A neat Jumbo Cryptic with lots of entertaining clues, and the usual couple of words that were new to me, this took me 42:40 – about an average time, finishing in the SE corner. I liked the chef’s fans getting 50% off, the high rate of interest, the role that upset the tenors and, most of all, the &lit twirling cat’s whiskers. Thank-you setter!
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Filthy hole turned dry, swallowing water? (7) |
| CESSPIT – SEC (dry) [turned] -> CES, SPIT (swallowing water). A bit of an unsavoury start. | |
| 5 | Film, according to mother, carried by star (8) |
| SUPERMAN – PER (according to) MA (mother), in SUN (our local star). | |
| 9 | A transport company’s fleet operates badly (6) |
| ABUSES – A, BUSES (transport company’s fleet). | |
| 13 | Programme you can stand listening to? (9,7) |
| PROMENADE CONCERT – Cryptic definition. Ho ho. | |
| 14 | Thin coat secretary can pad in the middle (6) |
| PATINA – PA (Personal Assistant) TIN (can) and middle letter of pAd. | |
| 16 | Chef’s fans given 50 per cent off, in addition (5) |
| EXTRA – EXTRA{ctors} (chef’s fans) losing half the letters. | |
| 17 | European rocket redirected following quiet chat (7) |
| SHMOOZE – SH (quiet), E (European) ZOOM (rocket) reversed -> MOOZE. | |
| 18 | Conservative in the same plane with US president (9) |
| CLEVELAND – C (Conservative) LEVEL (in the same plane) AND (with). | |
| 19 | Old educational institution last to trial novel form of debate (9) |
| POLYLEMMA – POLY (polytechnic; old educational institution), last letter if triaL, EMMA (novel). A new word for me. | |
| 21 | Barrel officer commanding twice rolled over, fair target? (7) |
| COCONUT – TUN (barrel), OC OC (Officer in command) twice and all reversed [rolled over] -> COCONUT, target of a coconut shy at a fair. | |
| 22 | Art gallery in favour of framing poster, say (5) |
| PRADO – AD (poster, say) in PRO (in favour of). | |
| 23 | Blank book in sale with no covers, worthless (5) |
| ALBUM – {s}AL{e} [with no covers], BUM (worthless). | |
| 25 | Strange nature running through Ascot — Herne’s stag? (9) |
| OTHERNESS – Hidden in, [running through], ascOT HERNE’S Stag. This had me scratching my head for a while, wondering who Herne was and what a stag he had had to to with Ascot before I spotted it was a hidden answer. I’ve looked it up now. Read about The Legend of Herne the Hunter here. | |
| 27 | Cinema nuts divided by Oscar tributes (7) |
| ENCOMIA – O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) in (cinema)* [nuts]. | |
| 29 | Temperature on Blue Nile turned boiling (9) |
| EBULLIENT – (Blue Nile)* [turned], T (temperature). | |
| 31 | Prisoner’s fish helping mental process? (13) |
| CONSIDERATION – CON’S (prisoner’s) IDE (fish) RATION (helping). | |
| 34 | After leaving, cooler in rented address (4-6,3) |
| POST-OFFICE BOX – POST (after) OFF (leaving) ICE-BOX (cooler). | |
| 35 | Authenticated resin brought back from SE France (9) |
| PROVENCAL – PROVEN (authenticated), LAC (resin) [brought back] -> CAL. | |
| 37 | Silk turned oily by cheese (7) |
| TAFFETA – FAT (oily) [turned] -> TAF, FETA (cheese). | |
| 39 | Excite son’s greed, showing high rate of interest? (9) |
| ENGROSSED – (son’s greed)* [excited] with a bit of a whimsical definition. | |
| 42 | Look after marine as well as you’re told (3,2) |
| SEE TO – Sounds like SEA (marine) TOO (as well) [as you’re told]. | |
| 43 | Upright attached to goal (2,3) |
| ON END – ON (attached to) END (goal). | |
| 45 | Word identification not hard in articles (7) |
| TIDINGS – ID (identification) in T{h}INGS (articles) without the H (hard). | |
| 47 | Piece of ironmongery, however flimsy, lasts for long time (4,5) |
| BUTT HINGE – BUT (however) THIN (flimsy) and last letters of lonG timE. Another new word for me. | |
| 49 | Country inn with a great spread (9) |
| ARGENTINA – (inn a great)* [spread]. | |
| 50 | Cross, maybe, in response to a tomato sauce (7) |
| PASSATA – PASS (cross, maybe at football) AT (in response to) A. Why would anyone get cross because of a tomato sauce? Well my Mum wouldn’t let us add tomato ketchup to a meal with baked beans as they’re in a tomato sauce already. | |
| 52 | Spaniard no longer serving — nothing left (5) |
| NADAL – NADA (nothing) L (left). Rafael NADAL the Spanish tennis player retired last year, so is no longer “serving”. Lol. | |
| 54 | Give agent a chair for military update (6) |
| SITREP – SIT (give a chair to) REP (agent) | |
| 55 | Large gnat in mouth could be serious (2,8,6) |
| NO LAUGHING MATTER – (large gnat in mouth)* [could be]. Great anagram. | |
| 56 | Head of maintenance one calls getting stuck in the bog (6) |
| MIRING – First letter of Maintenance, I RING (one calls). | |
| 57 | I say “Pirate king” like Spooner would (4,4) |
| LOOK HERE – Spoonerism of HOOK (pirate king) LEER (look). | |
| 58 | Young swimmer whose kick is developing? (7) |
| TADPOLE – Cryptic definition. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Policeman delayed collecting guilty American’s print (11) |
| COPPERPLATE – COP (policeman) PERP (perpetrator; American for a guilty person) LATE. | |
| 2 | Dram of type drunkard says? (5) |
| SHORT – SORT (type) pronounced by a slurring drunkard -> SHORT. | |
| 3 | Hold good bucket that vicar fills (7) |
| PREVAIL – REV (vicar) in PAIL (bucket). | |
| 4 | Give a lecture, showing how to dispense Sellotape? (4,7,3,1,5) |
| TEAR SOMEONE OFF A STRIP – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 5 | Second group hit hotel room to get sweaty (5,4) |
| STEAM BATH – S (second) TEAM (group) BAT (hit) H (Hotel in the phonetic alphabet). | |
| 6 | Page stolen and old picture taken (5) |
| PHOTO – P (page) HOT (stolen) O (old) | |
| 7 | Sophisticated reconnaissance, covering her and husband separately? (9) |
| RECHERCHE – HER and H (husband) separately include in RECCE (reconnaissance) | |
| 8 | Doctor in a car heading for Freetown, relatively local? (7) |
| AFRICAN – [Doctor] (in a car F{reetown})*. Relatively local to Freetown. | |
| 10 | Lounge in northerly inn burst into flames (5,2) |
| BLAZE UP – LAZE (lunge) in PUB (inn) reversed, [northerly] in a down clue. | |
| 11 | Curved branch splits from the bottom, the noise waking you? (6,3) |
| SPIRAL ARM – RIPS (splits) [from the bottom] -> SPIR, ALARM (the noise waking you). | |
| 12 | Potentially profit from deputy taking in Roman’s clothing (5,2,4) |
| STAND TO GAIN – TOGA (Roman’s clothing) in STAND IN (deputy). | |
| 15 | To improve best mark immediately, correct an error (3,3,6,8) |
| SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT – SET THE RECORD (improve best mark) STRAIGHT (immediately). | |
| 20 | Dog — the one we have — sweats (7) |
| LABOURS – LAB (Labrador; dog) OURS (the one we have). | |
| 21 | Lump of thickened skin on horse’s inner ear (7) |
| CORNCOB – CORN (lump of thickened skin) COB (horse). The ear of corn under the husk. | |
| 24 | Sugar chorister’s fed to me (7) |
| MALTOSE – ALTO’S (chorister’S) in ME. | |
| 26 | Shortening slalom, maybe naughty kid cut corners (5) |
| SKIMP – SK{i} (slalom, maybe) without last letter, IMP (naughty kid). | |
| 28 | Facetious lady impersonates saint after church (7) |
| CHAPESS – CH (church) APES (impersonates) S (saint). | |
| 30 | What creature with whiskers twists? (5) |
| TACHE – EH (what?) CAT (creature with whiskers) [twists] -> TACHE. Great &lit. If you have a moustache you might twist it. | |
| 32 | Number 10 notes admitting liability is harmful (7) |
| NOXIOUS – NO (number) X (ten in Roman numerals) IOUS (notes admitting liability). | |
| 33 | Korean city a short distance east? Further (7) |
| INCHEON – INCH (short distance) E (east) ON (further). I’d never heard of this city. | |
| 34 | Make demands for the return of little angel lost on Mars (3,2,6) |
| PUT TO RANSOM – PUTTO (little angel), (on Mars)* [lost]. | |
| 36 | Theatre-goer’s box containing old appley fruit seemed weighty (6,5) |
| LOOMED LARGE – O (old) MEDLAR (appley fruit) in LOGE (theatre-goer’s box). | |
| 38 | Ship’s French crew in rowing boat were stripped (9) |
| FREIGHTER – FR (French) EIGHT (crew in rowing boat) and {w}ER{e} without its outside letters [stripped]. | |
| 40 | Walkway crew limp across quietly (9) |
| GANGPLANK – P (quietly) in GANG (crew) LANK (limp) | |
| 41 | Sandwich unfinished but remains fresh (9) |
| SUBMARINE – (bu{t} remains)* [fresh] with the “but” unfinished. | |
| 44 | Musician’s fairly slowly cycling after Italian poet (7) |
| DANTEAN – ANDANTE (musician’s fairly slow) [cycling] i.e. put the letters in a circle and read them starting from the D. | |
| 46 | Dab oil in different places over spinning top (7) |
| DIABOLO – (diabolo)* [in different places] O (over). | |
| 48 | Fowl clergyman raised turned brown (7) |
| HENNAED – HEN (fowl), DEAN (clergyman) [raised] -> NAED. | |
| 51 | For example, entreat nurses to continue without a break (5) |
| SEGUE – SUE (entreat) includes [nurses] E.G. (for example). | |
| 53 | Upsetting part for Pavarotti, Domingo likewise (5) |
| DITTO – Reverse hidden in PavarOTTI Domingo. | |
Mostly done in one session. I didn’t think the definition of TACHE worked and I missed some of the wordplay for PASSATA as a football reference. I wasn’t sure if GET THE RECORD STRAIGHT might be an alternative, but on balance SET seemed better.
I really liked the NADAL and TADPOLE clues.
– Relied on wordplay for the unknown POLYLEMMA
– Same for BUTT HINGE, though that sounded a little more likely
– Got LOOMED LARGE without having previously known that a medlar is an appley fruit
Thanks John and setter.
FOI Patina
LOI Look here
COD Encomia
Sorry, I don’t understand the TADPOLE clue at all. What should I know that I don’t?
I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed by the clue, but the reference is to a tadpole being the larva of a frog (or toad) which develops into something that kicks. Not a clue I would accept as editor in my Weekend Quick Cryptic series. But a Jumbo is a lot of work and sometimes a ho-hum sort of clue has to do.
Thanks, John. Yes, I thought it must be more complicated than that to be a cryptic definition!
Firm but fair! Sufficiently challenging and no complaints.
Smiles for Nadal and Coconut. I also thought Tadpole was neat.
Took a while to work out the rationale for Short, and then it seems so obvious – sign of a good clue!