puzzle was such a doddle. Thanks everyone

    Edited at 2022-01-22 12:01 pm (UTC)

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