Just in case you’re confused about which puzzle this is, given the plethora of jumbi we had over the festive period, this is the one from Boxing Day, a Friday. I solved it over a few sessions with distractions so don’t have a time, but I did write “tricky” on my copy.
First in was ESCAPADE and last was ACCREDITED
If any of my explanations don’t make sense then feel free to ask for further elucidation.
The technical stuff:
Clues are in blue with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are in bold italics.
Notation:
DD: Double definition
CD: Cryptic definition
DDCDH: DD/CD hybrid where a straight definition is combined with a cryptic hint.
&Lit: “all in one” where the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.
(fodder)* denotes an anagram of the letters in the brackets.
Rounded brackets are also used to add further clarity
Squiggly brackets {} indicate parts of a word not used
Deletions are struck out
Square brackets [] expand an abbreviation or shortening like B[ishop]
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Funding goal number repulsed banking guys (9) |
| ENDOWMENT – END, TWO reversed around MEN | |
| 6 | Seize country music composer (7) |
| COPLAND – COP LAND | |
| 10 | Feature of ocelot, a long claw (5) |
| TALON – hidden | |
| 13 | Device powering server (7) |
| CHARGER – DD )server as in dish / platter | |
| 14 | Burlesque backs away from material? Laughable (7) |
| SATIRIC -SATI |
|
| 15 | Spooner’s witnessed instrument case (7) |
| LAWSUIT – spoonerism of saw loot | |
| 16 | Gleeful plotters hone manoeuvres to regain control (4,7,8) |
| PULL ONESELF TOGETHER – (gleeful plotters hone)* | |
| 17 | Crowd of people flash bishop (3) |
| MOB – MO[ment], B[ishop] | |
| 18 | Condemned party brought about protest (6) |
| DOOMED – DO, DEMO reversed | |
| 20 | Ionised gas, or something in that vein? (6) |
| PLASMA – DD | |
| 21 | Hotel bath breaking before bathers might use it (5,4) |
| INNER TUBE – INN, TUB in ERE. Bathers as in swimmers. | |
| 23 | Really trying to ascend? (8,2) |
| STRAIGHT UP – DD | |
| 25 | Obvious things a cabinet must do? (4-3-4) |
| OPEN-AND-SHUT -DDCDH | |
| 29 | Subversive bachelor sits mid-dance (5) |
| REBEL – B[achelor] in REEL | |
| 30 | Ancient authority’s clothing style (5-3) |
| STONE-AGE -SAGE (authority) around TONE (style) | |
| 31 | Audibly try to clear polish out of large rock subgenre (8) |
| SHOEGAZE – Homophone for SHOO then GLAZE without L[arge] | |
| 34 | Primate doctor fixed past damage (8) |
| MARMOSET – M[edical] O[fficer], SET after MAR | |
| 36 | Cancel rubbish publication with just one article (8) |
| DISANNUL – DIS, ANNU |
|
| 37 | Tin, perhaps bottle, by the sound of it (5) |
| METAL – sounds like METTLE | |
| 39 | Amid endless work, stir drink (11) |
| AMONTILLADO – AMON |
|
| 41 | Benefit wearing a fragrance in teen years (10) |
| ADOLESCENT – DOLE in A SCENT | |
| 43 | Unseemly to take French painter unfinished bread for starters? (4,5) |
| SEED MONEY – SEEDY around MONE |
|
| 45 | Salad leaves menu, sparing wings and dip (6) |
| ENDIVE – |
|
| 47 | Internet program with no particular scientific focus (6) |
| BOTANY – BOT, ANY | |
| 49 | Canine research facility (3) |
| LAB – DD | |
| 50 | He got further involved with nascent telepathic ability (7,12) |
| THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE – (he got further nascent) | |
| 52 | Sausage about chopped, as far as we can see (7) |
| CHORIZO – C[irca], HORIZO |
|
| 53 | Drinking spot on farm peeled citrus fruits when meal should be served (7) |
| TEATIME – TEAT, |
|
| 54 | Leather wear fashioned to keep concealed (7) |
| RAWHIDE – (wear)* around HID. Move ’em on, head ’em up, head ’em up, move ’em on. | |
| 55 | Work which may be below an acrobat? (5) |
| NONET – DDCDH – an acrobat may have NO NET below him / her. | |
| 56 | Provide makeover others see in mirror (7) |
| RESTYLE – REST, ELY reversed | |
| 57 | Look back into chest, shaking uneasy feeling (3,6) |
| THE CREEPS -PEER reversed in (chest)* | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Avoid covering publicity stunt (8) |
| ESCAPADE – ESCAPE around AD | |
| 2 | Pull left, in a manner of speaking (5) |
| DRAWL – DRAW, L[eft] | |
| 3 | Eg Mozart’s piece increasingly hot at every recital venue (7,4) |
| WIGMORE HALL – WIG, MORE H[ot], ALL | |
| 4 | Person itching to remove top employee? (6) |
| EARNER – |
|
| 5 | Regulars in Athens unload lots including one mosaic (12) |
| TESSELLATION – {a}T{h}E{n}S, SELL, A TON around I | |
| 6 | See you online with those posh trousers (3-4) |
| CUT-OFFS – CU (text speak), TOFFS | |
| 7 | Undesirable child promptly interrupts great rap beat (7,3,5) |
| PERSONA NON GRATA – SON ANON in (great rap)* | |
| 8 | Official capital of Ghana nearly changed (10) |
| ACCREDITED – ACCR{a}, EDITED | |
| 9 | Swimmer — cheat — ultimately dropped back under record (7) |
| DOLPHIN – DO, HIN |
|
| 10 | Sort dragging wife around grand London landmark (5,6) |
| TOWER BRIDGE – TOWER, BRIDE around G[rand] | |
| 11 | Crude hoodlum, but not primarily the boastful kind (9) |
| LOUDMOUTH – (hoodlum |
|
| 12 | Marked unqualified? (7) |
| NOTABLE – NOT ABLE | |
| 19 | Autumn period in Medoc to be relished (7) |
| OCTOBER – hidden | |
| 22 | For example, gallons the lady will finish (8) |
| EGGSHELL – E.G. G[allons} SHE’LL | |
| 24 | Lippy trainee not converting powerful diplomat (15) |
| PLENIPOTENTIARY – (lippy trainee not) | |
| 26 | Mythical hero longs to crush evil (8) |
| ACHILLES – ACHES around ILL | |
| 27 | Shudder, blocking out male soprano (6) |
| TREBLE – TREMBLE minus M[ale] | |
| 28 | Fault America where war was fought (6) |
| CRIMEA – CRIME A[merica] | |
| 32 | Insect queen spinning what’s on its head? (7) |
| ANTENNA – ANT, ANNE reversed | |
| 33 | Awkward knight that is adopted by cool group of nuns (12) |
| INCONVENIENT – N (chess notation for knight, of course), I.E. in IN CONVENT | |
| 35 | Work volume, with energy dropping, tries tense medical specialist (11) |
| OPTOMETRIST – OP, TOME, TRIES without E[nergy], T[ense] | |
| 37 | Beer maker runs through mug and pitcher, sat on by bug? (11) |
| MICROBREWER – R[uns] in ROB EWER all under MIC[rophone] | |
| 38 | Poorly-voiced complaint? (10) |
| LARYNGITIS – CD | |
| 40 | Pompous old part of speech associated with Liberal individual (9) |
| OVERBLOWN – O[ld], VERB, L[iberal], OWN | |
| 42 | Burning heap noticed over range (8) |
| PYRENEES – PYRE, SEEN reversed | |
| 43 | Short thread on representation that’s needed in IT (7) |
| SILICON – SIL |
|
| 44 | Element turning animated film dark in style? (3-4) |
| NEO-NOIR – NEON, reversal of RIO | |
| 46 | Rodents chill behind sleeping quarters (7) |
| DORMICE – ICE after DORM | |
| 48 | Constant pull towards running between golf and church (1-5) |
| G-FORCE – FOR in G[olf] C[hurch of] E[ngland] | |
| 51 | Unsophisticated local killing time (5) |
| NAIVE – NATIVE minus T[ime] | |
DNF
NHO SHOEGAZE. NHO RIO, but assumed it was an animated film. I had a MER at DISANNUL–could that really be a word?–and looked it up; not in ODE, in my E/J dictionary. Another verb like ‘unthaw’.
As a big fan of popular / rock / alternative / indie music, SHOEGAZE was very familiar to me.
With so many crosswords to solve over Christmas / New Year I don’t remember this one, but there are very few workings-out on my copy and only one query, the unheard of SHOEGAZE which made its debut here in this puzzle. I bunged in SHOELACE as the only word I could think of that fitted the checkers, but without much hope of it being correct.
I didn’t find this too difficult but I put TRANSFERANCE. Bugger.
I didn’t record my overall verdict – perhaps due to the Jumbi (love it) onslaught – but didn’t have too many annotations but gave two cards:
I red-carded SHOEGAZE which I’d NHO and yellow-carded INNER TUBE…
…but as a result of my post-match citing review (rugby fans will understand) now wish to swap those cards bc SHOEGAZE is a mere nasty but fair obscurity whereas – unless I’m missing something – INNER TUBE is – bluntly – plain bs.
Bathers/swimmers might use it?
They *might*: I mean I used a large rubber ring to float down a river in China once in the 90s and learners use ‘rubber rings’ but I have never heard of swimmers using *inner tubes*. Am I missing something?
There’s cryptic and there’s – channeling Douglas Adams – hiding things in basements without stairs or lights on obscure planets in different star systems etc.
Evidently ‘inner tube’ is yet another Americanism to slip into a puzzle. Inner tube is what we call them; NHO rubber ring.
Ah, thanks. We do seem to have to be increasingly aware of any words in *any* English dictionary it seems!
I think Rubber Ring would have an entirely different connotation in the US!
We didn’t look at this until a few days after Christmas, which probably made it a bit easier with a clear head and a comfortable tummy.
We did have a think about “inner tube” but it wasn’t a showstopper. Also I was familiar with “Shoegazing” (My Bloody Valentine, anyone?) but had not heard it called “Shoegaze”. Again, not a showstopper.
Favourite clue: saw lute spoonered to lawsuit.
A bit tricky? Yes – about 50 minutes for me with aids for my LOI SHOEGAZE, which was NHO by me. SLOI DISANNUL was unknown too. Also DNK CHARGER for a serving plate. I liked THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE and SEED MONEY. Thanks Penfold and setter.