Hello again. This Jumbo I thought was fairly easy, with no nho’s at all, and a steady solve in under an hour. What did you think?
Please, do feel free to ask questions or comment as required.
I use the standard conventions like underlining the definition, CD for cryptic definition, DD for a double one, *(anargam) and so forth. Nho = “not heard of” and in case of need the Glossary is always handy
| Across | |
| 1 | In favour of National Trust, getting round quickly (6) |
| PRONTO – PRO + NT + O | |
| 4 | One adding type of fertiliser including iodine and gold (10) |
| COMPOSITOR – I(odine) in COMPOST, + OR (gold). I liked the surface misdirection.. | |
| 10 | Soldier returning in vehicle in Havana? (5) |
| CIGAR – GI rev. in CAR. | |
| 14 | Plant I weed less is all over the place (9) |
| EDELWEISS – *(I WEED LESS). I remember reading that the Austrians were unhappy with the song when the Sound of Music came out, thinking it oversentimental and wishy-washy, and that edelweiss was an unremarkable flower, not worth such a fuss. Wikipedia says that they like it a lot more now that the film attracts more tourists to Austria than Mozart does .. | |
| 15 | Weapon material is rank (5,8) |
| LANCE CORPORAL – LANCE (weapon) + CORPORAL, material, as in corporal punishment I suppose. I would use corporeal myself | |
| 16 | In part, thespian is touring player (7) |
| PIANIST – Hidden, as above. | |
| 17 | Overwhelm small dam (7) |
| SMOTHER – S(mall) + MOTHER, dam | |
| 18 | Slander about drug carrier endlessly returning by New York (7) |
| CALUMNY – CA (about), + MUL(e) rev., + NY. Drug mules appear on the news now and again, usually tourists protesting their innocence.. | |
| 19 | Dull transoceanic journey where one shouldn’t get run down (10,8) |
| PEDESTRIAN CROSSING – PEDESTRIAN (dull) + CROSSING, what one does on oceans. | |
| 21 | Booster, say, with millions put in post (4) |
| JAMB – M(illions) in JAB. I seem to have had dozens of the things, over the past few years. | |
| 24 | Dart, perhaps, to tear the number “4” from board (5) |
| RIVER – RIVE (to tear) + (boa)R(d). The IV in the answer and 4 in the clue made this tricky to parse | |
| 26 | Pounced on a doctor with uniform removed (8) |
| AMBUSHED – A + MB + U + SHED, a neat charade clue | |
| 27 | Nice grassy areas surrounded by pine (8) |
| PLEASANT – LEAS (grassy areas) in PANT (to pine for) | |
| 29 | Roman poet has sections with no page in which people fight (7,4) |
| MARTIAL ARTS – MARTIAL + (p)ARTS. Marcus Valerius Martialis, known as Martial, said to be the inventor of the epigram. | |
| 30 | Arranged a late lunch I imagine (11) |
| HALLUCINATE – *(A LATE LUNCH) | |
| 32 | Drunken order for brass hats (4,7) |
| HIGH COMMAND – HIGH (drunken) + COMMAND (order) | |
| 35 | Figure with many faces or icon heads arranged oddly (11) |
| ICOSAHEDRON – *(OR ICON HEADS). Icosahedra are regular solids with 20 equilateral triangular faces. | |
| 37 | Ability to work out odd menu with a spicy character (8) |
| NUMERACY – *(MENU) + RACY | |
| 39 | Tungsten mass perhaps gone for scrap (5,3) |
| WRITE OFF – W (tungsten, chemical symbol thereof) + RITE (eg a mass) + OFF, gone. | |
| 40 | Who brought us prize book in Christmas wrapping? (5) |
| NOBEL – B(ook) in NOEL | |
| 43 | Egyptian cross at Nut, Khonsu and Horus’s origins (4) |
| ANKH – first letters of At, Nut, Khonsu and Horus. the last three all being Egyptiand gods or goddesses | |
| 44 | Main qualm that limits UK’s ability to move to the right? (7,11) |
| CENTRAL RESERVATION – CENTRAL (main) + RESERVATION (qualm). What dual carriageways have. UK is a necessary addition since some misguided countries drive on the right. | |
| 47 | Entertainer’s rubbish on seaside promenade (7) |
| PIERROT – PIER, a seaside promenade, and ROT, a pier | |
| 48 | Throne Chinese dynasty’s threatening (7) |
| LOOMING – LOO (throne, slang word for a lavatory) + MING, the last Han Chinese dynasty between 1368 and 1644 | |
| 50 | What are often dropped both sides of Harwich? (7) |
| AITCHES – I wasn’t quite sure what to underline here, but it seems to work as a DD. | |
| 51 | Unfortunately overrates true discoveries of value (8-5) |
| TREASURE-TROVE – *(OVERRATES TRUE) | |
| 52 | Repeated a couple of points about land free from prejudices (9) |
| ENLIGHTEN – LIGHT (land, alight) in two ENs, points of the compass. “Free” is a verb in this context | |
| 53 | Peevish note written by pen (5) |
| TESTY – TE (note: a drink with jam and bread) + STY, a pen, usually for pigs | |
| 54 | Blow about past number returning penniless (5-5) |
| STONY-BROKE – BY (past) + NO, both rev. in STROKE, a blow | |
| 55 | Girl’s pretty halting initially in Scandinavian (6) |
| DAPHNE – P(retty) + H(alting), in DANE, your Scandinavian | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Who took children’s dish and ladle (one’s coming a bit late) (4,5) |
| PIED PIPER – PIE (dish) + DIPPER (ladle) with the I moved back one letter. Perhaps not the happiest of surface readings | |
| 2 | Man — not Charlie — rushed port repeatedly (4,3,4) |
| OVER AND OVER – (c)OVE (man) + RAN (rushed) + DOVER (port). Another tricky clue to parse | |
| 3 | No countrymen admit wearing formal attire outside (7) |
| TOWNIES – OWN (admit) in TIES, formal attire, one of the least useful bits. I read (in The Times) that Prince William never wears one; but a quick google search shows otherwise | |
| 5 | What’s green and round in its present state (5) |
| OASIS – O + AS IS | |
| 6 | Collie’s paws ruined bed linen (11) |
| PILLOWCASES – *(COLLIES PAWS) | |
| 7 | Fault heard with plate on quiet gear system (11) |
| SYNCHROMESH – SYN (fault, heard) + CHROME (plate) + SH, quiet. I learnt to drive on an old Ford with no synchromesh, which made double-declutching necessary. Gearboxes have come on a lot since then, thank heavens. | |
| 8 | Speculate chap needs increase in pay (8) |
| THEORISE – THEO, random chap, + RISE | |
| 9 | Where crown may conceal trouble with origin over channel (4,5) |
| ROOT CANAL – ROOT (origin) + CANAL) channel. Just writing it in made me feel queasy | |
| 10 | A prune served up under copper dome (6) |
| CUPOLA – CU (copper, Cu) + A LOP (a prune), rev. | |
| 11 | Letter about a right cold dish mostly being mixed spices (5,6) |
| GARAM MASALA – A R(ight) in GAMMA, + SALA(d), most of a cold dish. | |
| 12 | Put down again for broadcast (5) |
| RELAY – a DD | |
| 13 | Queen given choice fruit (8,4) |
| VICTORIA PLUM – VICTORIA (queen) + PLUM (fruit) | |
| 20 | Wild boar are left living among trees (8) |
| ARBOREAL – *(BOAR ARE L) | |
| 22 | Bird attacked another one (7) |
| BITTERN – BIT TERN. Two birds in one clue, I hope Astro_Nowt doesn’t see that! | |
| 23 | I am inclined to follow girl from Near East region (8) |
| GALILEAN – GAL + I LEAN, or am inclined. Galilee is a large region in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon, and not a very happy place at present I expect. | |
| 25 | Pass passenger vehicle with daughter (8) |
| RAILCARD – RAILCAR (passenger vehicle) + D(aughter). I have one, being a Senior Citizen these days | |
| 28 | Policemen outside work go after nearly all drinks (8) |
| ALCOPOPS – AL(l) (“nearly all”) + OP (work) in COPS, the police. | |
| 29 | Fixation about house plant (7) |
| MAHONIA – HO(use) in MANIA, a fixation. I had heard of mahonias, just barely. Mrs says they are a bush with yellow flowers, and apparently we have several in the garden. | |
| 31 | Stun with Stafford stable, not streets beyond one’s pocket (12) |
| UNAFFORDABLE – (st)UN + (st)AFFORD + (st)ABLE, cunning: sll the streeets have to go.. | |
| 33 | Willing footballers who mind business on the park? (11) |
| GEMEKEEPERS – the program that takes a crossword off the screen and renders it into the neat tabular form that our blogs take, also faithfully reproduces any errors or typos. I leave this one in place, to remind me to try to proofread better in future. It is of course GAMEKEEPERS: GAME (willing) + KEEPERS, those unfortunate footballers who get blamed for every defeat but get little credit for a victory. The definition here is a little strange, gamekeepers being mainly concerned with the wilder parts of an estate rather than a park as such. But it isn’t actually wrong.. a deer park, for example, may need gamekeeper attention. | |
| 34 | Hide science from mistaken Margot Doyle (11) |
| DERMATOLOGY – *(MARGOT DOYLE). I did like this definition, though. Nho anyone called Margot Doyle, although apparently there are six on LinkedIn | |
| 35 | Bury railway has a river between the lines (11) |
| INTERLINEAR – INTER (bury) + LINE (railway) + A + R(iver) | |
| 36 | Box of buns from waffle store (6,5) |
| RABBIT HUTCH – RABBIT (waffle) + HUTCH (store).. I wasn’t sure about hutch = store. But Collins says “to store or keep in or as if in a hutch,” which covers it I guess. | |
| 38 | Rears cute funny animals (9) |
| CREATURES – *(REARS CUTE) | |
| 41 | Years ago full-length trousers included inside of red (4,5) |
| LONG SINCE – LONGS (full-length trousers) + INC(luded) + (r)E(d). Another slightly strange definition but that is actually the first definition of longs, in Collins | |
| 42 | Dagger twirls oddly in fight (8) |
| STILETTO – T(w)I(r)Ls, in SET-TO, a fight | |
| 45 | Iguana roaming about top of the island (7) |
| ANTIGUA – T(he) in *(IGUANA). Neat clue, this one | |
| 46 | Lively, loud and dangerous (6) |
| FRISKY – F (loud, a music abbreviation) + RISKY, dangerous | |
| 47 | What child might do to cute animal is unimportant (5) |
| PETIT – a child might PET IT. (wouldn’t we all?). I thought petit was just French for small. But Collins, which our setter seems to have absorbed very well, says “of little or lesser importance” | |
| 49 | Like moussaka with feta? Good smell (5) |
| GREEK – G(ood) + REEK, smell | |
A couple of DNKs–SYNCHROMESH, MAHONIA–a couple of failures to parse–RIVER, OVER AND OVER, GARAM MASALA–and one error, where I flung in ISOCAHEDRON. A fairly meh sort of Jumbo.
I noted this one a ‘dead easy’ with only one answer I wasn’t sure about, ICOSAHEDRON, where I used aids to fill in the gaps. I can’t recall now, but I don’t think I would have failed to spot HEDRON so I’d guess I was checking between ICOS or ISOC. Other than that, I solved it without a problem in one session lasting under an hour.
A really speedy (for me) 66 minutes. Mostly nice straightforward stuff.
NHO MAHONIA or the “store” meaning of “hutch” but they didn’t trouble me for long. Enjoyed STILETTO with “set-to” and OASIS with “as is”. I liked CENTRAL RESERVATION and LOO MING and particularly liked the clever UNAFFORDABLE device. And then NOBEL! Another Christmas clue already, but at least (courtesy of you, Jerry, a couple of days ago) I am now well set up with the names of Santa’s reindeer.
Many thanks for the blog
This was definitely easy and a PB at 31:52.
Mahonia is sometimes called Oregon Grape due to the purple fruit. I’ve got a Mahonia x Media “Winter Sun” which as the name suggests looks great at this time of year and really brightens up an otherwise fairly dull border.