Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1282 (Monday 30th August) – How do you blog a Jumbo?

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Hello fellow pachydermatous cruciverbalists! Here is my first ever Jumbo crossword blog…. and quite a baptism of fire, I thought. A very juicy offering that had me head-scratching for the best part of two hours – about twice as long as normal for me for a Jumbo. But there was no unknown vocabulary and it was all fairly clued. I was relieved to be able to complete it and (I hope!) parse all the clues, but do chip in to correct me as necessary,

And how did I blog the jumbo? One byte at a time, of course.

Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones].

Across
1 A shrew or a rat in a haversack emptied out (9)
KATHARINA – A Shakespearean reference to start us off – the title character of Taming of the Shrew. Anagram of [out] A RAT IN A  + H{aversac}K [emptied].
6 Forbidden to hold onto European correspondent’s material (7)
NOTELET – NOT LET (forbidden) outside [hold onto] E (European). A sadly declining vehicle for birthday present Thank-yous. When’s the last time you received one?
10 Bully leading female here to see shrink (5)
COWER – COW (Bully) + ER (leading female here) – if you are in the UK or the Commonwealth, that is.
13 Not all cadets reorganised from the right unit (7)
OERSTED – The oersted (symbol Oe) is the unit of the auxiliary magnetic field H in the centimetre–gram–second system of units. Cunningly hidden in [Not all] {ca}DETS REO{rganised} backwards [from the right].
14 Daughter stands, listening for engines … (7)
DIESELS – D(aughter) + IESELS sounds like [listening for] easels (stands). Once promoted as better for the environment, but sadly now deprecated. My last one outlived the rest of the car which perished after about 285,000 miles.
15 … for this, maybe, boy penning verses at home (7)
REVVING – listened for by the daughter. REG (boy) containing [penning] VV (verses) + IN (at home). Vroom, vroom!
16 Place in Scotland offering short thick chips with beef (8,3,8)
DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY – DUM{b} short thick + FRIES (chips) AND (with) GALLOWAY, one of the world’s longest established breeds of beef cattle. The most South-Western unitary council of Scotland, which includes the Mull of Kintyre – visible from Northern Ireland when the mists haven’t rolled in from the sea too much.
17 Not to feel remorse odd at first (3)
FRO – F{eel} R{emorse} O{dd} initial letters [at first].Going back and forth is aka going to and fro.
18 More or less giving up work (4,2)
KICK IN – (More or less) in this case less, KICKIN{g}.(giving up). I was a bit dubious about this – it was one of my last few in, but I suppose if you take a painkiller for a headache it may KICK IN and start to work.
20 Airmen owed so much, we turned to crime, briefly (3,3)
THE FEW – “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”, quoth Winston Chrchill during the Battle of Britain. THEF{t} – (crime, briefly) + EW – we [turned].
21 Lauren at university modelled nude (2,7)
AU NATUREL – Anagram of [modelled] LAUREN AT + U{niversity}. More commonly seen as not wearing make-up outdoors, unless you are at a naturist camp.
23 Male with adrenalin coursing: one’s not settled an inch (10)
MAINLANDER – Anagram (coursing) of M{ale} + ADRENALIN. An inch being an island, if you haven’t gone to live on one, then you must be a MAINLANDER.
25 Songs about sleuth to help to tell a story (3,8)
LIE DETECTOR – LIEDER (songs) containing [about] TEC (sleuth) + TO. This one feels a bit of a stretch, but I guess a LIE DETECTOR helps to tell you when someone is giving you a bit of a story. Hmm.
29 Taking temperature, fear mistake (5)
ERROR – {t}ERROR (fear) [taking] T{emperature} off the front.
30 Running course for Mexicans teaching religion: nothing well done (3,5)
RIO BRAVO – This one made me smile, with “Running course” referring to a river. RI (teaching religion) + O (nothing) + BRAVO (well done). The Rio Bravo is known as the Rio Grande in the US. It is also the name of a 1959 Western, starring John Wayne, and in 2014 was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry. One to put on my “must watch that some day” list, perhaps.
31 Part of US food range — variable sandwiches (8)
KENTUCKY – Your range of knowledge is also known as your KEN. Add Y (variable) and put TUCK (food) inside [sandwiches]. Where fried chicken comes from, I believe.
34 Reserved term for what salespeople can do (4,4)
COLD CALL – COLD (Reserved) + CALL (term), as in what you name something. COLD CALLs, a pet hate of mine, are now, thankfully, a thing of the past in my house as my telephone system makes unknown callers announce themselves before they can get through.
36 Put back in check, prepared to capture queen (8)
REINSERT – REIN (check) + SET (prepared) inserting [to capture] R (queen). As one does with one’s limbs when doing the hokey-cokey.
37 Old officer king had murdered in Guernica — tho’ oddly overlooked (5)
URIAH – alternate letters [oddly overlooked] of {g}U{e}R{n}I{c}A {t}H{o}’. “Uriah the Hittite was a soldier in King David’s army mentioned in the biblical Second Book of Samuel. He was the husband of Bathsheba and was murdered by order of King David. Uriah’s wife had become pregnant by King David in Uriah’s absence.” Crikey. That’s not very nice.
39 The writer’s extraordinary true story that has secret ending? (7,4)
MYSTERY TOUR – MY (The writer’s) + anagram of [extraordinary] TRUE STORY. When you go on one of these the destination is a secret (but not to the bus driver, of course).
41 Established batting fails on women’s cricket team (4,6)
WEST INDIES – This one is a bit tricky EST{ablished} + IN (batting) + DIES (fails) all on W for women’s. A cracking win they had in the exciting second Test Match, wasn’t it? Well played, sirs! It’s a shame they didn’t manage to repeat the form in the final test.
43 Pick plays together with quest to find dance music (9)
QUICKSTEP – Anagram  [plays together] of PICK and QUEST. Not being a fan of dancing in any form, I had to turn to Wikipedia for a description of the QUICKSTEP, which is an evolution of the foxtrot and was standardised in 1927. But you all knew that, didn’t you?
45 Ten-gallon container maybe, which dispenses whiskey with punch (6)
HATBOX – the cowboy’s favoured Ten-gallon hat might be kept in a HATBOX. {w}HAT (which) [dispenses with] W (whiskey in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + BOX (punch).
47 Groom reportedly completed arrangement before marriage (6)
PRENUP – PREN – sounds like [reportedly] ‘preen’ (groom) + UP (completed). A pre-nuptial agreement might indeed be completed by a groom (and bride-to-be). It sets out ownership of all their belongings (including money, assets and property) and explains how it will be divided in the event of the breakdown of their marriage.
49 Practice enabling one to take lead in computer game (3)
ISM – This one had me puzzled and was my LOI. I think it is I (one) with the intial letters [lead in] of S{uper} M{ario} (computer game),  making ISM, …[Edit: Oh no it isn’t. The parsing is SIM (Collins: “a computer game that simulates an activity such as playing a sport or flying an aircraft”) with the I moving to the front. – Thanks Mohn2!]…used as a noun when referring to a broad range of ideologies in a general sense – or practice thereof, I guess.
50 A number pledging future constitutional support (5,5,4,5)
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE – Cryptic definition. The song was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, who wrote it for their musical Carousel in 1945. Famously adopted by Liverpool FC as a team anthem. Walk on…
52 Irrational to bring up forgetting a piece of pipe music (7)
PIBROCH – 3.14159265357969…  aka PI (irrational)  + BRO{a}CH (bring up forgetting a). The pipes being the Great Highland Bagpipes, PIBROCH, if you enjoy the skirling, is quite an interesting musical form.
53 Moslem territory that’s claimed by China? (7)
IMAMATE – As a Cockney pal might put it… I’M A MATE.
54 Touch base to form gathering (7)
WHITLOW – WHIT (touch) + LOW (base). A new word on me, but it couldn’t be anything else given the checkers. The gathering is a nasty infection of the fingertip… I’ll let you google that for yourselves so as not to put you off your tea and toast (or whatever else you might consume while tackling the Jumbo).
55 Live and prosper, wanting for nothing (5)
DWELL – Nice one. D{o}WELL (prosper)  [wanting for nothing]. Nearly the Vulcan “dif-tor heh smusma”, as all trekkies would spot.
56 We’re stars, female, playing our parts? (7)
PEGASUS – PEG (female) + AS US (playing ourselves). The winged horse constellation. Not a common nickname these days, but my grandmother Margaret was known as Peggy. How go you get from Margaret to PEG? There’s an explanation here if you happen to care.
57 In retirement, I would add, fairly active (9)
SPRIGHTLY – [In retirement] PS (I would add) + RIGHTLY (fairly). I look forward to being this in my old age. It took me quite a while to work this out, being initially convinced that “in retirement” would be something inside BED, but 33d disabused me of that.

Down
1 Child brought up that Kelvin, without partner, fosters is mine (8)
KLONDIKE – (Child brought up) DIK inside [fosters] K (Kelvin) + LONE (without partner). A reference to the gold rush in the Yukon. The Klondike is actually the name of the river that passes through the area rather than a mine per se, but we’re not going to quibble about that, are we?
2 Loose end left by Bottom, perhaps, in mechanical play (5)
THRUM – Double definition. Bottom being a weaver, a THRUM is not just a continuous rhythmic humming sound. but also any of the unwoven ends of warp thread remaining on the loom when the web has been removed.
3 Sort of speech from duke looking for private boxes (5-6)
AFTER-DINNER – D{uke} inside [boxes] AFTER INNER (looking for private). If you want someone famous to do one of these it can cost a lot of money. I’m not sure anyone would pay me more than a tenner.
4 I require that disco at first should break even (6)
INDEED – I NEED (I require) with D [disco at first] inside [should break]. Quite right.
5 Knocking on … rather more than a bit? (2,6,4)
AT DEATH’S DOOR – Cryptic definition &lit. This one made me smile.
6 Many know, when speaking, the matter is closed! (2,3,2)
NO END OF – NO [know when speaking] END OF (the matter is closed). Will I get no end of comments on this blog post? lol.
7 A new vow, while yet fresh, is novel (3,3,2,4,3)
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW – Anagram of A NEW VOW WHILE YET [fresh]. Now being 1875 when the novel was written by Anthony Trollope.
8 Watch found on Himmler, perhaps, that’s offered cheap … (4,6)
LOSS LEADER – LO (Watch) + SS LEADER (Himmler, perhaps). Careful shoopers grab these and treat the remaining items for sale with suspicion.
9 … Add free chain, with flimsy wrapping (5,2)
THROW IN – ROW (chain) inside [wrapping] THIN (flimsy). A throw in with a loss leader would be a double whammy!
10 Not a soldier’s way of life (5,6)
CIVVY STREET – Cryptic definition. When you leave the forces you join CIVVY STREET.
11 What may be said to pump you up with air fit to burst (4,3,2)
WAIT FOR IT – Not yet… not yet… not yet… anagram of  W{ith} AIR FIT TO [burst].
12 Rex replaced old gal’s toy (3,4)
RAG DOLL – R{ex} + anagram of [replaced]  OLD GAL. I never had one of these toys myself although my sister had one. But in these days of gender neutrality are they now given to boys as well as girls, I wonder?
19 Director once having surgeon assuming a part, briefly (7)
CHABROL – CHB (surgeon) surrounding [assuming] A + ROL{e} (part briefly). “Known as the ‘French Hitchcock’, Chabrol was the most prolific of the new wave directors, leaving behind a huge number of icily brilliant thrillers.” More for the “must watch that some day” list.
22 Just dealing fine with broadcasting of songs, etc (4,4)
FAIR PLAY – F{ine} with AIR PLAY (broadcasting of songs, etc). Unlike King David’s treatment of Uriah (37a)!
24 Certain elements of rehearsal matter especially (4,5,6)
RARE EARTH METALS – Anagram of REHEARSAL MATTER [especially]. Good misdirection – it had me wondering about all sorts of elements of rehearsal. Very clever and my COD.
26 Tense chosen by boy when speaking (8)
ELECTRIC – ELECT (chosen) + RIC – RICK [when speaking]. I toyed with HISTORIC, but that doesn’t quite work – and doesn’t fit with the checkers.
27 Rich yoghurt, and ham, on vacation: that takes some beating! (6)
RHYTHM – R{ic}H + Y{oghur}T + H{a}M [on vacation]. Yoghurt and ham? No thanks. I was listening to my son last weekend in a group playing a piece called “Launch” with a countdown of 10 x 10/8 bars + 9 x 9/8 bars,… down to 1  x 1/8 bar followed by a prestissomo 55 quaver lift-off. Now that took some beating!
28 What can film you and me at an earlier time in the morning (6)
WEBCAM – WE (you and me) + BC (earlier time) + AM (in the morning). I’ve got one, but don’t use it. Who would want to see my ugly mug?
32 Letter from Greek bank for S American (7)
CHILEAN – CHI (Letter from Greek) + LEAN (bank). I’ve never been to S America, but Chile sounds an interesting place to visit.
33 We ask to be showered with toffees in religious celebration (5,2,5)
FEAST OF WEEKS – Wonderful political correctness from our setter in referring to Everton FC (the toffees) to balance 50a. Anagram of (showered with) WE ASK and TOFFEES. Not a phrase I knew. But thanks to this Wikipedia article, I do now!
35 Impertinence from judge and wise man closely linked (5,2,4)
CHEEK BY JOWL – CHEEK (impertinance) BY (from) J{udge} + OWL (wise man). Crowded together.
37 Pledge that’s giving too much? (11)
UNDERTAKING – If you give too much then you must under take. I promise.
38 Making time, heading off in Advent (10)
COMPELLING – {s}PELL [time heading off] in COMING (Advent). What was compelling me to do this crossword? I agreed to blog it!
40 Of a kind that may be crossed with a butterfly? (9)
SWIMMABLE – I had a problem with this one. Why “a butterfly”? Why not just “butterfly”? I did wonder if it could be STICHABLE, but that is now how you spell it. &lit. I think.
42 Sport that’s fast acquiring drug habit (8)
SPEEDWAY – SPEED (drug) + WAY (habit). I think. Just about convinced. Any better ideas, anyone?
43 University course in Latin which wasn’t serious (7)
QUIPPED – U{niversity} PPE (course – philosophy, policitcs and economics) in QUID (Latin which). I’d add a joke here if I could think of one.
44 I felt that expanding RAM would be an improvement (5-2)
TOUCH-UP – Another chuckle with this one. OUCH (I felt that) inside [expanded] TUP (RAM). Yes, an old goat might…. oops, getting a bit risque here. Keep him away from Lauren at 21a!
46 Classic Kojak, when describing his head! (3,4)
THE OAKS – And another giggle. THEO (Kojak) + AS (when) outside [describing] K{ojak} (his head). Who loves ya baby? The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards in June each year.
48 Second drop taking longer (6)
SLOWER – S{econd} + LOWER (drop). How my crossword solving times seem to have got over the last couple of weeks. *sigh*.
51 Small hooter rousing some hotel workers (5)
OWLET –  [some] {ho}TEL WO{workers} going upwards [rousing]. No. not a button nose, but a mini to-wit-to-wooer.

And that, said John, is that!

19 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1282 (Monday 30th August) – How do you blog a Jumbo?”

  1. So I went to Snafu Central, i.e. the club site, to ‘Review’ my submission, and of course all they showed me was a blank grid, my time (that is, the time it took me to type in the solutions), my score (571), and the information that I had 3 errors. I have one error on my hard copy–46d–and have no idea what the other 2 are supposed to be (well, I couldn’t have, could I? with a blank grid). Anyway, I didn’t know THE OAKS, and I’ve never seen ‘Kojak’ and didn’t know his given name, which put me at a bit of a disadvantage. But a lovely clue, however out of reach the solution was for me.
    1. Kevin, Of course my answers were all in my blog, but I went to find mine and had a thought. I see a blank grid and then a pop-up that shows my time and score with the grid filled in behind. Closing the pop-up shows me my completed grid. I use firefox, so this may be a browser thing, but have you, by any chance, got pop-ups disabled?
      1. I get the same thing as you, John, for the current puzzles only; blank grids otherwise, except for the prize puzzles, which are complete but covered in black. And I use Firefox, too. I’ll talk to my techie next week.
  2. I didn’t do this one but thought I’d drop in and say welcome to Jumbo corner as blogger, John, and congrats on your first contribution.

    I wonder why LJ often displays the opening section of a blog in larger font than the rest of it. I get that too but can’t see anything in the html coding that might cause it. The workaround I’ve found is to go into Edit, highlight the affected section and change the font size (via the small t /large T icon) from “normal” to “small”. Then change it back to “normal” and save. I’ve no idea why that should work, but it does!

    Edited at 2017-09-16 05:18 am (UTC)

    1. Being a novice at posting here, I’ve not explored all we can do. I think what you are describing may be a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)effect. Something to explore!
      1. Interesting. It’s certainly something recent. I have been blogging here for nearly 10 years and it’s not something I experienced until a couple of months ago.
  3. Don’t usually tackle the jumbo, but did this as someone suggested, and it was fun. Got fed up after an hour, about 95% complete, didn’t get ISM, PRENUP, WHITLOW or THE OAKS. The rest was good sport. Well blogged John, keep going.
  4. The website is claiming I entered “covvy street” and hence have an error. Hmmph, that’s all I can say. Except, welcome aboard John!
  5. Welcome to the Jumbo blogging crew, John!

    This puzzle was memorable to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I found it a bit of a slog. Didn’t know CHABROL, the first meaning of THRUM, 1A (she usually crops up just as Kate in Crosswordland), the feast, or the Trollope work. I can only find minimal support for 1A, as the usual spellings seem to be either Katherine or Katherina, not Katharina. Secondly, I won this one. There used to be a page on the old Crossword Club that mentioned the prizes – I can’t find the equivalent on the new site, so for those interested the winnings are: a Collins dictionary/thesaurus boxed set, a copy of Bradford’s, and a Times atlas of the world.

    Re 49A, the parsing is SIM (Collins: “a computer game that simulates an activity such as playing a sport or flying an aircraft”) with the I moving to the front.

    1. Hi Mohn. For any prize crossword open it, and click on the little settings wheel icon. This brings up a set of choices, one of which is “prize info.” The info (see excerpt below) is no longer available on the site itself.
      Congratulations though .. I won the same stuff a couple of weeks ago and sorry, found it a bit underwhelming. Already got a better atlas, better dictionaries, and Bradshaw’s .. but that’s not why I do them, of course.

      “A collection of Times reference books will be awarded to the first randomly selected correct solution. To enter, complete the crossword, press the Submit button and fill in the online form. 18+ only. Closing date is 23:59 on the second Wednesday after publication”

      PS:how do they find out your age, and why on earth does it matter?!

      1. Of course, as soon as I’d submitted that comment, I looked down at my printout and saw the very same info. Thanks for pointing out where it can be found – I must have seen that “Prize Info” link umpteen times but it somehow never registered.

        I do get a little thrill when I win a prize, even if it’s not something I particularly need –
        in this case, I didn’t have a Bradford’s so that was something new for me. I can only assume there’s a legal reason for the stipulation of being 18+ – maybe all the obscene words in the dictionary might corrupt young minds. Having said that, I wonder how many people under the age of 18 are regularly doing the Jumbo anyway.

        1. I think the 18+ proviso has to do with contests in general, where there’s money or goods to be won. The New Yorker, for instance, has a cartoon-caption contest, where the winner gets a signed print of the cartoon, and the same restriction applies. Olivia would know.
    2. Your parsing… Of course it is. Thanks for the correction. I even though of Sim as the computer game and never twigged. Doh!
      P.S. Congratulations on winning the prize for this one!

      Edited at 2017-09-16 05:46 pm (UTC)

  6. Good morning John. I hope your obvious enthusiasm attracts plenty of comments as we journey along the pachyderm trail. I find that I can see my completed grid with no errors and a time of 1:34:07, although the puzzle itself has faded from my memory. Our tamed lady and the site of the Gold Rush have stirred faint recollections though. Going by cursor position, my last entry appears to be FEAST OF WEEKS, which I do remember needing aids for. Many thanks for the blog, and to the setter for the challenge.
  8. I struggled for quite a while with this one. Eventually I needed help with CHABROL.
    Thanks for the blog, John. Oh, in case you’re going there soon, your misty Mull
    is actually in Argyll & Bute. Perhaps you were thinking about the Mull of Galloway?

    mike04

    1. Oh dear. I stand corrected. I got my Mulls mixed up. You are quite right, Mike. The Mull of Kintyre is visible from Northern Ireland (so I got that bit right), but it is not in Dumfries and Galloway, where the nearest bit to Ireland is the Mull of Galloway. I’ve been to the former, but not the latter, although it was over 40 years ago. Not sure that’s a good enough excuse, though!

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