Evenin’ all. Sorry this is up later than normal, been sidetracked by work and family stuff.
Another gentler Jumbo offering this week, keeping me busy for no more than 40 minutes including working out all the parsings.
First in was VICTORIA CROSS and last was EXTENUATE.
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 W[est]
| Across | |
| 1 | Place to drink in west Peru unfortunately overrun by bachelors (7) |
| BREWPUB – (W[est] PERU)* in B[achelor] x2 | |
| 5 | Runs after insect close to some other creatures (9) |
| ANTELOPES – LOPES after ANT {som}E | |
| 10 | Grasp a bit of wood (4) |
| TWIG – DD | |
| 14 | Winner angry about sixth in javelin getting a medal (8,5) |
| VICTORIA CROSS – VICTOR, CROSS around {javel}I{n} A | |
| 15 | Canonises extraordinary biblical event (9) |
| ASCENSION – (canonises)* | |
| 16 | Stop working with Conservative friend, suppressing one little article (4,2,1,3) |
| CALL IT A DAY – C{onservative] ALLY around I TAD A | |
| 17 | High society venerating Venus at times (7,4) |
| EVENING STAR – (S[ociety] venerating)* | |
| 18 | Is angry girl finally ejected from rides? (5) |
| FUMES – FLUMES missing {gir}L | |
| 19 | Swooped to arrest Harry’s pal, it’s said (10) |
| PRONOUNCED – POUNCED around RON (Weasley ex the Harry Potter books) | |
| 21 | Certify a temperature check (6) |
| ATTEST – A T[emperature] TEST | |
| 23 | One receiving item of clothing found in a river (9) |
| ADDRESSEE – DRESS in A DEE | |
| 25 | Vicar finished — prepare to move? (3,2) |
| REV UP – REV[erend] UP | |
| 26 | Switch positions to get beer regularly discounted (2,5) |
| ON OFFER – ON / OFF, {b}E{e}R | |
| 28 | Visionary bank employee is after loads of money (7-6) |
| FORTUNE-TELLER – TELLER after FORTUNE | |
| 31 | Conservative position on playing fields? (5-4) |
| RIGHT-WING – DD, the second being a “soccer’ position | |
| 33 | Look — African country’s backed abandoning island test site (3,6) |
| LOS ALAMOS – LO then SOMALIA revesred without I[sland]. A-bomb test site in New Mexico. | |
| 35 | Criminal fetches pie, I go for some coins (6,2,5) |
| PIECES OF EIGHT – (fetches pie I go)* | |
| 37 | Old Arab wins a race, newcomer admits (7) |
| SARACEN – hidden | |
| 38 | Range of addresses covering area (5) |
| URALS – URLS around A[rea] | |
| 40 | Turner finished study at last in solitary setting? (6,3) |
| LONDON EYE – DONE {study} in LONE | |
| 42 | Something unique I do away with (3-3) |
| ONE-OFF – ONE (I) OFF do away with as in kill. | |
| 44 | Unconventional sort of complimentary booze (4,6) |
| FREE SPIRIT – DDCDH | |
| 46 | For example, A&E records (5) |
| NOTES – DD | |
| 48 | Race brother frantically to become leader (11) |
| TORCHBEARER – (race brother)* | |
| 50 | Hamming it up and going too far not concerning (10) |
| OVERACTING – OVERREACTING without RE | |
| 52 | Poet briefly following an elected official, at first quite slowly (9) |
| ANDANTINO – DANT{e} after AN, IN (elected), O{fficial} | |
| 53 | Place for child beginning to be mature has food and game equipment (8,5) |
| CRIBBAGE BOARD – CRIB, B{e}, AGE, BOARD. My card game of choice. | |
| 54 | Fruit chopped near a city (4) |
| LIMA – LIMe, A | |
| 55 | Dossier contains lady with a grand bird of prey (4,5) |
| FISH EAGLE – FILE around SHE A G[rand] | |
| 56 | Queen put on a lot of perfume approaching unknown landscape (7) |
| SCENERY – E.R. on SCEN{t}, Y | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Reportedly drink a bunch (4) |
| BEVY – sounds like bevvy | |
| 2 | Old flame — extremely critical — pointed and shouted (9) |
| EXCLAIMED – EX, C[ritica}L, AIMED | |
| 3 | Country‘s crazy public school fee in paper (7,8,2,5) |
| PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA – (public school fee in paper)* | |
| 4 | Description of a city is hyped (5-2) |
| BUILT-UP – DD | |
| 5 | Choices read out for church district (11) |
| ARCHDIOCESE – (choices read)* | |
| 6 | Fellow reportedly in favour of boxing with piece of wood (3-2-4) |
| TWO-BY-FOUR – TOBY + homophone of FOR around W[ith] | |
| 7 | Man perhaps following large thread (5) |
| LISLE – ISLE after L[arge] | |
| 8 | Song perhaps heard by footballer who’s trying to stop a fight (11) |
| PEACEKEEPER – Homophone of PEACE + (goal)KEEPER | |
| 9 | What might be pulled by worker without a complaint? (6) |
| SICKIE – CD. I’m not sure how Brit-centric this might be. | |
| 11 | Stretch outside street, making a high-pitched noise (7) |
| WHISTLE – WHILE around ST[reet] | |
| 12 | Military officer at peak time cuts power source (9) |
| GENERATOR – GEN[eral] TOR cut by ERA. Yoda grammar. | |
| 13 | He thinks of battleground prepared for old warriors (7,2,3,5,5) |
| KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE – (he thinks of battleground)*. Great spot. | |
| 18 | Scared of loud tirade (7) |
| FEARFUL – F[orte], EARFUL | |
| 20 | Vehicle heading north uncovered barren region of Spain (7) |
| NAVARRE – VAN reversed, {b}ARRE{n} | |
| 22 | Cow with no hair scratching head underneath pine (8) |
| LONGHORN – sHORN under LONG | |
| 24 | Irate with sons joining forces (8) |
| STEAMING – S[ons], TEAMING | |
| 27 | Chuck‘s brief liaison (5) |
| FLING – DD | |
| 29 | Part of staircase in skyscraper is erected (5) |
| RISER – hidden | |
| 30 | US city home for French mathematician (7) |
| LAPLACE – L.A., PLACE. I got a bit sidetracked thinking “home for French” was part of the wordplay. | |
| 32 | Estimate includes time left to make chicken (7) |
| GUTLESS – GUESS around T[ime] L[eft] | |
| 34 | Certain figures having uncool origins (6,5) |
| SQUARE ROOTS – SQUARE, ROOTS | |
| 36 | Learn beagle is changing — it’s not as big as it could be! (11) |
| ENLARGEABLE – (learn beagle)* | |
| 37 | Minor accident producing deficit (9) |
| SHORTFALL – SHORT FALL | |
| 39 | Take a drink, perfecting way of removing liquid (9) |
| SIPHONING – SIP, HONING | |
| 41 | Lessen the impact of a university from the south interrupting degree (English) (9) |
| EXTENUATE – A U[niversity] reversed in EXTENT, E[nglish] | |
| 43 | Title of organ recital ultimately upset music fan (7) |
| EARLDOM – EAR, {recita}L, MOD reversed | |
| 45 | Drink last of liquor, slump over, and cry due to this? (4,3) |
| TEAR GAS – TEA, {liquo}R, SAG reversed | |
| 47 | Sculpture is a consolation (6) |
| RELIEF – DD | |
| 49 | Look around park and castle on vacation (5) |
| RECCE – REC, CastlE | |
| 51 | Toy losing head in whirlpool (4) |
| EDDY – tEDDY | |
Yes. Good evening. This one took me 1hr 21mins, so not too many problems, but I really struggled to parse GENERATOR (it has far more of the general than we needed) and I didn’t immediately see the notes in A&E or the elected official in ANDANTINO, so I liked them when I did.
I liked TWO-BY-FOUR – and somehow recognised it as a piece of wood – while not knowing the significance (if any) of those particular measurements. I thought I might find a two-by-four room in King of the Road but no, it’s an eight-by-twelve four-bit room. And that’s the earworm for today.
I particularly liked ON OFFER, with the switch positions, and SQUARE ROOTS
I’ve don’t keep track of Jumbo solving times, but I noted on my copy that I found this quite easy and completed it in one session, which is quite unusual for me. The only answer I recall looking twice at was BREWPUB as it’s not a term I’m familiar with although I have visited several pubs known as microbreweries.
No horses frightened here. I did wonder about 9dn: I suspect this may be a very UK-centric usage which would make it more or less unsolvable for our American friends.
SICKIE was indeed my LOI, and I guess I just guessed it, though probably looking it up before writing it in. I also guessed that Harry in 19ac was Potter, but didn’t know the friend’s name. I was surprised to see ‘public’ as part of the anagrist for 3d. Biffed TWO-BY-FOUR, never figured out how it worked.
Gentle indeed at 35:06
Thanks for the blog Penfold. Just a minor point – the definition of 44a is “unconventional sort” I think.
Of course, corrected, thanks.