This one is a middle of the road Jumbo Cryptic, I think, with plenty of straightforward clues to give you some checkers and a few less common words to boost your vocabulary. 1A was my FOI despite being the first of my unknowns. Once I got to the downs the first 12 all dropped in on the first pass but there were a few that slowed me down after that. I finished in 36 1/2 minutes, which is a bit faster than average for me. I liked the travelling dog, the edible wood and the not-so-busy afternoon best. Thank-you setter. How did you all like it?
Definitions underlined in bold italics , ( Abc )* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Muse, when given info, probing twitch causing malformation (11) |
| TERATOGENIC – ERATO (Muse) GEN (info) in, [probing], TIC (twitch). A new word to me… “ Of, relating to, or causing malformations of an embryo or a fetus “ | |
| 7 | Set up area to have meal outside (6) |
| LAUNCH – A (area) with LUNCH (meal) [outside]. | |
| 10 | A joke about being doddery (4) |
| GAGA – A GAG (joke) [about]. | |
| 14 | Actor in America: act’s ending with popular love verse (7) |
| USTINOV –US (America) acT [‘s ending] IN (popular) V (verse). I see Peter Ustinov died as long ago as 2004. | |
| 15 | Overact as radio geek with modern technology increased? (3,2,2) |
| HAM IT UP – HAM (radio geek) IT (modern technology) UP increased. Learn all about Ham Radio here. | |
| 16 | Number joining the woman outside work that no-one would fancy ? (2-5) |
| NO-HOPER – NO (number) HER (woman) [outside] OP (opus, work). A horse-racing term. The meaning of fancy here is “willing to bet on”. | |
| 17 | Sculptor as one to fashion government offices (13) |
| PROCONSULATES – (Sculptor as one)* [to fashion]. | |
| 18 | Former English politician (one in a hundred) getting let-off (9) |
| EXEMPTION –EX (former) E (English) MP (politician), I (one) [in] TON (a hundred). A neat 5-parter of an assembly pack. | |
| 19 | Draw sketches maybe moving around church (5) |
| TRACE -ART (sketches, maybe) [moving round] -> TRA, CE (church). | |
| 21 | Film about old school is exposing hater of marriage (10) |
| MISOGAMIST –MIST (film) [about] O (old) GAM (school). Not a word I knew, but fairly obvious. | |
| 23 | What may sound like iron temperament (6) |
| METTLE -Sounds like METAL (iron). Aren’t we being deprived of a “?” to indicate a definition by example? | |
| 25 | What’s falsely portrayed about Queen brings conflict (8) |
| FRICTION – FICTION (what’s falsely portrayed) [about] R (Regina; queen). | |
| 26 | Daughter is going to gig with blokes, event ultimately producing upset (14) |
| DISCONCERTMENT – D (daughter) IS CONCERT (gig) MEN (blokes) evenT [ultimately]. A new word for my vocabulary. | |
| 29 | Woman in the course of time to become mean ? (7) |
| AVERAGE – VERA (woman) in AGE (the course of time). As I remember from my maths, other sorts of average are the median and the mode. | |
| 30 | Not favouring Eastern jewellery for presents (9) |
| OFFERINGS – OFF (not favouring) E (eastern) RINGS (jewellery). | |
| 31 | Reptile with label turning yellow (5) |
| GATOR – TAG (label) [turning] -> GAT, OR (golden yellow). | |
| 32 | Drunk this evening? That’s not on! (5) |
| TIGHT – T{on}IGHT (this evening) without the ON. | |
| 34 | They have offensive weapons ? They must be charged (9) |
| BATTERIES -Double definition, both cryptic. | |
| 37 | Grumble with the old woman down below (7) |
| MAUNDER –MA (old woman) UNDER (down below). Another new word for me. I’ll have try using it when I might have used “chunter” and see if people know what I mean. | |
| 39 | Computer feature , from being uninitialised, expanded? (4-4,6) |
| READ-ONLY MEMORY – The abbreviation {f}ROM [unitialised], [expanded]. Nice one. | |
| 41 | Have a bit of time with girls — that’s sweet (8) |
| MOLASSES –MO (a bit of time) LASSES (girls), with a cryptic definition. | |
| 43 | Tears apart the character finally appearing as substitute (6) |
| ERSATZ -( Tears )* [apart] Z (the final character in the alphabet). | |
| 44 | A series of points suggesting one should sign up? (6,4) |
| DOTTED LINE – Cryptic definition. Nice one. | |
| 45 | Time to go to India to find enchantress (5) |
| HOURI – HOUR (time) I (India in the NATO phonetic alphabet). | |
| 48 | Instrument in a workplace knocked over by travelling dog (9) |
| BALALAIKA -A LAB (workplace) [knocked over] -> BALA, LAIKA (travelling dog). Read all about the instrument here and the space-travelling dog here. | |
| 49 | Prisoners OK for being disciplined, not beyond being controlled (13) |
| CONSTRAINABLE – CONS (prisoners) TRAINABLE (OK for being disciplined). Trainable like a dog, I suppose. | |
| 51 | Engineers facing gales maybe — procedures to start again? (7) |
| REWINDS – RE (Royal Engineers) WINDS (gales, perhaps). | |
| 52 | Statement of personal ambition to pen lines revealing malice (3,4) |
| ILL WILL – I WILL (statement of personal ambition) outside, [to pen], L L (line and another line). | |
| 53 | Country peasants ultimately embraced by public schoolboy without end (7) |
| ESTONIA – peasantS [ultimately] [embraced by] ETONIA{n} (schoolboy) [without end]. | |
| 54 | Plant seen in old vessel, round to the left (4) |
| OKRA – ARK ( old vessel) O (round letter) [to the left] -> OKRA. Also known as ladies fingers. | |
| 55 | What’s expected — disciple becoming minister (6) |
| PARSON – PAR (what’s expected at golf if you are a professional) SON (disciple). I was slightly surprised by son = disciple, but it is in Chambers. | |
| 56 | Log — wood that can be eaten ! (6,5) |
| MINUTE STEAK – MINUTES (log of points from a meeting) TEAK (wood). Nice surface – ha ha. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Elephantine yell of loose woman losing head (7) |
| TRUMPET – {s}TRUMPET (loose woman) [losing head]. | |
| 2 | New realisation brings excuse (11) |
| RATIONALISE -[New] (realisation)*. | |
| 3 | Dance with zest and love (5) |
| TANGO – TANG (zest) O (round letter; zero; love). | |
| 4 | Call a person to allocate belfry duty? (4,7,1,4) |
| GIVE SOMEONE A BELL – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 5 | Sort of philosopher‘s province, greeting cant (8) |
| NIHILIST –NI (Northern Ireland; province) HI (greeting) LIST (cant; tip). | |
| 6 | Violent ma got fierce and suffered badly (4,2,5) |
| CAME TO GRIEF – [Violent] (ma got fierce)*. Oh no! I put “COME” rather than “CAME” in for the first word. Stupid boy. | |
| 7 | Car plant (5) |
| LOTUS – Double definition. I visited “the spiritual home of Lotus Cars”, The Bird in Hand in Norfolk, just down the road from the headquarters, on a recent walk. I rather like the look of the new Evija, but 0-186mph in 9.1s sounds more than a bit scary. Sorry. I digress. | |
| 8 | Disagreeable incident when a Parisian worker carrying requests meets head (14) |
| UNPLEASANTNESS –UN (a Parisian; a in French) ANT (worker), [carrying] PLEAS (requests), NESS (head). | |
| 9 | Report of triumph over one of two in autumn game (6) |
| CONKER -Sounds like, [report of], CONQUER (triumph). Anyone for conkers? I’ve seen some beauties this autumn. | |
| 11 | A bit of the argument intended to be heard in scheduled meeting? (11) |
| APPOINTMENT –A PPOINT MENT, sounds like POINT (bit of the argument) MEANT (intended) [to be heard]. | |
| 12 | A right row or “do” (7) |
| ARRANGE –A R (right) RANGE (row). | |
| 13 | Sailors taking time to produce cargo? (8) |
| SHIPMENT – SHIPMEN (sailors) T (time). | |
| 20 | Competitor, not entirely intelligent, ranting (7) |
| ENTRANT – Hidden in, [not entirely], intelligENT RANTing. | |
| 22 | Scottish officer? A Scot with little hesitation (5) |
| MACER – MAC (a Scot) ER (little hesitation). “(in Scotland) an official who keeps order in a law court“. I first came across this in recent Polygon puzzle. | |
| 24 | Tell a person off in no uncertain way, but don’t remove computer? (3,7,4,2) |
| LET SOMEONE HAVE IT – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 25 | Praise female — second (7) |
| FLATTER – F (female) LATTER (second of two). | |
| 27 | Fighters hurting, climbing at foot of hill (7) |
| TOREROS -SORE (hurting) [climbing] -> EROS, below TOR (hill). | |
| 28 | People in the same school class maybe rose with importance unexpectedly (14) |
| CONTEMPORARIES – (rose importance)* [unexpectedly]. | |
| 31 | Abandoning hotel, fiend has smashed dish (7) |
| GOULASH – G{h}OUL (fiend) without the H (hotel), (has)* [smashed]. | |
| 33 | One whose work might result in a fiasco (11) |
| GLASSBLOWER – Cryptic definition – a fiasco is an Italian glass bottle. | |
| 35 | Cornish tourist in ME upset police force (5) |
| EMMET – ME [upset] -> EM, MET (Metropolitan police force). | |
| 36 | Stir with dire men out to create political movement wanting land grab? (11) |
| IRREDENTISM – (Stir dire men)* [out]. I’d never heard of this, but the checkers helped. My SLOI. | |
| 38 | Gap outside old city, source of bloody riot (11) |
| DISTURBANCE – DISTANCE (gap), [outside] UR (old city) [source of] B{loody}. Splitting of “bloody riot” required. | |
| 40 | Go around in public, ultimately keen to stop criticism (8) |
| OUTFLANK – OUT (in public), [ultimately] {kee}N inside, [to stop], FLAK (criticism). My LOI. | |
| 42 | One in Somerset location left operating sporting event (8) |
| BIATHLON – I (one) [in] BATH (Somerset location), L (left) ON (operating). | |
| 43 | Stop gambler somehow losing pounds, ending with nothing (7) |
| EMBARGO – (gamb{l}er)* [losing pounds] [somehow], O (0; nothing). | |
| 46 | Short piece specially placed on ’orse — it may ease swelling (3,4) |
| ICE PACK – [short] ({p}iece)*, {h}ACK ({h}orse). | |
| 47 | Busiest afternoon accommodates it? Yes and no! (6) |
| SIESTA -Hidden in, [accommodates] BuSIEST Afternoon. Nice one. | |
| 49 | Mark part of body (5) |
| COLON -Doubled definition, the first a punctuation mark. | |
| 50 | Among partners in game had to be bottom (5) |
| NATES –ATE (had) in N-S (partners in bridge). Clever. A “bottom” in duplicate bridge is when you and your partner score worst on a hand compared to all the other partnerships playing the same cards as you. | |
DNK MACER, ‘fiasco’, or GIVE … A BELL. At 4d I confidently put in GIVE SOMEONE A RING, where it remained for some time. I would have thought that BATTERIES have only defensive weapons.
Also didn’t know MACER as such but I’m aware the part a ‘mace’ plays in many a ceremony and official function so it was not much of a stretch.
I solved this in two sittings but needed aids for OKRA (should have got it) and to unscramble the anagram of PROCONSULATES.
Just over one and a half hours, around my average time, but with two wrong. I am struggling to be all correct lately. At 21ac I put a Y in the middle of NHO MISOGAMIST having constructed it with GYM for school. Annoying, as I know GAM and I clearly remember it causing discussion at a couple of outings a while ago. But then I went and spelled the bally dog wrong (LEIKA?). When I was a kid, my mate Graham next door, his dad worked for LOTUS. I didn’t know then how cool that was
I found this pretty straightforward in spite of the higher-than average funny-word count. However it turns out that I can’t spell a word – IRREDENTISM – I thought I could spell, so didn’t check against the anagram fodder. Grr.
Found this about medium.
Thank you for the link to that scary Lotus, John. I seriously question the claim that it is as good around town as it is on the track.. who wants to tackle London traffic in a car where your head is a foot off the ground? And would the boot really take all of the Tesco shop?
Having said that, the Lotus Elan my friend still owns is a pussycat of a sports car and comfortable to drive..