Times Cryptic Jumbo 1591 – Boxing Day Ballcocks and Bikinis

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic

I thought this was pretty straightforward for a holiday season puzzle, breezing through in one session in under 40 minutes.

First in was OATH and last was PROBABLE.

If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation.

The technical stuff:

Clues are in blue (unless you’re in dark mode) with the definition underlined.  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 B[ook]

Across
1 Spiked drink, something taken in jest by European (6,4)
MICKEY FINN – MICKEY (as in take the…), FINN
6 Sign of fear, politician overwhelmed by stacks of flyers? (5,7)
GOOSE PIMPLES – MP in GOOSE PILES
14 One searching beyond a hundred, go on and on (7)
CHUNTER – HUNTER after C
15 Dead in Pyrenean city where land is flat (7)
PLATEAU – LATE in PAU
16 Quantity in grass picked up (7)
RESUMED – SUM in REED
17 Curse of amateur theatre, histrionics primarily (4)
OATH – initial letters
18 Disallow offer by pro (6)
FORBID – BID by PRO
20 Success securing loose strip connecting part of engine (5,3)
WRIST PIN – WIN around (strip)*
24 Accommodated by granddad, when an eccentric dealt with brutally? (6,5,3,9)
HANGED DRAWN AND QUARTERED – Woah.  I had to write the answer down and faff with the letters to figure out this parsing.  I’ll wager y’all just biffed and moved on. QUARTERED following (granddad when an)*
25 Dispatch male taken in by US author (7)
POSTAGE – STAG in POE
26 Ending in brook, no river plant (8)
KNOTWEED – {broo}K, NO, TWEED
27 Current unit frustrated, borders closed off (6)
AMPERE – {h}AMPERE{d}
29 Cool, Tom’s warmer at night? (3,4,7)
THE CATS PYJAMAS – DDCDH
31 Hollywood musical not distinguished, initially, by repetition of notes (2,2,4)
LA LA LAND – N{ot} D{istinguished} after LA, LA, LA.  A movie about Hollywood.
34 How steak might be served up, over a liquid containing last of chilli (2,6)
AU POIVRE – (up over a)* around {chill}i
36 It’s worth having prayer: it’s more unusual (10,4)
COLLECTORS ITEM – COLLECT, (prayer), (it’s more)*
39 Casually try finding two books in valley (6)
DABBLE – B[ook] x 2 in DALE
41 Expected investigation in which lab is involved (8)
PROBABLE – PROBE around (lab)*
43 As paint may be on edges of door, dash covering it (7)
NONDRIP – ON, D{oo}R, in NIP
46 Get real — as one might first thing before breakfast? (4,2,3,5,3,6)
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE – DDCDH
47 Very young children, age withheld by cheeky things? (8)
NEONATES – EON in NATES (buttocks)
48 One who has taken in the Two Peaks? (6)
CAPTOR – CAP, TOR
49 A female Wimbledon champion (4)
ASHE – A SHE
53 Absolutely right behind anything seen in colour (3,4)
HOW TRUE – R[ight] following OWT all in HUE
54 Reference celebrity no more, possibly, after conclusion of trial (7)
LEXICON – EX ICON after {tria}L
56 Picture old number (7)
IMAGINE – DD, the second being the John Lennon dirge.
57 Two couples playing game stirred drinks (5,7)
MIXED DOUBLES – DDCDH
58 Cold in April, so men shivering (10)
IMPERSONAL – (April so men)*

 

Down
1 I’m up on something snappy, stylish electronic device (9)
MICROCHIP – I’M reversed, CROC[odile], HIP
2 Get one’s chin up with training exercise at the end of the day (8,5)
COUNTING SHEEP – (get one’s chin up)*
3 Food shortage at several banks (4)
EATS – hidden
4 Permanently requiring rule too (3,4,7)
FOR GOOD MEASURE – FOR GOOD, MEASURE
5 Tot with leg raised (3)
NIP – PIN reversed
7 Old novel upset war poet (4)
OWEN – O[ld], NEW reversed
8 Nickname that’s very posh on lighter (10)
SOUBRIQUET – SO, U, BRIQUET.  My experience of briquet(te)s is that they are damn near impossible to light on a barbie, so I’m not sure what the setter is getting at.
9 I blame revolting Welsh girl from France (8)
PARISIAN – I RAP reversed, SIAN
10 E-maps too complicated: end up in ancient Asian region (11)
MESOPOTAMIA – (e-maps too)*, AIM reversed
11 Compound or element for Mediterranean grower (5,4)
LEMON TREE – (or element)*
12 Face team (4)
SIDE – DD
13 Dance with boring lover, then walk out (8)
FANDANGO – FAN (lover) bored by AND (with), GO
19 Shiner appearing in dark, I said (5,3)
BLACK EYE – BLACK, homophone of I
21 Nothing written about centre of relevant US state (6)
NEVADA – NADA around {rel}EV{ant}
22 White flyer, wings of swan on bird carrying dog upwards (8)
SNOWBALL – S{wa}N on OWL around LAB reversed
23 Insults arising, commercial office on top of it — something more to say? (8)
ADDENDUM – MUD reversed under AD[vertisement], DEN
28 Aria in opera house ultimately captured by boy on phone (2,5,1,6)
LA DONNA E MOBILE – {i}N {oper}A {hous}E in LAD ON MOBILE
29 Raze building and tower (4,4)
TEAR DOWN – (and tower)*
30 Little bit and a lot for mass killer (4,4)
ATOM BOMB – ATOM, BOMB
32 Article about the affair so deplorable, somehow (5,1,7)
AFTER A FASHION – AN around (the affair so)*
33 Staff in bar finding type of bottle (5-3)
SCREW-TOP – CREW in STOP
35 Grumpy, I will go along with editor (3-8)
ILL-HUMOURED – I’LL HUMOUR ED
37 Old Spanish chap embraces leader from Italy (6)
SENIOR – SENIOR around I{taly}
38 Playing group, girl cut card (6,4)
BRIDGE CLUB – BRIDGEt, CLUB
40 Treatment ending in a painful rip-off? (6,3)
BIKINI WAX – CD
42 Male supporting party, controller behind the throne? (8)
BALLCOCK – COCK under BALL, throne as in lav.
44 Man with gong disheartened — in bits (9)
PIECEMEAL – PIECE (chess man), MEdAL
45 Pale drunk wrapped up in winter month with gas burner? (8)
JALAPENO – (pale)* in JAN, O[xygen]
50 A borderline attention-seeker? (4)
AHEM – A HEM
51 Tool securing wheel finally — shaft connected to it? (4)
AXLE – AXE around {whee}L
52 Platform part of agenda, I see (4)
DAIS – hidden
55 Time up for game of strategy (3)
NIM – MIN[ute] reversed

 

6 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1591 – Boxing Day Ballcocks and Bikinis”

  1. 1 hour 33 minutes. OK. NHO WRISTPIN and I didn’t know how to spell SOUBRIQUET. Apparently, you could perhaps use your briquet to light your briquet(te), but I didn’t know that either. 16ac was very sneaky, using “picked up” as the definition, not a homophone indicator. LOI NEONATES. I liked SNOWBALL

  2. DNK CHUNTER, WRIST PIN, NIM. Biffed COUNTING SHEEP, SOUBRIQUET, AFTER A FASHION, SCREW-TOP, COLLECTOR’S ITEM, parsed post-submission. Biffed HANGED etc. IMAGINE, & LA LA LAND, didn’t parse. I never did get JALAPENO.

  3. Didn’t really get going on this one. Thanks for the blog, some good clues in there. Liked the CD for BIKINI WAX.

  4. I took a little under average time for this finishing in 38:55. Annoyingly, for the second Jumbo in a row, I had a typo I didn’t spot when entering it online so have 1 pink square. Not much noted on my copy, but I see had to look up the unknown WRIST PIN to check what it meant. COD to COUNTING SHEEP, but a few others made me smile – CHUNTER (nice word I remember my Dad using often), THE CATS PYJAMAS and WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE. As for BRIQUET(TE)S, I use the ones that are coated in lighting material – and maybe our setter does too. Thank-you Penfold and setter.

  5. Thanks for the blog. I also finished in under 40 minutes – 39:32 to be precise.

    And this morning I received a parcel of books with no covering letter, but on looking at the winners list on the Crossword Club web page, it appears I was the winner of this puzzle!

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