Times Cryptic Jumbo 1699 (26 October 2024)

Solving time: 59 minutes. This was my fastest ever Jumbo. The top half almost wrote itself in. The lower half was more tricky, especially in the SE quarter where with an eye on the clock I struggled to finish within the hour.

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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Air-conditioning extremely welcomed by right-minded; so hot right now! (3,3,4)
ALL THE RAGE
A{ir-conditionin}G [extremely] contained [welcomed] by ALL THERE (right-minded – sane)
6 Tortuously agonise with clue involving hours seated here? (6,6)
CHAISE LONGUE
Anagram [tortuously] of AGONISE CLUE containing [involving] H (hours)
14 Host Kent, certain to lose both openers (9)
ENTERTAIN
{K}ENT +{c}ERTAIN [lose both openers]
15 Old croupier eventually cut deck (5)
ORLOP
O (old), {croupie}R [eventually], LOP (cut). Usually the lowest deck immediately over the hold.
16 Flower arranging embargo introduced by Swedish institution (7)
IKEBANA
BAN (embargo) contained [introduced] by IKEA (Swedish institution)
17 NYC village meme guarding against British standard (9,4,4)
GREENWICH MEAN TIME
GREENWICH  (NYC village), MEME containing [guarding] ANTI (against). A timely clue, because the UK was about revert to GMT on the day following publication of this puzzle.
18 Junior officer expected to be out of uniform with whip round (5)
CADET
CAT (whip) containing [around] D{u}E (expected) [out of uniform]. As far as I’m aware a cadet is a trainee rather than a junior officer.
19 Function in November completely rejected meat (7)
VENISON
SINE (function) contained by [in] NOV (November) all reversed [completely rejected]
21 Deaden the sound of animal going about very loudly (6)
MUFFLE
MULE (animal) containing [going about] FF (very loudly)
22 Second comics, with covers going cheap (8)
ECONOMIC
{s}ECON{d} + {c}OMIC{s} [with covers going]
24 David briefly returns to visit granny (she’s from Reno) (7)
NEVADAN
DAVE (David briefly) reverses [returns] and is contained by [to visit] NAN (granny)
26 One should be able to complete a sentence (8)
PRISONER
Cryptic (barely). But they rarely do as the large majority are released early.
27 Party is boring; stuffiest atmosphere (6)
FIESTA
Hidden in [is boring] {stuf}FIEST A{tmosphere}
30 Reserve chicken, 14lb (11)
YELLOWSTONE
YELLOW (chicken – cowardly), STONE (14lb – Imperial measure). Yellowstone National Park is a nature and environmental reserve.
32 Fighter for the Union betrays chap bored by combat (4,7)
SHOP STEWARD
SHOPS (betrays), TED (chap) containing [bored by] WAR (combat). The local elected representative of a union in a workplace.
33 Popular single ticket at the back coach allowance includes (11)
CHARTBUSTER
CHARTER (allowance) contains [includes] {ticke}T [at the back] + BUS (coach). A charter allows something by granting permission.
35 Artificially westernised Muscat? (7,4)
DESSERT WINE
Anagram [artificially) of WESTERNISED
37 Murky tragedy Times covers (6)
BLEARY
BY (Times) contains [covers] King LEAR (tragedy)
38 City bank’s head runs commercial vehicle company (8)
BRADFORD
B{ank’s} [head], R (runs), AD (commercial), FORD (vehicle company)
39 For the Stasi, the East German blocks file (7)
DOSSIER
OSSI (East German) is contained by [blocks] DER (for the Stasi ‘the’)
42 Perhaps neon light initially probing one’s bag when travelling (5,3)
NOBLE GAS
L{ight} [initially] contained by [probing] anagram [when travelling] of ONE’S BAG
44 Kinky feature that’s designed for swingers who can’t go straight? (6)
DOGLEG
This is something with a sharp bend e.g. a road or path, so that’s covered by ‘kinky feature’. As for the rest of the clue I think it’s a reference to dogs cocking their legs when they pee (go) but I can’t quite put it into words.
46 Smear mark on graph in school (7)
SPLOTCH
PLOT (mark on graph) contained by [in] SCH (school)
48 Left Bank absorbs artisan (5)
TILER
TIER (bank) contains [absorbs] L (left)
49 Proposed Pope’s in-depth quote needs editing (6,3,8)
POPPED THE QUESTION
Anagram [needs editing] of POPE’S IN-DEPTH QUOTE
51 Public viewing opportunity accessible 24h (4,3)
OPEN DAY
OPEN (accessible), DAY (24h)
52 Leaders of African Cooperation Council raise additional capital (5)
ACCRA
A{frican} + C{ooperation} + C{ouncil} + R{aise} + A{dditional} [leaders]. The capital city of Ghana.
53 Wife of Perseus & Italian city lawyer (9)
ANDROMEDA
AND (&), ROME (Italian city), DA (lawyer)
54 Mad Hatter unsure where to dig for gold? (8,4)
TREASURE HUNT
Anagram [mad] of HATTER UNSURE
55 Hidden area — diaries regularly written here (10)
SECRETAIRE
SECRET (hidden), A (area), {d}I{a}R{i}E{s} [regularly]. It’s a type of writing desk.
Down
1 Community of Yerevan bang out of order (11)
ABERGAVENNY
Anagram [out of order] of YEREVAN BANG. The community is in Monmouthshire,Wales. Yerevan is a city in Armenia.
2 Ignited high explosive fluid (5)
LITHE
LIT (ignited), HE (high explosive)
3 Uncompromising, like a rhinoceros? (4-5)
HARD-NOSED
A vaguely cryptic hint supports the main definition
4 Change formation, getting finally stuck into Madrid at home (7)
REALIGN
{gettin}G [finally] contained by [stuck into] REAL (Madrid – football club) + IN (at home)
5 Medway town banning sick material (7)
GINGHAM
G{ill}INGHAM (Medway town) [banning sick – ill]
7 Holds small beer, drunk around noon no less! (4,7)
HALF NELSONS
HALF (small beer), anagram [drunk] of NO LESS containing [around] N (noon)
8 Spoil one married couple (6)
IMPAIR
I (one), M (married), PAIR (couple)
9 Fame of rap artist spending second million as soon as losing love (8)
EMINENCE
EMINE{m} (rap artist) [spending second million], {o}NCE (as soon as) [losing love]
10 Liberal forced vote in November, being a bit cocky (13)
OVERCONFIDENT
Anagram [liberal] of FORCED VOTE IN N (November)
11 $1000 before noon for old matriarch (7)
GRANDAM
GRAND ($1000), AM (before noon). I think ‘old’ in the definition refers not so much to the age of the matriarch as to the word ‘Grandam’ being listed as archaic in some sources.
12 One might secure a bundle, at a stretch (7,4)
ELASTIC BAND
Cryptic
13 Government department which became vital during lockdown? (4,6)
HOME OFFICE
A cryptic hint supports the main definition. During the pandemic many people started working from home and never returned.
20 Commercial vehicle going over Scotland emptied site in Faslane say (5,4)
NAVAL BASE
VAN (commercial vehicle) reversed [going over], ALBA (Scotland), S{it}E [emptied]. Falsane on Gare Loch is the Royal Navy’s principal operating base in Scotland.
23 Key English river dredged at last, decontaminated (8)
DELOUSED
DEL (key), OUSE (English river), {dredge}D [at last]
25 Blow-out meal — Henry breaks refusal to drink (4-2)
NOSH-UP
H (Henry) contained by [breaks] NO (refusal) + SUP (drink)
26 Professional players shun key university officials (8)
PROCTORS
PRO (professional), {a}CTORS (players) [shun key – a]
28 Hardliner accommodated in borstal in Istanbul (9)
STALINIST
Hidden [accommodated] in {bor}STAL IN IST{anbul}
29 Airless, exhausted, cold, finish climb (6)
ASCEND
A{irles}S [exhausted], C (cold), END (finish)
31 Wandering tribe rehoused in remote islands (5,8)
OUTER HEBRIDES
Anagram [wandering] of TRIBE REHOUSED
33 Letters supporting case for a senior government role (7,4)
CABINET POST
CABINET (case), POST (letters)
34 Once aboard, I reset navigation aid (5,6)
RADIO BEACON
Anagram [reset] of ONCE ABOARD
35 Roman head of new artificial intelligence comms business I’d set up (10)
DIOCLETIAN
N (new) + AI (artificial intelligence) + TELCO (comms business) + I’D, reversed [set up]. There are probably actual firms with TELCO in their title but otherwise it seems to be a general term for any communications business.
36 Our home space with less common exposed crockery (11)
EARTHENWARE
EARTH (our home), EN (space – printing), W (with), {r}ARE{r} [less common] [exposed]
40 According to Spooner, Big Oil firm sought to make a negative bet (4,5)
SELL SHORT
“Shell (big oil firm) sought” given the Spooner treatment. Collins has sell short – to sell securities or goods without owning them in anticipation of buying them before delivery at a lower price. All beyond my ken, but  I assume that in some way the covers the definition in the clue.
41 Thanks! Kiss dad, your common source of revenue! (8)
TAXPAYER
TA (thanks), X (kiss), PA (dad), YER (your, common)
43 Have faith in credit (7)
BELIEVE
Two meanings not very far from each other
45 Rank nurse cuts pineapple (7)
GRENADE
EN (nurse) contained by [cuts] GRADE (rank). Pineapple is army slang for grenade.
46 Dug under half of shed producing tremor (7)
SHUDDER
SH{ed} [half of…], UDDER (dug). Dug is a term for the udder of a female mammal only to be used in farming circles.
47 Headline band covering upcoming album (6)
SPLASH
SASH (band) contains [covering] LP (album) rveersed [upcoming]
50 Decorate 50 per cent of nice old Brits (5)
ICENI
ICE (decorate), NI{ce} [50 per cent of…]. Boudicca’s lot.

3 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1699 (26 October 2024)”

  1. DNF
    Couldn’t get CHARTBUSTER or PROCTORS. (In the US, a proctor is an invigilator at an examination.) DNK Gillingham or Faslane. A DOGLEG is so called because it (sort of) resembles a dog’s hind leg. A golfer faced with a dogleg risks leaving the fairway if he shoots straight forward.

  2. Indeed a quick solve – I managed 34.49 with no queries. I think Kevin’s right about DOGLEG, though clearly the setter is intending us to think less about golf and more about more – um – adult pursuits. The ICENI seem to be turning up a lot recently.

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