Times Cryptic Jumbo 1713 – 18 January 2025


Hello again. It seems no time at all since my last blog… it is a consequence of all these dratted public holidays that tend to litter this part of the calendar. No worries though, I enjoyed this clever effort. Fine surfaces, all good stuff.

A couple or three nhos for me, but none causing a problem. I like nhos, they are a learning opportunity. Whenever I come across one I always take the trouble to look it up in the OED or Wiki. Helps the old memory.

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 Curry favour with detectives in quad (9)
COURTYARD – COURT (curry favour with) + YARD, the boys in blue.
6 Sea creature grandad accommodates for all to see (7)
GRAMPUS – U (for all to see, fillum classification) in GRAMPS (grandad). A grampus is one of several sea creatures, including Risso’s Dolphin and the misleadingly nnamed killer whales, which are also dolphins
10 Give the game away regarding marijuana (5)
GRASS – a DD I suppose, you grass someone up (or do your duty as a citizen, as I unfashionably prefer to think) and then puff a joint..
)13 Journey made by son in Dad’s time (7)
PASSAGE – S(on) in PA’S AGE, dad’s time.
14 Mount rearmost of horses in major road (5)
SINAI – (horse)S + IN A1, the major road.
15 Leatherneck consuming fish spread (9)
MARGARINE – GAR (fish) in MARINE, which in the USA is referred to as a leatherneck. Knowing little about gars (also American), I looked them up in Wikipedia; they are rather fearsome, definitely best avoided when out swimming I would say..
16 Of little interest, it’s what prep school boarders hope not to have (7,2,5,4,5)
NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT – Another DD, the second D a jocular one. Never having boarded I can’t vouch for its accuracy.
17 Material in Missouri musical (6)
MOHAIR – MO, the official abbreviation for Missouri, + HAIR, your musical.
18 Journalist finally leaving to inspire copy (8)
SIMULATE – STIMULATE, with the final letter of (journalis)T removed.
19 No longer listen to occupant of 29 protecting eastern boat (7)
HEARKEN – E + ARK (boat) in HEN, which indeed may live in a hennery.
22 Doctor is at first doubtful about identifying diseases (10)
DIAGNOSTIC – D(octor) I(s) + AGNOSTIC, a polite way of telling a believer that you don’t.
23 Dancing the reel where a lightweight car is seen (5-7)
THREE-WHEELER – *(THE REEL WHERE). Not sure the surface makes  much sense.
27 Article on sacred river getting top grade (5)
ALPHA – ALPH + A, an article. “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/ A stately pleasure-dome decree: /Where Alph, the sacred river ran,/ Through caverns measureless to man/ Down to a sunless sea.” Proper poetry, that is ..
29 King keeping almost new poultry farm (7)
HENNERY – NE(w) (almost new) in HENRY, any one of a number of monarchs, of widely varying ability. Nho hennery, but it didn’t matter. I would call it a chicken farm, of which we have several hereabouts.
30 Old character carrying a gun, a vagabond of yore (8)
RUNAGATE – A GAT (US term for gun) in RUNE, an old character. Runagate is in Collins, listed as archaic. The OED says it is related to “renegade.”
32 Church worker, perhaps, with writer’s proclivity (8)
PENCHANT – PEN (writer) + CH(urch) + ANT, a worker ant perhaps.
34 Cut first of ham in daze (7)
TRANCHE – H(am) in TRANCE, a daze
36 Discharge ambassador overcome by the hard stuff (5)
RHEUM – HE (ambassador, his/her excellency)  in RUM, the hard stuff, yo ho ho. I am in the early stages of recovery from a nasty bug and I don’t wish to dwell on this clue. Not going to give it houserheum 🙂
39 Mixed chorus here at monastery (12)
CHARTERHOUSE – *(CHORUS HERE AT). More used to thinking of it as a school, which was named after the Carthusian monastery that formerly occupied the site.
41 Organise distribution of blooms in Bury factory (10)
INTERPLANT – INTER (bury) + PLANT, a strange word with a number of widely differing meanings, including “factory.”. Every now and again I see a road sign saying “Beware plant crossing” which never fails to raise a grin.
44 Perform better than head of party, dividing cost (7)
OUTPLAY – P(arty) in OUTLAY, cost.
46 Capsize plain vessel (8)
OVERTURN – OVERT (plain, obvious) + URN, a vessel, esp. for tea or ashes.
48 Fairly  nice to look at (6)
PRETTY – a DD
50 Bear a grudge, having been caught in takeaway explosion? (4,1,4,2,4,8)
HAVE A CHIP ON ONES SHOULDER – presumably if a takeaway explodes you may find a chip on your shoulder. Better that, than a big Mac.
53 Revert to bad habits, installing Liberal in seat (9)
BACKSLIDE – L(iberal) in BACKSIDE, ooer Missus
54 Stoker eating last of flavoursome fish (5)
BREAM – (flavoursom)E in BRAM (Stoker, writer of Dracula)
55 Creatures originally seen with plates pointing backwards? (7)
ANIMALS – S(een) + LAMINA (plates), all reversed. A neat clue.
56 Completely exhausted ace left, returning no score (3,2)
ALL IN – A + L(eft) + NIL rev.
57 Missing organs primarily entertaining the old? Not so (7)
EYELESS – E(ntertaining) + YE (the, old) + LESS. Not certain how “Not so” = LESS, but no doubt there is a way.
58 Knight concerned with clairvoyant reportedly seeking no financial gain (9)
NONPROFIT – N (knight, chess notation) + ON (concerned with) + sounds like “prophet,” a clairvoyant
Down
1 Head covering worn by neutered male fowl? (5)
CAPON – CAP ON. The surface very nearly makes sense!
2 Ruin arrangements — disrupt Shaw’s drama (5,3,9)
UPSET THE APPLECART – UPSET (disrupt) + THE APPLE CART, a play by GB Shaw. I had dimly heard of it but the clue is pretty biffable anyway.
3 Freely do it in art — it’s the custom (9)
TRADITION – *(DO IT IN ART)
4 As an anchor may be? Not at home, we hear (6)
AWEIGH – sounds like “away.”
5 Police officer’s rank and temperament (11)
DISPOSITION – DI’S POSITION, DI being a detective inspector of course.
6 Plentiful information on leader of union in love (8)
GENEROUS – GEN (info) + U(nion)  in EROS, Greek god of love.
7 Song that is covered by Garfunkel cheers (7)
ARIETTA – IE (that is) in ART (Garfunkel) +  TA, cheers. Nho an arietta (I am second to all, in my knowledge of opera) but it sounds plausibly like a young aria. Wiki says it is also a town in N York state. Pop.293
8 Husband allowed European in to indulge maker of leaflets (11)
PAMPHLETEER – H(usband) + LET E (allowed European), in PAMPER, to indulge.
9 Decorating technique of crooks in GBS (9)
SCRIMSHAW – CRIMS (crooks) in SHAW, GB Shaw again. Scrimshaw was originally a product of whaling ships although in Britain Napoleonic prisoners of war were also a frequent source. Collectors love them..
10 Old lady going over commercial area in Spanish city (7)
GRANADA – GRAN + AD (commercial) + A(rea). Been there, was nice but noisy and crowded. Like most Spanish cities, I suppose.
11 Friend in military intelligence taken in in the past (5)
AMIGO – MI (military intel) in AGO, in the past
12 Sugar substitutes offered as bribes? (10)
SWEETENERS – a sweetener can be a bribe. So a sort of DD I guess.
17 Ancient country’s sources of news and information (5)
MEDIA – An ancient kingdom (probably!) in Iran in the 7thC BC. So again, a sort of DD.
20 Celebrate homecoming, initially drawing flak at Little Chef, sadly (4,3,6,4)
KILL THE FATTED CALF – *(D(rawing) + FLAK AT LITTLE CHEF). A fine clue. Nowadays we more likely have the opposite problem, getting shot of our offspring in the first place.
21 Island school, one on a volcanic island (6)
ISCHIA – I(sland) + SCH(ool) + I + A.  Ischia is a tiny island off Naples. I thought it was Greek but it isn’t, it’s Italian of course.
24 He is given years to absorb unknown US attorney’s time of great success (6)
HEYDAY – HE, + DA (US attorney) in YY, years.
25 King, for example, that is climbing Alpine height (5)
EIGER – R (king) +  EG (for example) + IE (that is), all rev. The Eiger is one of the best known and also the most interesting of Swiss Alps.
26 Some conveyancer testified truly of old (6)
CERTES – hidden, as above. A word I have heard somewhere before; possibly from Molesworth, in that learned tome “How to be Topp.”
28 A small country dwelling in Berkshire town? (5)
ASCOT – A S(mall) COT, which indeed is a small country dwelling. One of my favourite pubs is in a tiny hamlet called Cotman’s Ash, high up on the Kentish North Downs.
31 Required to be worked in bakery, by the sound of it (6)
NEEDED – sounds like “Kneaded”
33 Atmospheric layer the proposer somehow identifies (11)
TROPOSPHERE – *(THE PROPOSER). The lowest layer of our atmosphere, the first 8 miles up, or thereabouts. Folk who think we can do whatever we want with our planet should reflect on just how precarious our position is. You go 10 miles up, you die. You go 10 miles down, you die. And the bit in the middle is far from being under our control.
35 US politician swindles island, acquiring Greek drugs (11)
CONGRESSMAN – GR(eek) + E’S (drugs), inside CONS + MAN, the Isle thereof.
37 Intimate note found in can (5)
MATEY – TE (a drink with jam and bread) in MAY (can)
38 One supports poor Bach suffering a fear of heights (10)
ACROPHOBIA – *(POOR BACH) + I + A. I’ve always thought of it as vertigo but really that is more of a symptom. Another term for it might be “commonsense”
40 Add a beat, ruining this rhyme (9)
RHYTHMISE – *(THIS RHYME). Another nho for me.. but easily recognisable as a possible word..
42 A raver touring India, one providing scent (9)
PERFUMIER – PER (a, as in per/a person) + I in FUMER. I tend to think of a fumer as someone who specifically is not raving .. but I expect the dictionaries will disagree, as usual.
43 No seating for these key English dipping into treats? (8)
STANDEES – E (key) + E(nglish), in STANDS, or treats.
45 With trouble mounting, is willing to participate in casual affair (7)
LIAISON – AIL (trouble) rev., + IS ON, as in “I’m on for that weekend”
47 Honour like a knight in French city, missing grand reception at start (7)
ENNOBLE – N (knight, chess notation again) in (GR)ENOBLE, a smart town with an interesting history.
49 In places, twisted part of fourth raw nugget (6)
THRAWN – hidden, as above. If you call someone thrawn, it is not a compliment. By coincidence I have just finished reading a book by the estimable Julian May, in which one of the characters is called Thrawn Janet.
51 Outspoken gents, say, interrupted by commander contrarily (5)
VOCAL – CO(mmander) in LAV, all rev.
52 Relaxation broken by current exam (5)
RESIT – I (current) in REST, relaxation.

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

6 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1713 – 18 January 2025”

  1. Not so happy=less happy
    I have almost no notes on my copy, so I imagine this was fairly easy for me. I biffed HAVE A CHIP …

  2. I noted this as mostly very easy but with a handful of trickier answers that needed close attention to wordplay to arrive at. I knew ‘Leatherneck / MARINE’ from a 1951 John Wayne film The Flying Leathernecks (1951) that used to be on TV regularly many decades ago.

  3. There are some rather nice clues here, like Hennery and the two long multiword answers. But not impressed by Runagate – don’t enjoy scouring the dictionary for an archaic word.

  4. 15:28 but with a silly error: STANDERS. I find this construction (STANDEE) strange. It suggests someone who is being stood. See also attendee or retiree. No excuses though, I should just have paid attention to the wordplay.
    A bit of on old-fashioned feel to this with quite a few archaic words and old-school references.

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