Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1422 – 25th January

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic

A rather middle-of-the-road Jumbo today with the usual mixture of straightforward clues and those that need a bit more thought. Nothing too obscure although I had, as usual, a couple of unknowns. A bit of a slow start with 32A being my first in, but once I got going a steady solve to finish in an average time of about 46 minutes. A smattering of appreciative ticks on my copy, including 6A, 24A, 44A, 38D and 47d, but my favourite was 36A. Thank-you setter. How did everyone else get on?

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Foodstuff succeeded with the best amongst us? (4,5)
SOUR CREAM – S (succeeded) [with] OUR CREAM (the best amongst us). Ho ho. A neat one to start.
6 Fake pictures provided here for Jean and Alan (10)
ARTIFICIAL – ART (pictures) IF (provided) ICI (here for our Frenchman Jean) [and] AL (Alan). Nice 4-parter.
12 Part of UK without long road, strip in capital (7)
NAIROBI – Not sure how to make sense of the surface, but the clue works like this –  N.I. (Northern Ireland; Part of the UK) outside [without; …a city walls] AI (A1; long road) ROB (strip).
13 Source of alcohol, two hits left at the end (5-4)
PUNCH-BOWL – Easy to spot the answer, but this took me a while to parse fully. It’s PUNCH (hit 1) BLOW (hit 2) with the L (left) moved to be [at the end] -> BOWL.
14 Man on pitch backing team to be secure again (5)
REFIX – REF (man on pitch) [backing] XI (eleven; football or cricket team) -> IX.
16 Poet expresses grief vocally in modern development (6,6)
MILTON KEYNES – MILTON (poet) KEYNES sounds like [vocally] KEENS (expresses grief).
17 He requests appeal, one about to break safe (10)
PETITIONER – IT (appeal; sex appeal) I (one) ON (about) inside [to break] PETER (safe).
19 Home help with pets is arranged for evildoer (14)
MEPHISTOPHELES – (Home help … pets is)* [arranged].
22 Swallowing drug, hassle at an end for peers (3,5)
AGE GROUP – AGGRO (hassle) [swallowing] E (Ecstasy; drug) then UP (at an end)
24 Like director’s second try to knock out Western (4,2)
TAKE TO – A director’s second try might be TAKE TwO. [Knock out] (i.e. remove) the W (Western). Very good.
25 Alcohol reporter’s failed to notice in a haze (6,4)
SCOTCH MIST – SCOTCH (Alcohol) MIST – sounds like [reporter’s] MISSED (failed to notice).
26 Agile new figure, not feminine (5)
NIFTY – N (new) fIFTY (figure) without the F [not feminine].
29 Possibly spots daredevil (4)
RASH – Double definition.
30 Trash, always separate (8)
DISSEVER – DISS (be disrespectful; trash) EVER (always).
32 No longer stocking fruit that’s past it (3,2,4)
OUT OF DATE – OUT OF (no longer stocking) DATE (fruit).
34 Bound to keep Hanoverian king in a state of distress (9)
CHAGRINED – CHAINED (bound) outside [to keep] G.R. (King George; Hanoverian King).
35 Dissolute clergy look around for sweet stuff (8)
GLYCEROL – [Dissolute] (clergy)* LO (look) [around] -> OL.
36 Stop pouring wine, having enough now for starters (4)
WHEN – My favourite.  First letters of [for starters] Wine Having Enough Now. Lovely surface too.
39 Make confused request about Italian playmaker (5)
BEFOG – BEG (request) [about] FO (Italian playmaker). My first unknown. Dario Fo is a nobel prizewinner. Another example of my literary ignorance that I’d never heard of him.
40 Obstruct clerk maybe storing one statue (10)
FILIBUSTER – FILER (clerk maybe) [storing] I (one) BUST (statue).
42 Indian’s rule about summer month, reversing car (6)
JAGUAR – RAJ (Indian’s rule) [about] AUG (summer month) all [reversing].
44 Are they adapted for the chase? (8)
CHEETAHS – (the chase)* [adapted]. Semi-&lit. Very nice.
46 Striving to enter agreement, clever for sure (14)
UNQUESTIONABLE – QUEST (Striving] inside [to enter] UNION (agreement) ABLE (clever).
48 Caul nun put awry with no respect for time (10)
UNPUNCTUAL – (Caul nun put)* [awry].
49 Carry a dog with hip injured for medical procedure (12)
CARDIOGRAPHY – (Carry a dog … hip)* [injured].
53 Musician’s muted then, touring ring road (5)
SORDO – SO (then) [touring] O (ring) RD (road). I remembered “con sordini” meaning “with mutes” from my violin playing days.
54 Belief of US parent guarding wayward minors (9)
MORMONISM – MOM (US parent) [guarding] [wayward] (minors)*.
55 Meal which a large driver might need, it’s said (4,3)
HIGH TEA – If you have a big No.1 wood golf club you might need a HIGH TEE or TEA [it’s said].
56 People’s mood around English seaside resort (10)
FOLKESTONE – FOLK’S (people’s) TONE (mood) [around] E (English).
57 He brings in crop top during race by river (9)
HARVESTER – VEST (top) [during] HARE (race) [by] R (river).
Down
1 Spades work on the land in silence (5)
STILL – S (Spades; card suit) TILL (work on the land).
2 Medics run into spacecraft experts without force (10)
UROLOGISTS –  Take UfOLOGISTS (spacecraft experts) [without] F (force) and put R (run) [into] it.
3 Chirpy sorts caught disease (8)
CRICKETS – C (caught) RICKETS (disease).
4 Sentry regularly maintaining redcap’s a dead man (5)
EMPTY – sEnTrY [regularly] outside [maintaining] MP (military police; redcap). Dead men is a term for the empty bottles after a party or boozy binge.
5 Move daintily, satisfied about a food mixture (9)
MINCEMEAT – MINCE (move daintily) MET (satisfied) [about] A.
6 Long hours in one’s embrace (4)
ACHE – H (hours) in ACE (one) [in …’s embrace].
7 Digger may have one phone, ringing bank (6)
TROWEL – Cheeky definition. TEL (phone) outside [ringing] ROW (bank).
8 By the way, you’ll find this bit of pie rank (7,7)
FILLING STATION – And this one too. FILLING (bit of pie) STATION (rank).
9 Nick raving lunatic with iron blade (7,5)
CARVING KNIFE – (Nick raving)* [lunatic] [with] FE (chemical symbol for iron). Lovely surface.
10 Too welcoming female working for Spaniard (7)
ALFONSO – ALSO (too) outside [welcoming] F (female) ON (working).
11 Name remote switches for gauge (10)
ANEMOMETER – (Name remote)* [switches]. A wind-speed (and direction) guage.
15 King rising excitedly to hype desert plant, say (9)
XEROPHYTE – REX (King) [rising] -> XER [excitedly] (to hype)*. There are always a couple of new words on me in a Jumbo. This is one of them.
18 Allow Henry coats of armour gamely? It suggests no go (8)
LETHARGY – LET (allow) H (Henry) and the outside letters of [coats of] ArmouR GanemlY. A little clunky, no?
20 Handle fish on southern British river (9)
PIKESTAFF – PIKE (fish) [on] S (southern) TAFF (British river).
21 Sets of animals go off, one perhaps on horse (10)
PACKSADDLE – PACKS (sets of animals) ADDLE (go off).
23 What cooks have is pretension when cooking (3,7)
TIN OPENERS – (is pretension)* [cooking]. Another nice surface.
27 Second cry goes up — it’s very illuminating (5,4)
FLASH BULB – FLASH (second; short period) BLUB (cry) [goes up] -> BULB.
28 Good to stop paper’s error, which shows a trend (4,2,3,5)
SIGN OF THE TIMES – G (good) inside [to stop] SIN OF THE TIMES (paper’s error). Paper’s error. Ha, ha!
31 See Bill grabbing country drifter (8)
VAGABOND – V (vide; see) AD (bill) [grabbing] GABON (country).
33 Murder story in book woke Peter? (8,4)
BRIGHTON ROCK – B (book) RIGHT ON (woke) ROCK (Peter). The murder story by Graham Greene.
34 Swiss bank firm plugging reductions for youthful members (3,6)
CUB SCOUTS – UBS (Swiss bank) CO (company) [plugging] CUTS (reductions).
37 Gardener cultivated runners around May, oddly (10)
NURSERYMAN – (runners)* [cultivated] [around] (May)* [oddly]. An anagram inside an anagram!
38 Vehicle producer in decline? True, so we hear (10)
WAINWRIGHT – Sounds like WANE (decline) RIGHT (True) [so we hear].
41 Delicate silk initially that French put on some Protestants (9)
SQUEAMISH – Silk [initially] QUE (that in French) [put on] AMISH (some Protestants).
43 South American dictator briefly seizing lead in Latin American game (8)
PINOCHLE – PINOCHEt (South American dictatot) [briefly] [seizing] [lead in] Latin. Pinochle was the favorite card game of American Jewish and Irish immigrants.
45 Greenery some pasture’s part of (7)
ESPARTO – Hidden in [some] pasturE’S PART Of.
47 One involved in puzzling over style (6)
HAIRDO – I [involved in] HARD (puzzling) O (over).
50 Object that’s not quite proper (5)
DEMUR – DEMURe (proper) [not quite].
51 Old man‘s half-hearted sales pitch (5)
PATER – PATtER (sales pitch) [half-hearted].
52 Learner given literary work that’s a rich source of material (4)
LODE – L (Learner) ODE (literary work).

7 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1422 – 25th January”

  1. A number of DNKs: ‘dead man’, UBS, SORDO, ‘woke’–I’ve seen that last one a couple of times, but never in a context where I could guess the meaning. I didn’t realize Fo was dead, and for some reason I had thought he was Portuguese–I was confusing him with José Saramago. COD to ARTIFICIAL.
  2. All correct. I also didn’t know FO was dead since I’d never heard of him. But he was at least plausible as an Italian. Mer at CARDIOGRAPHY as a medical procedure. Surely the procedure is a CARDIOGRAM or a CARDIOGRAPH, and CARDIOGRAPHY is the science of those things. I played the oboe as a teenager so we didn’t have mutes, but somehow I knew it anyway.

    Despite living in the US for 30 years, I’ve only ever come across PINOCHLE in Joseph Wamgaugh’s novels about Irish police in Los Angeles (and other places, I forget the details). I haven’t a clue if it is like bridge, snap, cribbage, or poker.

  3. There’s very little extraneous writing on my print-out which suggests I found this mostly straightforward. The one query noted was how BOW could = ‘hit’ in 13ac, so thanks, John, for explaining that.

    Fortunately PINOCHLE is one of the suite of 7 card games in an application I use to play on-line. I attempted it once but gave up as the rules seemed very complicated. The other useful one there from a crossword POV is EUCHRE, but my favourite is SPADES in which skill is more important than luck of the draw when it comes to winning.

    1. I like spades but my family never quite knows what to do when somebody gets all of them. Most sets of rules say that person’s score goes back to zero and everyone else’s doubles, which destroys the game rather. Nowadays we just add 100 on to everyone else..
      1. Our version is known as “Scabbie” (aka Black Maria) where the cards to avoid winning are the hearts (A=10, K=9, Q=8, J=7, 10=6 and the rest 5 points each) and the Queen of spades (20 points). Best with 3 players (you remove the 2 of clubs so each gets dealt 17 cards). It gets very entertaining when 2 of the players try to gang up against the other for being in the lead and/or just being obnoxious. Oh, and if you succeed in getting all 100 points, you get 0 and the others 100 each.

        Edited at 2020-02-08 07:50 am (UTC)

  4. Nice steady solve this one, from memory. I am into card games so knew pinochle though not sure I’ve ever actually played it.
    As a keen walker, “Vehicle producer” is perhaps not the definition I would have picked for Wainright ..

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