Hello again. This Jumbo was a steady solve, with several neat clues and nothing I can find to object to. What do 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 | Source of information to frustrate directors (9) |
| DASHBOARD – DASH (frustrate) + BOARD (directors). | |
| 6 | One keen to follow skipper or admiral? (13) |
| LEPIDOPTERIST – a CD, skippers and (red) admirals being butterflies. | |
| 13 | Wavering attempt to play host to a King (5) |
| SHAKY – A K(ing) in SHY (attempt) | |
| 14 | Special payments on or after end of lavish operatic performance (9) |
| HONORARIA – (lacis)H + ON OR + ARIA (opera song) | |
| 15 | Look for one returning, clutching signs of leg injury (7) |
| GLIMPSE – LIMPS (signs of leg injury) in EG (for one) rev. | |
| 16 | Modest work of art? (8,2,2,10) |
| PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION – is a piano suite by Mussorgsky. I had no clue what “modest” was doing there, until I discovered that it is Mussorgsky’s christian name. Note that it is the first word in the clue, which allows it to correctly have its capital letter, but hide it. Good clueing. | |
| 18 | Most of shed, knocked over, is … (8) |
| ELLIPSIS – SPILLE(d) (most of shed) rev. + IS. This took me a while to spot the definition! More good clueing. | |
| 20 | … awkward: study flat board around rear of arbour (8) |
| CONTRARY – CON (study) + (arbou)R in TRAY (flat board). | |
| 21 | Best thing scoring one point in Scrabble, looking back (5) |
| ELITE – ..Only one point for the E tile in Scrabble. reverse it for ELITE | |
| 23 | Enclave, perhaps, reflecting term for Lesotho, surrounded by African country (6) |
| REGION – (lesoth)O in NIGER, then all rev. | |
| 24 | Nearly half British will go round a Francophone country in Asia (6) |
| BRUNEI – UNE (French for a) inside BRI(tish). Brunei is an Islamic country that speaks Malay, so not very Francophone .. | |
| 25 | Sound of engine, European, will enthral a driver (9) |
| CHAUFFEUR -A in CHUFF, the sound of a (steam) engine, + EUR(opean). | |
| 28 | Ornamental cherub fake? Palace’s final disgrace (3,2,5) |
| PUT TO SHAME – PUTTO, a cherub, + SHAM (fake) + (palac)E | |
| 29 | Small amount of film used in examination (4) |
| SCAN – S(mall) + CAN, an amount of film. | |
| 30 | Corruption involving rigged game’s ending and award (7) |
| ROSETTE – SET in ROT, + (gam)E. Does SET = rigged? Not sure. | |
| 32 | Unbelievable clarification from interviewer? (1,3,3) |
| I ASK YOU – Actually a DD I suppose. Where clarification comes in, I don’t know. | |
| 34 | Wind-player debuts in orchestra — Beethoven or Elgar? (4) |
| OBOE – first letters of O(rchestra) B(eethoven) O(r) E(lgar | |
| 35 | Stick in garland with sense of certain vegetables (10) |
| LEGUMINOUS – GUM (stick) in LEI (garland) + NOUS, sense. Plants in the pea family. | |
| 38 | Rough to lose a barge, dropping very lucky thing? (9) |
| HORSESHOE – HO(a)RSE, rough less an A, + SHO(v)E. | |
| 39 | Right number of degrees, say, I secure in New Year (6) |
| NINETY – I NET (I secure) in NY, new year. Slightly oblique definition but a right angle is 90 deg. | |
| 40 | Display of marching in triple time around a pair of rings (6) |
| TATTOO – A in TTT (triple time) + OO | |
| 43 | Biblical character — I complain — is going West (5) |
| NAOMI – I MOAN, rev. Naomi, a biblical character and a supermodel too. | |
| 45 | Pervade substance eaten by father overseas (8) |
| PERMEATE – MEAT (sustance) in PERE, French for father. | |
| 47 | Single line about King in the archives (2,6) |
| ON RECORD – R (Rex, king) in ONE (single, + CORD, a line. | |
| 49 | Economic statement showing the gravity of the situation? (4,4,2,4,4,4) |
| WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN – A CD. Not sure what to underline! | |
| 52 | I note jar, but I won’t be leaving tips (7) |
| INGRATE – I + N(ote) + GRATE, jar. | |
| 53 | Hard time on encompassing most of the sporting event (9) |
| TRIATHLON – TH(e) in TRIAL (hard time) + ON | |
| 54 | Major figure ready to receive cheers (5) |
| TITAN – TA (cheers, thank you) in TIN, one of a remarkable number of synonyms for cash. | |
| 55 | One hunting the good stories about National Trust craftsperson (6,7) |
| TALENT SPOTTER – NT in TALES (stories) + POTTER, your craftsman. | |
| 56 | Area with new church in valley following a natural disaster (9) |
| AVALANCHE – N CH(urch) in A VALE (vslley) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Escape? Run away from soldier in attack taking wrong direction (9) |
| DISAPPEAR – SAPPE(r) in RAID rev. | |
| 2 | European bridge framed in modest beam (11) |
| SEARCHLIGHT – E ARCH (bridge) in SLIGHT, modest. I would not say arch = bridge, really. It is in Collins, but only in the American bit. | |
| 3 | Sailor picked up the reader in Louisiana creek (5) |
| BAYOU – AB (sailor) rev., + YOU, the solver/reader. Don’t think they are restricted purely to Louisiana. | |
| 4 | Weak, lacking power to sustain line of muscular development? (8) |
| ATHLETIC – L(ine), in (p)ATHETIC. | |
| 5 | Refusal to accept trade involving province (6) |
| DENIAL – NI (province, ie Ulster) in DEAL, trade | |
| 6 | Archaic forgotten activity one observed in Victorian novel (5,5) |
| LORNA DOONE – LORN (archaic for lost, forgotten; as in love-lorn) + ADO (activity) + ONE. A tiresome book to read nowadays, being mainly written in an impenetrable Devonian dialect. | |
| 7 | What groundsman will strive to do, picking up note ideally? (7,5) |
| PERFECT PITCH – a DD, perfect pitch being a musical term, the exact opposite coincidentally, of what I have. | |
| 8 | Tragic situation involving children? It’s no longer current in Athens (7) |
| DRACHMA – CH(ildren) in DRAMA,which may or may not be a tragic situation. | |
| 9 | Style that’s good following some writing on hot atmosphere and economy (7,7) |
| PAGEBOY HAIRCUT – PAGE (some writing) + BOY (that’s good, as in “Oh boy!) + H(ot) + AIR (atmosphere) + CUT (economy). | |
| 10 | Letter seen in English stone within large building (7) |
| EPISTLE – E + ST(one) in PILE, a large building | |
| 11 | Extravagant logo for channel linked to form of comedy? (11) |
| IMPROVIDENT – IMPROV (a form of comedy) + IDENT, which presumably means a logo for a channel. | |
| 12 | Competitive player dismissing grand row (4) |
| TIER – TI(g)ER. I have a book somewhere titled “Chess for tigers.” Should have read it more carefully.. | |
| 17 | Peer consumed by own daring (8) |
| FEARLESS – EARL (peer) in FESS, own as in own up. Another Americanism. | |
| 19 | Example sum with variable quantity? Not quite right about that (9) |
| PROTOTYPE – TOT (sum) + Y (a variable, along with X and occasionally Z), in PROPE(r), right, not quite. | |
| 22 | Yellow verge featuring in no poetic work (8) |
| PRIMROSE – RIM (verge) in PROSE (no poetic work, usually, anyway) | |
| 25 | Surprised comment about new item expected to succeed in virtuoso piece (8) |
| CONCERTO – N(ew) + CERT in COO, surprised | |
| 26 | Absorb article about science in final issue (9) |
| FASCINATE – I think this is A + SC(ience) + IN, all in FATE, your final issue. Seems a slightly strange clue. | |
| 27 | Mental activity beginning to tire after all the same disposal of corpses (7,7) |
| THOUGHT PROCESS – THOUGH (all the same) + T(ire) + *(PROCESS). I spent a little time thinking about how corpses are disposed of, I confess, before spotting the anagram | |
| 28 | Pressure over chap’s obsession after ignoring initial scamming (8) |
| PHISHING – P(ressure) + HIS + (t)HING, | |
| 31 | Bar with nothing in beer, for contrast (12) |
| COUNTERPOINT – COUNTER (bar) + O in PINT, beer. | |
| 33 | Scholar startled with a gap regarding Egyptian tombs? (11) |
| SARCOPHAGAL – *(SCHOLAR + A GAP). Not a word you need very often. | |
| 36 | Working on teeth reduced conventional nervous response after end of operation (11) |
| ORTHODONTIC – ORTHODO(x) + (operatio)N + TIC, a nervous response. | |
| 37 | Trainer arranged opening of tennis courts in Rome at first (10) |
| INSTRUCTOR – *(T(ennis) + COURTS IN R(ome) | |
| 41 | Artillery retaining one rule (9) |
| ORDINANCE – I in ORDNANCE, artillery. | |
| 42 | Not going out (though agoraphobia isn’t the problem) (8) |
| INSOMNIA – A CD, out as in not home, and out as in asleep.. | |
| 44 | Fashionable part of wedding dress is being prepared (2,5) |
| IN TRAIN – IN (fashionable) + TRAIN, that wedding dresses often have | |
| 46 | Italian dish, very dry, served in Brazilian city (7) |
| RISOTTO – SO TT (very dry) in RIO, a Brazilian city | |
| 48 | Female named after star dances topless and upside down (6) |
| STELLA – (b)ALLETS, rev. Need good spatial awareness for this one. | |
| 50 | Run surplus? (5) |
| EXTRA – a DD | |
| 51 | Line penned by comedian is flop (4) |
| WILT – L(ine) in WIT, a comedian. Personally I would wilt first, and only then flop. | |
Re 32ac, I guess for an interviewer to tell his subject I ASK YOU is a statement of the obvious but may be said by way of clarification if the interviewee asks a question of his own in order to avoid answering one.
I found the top much harder than the bottom half of the grid but I battled through and finished with no use of aids and no queries.
– Needed all the checkers before I got anywhere near solving LEPIDOPTERIST
– Didn’t know Mussorgsky’s first name was Modest, so PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION went in with a shrug
– Never heard of a PAGEBOY HAIRCUT but managed to construct it from wordplay
Thanks Jerry and setter.
FOI Tier
LOI Region
COD Perfect pitch
Well I found that bloody hard, and after a struggle of nearly an hour I ended up with a silly typo (THOUGTHT PROCESS). Drat.
I enjoyed this one and finished in about 51 minutes. Some clever wordplay – I was pleased to eventually unravel DISAPPEAR and PROTOTYPE among others. LOI FEARLESS. I liked ELLIPSIS and the triple time TATTOO best. Thanks Jerry and setter.
26d is AN surrounding SCI all inside FATE.
We liked this one – seemed to flow naturally from top left to bottom right. Shame that 28A used Putto, which we saw just a couple of weeks earlier.
Smiles for E-tile backwards! And I liked the Mussorgsky reference, partly because I’m still a fan of the 1971 album by ELP.
33D Why Egyptian? The Romans had sarcophagi, for example.