No time for this as I squeezed it into spare moments while visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Bridge of Allan in Scotland, but it can’t have taken long as it is mostly very straightforward. That’s no bad thing, though, and the surfaces are generally pretty good and amusing too. Thank-you entertaining setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Senior politician engaged in celebratory drink, revealing significant place on board (7) |
| TOPMAST – PM (Prime Minister; senior politician) in TOAST (celebratory drink). | |
| 5 | A TV screen offering new view of this author (9) |
| CERVANTES – (a TV screen)* [offering new view]. | |
| 10 | Difficult to lose heart in short walk (4) |
| STEP – ST{e}EP (difficult) without the middle letter. You can’t get a shorter walk than that! | |
| 14 | The point of it is to prevent the loss of vital fluid (7,6) |
| STYPTIC PENCIL – Cryptic definition. | |
| 15 | Ineptitude of cowboy losing love by lake (9) |
| GAUCHERIE – GAUCH{o} (cowboy) without the O (o, round letter, zero, love), ERIE (great lake). | |
| 16 | Female is fine in legwear for engagements (10) |
| FISTFIGHTS – F (female) IS, F (fine) in TIGHTS (legwear). | |
| 17 | Alarms mostly uncovered dangerous reptile (11) |
| RATTLESNAKE – RATTLES (alarms) NAKE{d} (uncovered) [mostly]. | |
| 18 | Substantial source of hope around one religion (5) |
| FAITH – FAT (substantial) and first letter of Hope, around I (one). | |
| 19 | Concentrated work from tailor is a speciality (6,4) |
| STRONG SUIT – STRONG (concentrated) SUIT (work from tailor). | |
| 21 | Persuade a Judge to tuck into cabbage (6) |
| CAJOLE – A J (judge) in COLE (cabbage). | |
| 23 | A universal constant capturing varying motion occurring spontaneously (9) |
| AUTONOMIC – A U (universal) C (constant) outside (motion)* [varying]. | |
| 25 | Bring back water sources containing river fish (5) |
| SPRAT – TAPS (water sources) reversed -> SPAT, containing R (river). | |
| 26 | Lute is redesigned, incorporating new instrument (7) |
| UTENSIL – N (new) in (lute is)* [redesigned]. | |
| 28 | Where potters try to make good breaks? (8,5) |
| BILLIARD TABLE – Cryptic definition. | |
| 31 | Shock call to start adopting metres (9) |
| DUMBFOUND – M (meters) in DUB (call) FOUND (start). | |
| 33 | Horrible couple keeping spades in bad condition (9) |
| DISREPAIR – S (spades) in DIRE (horrible) PAIR (couple). | |
| 35 | Her stamina is transformed, absorbing fresh stimulus (1,4,2,3,3) |
| A SHOT IN THE ARM – HOT (fresh) in (her stamina)* [transformed]. | |
| 37 | Dessert portion about reasonable? Not entirely (7) |
| PARFAIT – PART (portion) about FAI{r} (reasonable) [not entirely]. | |
| 38 | Performs piano melodies (5) |
| PLAYS – P (piano) LAYS (melodies). | |
| 40 | Insect circling greyish horse without any point (9) |
| REDUNDANT – DUN (greyish horse) in RED ANT (insect). | |
| 42 | Trimmed small mesh for basket (6) |
| PUNNET – PUN{y} (small) [trimmed], NET (mesh). | |
| 44 | Source of alarm and commotion: Grandma dispensing a poison (10) |
| BELLADONNA – BELL (source of alarm) ADO (commotion) N{a}NA (grandma) without the A. | |
| 46 | Purge Conservative breaking rank (5) |
| SCOUR – C (conservative) in SOUR (gone off; rank). | |
| 48 | Suggestive short skirts with contemporary jacket (11) |
| REMINISCENT – MINIS (short skirts) in [with… jacket] RECENT (contemporary). | |
| 50 | Road maintenance vehicle currently parking in Berkshire town (10) |
| SNOWPLOUGH – NOW (currently) P (parking) in SLOUGH (Berkshire town). | |
| 52 | Party rejected, exhausted, not in office — not a regular thing (3,3,3) |
| ODD ONE OUT – DO (party) [rejected] -> OD, DONE (exhausted) OUT (not in office). | |
| 53 | Cleaning up excavation in beach linked to European country (4,3,6) |
| SPIT AND POLISH – PIT (excavation) in SAND (beach), POLISH (linked to European country). | |
| 54 | Become free of King Richard after beheading (4) |
| KICK – K (King) {D}ICK (Richard) without the first letter. | |
| 55 | Some lingerie stand displaying children’s toy (5,4) |
| TEDDY BEAR – TEDDY (some lingeries) BEAR (stand). | |
| 56 | Excuse you couldn’t make by SMS? (7) |
| PRETEXT – PRE TEXT (i.e. before SMS existed, so you couldn’t make your excuse by it). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | 50% take stock, abandoning core piece of work (4) |
| TASK – [50%] of TA{ke}, S{toc}K without the middle letters. Clever. | |
| 2 | Rare medicine is beginning to treat scientist (9) |
| PHYSICIST – PHYSIC (rare word for medicine) IS Treat. | |
| 3 | Precautionary intervention shortening operation? (1,6,2,4,5,4) |
| A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE – Cryptic definition. | |
| 4 | Campaign elevated science after diplomacy (7) |
| TACTICS – TACT (diplomacy) and SCI (science) [elevated] -> ICS. | |
| 5 | Caught his teacher prancing about as Lewis Carroll character (8,3) |
| CHESHIRE CAT – (C his teacher)* [prancing about]. | |
| 6 | More than one dissenting voice revokes comments implicating America (9) |
| RECUSANTS – US (America) in RECANTS (revokes). Not a common word, I think, but I remembered it. | |
| 7 | A person at leisure to ignore one psychologist (5) |
| ADLER – A {i}DLER (person at leisure) without the I (one). Alfred Adler was the Austrian psychotherapist who was founder of the school of individual psychology (whatever that means). At least I knew the name. | |
| 8 | Wasted handwriting on editor unlikely to pay? (5-6) |
| TIGHT-FISTED – TIGHT (drunk; wasted) FIST (handwriting) ED (editor). | |
| 9 | Second question posed by everyone in bad weather (6) |
| SQUALL – S (second) QU (question) ALL (everyone). | |
| 11 | Commotion involving genetic material creating storm (7) |
| TORNADO – RNA (genetic material) in TO-DO (commotion). | |
| 12 | Some music and some food bit by bit (9) |
| PIECEMEAL – PIECE (some music) MEAL (some food). | |
| 13 | Futurist book article — chief source of surreal photomontages after editing (3,5,2,6,2,4) |
| THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME – THE (article) (chief s{urreal} photomontages)* [after editing]. The 1933 novel by H G Wells (see here). | |
| 18 | Puncture on corner taking out new truck (7) |
| FLATBED – FLAT (puncture) BE{n}D (corner) without the N (new). | |
| 20 | Loose rocks landing on church — a harsh sound (7) |
| SCREECH – SCREE (loose rocks) CH (church). | |
| 22 | Called up the whole amount on tucking into medicine (8) |
| SUMMONED – SUM (the whole amount), ON in MED (medicine). | |
| 24 | Master criminal, or one skewering victim? Not entirely (8) |
| MORIARTY – OR I (one) in MARTY{r} (victim) [not entirely]. | |
| 27 | An American turned up, claiming a bath in Finland (5) |
| SAUNA – AN, A in US all reversed -> SAUNA. | |
| 29 | Succeeded in blocking actual revolving beam (5) |
| LASER – S (succeeded) in REAL (actual) all reversed -> LASER. | |
| 30 | Something to bore a daughter enthralled by fight (7) |
| BRADAWL – A D (daughter) in BRAWL (fight). | |
| 32 | Greek goddess put off accepting me (7) |
| DEMETER – ME in DETER (put off). | |
| 34 | Exemplified here, in oboe’s part? (11) |
| REPRESENTED – PRESENT (here) in REED (part of an oboe). | |
| 36 | Mistakenly run a story covering an ancient creature (11) |
| TYRANNOSAUR – AN in (run a story)* [mistakenly]. | |
| 37 | Each year, benefit disrupted by mounting dispute and forms? (9) |
| PAPERWORK – PA (per annum; each year), ROW (dispute) reversed -> WOR in PERK (benefit). | |
| 39 | Teams erase unexpected criticism (9) |
| SIDESWIPE – SIDES (teams) WIPE (erase). | |
| 41 | Greatly want to interrupt quiet comment nearby (9) |
| ALONGSIDE – LONG (greatly want) in ASIDE (quiet comment). | |
| 43 | Never angry over Charlie and I turning up, always on the move (7) |
| NOMADIC – NO MAD (never angry), C (Charlie in the phonetic alphabet) I reversed -> IC. | |
| 45 | A politician, bored, ousting leader to get excited (5,2) |
| AMPED UP – A MP (politician) {f}ED UP (bored) without the first letter. | |
| 47 | Armed guards? Parisian is suppressing startled comment (6) |
| ESCORT – COR (startled comment) in EST (is in French; Parisian is). | |
| 49 | Inclined to be bad-tempered, like an international match? (5) |
| TESTY – Double definition the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 51 | Turn to buy drinks, but not round in bar (4) |
| SHUT – SH{o}UT (turn to buy drinks) without the O (round letter). | |
I found this slow going, and now I can’t see why.
I never time Jumbos, only note if I happen to complete one in a single session, which I did on this occasion. It must be one of the easiest Jumbos as I have no notes or question marks against any of the clues, nor did I use aids at any point.
This was all quite straightforward apart from the obscurity clued by a cryptic definition, which was completely impossible. Frustrating.
Which is that? STYPTIC PENCIL?
Yes.
One person’s obscurity is another’s GK. As someone who has always favoured a wet shave, having a STYPTIC PENCIL to hand is a wise precaution, though I’m pleased to say it doesn’t get much use.
Of course.
I have always shaved with a wet razor but have never needed such a thing, or heard of it. I suspect this is just a product of razors getting better.
Google ngram suggests that this is a rarely used term that was much more common in the 1930s to 1950s, but it seems to have had a revival around 2003, which is a bit odd!
You might not old enough to have had one. I think you are right about razors getting better. I used to have one maybe 40 years ago. I should get a new one. I nick myself shaving even with these new super razors two or three times a year and have to go around the house with a bit of toilet tissue on my face to stem the dripping for an hour or so. Sorry. You maybe didn’t need to know that.
I do nick myself occasionally but it never takes that long to stop the bleeding, and it’s a reliable sign that you need to replace the blade (or in my case the whole razor, I use disposables these days). I have pretty light facial hair growth though so maybe I’ve just been fortunate.
Several pleasing clues here, especially Pre-text.
But it’s a shame to find the obscure Adler (why not refer to Larry?) and I’ve never heard Amped-up used in that context.
All the same, no probs getting it finished.
I too thought of Larry ADLER and had to squint at AMPED-UP to be convinced. But they are just a couple of minor quibbles as far as I was concerned.
All correct apart the first part of the pencil- I stood no chance as I HNO it and there was no help in the clue, shame really as the point of a clue is do just that – help!
That’s cryptic definitions for you. No wordplay to help. A riddle like that is tough if you’ve never heard of the answer.