A very enjoyable Jumbo which once again I completed in a single session so can’t have been very difficult. I didn’t record my time exactly but it was in the region of 90 minutes.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Bad feeling, locked in taxi in high temperature (5,5) |
| CABIN FEVER | |
| CAB (taxi), IN, FEVER (high temperature) | |
| 6 | Junior officer hit worker, perhaps a civilian (12) |
| NONCOMBATANT | |
| NONCOM (junior officer), BAT (hit), ANT (worker). From Collins it appears that NONCOM is the US equivalent of our NCO standing for ‘Non-commissioned Officer’ i.e. an officer of fairly low rank such as a sergeant or corporal. ‘Perhaps a civilian’ because a non-combatant might also be e.g. a chaplain. | |
| 14 | Hair that is short and curly (7) |
| PIGTAIL | |
| I take this as is a literal definition with a cryptic hint referring to actual pigs’ tails which are undoubtedly short and curly. Pigtail as a hair style is of no specific length but can be quite long and some are quite straight. | |
| 15 | Loudly disapprove of unproductive sort of logic (7) |
| BOOLEAN | |
| BOO (loudly disapprove of), LEAN (unproductive – as in a lean year) | |
| 16 | Subtle Greek character skipped away from head (7) |
| NUANCED | |
| NU (Greek character), {d}ANCED (skipped) [away from head] | |
| 17 | Drop flier back (4) |
| DRIB | |
| BIRD (flier) reversed [back]. I’ve only ever met ‘drib’ in the expression ‘dribs and drabs’ but here it is on its own, derived from ‘dribble’ or ‘driblet’. | |
| 18 | Bog’s depths initially repel (6) |
| OFFEND | |
| OF FEN (bog’s – possessive), D{epths} [initially] | |
| 20 | Briefly left top of hill for cooked breakfast (8) |
| PORRIDGE | |
| POR{t} (left) [briefly], RIDGE (top of hill) | |
| 24 | Novel warning widely posted by one relatively interfering (3,7,2,8,3) |
| BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU | |
| I tried to break this down but concluded it’s a cryptic definition. The novel is Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four of course. | |
| 25 | Go back into part of prison perhaps visibly upset (7) |
| WEEPING | |
| PEE (go) reversed [back] contained by [into] WING (part of prison perhaps) | |
| 26 | Daughter arrived after the start in her finery (6,2) |
| DOLLED UP | |
| D (daughter), {r}OLLED UP (arrived) [after the start] | |
| 27 | Heard nothing new? Shame (2,4) |
| OH DEAR | |
| Anagram [new] of HEARD 0 (nothing). A tiny indirect element to the anagram here. | |
| 29 | Pounded, flee across with or without changing course (2,3,4,5) |
| AS THE CROW FLIES | |
| Anagram [pounded] of FLEE ACROSS WITH | |
| 31 | Breaks down domain name and puts up online (8) |
| COMPOSTS | |
| COM (domain name), POSTS (puts up online) | |
| 34 | One writing around book length in illegible hand (8) |
| SCRIBBLE | |
| SCRIBE (one writing) containing [around] B (book) + L (length) | |
| 36 | Lacking energy, hears public transport’s convenient for work (8,6) |
| TRISTRAM SHANDY | |
| TRI{e}S (hears) [lacking energy], TRAM’S (public transport’s), HANDY (convenient) | |
| 39 | Be little affected by one’s having broken sleep (6) |
| RESIST | |
| I’S (one’s) contained by [having broken] REST (sleep) | |
| 41 | Publicises journey and its starting point? (8) |
| AIRSTRIP | |
| AIRS (publicises), TRIP (journey). The definition refers back to ‘journey’. | |
| 43 | Running around indoors, mute (7) |
| SORDINO | |
| Anagram [running around] of INDOORS. One for the musicians: con sordino – with mute – and senza sordino to cancel it. |
|
| 46 | Short notice badly deceives, if mistranslated (10,13) |
| CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENT | |
| Anagram [badly] of DECEIVES IF MISTRANSLATED | |
| 47 | Finally putting a drink before tortoise (8) |
| GALAPAGO | |
| {puttin}G (finally), A, LAP (drink), AGO (before). Named after the Galapagos Islands it inhabits. I had to hunt for it spelt without the S and eventually found it, but I now can’t recall where. | |
| 48 | Stay with sober group around November in the country (6) |
| GUYANA | |
| GUY (stay – rope), then AA (sober group) containing [around] N (November – NATO alphabet) | |
| 49 | With others behind, returning (2,2) |
| ET AL | |
| LATE (behind) reversed [returning] | |
| 53 | Impressive genes, not extremely common to both sexes (7) |
| EPICENE | |
| EPIC (impressive), {g}ENE{s} [not extremely]. I’ve seen the expression ‘epicene beauty’ used to describe people in novels. | |
| 54 | Finds at home, and allows to escape (7) |
| INVENTS | |
| IN (at home), VENTS (allows to escape) | |
| 56 | I waste time inhaling drug, for preference (7) |
| IDEALLY | |
| I, DALLY (waste time) containing [inhaling] E (drug) | |
| 57 | With caginess, Gill breaking barrier to progress (5,7) |
| GLASS CEILING | |
| Anagram [breaking] of CAGINESS GILL | |
| 58 | Revolutionary used to take month out, given another job (10) |
| REDEPLOYED | |
| RED (revolutionary), E{m}PLOYED (used) [take month out] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Raised bids to fiddle inside female’s lovely mouth? (6,3) |
| CUPIDS BOW | |
| UP (raised) + anagram [to fiddle] of BIDS, contained by [inside] COW (female). It refers specifically to the shape of the upper lip. | |
| 2 | Appeal from gambler including encouraging line (7,6) |
| BEGGING LETTER | |
| BETTER (gambler) containing [including] EGGING (encouraging) + L (line). I’m not sure that ‘egging’ has the required meaning unless followed by ‘on’. | |
| 3 | Bread not available? Some is short (4) |
| NAAN | |
| N/A (not available), AN{y} (some) [short] | |
| 4 | Singer is suitable to hear, girl and boy admit (4,10) |
| ELLA FITZGERALD | |
| ELLA (girl) + GERALD (boy) contain [admit] FITZ which sounds like [to hear] “fits” (is suitable) | |
| 5 | Decline to start eating big breakfast (3) |
| EBB | |
| E{ating} + B{ig} + B{reakfast} [to start] | |
| 7 | Visiting Australia, you call to attract attention (4) |
| OYEZ | |
| YE (you) contained by [visiting] OZ (Australia). The traditional call of Town Criers to attract attention prior to making a public announcement. | |
| 8 | Association opposed to tourism in resort (10) |
| CONSORTIUM | |
| CON (opposed to), anagram [in resort] of TOURISM | |
| 9 | Working through month with pay at the end, as a rule (8) |
| MONARCHY | |
| ON (working) contained by [through] MARCH (month), {pa}Y [at the end] | |
| 10 | A teacher’s maintaining veto on knowing the latest emergency order (7,4) |
| ABANDON SHIP | |
| A + DON’S (teacher’s) containing [maintaining] BAN (veto), then HIP (knowing the latest) | |
| 11 | Perfect model car — vault over it (9) |
| ARCHETYPE | |
| ARCH (vault), E-TYPE (car – Jaguar) | |
| 12 | Wonder about leaving tideway in an orderly state (4) |
| TIDY | |
| TID{ewa}Y : [awe (wonder) reversed [about] leaving] | |
| 13 | Valid legal document is a business asset (8) |
| GOODWILL | |
| GOOD WILL (valid legal document) | |
| 19 | Scans the hill, so calling to start game (4,4) |
| EYES DOWN | |
| EYES (scans), DOWN (hill). Bingo callers announce this at the start of a game, or more usually ‘Eyes down for a full house’. It just means look at your game cards and be ready to cross off numbers as they are called. | |
| 21 | Punch may have this effect — reportedly makes tea (6) |
| BRUISE | |
| Sounds like [reportedly] “brews” [makes tea] | |
| 22 | Small widows’ veils ending up at the cleaners (8) |
| SWEEPERS | |
| S (small), WEEPERS (widows’ veils). Weepers can be anything worn as a traditional badge of mourning. | |
| 23 | Supply US with energy for island (8) |
| GUERNSEY | |
| Anagram [supply] of US ENERGY | |
| 28 | Uniformed man’s authority over fine corps (14) |
| COMMISSIONAIRE | |
| COMMISSION (authority), A1 (fine), RE (corps) | |
| 29 | Painting a leaf wrapping stone (8) |
| ABSTRACT | |
| A, BRACT (leaf) containing [wrapping] ST (stone). This word for a leaf turned up for the first time in the TfTT era in a clue set on 10th April only 5 days before this Jumbo was published. Fortunately I’d not had time to forget it! | |
| 30 | Rest period, at the test match? (5,3) |
| LORDS DAY | |
| ‘The Lord’s Day’ is sometimes used to refer to the Christian sabbath i.e. Sunday. The cryptic hint refers to Lord’s cricket ground which regularly hosts test matches. | |
| 32 | Given an errand, one people credit with tender emotion (13) |
| SENTIMENTALLY | |
| SENT (given an errand), I (one), MEN (people), TALLY (credit). ‘On tally’ is slang of ‘on credit’. | |
| 33 | Permanent quality something brought on stage (8) |
| PROPERTY | |
| Two meanings, the second with reference portable items other than furniture or costumes used on the set of a play or film, more usually abbreviated to ‘props’. | |
| 35 | Where to find the finest vintages, we hear — they fly off the shelves (4,7) |
| BEST SELLERS | |
| Sounds like (we hear) “best cellars” (where to find the finest vintages). The literal might refer to any popular items but I tend to think of books. | |
| 37 | Wounded horse with weapons (6) |
| HARMED | |
| H (horse), ARMED (with weapons) | |
| 38 | This could suggest girl left meat dish (5,5) |
| MIXED GRILL | |
| A reverse anagram [MIXED] of GRIL, L (left) | |
| 40 | In paradise almost furiously anxious at first to uphold peace (7-2) |
| SHANGRI-LA | |
| SH (peace!), ANGRIL{y} (furiously) [almost], A{nxious} [at first] | |
| 42 | Storming round Virginia wreaking destruction (8) |
| RAVAGING | |
| RAGING (storming) containing [round] VA (Virginia) | |
| 44 | Defeated by a better dramatist? (9) |
| OUTPLAYED | |
| A literal with amusing cryptic support | |
| 45 | Perhaps bishop’s uniform (2,1,5) |
| OF A PIECE | |
| OF A PIECE (perhaps bishop’s) | |
| 50 | Composer committed to chamber group (4) |
| BERG | |
| Hidden in [committed to] {cham}BER G{roup} | |
| 51 | River that is a feature of some German names (4) |
| AVON | |
| A, VON (feature of some German names). Baron von Richthofen aka the Red Baron, for example. | |
| 52 | Divorced from old wife, chap collapsed (4) |
| FELL | |
| FELL{o w} (chap) [divorced from old wife) | |
| 55 | Get to appear shortly (3) |
| SEE | |
| SEE{m} (appear) [shortly]. Get it? | |
Fairly easy. I biffed ELLA FITZGERALD from the E & enumeration, and TRISTRAM SHANDY from the M and H. DNK SORDINO & EYES DOWN. Jack, I think you meant (GIRL)?
Thanks. I wrote GRIL,L intentionally but can’t recall my reasoning now so have amended as you suggested.
Whoa. It is MIXED GRIL that suggests girl
Now I can’t remember my reasoning!
Thanks, and I have reverted to my original version. No problem as a solver, but as a blogger I hate these reverse-type clues. I also hate explaining substitutions.
1hr 35mins. A nicely pitched Jumbo. I finished it yesterday, and by then I had been introduced to the word EPICENE in Thursdays 15×15. I am not sure I’d have got it if I hadn’t. DNK SORDINO. Struggled to parse 22dn because I knew widow’s weeds, which got me nowhere, but did not know weepers. I liked OF FEN for bog’s in 18ac
Quite liked this, a steady solve.
Galapago is in Collins
Has anyone ever actually read Tristram Shandy?
I did, for my sins. Maybe not all of it, come to think of it.
I started but ran out of steam halfway through. I really enjoyed A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by the same author which is much shorter. I also recommend the movie Tristram Shandy A Cock and Bull Story with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan-very entertaining.
Grr. A careless EPIGENE… when I knew it was EPICENE, gave me a pink square. All done in 32 minutes, so rather on the easy side I think, although I see I got to 34A on my first pass before I got an answer. GALAPAGO was new to me, but seemed likely knowing the island was famous for the giant tortoises. WEEPERS for widows’ veils was also unknown. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENT was good and I liked OH DEAR, EYES DOWN, OUTPLAYED and the well-hidden BERG. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
Agree with kapietro – nicely pitched, neither too easy nor too hard. Appreciation to setter and blogger.