Hello again. This Jumbo I thought was a steady solve, nothing too obscure or esoteric. Some neat clues and excellent surface readings. I liked it.
Please, do feel free to ask questions or comment as required.
I use the standard TfTT 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 | It’s a festival — knock back one tot and lots of weed (5,4) |
| MARDI GRAS – I DRAM (one tot) rev., + GRAS(s), weed as in marijuana rather than the horticultural thing. Mardi Gras is what I would call Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. | |
| 6 | Aphorism from private detective probing Mrs Simpson after retirement (7) |
| EPIGRAM – PI (private detective) in MARGE rev. | |
| 10 | Leaders in Middle East celebrate centenary at holy city (5) |
| MECCA – initial letters, as above | |
| 13 | Guides that woman’s dad through southern Sierra (7) |
| SHERPAS – HER PA in SS, Southern Sierra. A tough job, sherpa, but it has its compensations I would think. Like being paid to climb Everest. | |
| 14 | Traitor caught next to case of explosives — Times (7) |
| CATESBY – C + AT + E(xplosive)S + BY, times. Robert Catesby, the brains behind the failed Gunpowder Plot. Killed resisting arrest, his body was subsequently exhumed and “posthumously executed,” which must have been fun to watch. | |
| 15 | Depression is beginning to torment one filling in at work (7) |
| DENTIST – DENT (depression) + IS + T(orment). Like the definition | |
| 16 | Harvard, say, where the students like to take a punt? (9,10) |
| CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY – Two universities .. one in Massachusetts, one in Cambridgeshire. There was a time when I thought nothing of punting up the Granta to Grantchester for tea and back. Wouldn’t want to try that now. | |
| 17 | Father packs uniform coat (3) |
| FUR – U (Nato alphabet) in FR (father) | |
| 18 | Best remote US broadcaster (6) |
| OUTFOX – OUT (remote, presumably as in outlying, or outpost) + FOX, A US broadcaster. | |
| 20 | Country run stops painful injury (6) |
| SPRAIN – R(un) in SPAIN, a country | |
| 21 | Carried by some piece of luggage whatever happens? (2,3,4) |
| IN ANY CASE – IN (carried) + ANY (some) + CASE, your luggage. At least I think that is what it is. | |
| 23 | Soft Shoe Shuffle April, Leeds (10) |
| ESPADRILLE – *(APRIL LEEDS) | |
| 25 | Cheer hospital nurse Rosemary after clearing out braying toff (6,5) |
| HOORAY HENRY – HOORAY (cheer) + H(enry) + EN (nurse) + R(osemar)Y. Coincidentally they showed the upper class twit of the year competition on TV the other night.. | |
| 29 | Picture that is used as cover for magazine (5) |
| IMAGE – MAG in IE (that is) | |
| 30 | Hide ecstasy inside gadget from the east after daughter did (8) |
| DECEIVED – D(aughter), + E in DEVICE (gadget) rev. It would be worth inventing some new drugs, and calling them F, G, H, I etc etc. | |
| 31 | Timeless lawsuit involving tabloid paper in the capital (8) |
| ASUNCION – SUN (tabloid stablemate of The Times) in AC(t)ION, a timeless lawsuit. Asunción is the capital of Paraguay. | |
| 34 | Paradoxical burger? (4,4) |
| FAST FOOD – Jocular CD, a fast being when you don’t eat not when you do… | |
| 36 | Mr Klein dropping in, rejected soda for something stronger (8) |
| CALVADOS – CALV(in) (Klein) + SODA rev. I used to love Calvados when young, and could buy it “hors d’age” from little farms in Normandy. | |
| 37 | Way into pastry dish that’s frozen (5) |
| PISTE – ST (way) in PIE, the pastry. | |
| 39 | Tight deadline of English writer (6,5) |
| DANIEL DEFOE – *(DEADLINE OF + E). Most famous for Robinson Crusoe, his “Journal of a Plague Year” is also excellent. | |
| 41 | Downy cloth Family Circle tableware item (6,4) |
| NAPKIN RING – NAP (downy cloth) + KIN (family) + RING (circle). Not in widespread use these days I guess, though they are in our house. | |
| 43 | Phantom at ill-omened gathering a Mexican favourite (9) |
| TOMATILLO – hidden, as above. Tomatillo means “small tomato,” but they are not.. | |
| 45 | Plant-based cure containing skin of rhubarb (6) |
| HERBAL – R(hubar)B in HEAL, to cure. | |
| 47 | He’s booked to appear before Judges (6) |
| JOSHUA – A CD. Joshua is indeed the OT book before Judges. I didn’t know that (of course) but it didn’t matter once a crosser or two appeared. | |
| 49 | Endlessly generous people (3) |
| KIN – KIN(d), generous | |
| 50 | LibDems cover? (5-5,9) |
| THIRD-PARTY INSURANCE – another jocular CD, LibDems being the third largest party in the Commons, as we speak. Next election, who knows? | |
| 52 | Rough Trade firm backs design movement (3,4) |
| ART DECO – *(TRADE) + CO(mpany) | |
| 53 | Pancake fed the Spanish painter (7) |
| BELLINI – EL (the, in Spanish) in BLINI, a pancake of sorts. Apparently you shouldn’t eat caviar without them. | |
| 54 | Pragmatic person starts to rank every category of celebs (7) |
| REALIST – R(ank) + E(very) + A LIST, your celebs. | |
| 55 | Deserve credit (5) |
| MERIT – a DD. | |
| 56 | Chernobyl at last due for new reactor component (4,3) |
| FUEL ROD – *(L + DUE FOR), the L coming from (Chernoby)L. | |
| 57 | 27 couple adopting dearest mongrel recently (9) |
| YESTERDAY – *(DEAREST) in YY, two 27dns in NATO speak | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Old barrel organ, microphone covering unserviceable on crate (5,3) |
| MUSIC BOX – US (unserviceable) in MIC, + BOX (crate) | |
| 2 | Discharge ambassador into the booze (5) |
| RHEUM – HE (ambassador) in RUM, a fine spirit. | |
| 3 | Do I pair individual parts? (11) |
| IMPERSONATE – PERSON (individual) in I MATE (I pair) | |
| 4 | Maybe Reading team screening YouTube finally live (6) |
| RESIDE – (youtub)E inside R (one reading, of the three Rs) + SIDE (team) | |
| 5 | Dark force that might run an undercover Sting? (6,6) |
| SECRET POLICE – just a CD, unless I’m missing something? | |
| 6 | Land reportedly more rocky beneath earth’s surface (7) |
| ESTONIA – E(arth) + STONIA, sounds like “Stonier.” | |
| 7 | Blissfully happy Viennese haven’t worked — stifling hot (2,7,6) |
| IN SEVENTH HEAVEN – *(VIENNESE HAVENT + H) | |
| 8 | I boo sorry, awful northern singer (3,7) |
| ROY ORBISON – *(I BOO SORRY) + N(orthern). Whatever Roy Orbison was, he was far from awful.. | |
| 9 | Fortified island, fortified wine (7) |
| MADEIRA – A DD, or so I assume. Never been there, but I am familiar with the fortified wine. Go for Sercial, less sickly sweet than some. As for the island, with a coastline almost 100 miles long I don’t suppose it can be all that fortified, though it does have forts. | |
| 10 | WWII general sat on snake, which made us laugh (5,6) |
| MONTY PYTHON – MONTY, aka Bernard Montgomery + PYTHON, a snake. “And now for something completely different,” a compilation of Python sketches, was on TV last week and can be picked up on iPlayer and youtube. Some of it has lasted better than other parts, but it was groundbreaking stuff in it’s time and has some classic sketches. | |
| 11 | Links hosting one European newspaper head (9) |
| CHIEFTAIN – I + E + FT (one European newspaper) in CHAIN, links. | |
| 12 | Goddess beginning to get seen in A&E (7) |
| ASTARTE – START (beginning) in, well, A&E. Astarte is an ancient goddess worshipped by various cultures including the Phoenicians and Egyptians | |
| 19 | Florentines succeeded under trade union scrutiny (7) |
| TUSCANS – TU (trade union) + SCAN (scrutiny) + S(ucceeded) | |
| 22 | City poet, following change of heart, cross (8) |
| BRADFORD – BARD (poet), with the A and R switched | |
| 24 | Actor trained to breathe lazily (9,6) |
| ELIZABETH TAYLOR – *(TO BREATHE LAZILY). Not supposed to call her an actress any more, although that is how she described herself. | |
| 26 | Ninja, modish, led by a pair of donkeys? (8) |
| ASSASSIN – ASS + ASS + IN (modish) | |
| 27 | National bet (6) |
| YANKEE – a DD. A yankee is a set of 11 bets on four different selections. | |
| 28 | No time for quarrel with male journalist outside, somewhat offended (6) |
| MIFFED – (t)IFF (quarrel) in M(ale) ED | |
| 32 | Matching dishes perhaps left here, we’re told (2,5) |
| IN SYNCH – sounds like “IN SINK” | |
| 33 | Pliable state of Pat & Lydia, a bit tipsy (12) |
| ADAPTABILITY – *(PAT + LYDIA A BIT) | |
| 35 | Express no longer on this quick route (5,6) |
| FLEET STREET – FLEET (quick) + STREET (route). I well remember when Fleet St was populated by the national press. All the cafes had copies of the first editions from about 10pm on. And stayed open all night, for print customers. | |
| 37 | Room willing for charades? (7,4) |
| PARLOUR GAME – PARLOUR (a room) + GAME (willing). I loathed charades. | |
| 38 | Pleasant housing over road that’s within budget (10) |
| AFFORDABLE – O(ver) + RD, in AFFABLE (pleasant). Not sure “within budget” and affordable are quite synonymous, half my expenditure seems to be unbudgeted, but hey. | |
| 40 | Knight blocking list I’m on upset political sponsor (9) |
| NOMINATOR – ROTA (list) I’M ON, all reversed, with N (knight) in. | |
| 42 | Record second effort platinum-selling album (8) |
| TAPESTRY – TAPE (record) + S + TRY (effort). Second album released by Carole King, and famous indeed, being certified 14x Platinum, according to Wiki. Got it, somewhere.. | |
| 43 | Rifleman’s told this way to get to Edinburgh? (4,3) |
| TAKE AIM – You can get to Edinburgh via the A1(M), depending of course on where you are starting from.. | |
| 44 | Youth absent touring India made redundant (4,3) |
| LAID OFF – I (NATO India) in LAD OFF (absent youth) | |
| 46 | Living as a pensioner, given a minor internal adjustment, heard again (7) |
| RETRIED – RETIRED, with the R and I switched. | |
| 48 | Underworld head, very large flag (6) |
| OSIRIS – OS (outsize, very large). The Egyptian god of (amongst other things) the Underworld and the dead. | |
| 51 | Nymph — primarily aquatic — featured in North American papers (5) |
| NAIAD – A(quatic) in NA (North American) ID (papers) | |
This doesn’t seem to have left an impression on me one way or the other. Wondered about the fortified island, but wotthehell. DNK, or maybe DNR[emember] HOORAY H
DNK ASUNCION or get the wordplay apart from SUN, so I looked that one up.
Now that you mention Carole King I vaguely remember an LP called TAPESTRY but otherwise I was baffled by the reference.
I was convinced of a clue error re ART DECO, with a reversal being indicated where not required, but I see now that ‘backs’ can mean ‘at the back of’ and that makes it okay. A cruel misdirection nonetheless!
We don’t normally do Jumbos – it’s something for a Bank Holiday, when there’s more time. This was an enjoyable joint solve, with no real problems with answers or parsing. Once TAPESTRY went in, I vaguely remembered the album of that name and only got ASTARTE from Astartedon! One to remember…
Quite easy this, under 20m.
In 5dn I think we have wordplay (dark = SECRET, force=POLICE) and then a definition which is both straight (because the Stasi might run a sting) and cryptic/whimsical (because a secret version of the rock band might run a secret version of their lead singer).