Hello again. I thought this Jumbo was excellent with enough easier clues to get you going and some cleverer ones to provide the entertainment (I particularly liked the baring of the barnacle). It took me about an average time, so is pitched just right, I reckon. What did you think?
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 | Recognised daughter behind deceptively thin disguise (13) |
| DISTINGUISHED – *(THIN DISGUISE) + D(aughter). A nice solid clue to get us started. | |
| 8 | Philosopher caught tucking into eg Victoria sponge? (5,4) |
| LAYER CAKE – AYER (philosopher, AJ Ayer) + C(aught) inside LAKE, eg Lake Victoria | |
| 13 | Father out of bed, eating last bit of yummy English breakfast (3-2) |
| FRY-UP – (yumm)Y in FR + UP | |
| 14 | Maybe the Faroes shrewd goalie managed to absorb pressure (11) |
| ARCHIPELAGO – ARCH (shrewd) + P(ressure) in *(GOALIE). I tend not to think of the Faroes as an archipelago but it really is, with 779 islands in all. | |
| 15 | Group of friends sit outside front of school (5) |
| POSSE – S(chool) in POSE (sit). This is the third time recently for posse = group of friends, rather than the traditional Western meaning. Collins: “a group of friends or associates” | |
| 16 | Keen male soon welcomes old king (9) |
| AGAMEMNON – GAME (keen) + M(ale) in ANON, soon. A lively old king was Agamemnon. Having killed his father in law he was in turn killed by his wife, on returning from Troy. If you follow the link look out for Myrtilus, also murdered but miraculously setting ST crosswords to this day… | |
| 17 | Elegant pub with very retro interior (4) |
| POSH – SO (very) rev., in PH, public house | |
| 18 | Idle joke by Left supporter (8) |
| LALLYGAG – L(eft) + ALLY (supporter) + GAG (joke). Not a word I knew, it turns out to be (yet) another unannounced Americanism. | |
| 20 | I eat after six, or at regular intervals (6) |
| IODINE – (s)I(x) O(r) + DINE, eat. The def. is just I, which once would have bamboozled me but I am wise to that now.. | |
| 21 | Discontented financier enclosed personnel development plan to topple heads (6,10) |
| FRENCH REVOLUTION – F(inancie)R + ENC(losed) + HR (personnel) + EVOLUTION, development. I liked the “discontented” financier… | |
| 24 | Small photo as digital attachment (9) |
| THUMBNAIL – A DD I think | |
| 26 | Serious British composer residing in the east of France (7) |
| EARNEST – ARNE (composer) in EST, French for East. | |
| 27 | Filmed Jane leaving California island terrified (5) |
| AMITY – Tricky. I think it is (cal)AMITY as in the film Calamity Jane, and presumably a reference to the film(s) Amityville Horror, set on Long Island. I had heard of the films but have taken good care never to actually watch them. A strange clue. | |
| 29 | Riviera gendarme has this secret plan (6,6) |
| HIDDEN AGENDA – what it says, hidden as above! | |
| 31 | Elaborate machine screening naked women in private viewing area (4,6) |
| HOME CINEMA – (w)OME(n), in *(MACHINE). | |
| 33 | After pirouetting, drained of energy, strikes a rare cheerleading team pose in them (2-2,6) |
| RA-RA SKIRTS – *(STRIKES A RARE), with both the E(nergy)s removed. Not my area of expertise, I take the definition on trust. | |
| 35 | Labrador’s coupled with this dog (12) |
| NEWFOUNDLAND – A DD. Newfies are lovely dogs, but hard work to say the least. I wouldn’t want a dog that weighed more than I do, no matter how good tempered they were. | |
| 38 | Wizard location, unique bracing air (5) |
| OZONE – OZ (wizard of) + ONE, unique. Ozone is a toxic atmospheric pollutant and calling it “bracing” never fails to irritate. | |
| 39 | Much-visited city broadcast commercial in Georgia (7) |
| GRANADA – RAN AD (broadcast commercial) in GA, Georgia. Been to Granada, much-visited it really is, in season. | |
| 40 | Set aside each Republican after checking (9) |
| EARMARKED – EA(ch) R(epublican) + MARKED, after checking. | |
| 42 | He’s responsible for the Count, who’s on his way back from the front? (9,7) |
| RETURNING OFFICER – a DD I suppose, one with an electoral and one with a military reference. | |
| 44 | Two points entered into vehicle licence (6) |
| CARNET – N + E (two points) in CART, a vehicle. Familiar with carnets, from my days dealing with documentary credits. | |
| 47 | Feature of mass manufactured undies introduced by German company? (5,3) |
| AGNUS DEI – AG (aktiengesellshaft, what we would call a plc) + *(UNDIES) | |
| 49 | Free Trade Agreement covering European dairy produce (4) |
| FETA – E(uropean) in FTA. Feta, a Greek sheep’s cheese that in my limited experience consists mainly of salt.. your view may differ. | |
| 50 | Mount collection of poetry (9) |
| PARNASSUS – a DD, I was not aware of the second def., which came about because Mount Parnassus was the home of the Muses. Allegedly .. | |
| 52 | A bronze for this much-loved actress simply inscribed? (5) |
| THIRD – another DD, the second being a reference to the late and much lamented Dame Thora Hird. | |
| 53 | Laid into art works lacking avant-garde character? (11) |
| TRADITIONAL – *(LAID INTO ART). A neat clue | |
| 54 | Character making final appearance in home game (5) |
| OMEGA – hidden, as above. Omega is the final letter of the classical Greek alphabet. | |
| 55 | Bloody shortage, lacking key metallic oxide (4,5) |
| RARE EARTH – RARE (bloody, as in steak etc) + (d)EARTH, shortage without the key of D. | |
| 56 | Ageing parent failing to grasp old family communication issue (10,3) |
| GENERATION GAP – *(AGEING PARENT + O). Another very neat clue! | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Prophet of doom religious person claims exploit (9) |
| DEFEATIST – FEAT (exploit) in DEIST, a believer in god(s) | |
| 2 | Pulls up outside Kentucky like a rocket? (7) |
| SKYWARD – KY, Kentucky, (where the jelly comes from, google it) in DRAWS (up, ie reversed). | |
| 3 | Sprite and the Spanish sausage — flipping impossible to beat! (11) |
| IMPREGNABLE – IMP (sprite) and EL BANGER (Spanish sausage, ha ha) reversed. And another one that raised a titter from me.. | |
| 4 | Like an old movie ventriloquist’s smart? (6) |
| GRAINY – Not a fan of this clue however. The first idea is that an old film is necessarily grainy, which is not true at all. Old B&W stock was often sharp as can be. The second is that if a ventriloquist says “Brainy,” it would come out as “grainy.” Not convinced that is true either, in general. | |
| 5 | Displaying authority batting against time, runs over 50 (2,7) |
| IN CONTROL – IN (batting) CON (against) T (time) R (runs) O (over) L (Roman numeral for fifty). A 6-part charade! | |
| 6 | I brandish pen developing dramatic twists and turns (7,5) |
| HAIRPIN BENDS – *(I BRANDISH PEN). Neat misdirection in the surface. | |
| 7 | Dicky’s attached to this garment (5,5) |
| DRESS SHIRT – No not an anagram of ATTACHED TO, but a reference to an evening shirt worn with a bow tie.. | |
| 8 | Loll head (4) |
| LOAF – DD. | |
| 9 | King’s minder found game theory a struggle (6,2,3,5) |
| YEOMAN OF THE GUARD – *(FOUND GAME THEORY A). I think most soldiers would find game theory a struggle. | |
| 10 | Reject material upsetting the French (5) |
| REPEL – REP (a corded material) and LE (the, in French) reversed. | |
| 11 | One’s thrown, say into very musical surroundings (7) |
| ASSEGAI – EG (say) in ASSAI (very; a musical direction). An African spear | |
| 12 | East Germany crew sadly died in casualty department (9,4) |
| EMERGENCY WARD – *(EAST GERMAN CREW), D (died). | |
| 19 | Creature of the night drained white bloom from the bottom up (8) |
| WEREWOLF – Outside letters (drained) of WhitE, FLOWER (bloom) reversed -> REWOLF. | |
| 22 | Upper-class religious leader turned up — that’s tasteful (5) |
| UMAMI – U (upper class) IMAM (religious leader) reversed -> MAMI. As Wikipedia say, “Umami, meaning “pleasant savoury taste” in Japanese, is one of the five basic tastes, alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. It is characterised by a savoury or meaty flavour that adds depth and complexity to food. Umami is found in a variety of foods, including broths, meats, aged cheeses, and fermented products“ | |
| 23 | Mike, a greying film-maker who has a big role in The Firm (8,8) |
| MANAGING DIRECTOR – M (Mike in the phonetic alphabet) AN AGING (a greying) DIRECTOR (film-maker). | |
| 25 | In Berlin, and therefore suffer (7) |
| UNDERGO – UND (German for and) ERGO (therefore). | |
| 28 | Diamonds on deck? That’s really cool (3,4) |
| ICE PACK – ICE (diamonds) PACK (deck of cards). | |
| 29 | Figure up in the dock? (7,6) |
| HARBOUR MASTER – Cryptic definition. | |
| 30 | Alienate European doctor with extraordinary powers (8) |
| ESTRANGE – E (European) STRANGE (doctor with extraordinary powers). A reference to the title character of this 2016 superhero film. A remarkable film it sounds to be, not seen it myself. | |
| 32 | Process by which barnacle is made bare? (12) |
| DESALINATION – Clever cryptic definition. NaCl is the chemical formula for sodium chloride, the major salt found in seawater… if your remove it from BAR(NaCl)E, you are left with BARE. Clever. | |
| 34 | Blacken starter of mutton, burn outside (5) |
| SMEAR – First letter of Mutton inside SEAR (burn). | |
| 36 | No more late parties hosting commercial regulator (4,2,1,4) |
| DEAD AS A DODO – Sneaky definition! ASA (Advertising Standards Authority; regulator) in DEAD (late) DO DO (party, twice; parties). | |
| 37 | Final novel notes penned by, say, children’s author (3,7) |
| IAN FLEMING – *(FINAL) and MI and N (notes) in EG (say). The creator of James Bond, he also wrote the children’s book Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang which was published after his death. | |
| 40 | Regard specialist batsman as a revelation (3-6) |
| EYE-OPENER – EYE (regard) OPENER (specialist batsman). Aren’t we supposed to call them ‘batters’ these days? | |
| 41 | Fruit pack displays timely information? (9) |
| DATESTAMP – DATES (fruit) TAMP (pack, as you do with tobacco in a pipe). | |
| 43 | City bank getting a new key investment (7) |
| TANGIER – N (new) G (musical key) in TIER (bank). | |
| 45 | Origins of bird reserve? (4-3) |
| NEST-EGG – NEST and EGG (two origins of a bird). Nice one. | |
| 46 | Lance possibly hired band (6) |
| ARMLET – ARM (lance, possible) LET (hired). | |
| 48 | Shifty way to move Liberal within Party (5) |
| SIDLE – L (Liberal) in SIDE (party in a court case). | |
| 51 | Mum’s hot food (4) |
| MASH – MA’S (Mum’s) H (hot). A gimme to finish with. | |
DNF Didn’t get IAN FLEMING.
I think the terrified island in 27ac is Amity Island, the scene of Jaws. (Calamity Jane was a real person; I didn’t know of the movie.) DNK RA-RA SKIRTS. I had a ? by GRAINY. I suppose the idea is that when saying ‘brainy’, the ventriloquist wouldn’t use his lips. I biffed REGISTRAR GENERAL at 42ac, thinking of the census. My LOI was LALLYGAG, which I would have spelled ‘lollygag’ (which is the ODE entry), and which I would have considered dated. COD DESALINATION.
I got it but couldn’t parse it, in part because it doesn’t appear to have an anagram indicator.
‘novel’
I found this one quite easy and polished off more or less in one session with a short intermission for refreshment.
Like our blogger I wrote ‘clever’ against DESALINATION as a beautifully constructed clue. At 33ac on the other hand the surface reading is made nonsense by the insertion of the words providing the anagrist.
LALLYGAG was dredged up from a previous appearance and CARNET was unknown.
The expression ventriloquists are traditionally challenged by is ‘Bottle of beer’ which is likely to come out as ‘Gottle of geer’, and I assume that’s the reference re ‘brainy / GRAINY’ at 4dn. The master of saying it properly was the deadpan vent Arthur Worsley with his dummy ‘Charlie Brown’ (another challenge!) who never spoke but let Charlie do all the talking.
I thought this med-easy with some cracking clues slightly let down by IMHO some weak or (overly) cheesy groaners!
I slightly objected to the clueing of Ian Fleming as a “children’s author”. Sure he wrote eg Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but I’m *pretty* sure he wrote some other non-children’s books… 😉
Not so much cryptic as wilfully misleading?
A wilfully misleading crossword clue? Heaven forfend!
Strangely, that is the second time I’ve seen Fleming so described in the last month..
Lol yes perhaps “wilfully misleading” doesn’t quite cover the meaning I intended (and there’s a lesson there)! Much good wilful misleading in a cryptic but there’s good misdirection and there’s a line I feel crosses into poor trickery… I suspect the issue is mine and I need to get over it and embrace it no?
I tend to agree that a single book doth not a “Children’s author” make.
The line you mention, I think we all have it, but not necessarily in the same place. Compare “obscurity.”
In the matter of the Ian Fleming clue, I’m sure that the lady from Rheinbeck, when she was in her awesome glory, would have some wonderfully crisp comment to make.
I’m still green enough to have been tickled by the IODINE clue.
Can’t thank the bloggers enough, they take on the Jumbos and unlike many of us who can’t really remember what it was all about, they do the job properly. Thanks so much.
Thank you for the kind words. We jumbo bloggers tend to get far fewer comments because of the lapse of time between publication and blog .. I like to think of us as the BBC4 of TfTT, compared to the ITV or BBC! of the daily cryptic.
You may be right about Olivia Rhinebeck She does not comment here so often these days, but I assure you she is still awesome..
Good jumbo on the whole – baffled by AMITY and a couple of word salady clues – more than redeemed by the brilliance of BARNACLE !!
I too couldn’t parse the Amity clue. Mainly enjoyable but with some annoying obscurities. I thought the second Parnassus definition was definitely one, as was rep for material, the musical direction in 11d and 18a, which I didn’t get because I’ve never heard of the word. Also didn’t like 4d and bunged in desalination at 32d without understanding it.
Favourite clue: 29a.
Least favourite: 30d. Never heard of the film.
many thanks to all the jumbo cryptic bloggers, I really enjoy trying to complete these and look forward to the explanations for clues where I just cannot work out an answer, desalination tops this one.
Nice to get a couple of innovative clues, especially Barnacle and T Hird. Also Brainy (even if others didn’t like it!)
But there were a few weak clues, eg. Harbour Master isn’t very convincing.