This was a sub-30 minute breeze with no unknowns or anything else to scare the horses, but there were some very good clues, I thought. How did you get on?
First in was RANDOM and last was TETRAPOD.
If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation. When the blog appears I’ll be at Kendal Calling music festival so probably won’t be able to respond until Monday.
The technical stuff:
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 E[nergy]
| Across | |
| 1 | Composer in European city missing northern Australia (7) |
| BERLIOZ – BERLIN missing N[orthern], OZ | |
| 5 | Coach gutted to stop swimming lesson in lake (4,4) |
| LOCH NESS – C{oac}H in (lesson)*. I liked this, not least because it reminded me of a clue from the old days of Anax’s weekly clue writing contest, where one contributer came up with “Dave Miller’s swimming trophy” for silver medal. | |
| 9 | Old singles also lacking energy (1-5) |
| B-SIDES – BESIDES without E[nergy]. I’m not 100% convinced by the definition as a B-side is only half a single. A-side also cropped up in a recent puzzle. | |
| 13 | Leader converting criminal to show great affection (6,6,4) |
| TENDER LOVING CARE – (leader converting)*. TLC, of course. | |
| 14 | Sodium to handle a sickness (6) |
| NAUSEA – NA, USE, A. My fisrt thought for this was NAPALM, whicxh left me wondering if it could mean some ailment caused by the effects of the nasty mixture | |
| 16 | Say Arab has a personality disorder (8) |
| EGOMANIA – E.G., OMANI, A | |
| 17 | Spies with initially obtuse greeting (4) |
| CIAO – C[entral] I[ntelligence] A[gency], O{btuse} | |
| 18 | Note above plate — fish caught by eccentric character (5,4) |
| PLACE CARD – Homophone of plaice (indicated by “caught”) + CARD | |
| 20 | Toothless Prime Minister introducing art gallery (8) |
| EDENTATE – EDEN, TATE | |
| 21 | Campus race I organised — it’s a famous competition (8,3) |
| AMERICAS CUP – (Campus race I)* | |
| 24 | Road feature‘s traffic jam initially something very smooth (1-8) |
| T-JUNCTION – T{raffic}, J{am}, UNCTION | |
| 25 | Limit on filling beer for tax evader once (2,6) |
| AL CAPONE – CAP ON in ALE | |
| 26 | Uninteresting place to live (4) |
| FLAT – DD | |
| 29 | Where to store documents from a long investigation involving Tibet’s banks (7,4) |
| ATTACHE CASE -A, then ACHE, CASE after T{ibe}T | |
| 31 | State of soldier — hand injured (5,6) |
| RHODE ISLAND – (soldier hand)* | |
| 33 | One on leave breaks extremely useful item in the tropics (8,3) |
| MOSQUITO NET – ONE on (after in an across clue) QUIT all inside MOST | |
| 36 | Perfect hosts make liquor (5,6) |
| PEACH BRANDY – PEACHY around BRAND | |
| 38 | Invader loses article — that’s standard (4) |
| NORM – NORMan | |
| 39 | Plot with cold fish goes bad in retrospect (5,3) |
| STORY ARC – reversal of C[old], RAY, ROTS | |
| 41 | Do signals, somehow producing a series of notes, played rapidly (9) |
| GLISSANDO – (do signals)* | |
| 44 | Jailbird struggles to accept time limits (11) |
| CONSTRAINTS – CON STRAINS around T[ime] | |
| 45 | Regret backing competition that includes a German, say (8) |
| EUROPEAN – RUE reversed, OPEN around A | |
| 48 | Concerning smell made by trimming elderly plant (9) |
| OLFACTORY – OLd, FACTORY | |
| 49 | Starter taken off mat that’s greasy (4) |
| OILY – dOILY. Are doilies peculiarly British? | |
| 50 | A bit of restraint on a test, say, with a singsong? (8) |
| INTONATE – hidden | |
| 52 | Old writer extremely lazy in public (6) |
| OPENLY – O[ld], PEN, L{az}Y | |
| 53 | Post-match meal? (7,9) |
| WEDDING BREAKFAST – CD | |
| 54 | A referee turns around holding party hat (6) |
| FEDORA – Reversal of A REF around DO | |
| 55 | Cashmere blend? No idea! (6,2) |
| SEARCH ME – (cashmere) | |
| 56 | Plant with a name featured in song (7) |
| DITTANY – A N[ame] in DITTY | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Beat up the middleman? (6) |
| BATTER – DDCDH, based on the premise that a batter in cricket will be uccupying what is known as the “middle” | |
| 2 | Chance to have managed government department being set up (6) |
| RANDOM – RAN, M[inistry] O[f] D[efence] reversed | |
| 3 | Animal I caught at both ends of a cold country (9) |
| ICELANDIC – ELAND with I C[aught] before and after. Clever. | |
| 4 | Former African state captures one large creature for wealthy individual (11) |
| ZILLIONAIRE – ZAIRE around I L[arge] LION | |
| 5 | Charge defensive structure, we gather (4) |
| LEVY – sounds like levee | |
| 6 | In a legal position inside the box, being attentive (11) |
| CONSIDERATE – ONSIDE in CRATE. I liked “in a legal position” for onside. | |
| 7 | Canoodle endlessly with one wooing a sorcerer (11) |
| NECROMANCER – NECk, ROMANCER | |
| 8 | Refuse place in cheap spa rebuilt around river (9) |
| SCRAPHEAP – (cheap spa)* around R[iver] | |
| 10 | Key place for astronauts to hydrate? (5,3) |
| SPACE BAR – DDCDH | |
| 11 | Dean centralising revolutionary method of education (8,8) |
| DISTANCE LEARNING – (dean centralising)* | |
| 12 | Fail to meet comedian (5,2) |
| STAND UP – DD | |
| 15 | Money boxes at centre of big game (8) |
| PATIENCE – PENCE around AT, {b}I{g} | |
| 19 | Keep primary vehicle with no resistance (8) |
| MAINTAIN – MAIN, TRAIN with R[esistance] deleted | |
| 22 | Weak argument for demolishing a scarecrow? (5,3) |
| STRAW MAN – DDCDH | |
| 23 | Singer‘s town on TV in need of a clean? (5,11) |
| DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – DUSTY, SPRINGFIELD (the town inhabited by The Simpsons). I haved a vague recollection of anagram’s of Dusty’s name being a feature of her TV show. | |
| 27 | Fashionable sort of women’s garment — golly! (5,3) |
| TEDDY BOY – TEDDY, BOY! How the late Jimbo would have loved to see teddy boy defined as a fashionable sort rather than a delinquent. | |
| 28 | Leader upset religious fellow briefly (4) |
| TSAR – RASTa reversed | |
| 30 | Sports team‘s driver, perhaps (4) |
| CLUB – DD | |
| 32 | Park attendant with cry of annoyance outside glass house (8) |
| ORANGERY – RANGER in OY! | |
| 34 | Dog, say, to depart — barking (8) |
| TETRAPOD – (to depart)* | |
| 35 | Partner nods when moving communication device (11) |
| TRANSPONDER – (partner nods) | |
| 36 | Pre-prepared meal was bland according to Spooner (6,5) |
| PACKED LUNCH – Spoonerism of LACKED PUNCH. A good’un. | |
| 37 | Track feature of hindbrain that’s active with physical education (7,4) |
| HAIRPIN BEND – (hindbrain P[hysical] E[ducation])* | |
| 40 | Watery drink picked up in Thames-side location (9) |
| RUNNYMEDE – RUNNY, homophone of MEAD. | |
| 42 | Where bulb may go, covering part of corn plant (3,6) |
| SEA ROCKET – SOCKET around EAR. Nice one. | |
| 43 | Fussy sort of governess, ultimately with heart to accept learner (8) |
| STICKLER – {governes}S, TICKER around L[earner] | |
| 44 | Captain leaving for culinary competition (4-3) |
| COOK-OFF – COOK, OFF | |
| 46 | Father to cough up a fruit (6) |
| PAPAYA – PA, PAY, A. Papaya is the one that’s not a guava, of course. The original Um Bongo contained guava but not papaya, which gives me an excuse to tell you that Um Bongo was never sold in “the Congo”. I love the fact that a slightly different flavour variant was called Um Ognob. | |
| 47 | Guard posted on railway (6) |
| SENTRY – SENT, R[ailwa]Y | |
| 51 | Oscar regularly broke instrument (4) |
| OBOE – O[scar}, B{r}O{k}E | |
I never time Jumbos because it’s rare for me to solve them in a single session, but I’m sure I’ve never completed one in anything approaching 30 minutes, adding the various sessions together, so I’m impressed with your timing, Penfold.
This puzzle gave me little trouble, and my only query was the parsing at 1dn which I guessed was a reference to cricket terminology although in my days of being compelled to take part in the sport we only had batsmen, not batters. Is ‘middleman’ here a DBE then?
I didn’t get the ‘town on TV’ reference at 23dn as I am one of the few who has never watched a single moment of The Simpsons but I knew Dusty of course and actually saw her live on stage back in 1962 when she was performing in a group called The Springfields along with her brother Tom, and Mike Hurst.
That was in the days of singles with A & B-sides but I don’t think it was uncommon to refer to one of the sides (usually the A, I grant) as the performer’s latest ‘single’, so I don’t have a problem with the definition at 9ac.
Cricketers refer to batsmen as being in the middle .. bowlers and wicketkeepers are too of course but somehow the term does relate only to batsmen. Batters, not a word I would use and I suspect is a product of the increasing (and deservedly so) popularity of women’s cricket..
At the time I didn’t like Dusty Springfield all that much, but now I think she was one of the most accomplished vocalists of her time. I remember watching a “Motown Special” programme on TV that she hosted, and thinking that she was actually better than all of them..
Thanks. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for and only found references to the middle batting order.
DNK SEA ROCKET, and didn’t know what ‘middleman’ was doing in 1d, but it didn’t matter. (I also didn’t know that Dusty Springfield was dead.) Liked PEACH BRANDY.
Fusty spindle grid
1:21:36 (in two or three sessions) so pretty straightforward. Like Jackkt above, I didn’t really get batter = middleman; is middle a cricket term? or just where the batter happens to be? I liked EGOMANIA and SENTRY. And yes I enjoyed the Spoonerism of PACKED LUNCH. I find it surprisingly difficult to make an anagram of DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
Tbh I think that cheated with the anagrams.
You’re right. I had found dress, which I thought might be the start of something appropriate, but then found uplifting/lift up so abandoned it. Anyway, it was Alma Cogan who wore dresses
Enjoyed this – not a single mark on my paper copy, so evidently not too challenging! But some lovely surfaces, and some slick clues. Good work.
I never solved this at the time, and I saw the blog with the puzzle number so I solved it just now before looking at the blog. Only now as I type this did I realize that the title of the blog is an anagram of DUSTY SPRINGFIELD. I see from Wikipedia that her real name was Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien.
Think I finished this, but nothing like 30 mins.
Can you explain : where one contributer came up with “Dave Miller’s swimming trophy” for silver medal. ??
DNK DITTANY, EDENTATE, SEA ROCKET
Liked DUSTY SPRINGFIELD, ZILLIONAIRE, BSIDES
It looks like Dave Miller’s is an anagram of silver medal.
My apologies for a beginner question, as I’m new to working on puzzles from The Times, but when I went to the puzzle section on the website today it had Cryptic Jumbo #1568. Should I try to click back through the archives a couple weeks to find the one y’all are talking about?
Hi Ellie, thanks for dropping by. The cryptic Jumbo is a prize puzzle so the blog for each one only appears on here on the day that the solution is published. So the blog for 1568 will be here on Saturday August 13. If you select Crossword Club from the puzzles menu on the Times website you’ll find that you can search by puzzle number or by puzzle type and date.
Ah, I didn’t know that! That also explains why I can’t check the grid or reveal any answers like usual. Thank you!