A bit of a curate’s egg this one, with some good clues and some not so good. And what seems to be becoming the regular crop of Americanisms. I mean, Palookaville? Seriously?
In other news, if Vinyl has worked his magic and found a replacement, this will be my last Jumbo blog. At one time or another I have blogged all of the cryptic crosswords The Times has to offer, that TfTT covers – quick cryptic, daily cryptic, Club Monthly, Mephisto and jumbo cryptic. I’ve always thought it important that TfTT deals with the less popular crosswords as well as the dailies, and I’ve been happy to blog jumbos even though the audience seems somewhat limited compared to the dailies. Having to wait two weeks before the answers emerge may have something to do with this, though it does mean that the blogger has plenty of time to do his stuff. Anyway au revoir, see you on alternate Wednesdays…
This blog is published on the day of The Times Crossword Championships, so good luck to all the contestants. See you in the George?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Meat, raw, dropping back on centigrade scale (7,2) |
| CLAMBER UP – C(entigrade) + LAMB (meat) + PURE (raw) rev. Easy, if you get them in the right order! And I’m sure there is a dictionary somewhere, where raw = pure. Honey perhaps, though even there the words don’t really mean the same thing. | |
| 6 | Great resources (7) |
| CAPITAL – A DD. | |
| 10 | Force of nature more serene for a dictator? (5) |
| KARMA – Sounds like “calmer,” more serene | |
| 13 | A less mobile body in huge gastropod (3,4) |
| SEA SLUG – *(A LESS) + (h)UG(e). I was glad to be able to separate “huge” and “gastropod.” Though some of them are, I expect. | |
| 14 | Nipper, one throwing up, might you say? (7) |
| LOBSTER – I would call someone throwing a ball up a lobber, not a lobster. And the closest Collins comes to the definition is “the large pincer-like claw of a lobster, crab, or similar crustacean.” Not my favourite clue, this one. | |
| 15 | Dieting’s ending with an itch for something chocolatey (7) |
| GANACHE – (dietin)G + AN ACHE, an itch. Ganache is what fancy chocs like Godiva and Leonidas have. | |
| 16 | Butt out in green trailer (4-4-3-8) |
| MIND-YOUR-OWN-BUSINESS – the definition is a slang Americanism. And apparently it is also the name of a plant. Collins: “a Mediterranean urticaceous plant, Helxine soleirolii, with small dense leaves, used for cover.” Another non-favourite clue. | |
| 17 | Letter from Greece — when expected through the door? (3) |
| ETA – A DD .. the second being “estimated time of arrival” | |
| 18 | Cancel rugby match (3,3) |
| RUB OUT – RU BOUT, a rugby union match.. | |
| 20 | Recollection of dull, echoing gong (3-3) |
| TAM-TAM – MAT, twice, reversed. Another clue I wasn’t impressed by. How does recollection mean reversed? | |
| 21 | Hardy novel is entirely lacking in the end (9) |
| RESILIENT – *(IS ENTIREL(y)). Technically, I am told, you can put an unwarranted capital letter anywhere in a clue, on the grounds that there must be a sentence somewhere that it would be the first word of. But how much more elegant, as here, to actually put it as the first word in the clue itself, where it has capitalisation by right. | |
| 23 | Vermont city temple in, or out? (10) |
| MONTPELIER – *(TEMPLE IN OR). Presumably, a city in Vermont. The one (with two Ls) in the Languedoc is nice.. | |
| 25 | Batman villain taking ’em aback with extremely elusive rigmarole (6-2-3) |
| RIDDLE-ME-REE – EM rev, in RIDDLER, presumably a batman villain. + E(lusiv)E. Vaguely heard of but not really in my vocab. | |
| 29 | Change of mind, nakedly tense with anticipation, ultimately (1-4) |
| U-TURN – (f)UTUR(e), a tense, nakedly, + (anticipatio)N. | |
| 30 | Shakespearean character, eccentric last seen in dither (8) |
| FALSTAFF – *(LAST) in FAFF, dither. | |
| 31 | Poor San Diego was suffering (8) |
| AGONISED – *(SAN DIEGO) | |
| 34 | Majestic comrade a king excused from legal procedure (8) |
| PALATIAL – PAL (comrade) + A TRIAL, with the R for king, removed. | |
| 36 | Alien locked in shower by queen’s servant (8) |
| RETAINER – ET, setters’ alien of choice, in RAIN (shower) + ER, one of two queens. | |
| 37 | Cod in wetland all here (5) |
| BOGUS – BOG, wetland, + US, all of us here .. | |
| 39 | Cooler judge in garret, shivering (11) |
| REFRIGERANT – REF (judge) + *(IN GARRET) | |
| 41 | Scent driver behind one of those on foot? (10) |
| SANDALWOOD – SANDAL, that goes on a foot, + WOOD, a golf club that may be a driver. | |
| 43 | Missile thrown, killing dogs initially surrounding donkey (5,4) |
| SMOKE BOMB – S(urrounding) +MOKE, a donkey, + BOMB, a killing in the sense of “She made a bomb/killing selling faulty PPE” | |
| 45 | Belief is embodied by those folk (6) |
| THEISM – IS in THEM, those folk | |
| 47 | Last month a little difficult, I moonlighted (6) |
| ULTIMO – hidden, as above. I’m old enough to remember when ultimo, inst and proximo were standard in business correspondence. | |
| 49 | Delight in possible state of matter (3) |
| GAS – a DD | |
| 50 | At a critical moment — having blue side dish? (4,3,5,3,4) |
| WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN – a DD, one D being a fanciful thought about depressed chips. | |
| 52 | Browner morsel containing duck (7) |
| TOASTER – O, a duck, if you are a cricketer, in TASTER, a morsel | |
| 53 | Furthest point from satellite, one from France orbited by a European (7) |
| APOLUNE – UN (French for one) in A POLE, a European. Perilune and apolune are terms for the nearest and furthest point of an orbit around the moon. I happened to know that but if you don’t it is constructible from the wordplay. If you knew that APO = “away from” in Greek, that would help also. (apogee, apostate) | |
| 54 | Rounding head on return, worth going west, then east, for old warship (7) |
| TRIREME – MERIT (worth) reversed and including R(eturn), + E(ast) | |
| 55 | Someone giving teacher gold (5) |
| DONOR – DON (teacher) + OR (gold, in heraldry) | |
| 56 | Rise after dawn, finally emerging (7) |
| NASCENT – (daw)N + ASCENT, rise. | |
| 57 | Vessel bleeding in the end following punch by girl (4,5) |
| SHOT GLASS – SHOT (punch) + (bleedin)G + LASS, a girl. A useful sort of glass, especially for those trying to get drunk. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Perhaps change nothing more than is material (8) |
| CASHMERE – CASH (change, perhaps) + MERE, nothing more than | |
| 2 | Old commander elected as before (5) |
| AGAIN – AGA (old commander in the Ottoman empire) + IN, elected. | |
| 3 | Slight depression in the middle of one’s corporation? (5,6) |
| BELLY BUTTON – a CD, that was obviously TUMMY BUTTON, until it wasn’t. Collins again: “Corporation: informal. A large paunch or belly.” | |
| 4 | Dish in tabloid exposed! (6) |
| RAGOUT – RAG (tabloid) + OUT (exposed) | |
| 5 | Father with view on avenue surrounding ailing town of fools (12) |
| PALOOKAVILLE – PA (father) + LOOK (view) + ILL (ailing) in AVE(nue). Nho this Americanism, it is not in Collins and I honestly could not be bothered to look any further. | |
| 6 | Vehicle I catch in case (7) |
| CABINET – CAB (vehicle) I NET, I catch | |
| 7 | Published author Thomas draws attention to novel (3,3,4,5) |
| PUT OUT MORE FLAGS – PUT OUT (published) + (Thomas) MORE + FLAGS, draws attention to. A novel by Evelyn Waugh. | |
| 8 | Microscopic creature I rank below rats, turned up (10) |
| TARDIGRADE – DRAT (rats) reversed, + I GRADE, I rank. Tardigrades are rather wonderful little creatures, capable of (eg) surviving in space. | |
| 9 | Pickled — as are worms, snails and fish? (7) |
| LEGLESS – as are all the other animals mentioned. I liked this clue! | |
| 10 | Temple builder one day raising man aloft (4,7) |
| KING SOLOMON – KING (man, specifically a chessman) SOLO (one) + MON(day). Apparently King Solomon built a temple. I only knew of his wisdom. | |
| 11 | Fraudster — squash or badminton player, arguably? (9) |
| RACKETEER – a DD, the second one jocular | |
| 12 | Quiescent, a Turkish governor and soldier, say (7) |
| ABEYANT – A BEY (Turkish governor) + an ANT, possibly a soldier ant. Not a familiar word, better known perhaps in, eg “In abeyance.” | |
| 19 | Something green of blue I stirred (7) |
| BIOFUEL – *(OF BLUE I) | |
| 22 | Patty, virile chap! (8) |
| BEEFCAKE – A DD. A slang word that probably would not be acceptable if it referred to the opposite sex. Collins: “display of the figure of a nude, or partly nude, muscular man” | |
| 24 | As a bad egg — or apple? (6,2,3,4) |
| ROTTEN TO THE CORE – A DD I guess, since a person called a bad egg could be so described, as well as an apple. | |
| 26 | Batsman might face this injury? (3,5) |
| LEG BREAK – A CD I think. A leg break is a type of bowling action. | |
| 27 | First to arrive in Leeds lost little time (6) |
| ELDEST – *(LEEDS) + T(ime) | |
| 28 | Huge striker? (6) |
| BUMPER – Another DD? The second possibly a reference to car bumpers? Or perhaps we are being jocular again, someone who bumps or strikes .. | |
| 32 | Gentlemen of doubtful origins (7) |
| SIGNORI – *(ORIGINS). Specifically Italian gentlemen, I suspect. | |
| 33 | Poor old nobody given meals (2,4,6) |
| ON ONES UPPERS – O + NONE + SUPPERS | |
| 35 | Feature of gents’ perfume? (6,5) |
| TOILET WATER – yet another tricky DD by the look of things. Eau de toilette sounds so much better, ne c’est pas? | |
| 37 | Bizarre director cutting human (11) |
| BEWILDERING – WILDER in BEING, a human. Billy Wilder was director of numerous films, including Some Like it Hot. He won 7 Oscars, from 21 nominations. Does bizarre = bewildering? | |
| 38 | Those seen on television as minister’s weeping? (6,4) |
| RABBIT EARS – RABBI (minister) + TEARS, weeping. Rabbit ears are those old TV antennae that sit on top of the TV. It’s in Collins, slightly to my surprise | |
| 40 | With various gaps to fill, lower eggs in water (9) |
| FROGSPAWN – *(GAPS) in FROWN, to lower or glower. | |
| 42 | Lady from many with line to rule out (8) |
| COUNTESS – COUNT(l)ESS | |
| 43 | Found by eye, located by ear? (7) |
| SIGHTED – Sounds like “sited.” | |
| 44 | Ancient history and stream is swamp (7) |
| OVERRUN – OVER (ancient history) + RUN (stream) | |
| 46 | Sap, American wearing old derby, say (7) |
| EXHAUST – US (American) in EX (old) HAT (derby, say) | |
| 48 | Personal work of art, garbage besides (6) |
| TATTOO – TAT (garbage) TOO (besides) | |
| 51 | Boozer doffing cap, a performance like 30? (5) |
| OPERA – (t)OPER (boozer) + A. Falstaff (30ac) being an opera by Verdi. | |
A couple of DNKs, as usual: MIND-YOUR-OWN-BUSINESS, TARDIGRADE, APOLUNE, DNK that RIDDLE-ME-REE meant ‘rigmarole’. Couldn’t parse SMOKE-BOMB, couldn’t remember that BOMB. I liked RESILIENT.
Mainly enjoyed this one, with some exceptions. Didn’t know the plant at 16a (and I do a lot of gardening), the creature at 8d, or rabbit ears to mean tv antennae, apolune, had to look up the Vermont city, not a fan of lobster to mean one throwing up or bumper to mean striker.
I find some clues like 54 tiresome, it’s all tedious construction, no witty wordplay.
Favourite: 9a – now that was witty.
Most disliked, by a very long way: 5d. Was the crossword editor on holiday? I didn’t get this, which meant I also didn’t get 14a or 8d.
Thank you blogger for the explanations.
9dn, I think?
Thank you Jerry for this blog, and all the others, always much appreciated. I don’t often post now – the problem really is the two week gap – but I still enjoy them.
I enjoyed this puzzle too, even the NHO PALOOKAVILLE, constructed from crossers and wordplay to give an answer that looked kind of plausible. I think that makes it my COD
Thanks for all the jumblogs Jerry. Re this one I’m grateful to you for the explanations of MYOB, smoke bomb and rabbit ears where I couldn’t see the parsings.
KARMA has an inserted R and a missing one at the end, so sounds quite unlike ‘calmer’ to a good many of us rhotic speakers. We’re resigned to being ignored by setters, but that doesn’t stop me being irritated by clues which rely on it.
Don’t be. It is an important element of homophones, that they are excruciating…
I’ve no problem with excruciating puns (these clues are not in fact homophones for us) except that you have to imagine something in an unnatural (to you) pronunciation, making things harder than they are for other solvers.
We quite liked this one. I often grumble about obscurities and Americanisms, but didn’t mind Palookaville – easy to work out, and a fun result. My Collins dictionary has Palooka.
We got Mind-your-own-business without quite understanding, until we spotted the hyphens which gave it away as the name of a plant … even for us, avid non-gardeners.
Riddle-me-ree raised a smile, but my favourite was Falstaff.
It did take a while to crack Rabbit Ears. I guess it’s about 40 years since I saw a TV aerial like that.
Thank you Jerry for all your diligent parsing and elucidations.
PS. About Raw v. Pure – it’s quite common for people to talk about an engine having raw power, which seems equivalent.
Palooka is in my Collins too, labelled “US slang.”
I’m sure you are right about raw vs pure.
Thank you for kind remarks!
Thanks Jerry for all your jumbo blogs over the years. With jumbos I often can’t parse several of the clues- and no exception this time- couldnt fathom ‘mind-your-own-business’ and ‘rabbit ears’. I always do them on a 2 week lag so I can see the helpful parsings from the t4tt bloggers immediately.
Thank you! They are a labour of love, but I enjoyed every one of them. And I expect the setters feel much the same 🙂
I’m sorry to hear that your retiring from this blog. I’ve really appreciated your explanations and commentary, especially when I’ve struggled with a clue.
Thank you .. the jumbos are being left in safe hands, dvynys is an excellent blogger ..
A rare correct solve for this one, which makes a nice change. Thanks for your efforts blogging, I save the jumbos for holidays (it’s now half-term) so I often read the blogs some time after they are published, especially now Lucian Poll no longer does them.