I enjoyed this Jumbo. It was mostly standard fare, but with a couple of chewy bits and took me 36 and a bit minutes, which is about average for me for a Jumbo Cryptic. 23A was my favourite and 30A my LOI. Thank-you setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Tolerate leading comedian (5-2) |
| STAND UP – STAND (tolerate) + UP (leading). | |
| 5 | Images on taxi, perhaps embracing ultimate in coarse entertainment (7) |
| CABARET – CAB (taxi perhaps) + last letter of coarsE in ART (images). | |
| 9 | Central part of thick seed burst or split (7) |
| DEHISCE – ({t}hic{k} seed)* [burst], using only the central letters of “thick”. I’m not sure how I knew the word, but I did. | |
| 13 | Widely read letter covering military police and love never disappearing from view? (11) |
| CIRCUMPOLAR – MP (military police) + O (0; love), in CIRCULAR (widely read letter). The definition refers to CIRCUMPOLAR stars, which never set. | |
| 14 | One of several kings followed by poet and novelist (6,5) |
| GEORGE ELIOT – GEORGE (one of several kings) + ELIOT (T.S. Eliot; poet). | |
| 15 | Sign is inconstant, with first letter not visible (5) |
| ARIES – {v}ARIES (is inconstant) without the first letter. A Star sign. | |
| 16 | Indication of empty sincerity — politician curtailed vault (7) |
| SYMPTOM – All but the outside letters of S{ympath}Y + MP (politician) + TOM{b} (vault) without the final letter, [curtailed]. | |
| 17 | Man bitten by dog? Here’s sign of disease (9) |
| BIOMARKER – IOM (Isle of Man; Man) inside BARKER (dog?). | |
| 18 | Understanding English proposal to lead a large system of spies? (9,12) |
| EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – E (English) + MOTION (proposal) + A + L (large) + INTELLIGENCE (system of spies). | |
| 23 | Resolutely pursue grand day in cathedral city (8) |
| DOGGEDLY – DOG (pursue) + G + D (day) in ELY (cathedral city). | |
| 25 | Get money for enclosure beside tree (6) |
| ENCASH – ENC. (enclosure) + ASH (tree). | |
| 27 | Head of police blocking freedom heartlessly? That’s a step back (7) |
| RELAPSE – First letter of Police in REL{e}ASE (freedom) without its middle letter [heartlessly]. | |
| 30 | Note reduction in low points (5) |
| MINIM – MINIM{a} (low points) without the last letter [reduction]. | |
| 32 | Betray prisoner receiving intense police attention (5,2) |
| CHEAT ON – HEAT (intense police attention) in CON (prisoner). | |
| 33 | Informed location of sports company logo? (2,3,4) |
| ON THE BALL – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 35 | City pioneering move in game (9) |
| NEWCASTLE – NEW (pioneering) + CASTLE (move in chess; move in game). | |
| 36 | Routine abandoned before birth (2,5) |
| IN UTERO – (routine)* [abandoned]. | |
| 37 | Count disconcerted to return, having abandoned a university (3,2) |
| TOT UP – PUT O{u}T (disconcerted) losing one of the Us (university) all reversed [to return]. | |
| 38 | A thing you have to do when returning fruit (7) |
| SATSUMA – A + MUST (thing you have to do) + AS (when) all reversed [returning]. | |
| 40 | Country the subject of business discussions? (6) |
| TURKEY – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint referring to “talking turkey”. | |
| 41 | No performance in church for piece by Chopin? (8) |
| NOCTURNE – NO + TURN (performance) in CE (Church of England; church). | |
| 44 | American drama American readers detest in a different version (1,9,5,6) |
| A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE – (American readers detest)* [in a different version]. | |
| 48 | Cheer and go in excitedly, making a resounding noise (2-7) |
| RE ECHOING – (Cheer and go in)* [excitedly]. | |
| 50 | Red fruit at first mashed or, like a banana, peeled (7) |
| MORELLO – First letter of Mashed + OR + {y}ELLO{w} (like a banana) without the outside letters, [peeled]. | |
| 53 | Operator wearing shirt and hat in India (5) |
| TOPEE – OP (operator) in TEE (t-shirt; shirt). I’d only seen this spelt TOPI before, but this is an alternative spelling. | |
| 54 | Hard copy guarantee following lot of computer accessory data at the outset (7,4) |
| PRINTED WORD – PRINTE{r} (computer accessory) without the last letter [lot of] + D{ata} [at the outset] + WORD (guarantee). | |
| 55 | Failing to pen a couple of lines working at full capacity (5,3,3) |
| GOING ALL OUT – A + L L (couple of lines) in GOING OUT (failing, like a candle). | |
| 56 | Tackle specialist further down that can accommodate 50 (7) |
| SADDLER – L (50 in Roman numerals) in SADDER (further down) | |
| 57 | Echo court imprisoning top inmate? Not any more (7) |
| ESCAPEE – CAP (top) in E (echo in the phonetic alphabet) + SEE (date; court). | |
| 58 | Not musical work involving Poles, such as Perpetuum Mobile? (7) |
| NONSTOP – N and S (poles) in NOT + OP (musical work). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Is time to leave left-wing party? (6) |
| SOCIAL – SOCIAL{ist} (left-wing) without the IS + T (time). | |
| 2 | A passion about Cambridge University after elevating radio slot? (7) |
| AIRTIME – MIT (Cambridge Massachusetts University) [elevating] -> TIM, in A + IRE (passion). | |
| 3 | Last of old carpets ripped in US shop (9) |
| DRUGSTORE – Last of olD + RUGS (carpets) + TORE (ripped). | |
| 4 | Diarist with energy? Certainly expending energy (5) |
| PEPYS – PEP (energy) + Y{e}S (certainly) without the E (energy). | |
| 5 | Old person’s sadly cut up? For me, soothing ointment involves this (8) |
| CALAMINE – ALAC{k} (sadly; archaic – old person’s) [up] -> CALA + MINE (for me). | |
| 6 | Deprived, having lost fine headgear (5) |
| BERET – BERE{f}T (deprived) without the F (fine). | |
| 7 | Border space restricting for one government (7) |
| REGIMEN – E.G. (for example; for one) in RIM (border) + EN (printer’s space, the width of a letter n). | |
| 8 | Tense source of alarm, perhaps, involving currency investigator (14) |
| TROUBLESHOOTER – ROUBLES (currency) in T (tense) + HOOTER (source of alarm). | |
| 9 | Good firm surrounded by American money — indication of ministerial preferment? (3,6) |
| DOG COLLAR – G (good) + CO (company; firm) in DOLLAR (American money). It is (generally) an indication that a minister is ordained -hence “preferment” in the clue. | |
| 10 | Wild animal that man keeps in yard before an upset (5) |
| HYENA – Y (yard) in HE (that man) + AN [upset] -> NA. | |
| 11 | Criticism over lager, with pints drunk — it conceals the injury (8,7) |
| STICKING PLASTER – STICK (criticism) + (lager pints)* [drunk]. | |
| 12 | Eastern European welcoming United, rising ready for Cantona? A source of inspiration (7) |
| EUTERPE – U (united) + PRET (ready in French; for Cantona?) [rising] -> TERP all in E (east) E (European). One of the 9 muses, the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory. Euterpe was the muse of music. | |
| 19 | 50 per cent unable to read when crossing Channel Islands? That’s wrong (7) |
| ILLICIT – C.I. (Channel Islands) in first half of ILLIT{erate} (unable to read). | |
| 20 | More extended church season here in Berlin involving leader of Germany (9) |
| LENGTHIER – first letter of Germany in LENT (church season) + HIER (German for here; here in Berlin). | |
| 21 | Satirist, one scoffing about Liberal establishment at last (7) |
| GILBERT – L (Liberal) in GIBER (one scoffing) + last letter of establishmenT. W.S. Gilbert, librettist of the savoy operas with music by Arthur Sullivan, often satirical. | |
| 22 | Party brought up reductions banking millions? Just things here and there (8) |
| ODDMENTS – DO (party) [brought up] -> OD + M (millions) in DENTS (reductions). A bit of an odd definition, I think. | |
| 24 | Film length disowned by Twilight when done with editing (4,4,3,4) |
| GONE WITH THE WIND – (Twi{l}ight when done)* losing the L (length) [with editing]. | |
| 26 | Notice bloke going the wrong way about American employment to an intolerable degree (2,7) |
| AD NAUSEAM – AD (notice) + A (American) USE (employment) in MAN (bloke) [going the wrong way] -> NAM. | |
| 28 | Concealed concern from part of London getting to grips with film extracts (8) |
| ECLIPSED – CLIPS (film extracts) in {h}EED (concern) dropping the H [from part of London]. “concern” for “heed” seems a bit of a stretch | |
| 29 | Alien locates legible star map (9,5) |
| CELESTIAL GLOBE – [Alien] (locates legible)*. | |
| 31 | Alcoholic drink reduced by certain amount (7) |
| MEASURE – MEA{d} (alcoholic drink) without the last letter + SURE (certain). | |
| 34 | Couple’s volume outside broadcast held up (7) |
| TWOSOME – SOW (broadcast seed) reversed -> WOS, in TOME (book; volume). | |
| 39 | Anti-trade manoeuvres? It’s a disgrace no longer (9) |
| ATTAINDER – (anti-trade)* [manoeuvres]. “No longer” is it is an archaism. | |
| 42 | Legal action in progress, restricting most of the Olympic event (9) |
| TRIATHLON – [Most of] TH{e} in TRIAL (legal action) + ON (in progress). | |
| 43 | Pop singer receiving support in Australian city (8) |
| ADELAIDE – AID (support) in ADELE (pop singer). | |
| 44 | Article favouring stance not entirely suitable (7) |
| APROPOS – A (indefinite article) + PRO (favouring) + POS{e} (stance) [not entirely]. | |
| 45 | Roaming bats I captured in trick, looking up (7) |
| NOMADIC – MAD (bats) + I in CON (trick) [looking up] -> NOC. | |
| 46 | Take advantage of stratagem, mostly during departure (7) |
| EXPLOIT – PLO{t} (stratagem) [mostly] in EXIT (departure). | |
| 47 | Repressed writer with elevated position (4-2) |
| PENT UP – PEN (writer) + PUT (position, the verb) [elevated] -> TUP. | |
| 49 | Place to stay that’s partly comparable to home, on reflection (5) |
| HOTEL – reverse hidden in comparabLE TO Home. | |
| 51 | Apparently girl trimmed dress (3,2) |
| RIG UP – GIR{l} trimmed could be RIG going UP. | |
| 52 | Worry about supporting case for Observer newspaper? (5) |
| ORGAN – Outside letters of ObserveR + NAG (worry) [about] -> GAN. | |
DNF
Never got ESCAPEE. NHO Cantona, and biffed EUTERPE: the def made it fairly easy. DNK ENCASH (ODE marks it as Brit.). I got ECLIPSED, but had no idea how to get the E~ED; not a great clue. I was surprised at HIER; are we expected to know German?
I noted this as mostly easy. My outstanding queries were the parsing of CALAMINE which I’d never have got, and ECLIPSED where I agree with John that ‘concern / HEED’ is a bit dodgy.
This felt really tricky but didn’t take me that long – just shy of 27 minutes. Not sure what to make of that.
I haven’t heard mention of CALAMINE lotion for decades. My mum always used to have it on hand when we were kids, and we used to call it ‘Caroline motion’.
The wordplay for EUTERPE is incredibly convoluted. Not sure anyone who hadn’t heard of the muse would have a hope of getting it.
Didn’t get 9a, 17a or 12d, and had to check that circumpolar was a word. Also couldn’t parse calamine or attainder, thanks for the explanations. Don’t understand the definition of 51d, is it slang? A noun? Verb?
Re 51. It’s a verb. I’d not heard of the phrase but Chambers has “To dress or equip”, which sort of makes sense so I think it’s OK.
Mystified by 28d. What does H have to do with London?
Sorry. I should have elaborated. Dropping the aitch is is a feature of the East London accent, hence “heed” becomes “eed” in part of London.
I did like Satsuma, but felt there were too many iffy clues. Printed Word had such a weak clue, we didn’t quite believe it until we had all the crossing letters.
Got Euterpe from the wordplay but always a sigh when we have to look up random words. Likewise Dehisce. Likewise Attainder.