A mostly middle-of-the-road Jumbo but with some clever clues, inventive wordplay and a sting in the tail. I had all but 7 answers after 36 minutes, but then after another 12 minutes resorted to aids to find my last two – 6A and 35A. My favourite was the very groanworthy homophone at 55A, but 16A was fun too. A good test and good entertainment. Just how a Jumbo should be. Thank-you setter!
You can find the crossword online here (Times subscription required).
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Chat, drinking sharpener in front of university eatery (9) |
| GASTROPUB – GAB (chat) including, [drinking],STROP (sharperner) + U (University). | |
| 6 | Book, complex in morals, bringing in something to help plot flourish? It could be this (13) |
| BILDUNGSROMAN – B (book) + DUNG (something to help plot flourish) in (in morals)* [complex]. Nice one. I loved the “something to help plot flourish”. A new word on me, though, and I needed a wordfinder to find it. Read about it here. | |
| 13 | Penalty over Republican’s offensive poster (5) |
| TROLL – TOLL (penalty) outside, [over], R (Republican). | |
| 14 | Stops needing keys when playing in this gallery (5,4) |
| ORGAN LOFT – Cryptic Definition. Obvious when you see it, as I did quickly, but some might find it mysterious. | |
| 15 | Deride boring fans whose seats — and more — are exposed (7) |
| NUDISTS – DIS (deride) inside, [boring], NUTS (fans). A bit of an odd definition but it makes an enetertaining surface reading. | |
| 16 | Emerges better off when setter stops silly golf clues and spoonerisms (5,2,8,2,5) |
| COMES UP SMELLING OF ROSES – Do I really have to parse this? The answer was obvious to me from the definition and checkers. But I suppose I must. It’s ME (setter) inside, [stops], [silly] (golf clues spoonerisms)*. What a brilliant surface! | |
| 18 | Atypical blue berets, green on one side (8) |
| UNCOMMON – UN (blue berets) + COMMON (village green). “On one side” is a juxtaposition indicator here. | |
| 20 | Anything at all occupying the German girl? (8) |
| DAUGHTER – AUGHT (anything at all) in DER (the in German). If I were being picky I might point out that “the” in German for a girl would be “DIE” rather than “DER”, but that would be unkind. | |
| 21 | Herb, once your covering for marinade (5) |
| THYME – THY (your, once) + outside letters, [covering for], M{arinad}E. Nice, but I still prefer my own clue from one of my Weekend Quick Cryptics (this one) – “Leaves your old mate gutted (5)”. | |
| 23 | Poor lad leaving United, whatshisname … (6) |
| THINGY – THIN (poor) + G{u}Y (lad) without the U [leaving united]. | |
| 24 | Please clap along with a group’s finale (6) |
| APPEAL – A + Last letter [finale] of grouP + PEAL (clap of thunder). | |
| 25 | Unpleasant imp’s trap cutting ferret and flipping duck (9) |
| HOBGOBLIN – GOB (mouth; trap) in HOB (male ferret) + NIL (0; duck) reversed, [flipping], -> LIN. | |
| 28 | Old husband in motor, arrested by roadside for swindle (10) |
| OVERCHARGE – A double inclusion. O (old) + H (husband) in CAR (motor) all in, [arrested by], VERGE (roadside). | |
| 29 | Playing Scrabble so timidly at first, I need a word quickly (4) |
| PSST – Initially [at first] Playing Scrabble So Timidly. | |
| 30 | Broadcast led Ayer astray (7) |
| RELAYED – (led Ayer)* [astray]. | |
| 32 | Admission of guilt a little spiv accepts after being rejected (7) |
| PECCAVI – Reverse hidden [a little… after being rejected] in spIV ACCEPts. | |
| 34 | Light-hearted Brownie, possibly less loud (4) |
| AIRY – {f}AIRY (Brownie, possiby) without the F (forte; loud). | |
| 35 | Among bargains, “Reduced” sign for glasses (10) |
| BAROMETERS – OME{n} (sign) [reduced], in, [ampng], BARTERS (bargains, the verb). My LOI. Not knowing barometers could be referred to as glasses, I needed aids to get it. | |
| 38 | Bread from ill-tempered cook — it’s disgusting! (9) |
| SOURDOUGH – SOUR (ill-tempered) + DO (cook) + UGH (it’s disgusting). | |
| 39 | Macabre agent close to Philby (6) |
| SPOOKY – SPOOK ((secret) agent) + last letter of PhilbY. | |
| 40 | Darned treasurer’s tucked into spread messily (6) |
| STREWN – TR (treasurer) [tucked into] SEWN (darned). | |
| 43 | Before church, contemptible person renouncing Saint Mark (5) |
| NOTCH – {s}NOT (contemptible person) [renouncing] the S (Saint) + CH (church). | |
| 45 | Hated cue cards when performing (8) |
| ACCURSED – (cue cards)* [when performing]. | |
| 47 | Periodically selected bits from Troggs number in concert (8) |
| TOGETHER – Alternate letters, [periodically selected], from TrOgGs + ETHER (anaesthetic; number). | |
| 49 | Smart technology detectable initially in emails? (10,12) |
| ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – …the initials of which are ‘detectable’, i.e. hidden, in emAIls. Clever wordplay. | |
| 52 | Preacher’s mild, perhaps embodying Job (7) |
| APOSTLE – POST (job) in ALE (mild, perhaps). | |
| 53 | Hair swept back as the French have it, she departs in glossy coat (9) |
| ENAMELLED – MANE (hair) [swept back] -> ENAM + ELLE (she, as the French have it) + D (departs in a railway or bus timetable). | |
| 54 | Best kind of tablet in drink, originally effervescent (5) |
| ELITE – E (ecstasy; kind of table) + LIT (drunk; in drink) + first letter of Effervescent. | |
| 55 | Call noble lady with lots of land (reportedly) for tourists (13) |
| HOLIDAYMAKERS – HOLI + DAYM + AKERS sounds like [reportedly] HOLLER (call) DAME (noble lady) ACRES (lots of land). Very groanworthy, as the best homophone clues are. | |
| 56 | Flour in what could be ham roll for Spooner (9) |
| WHEATMEAL – MEAT ( ham) + WHEEL (roll) Spoonerised -> WHEAT + MEAL. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Followed round by Yard, begin legal proceedings (2,2,5) |
| GO TO COURT – GOT (understood; followed) + O (round letter) + COURT (yard). | |
| 2 | One son ignoring lost cash (mine!) playing gaming device (4,7) |
| SLOT MACHINE – (lo{s}t cash mine)* [playing], losing the first S (son) from the anagrist. A confusing looking clue but if you stick to the principle of “find the definition and then the wordplay indicator” it becomes less arcane. | |
| 3 | Is superior game with Leeds shown regularly? (5) |
| RULES – RU (Rugby Union; game) + alternate letters of LeEdS [shown regularly]. | |
| 4 | Scoff at pub includes two doughnuts before band turns up (4-4) |
| POOH POOH – O + O (two doughnuts; 0s) in PH (public house; pub) + HOOP (band) [turns up]-> POOH. Doughnut for 0 comes from tennis slang referring to a set lost 6-0. | |
| 5 | Times checking one school crime (6) |
| BIGAMY – I (one) + GAM (school of whales) in BY (times). | |
| 6 | Eg “Rich British knight protecting a duke”, newspaper article (10) |
| BANDLEADER – “Buddy” Rich. A in B (British) + N (knight in chess notation) + D (duke) + LEADER (newspaper article). | |
| 7 | Fantastic long kiss with gal over, I’m reflective (7,5) |
| LOOKING GLASS – [Fantastic] (long kiss gal o)* , with O for “over”, | |
| 8 | On horseback, legwear mostly prickly (7) |
| UPTIGHT – UP (on horseback) + TIGHT{s} (legwear) [mostly]. | |
| 9 | Missing what Liz Taylor was said to have done on Cleopatra’s set? (4,3,1,6) |
| GONE FOR A BURTON – Double definition, the second referring to the romance between Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. I had WENT FOR A BURTON at first, which made 6A impossible. | |
| 10 | Camp entertainer embarrassed over film (7) |
| REDCOAT – A Butlins entertainer. RED (embarrased) + COAT (film of e.g. paint). | |
| 11 | Closed book on piano before song, religious work (7,4) |
| MYSTERY PLAY – MYSTERY (closed book) + P (piano) + LAY (song). | |
| 12 | Snoopy elevated boy and Lucy at the end (4) |
| NOSY – SON (boy) [elevated] -> NOS, + Last letter of LucY. That will be Lucy Van Pelt referred to in the clue. Nice one. | |
| 17 | Napoleon I dashed to detain King (8) |
| LEONIDAS – Hidden in [to detain] NapolLEON I DAShed. The king is the Spartan one Leonidas I. But I ninja-turtled this from the later king Leonidas II, which is the name of one of the horses in Totopoly, a favourite family boardgame. | |
| 19 | Staff rapped for incomprehensible spelling? (5,4) |
| MAGIC WAND – Cryptic definition, referring to tapping the wand to invoke a spell. Not my favourite clue, but to each his/her own. | |
| 22 | Engineer happier with grand inscription (8) |
| EPIGRAPH – [Engineer] (happier + g)*, with G for “grand”. | |
| 25 | First couple of Hammond’s lines, they are provided for Top Gear (8) |
| HATRACKS – First two letters of HA{mmond} + TRACKS ((railway) lines). The surface, naturally, refers to the series Top Gear and its presenter Richard Hammond. | |
| 26 | Fuel needs to be added to Volkswagen, one crawling along (3,6) |
| OIL BEETLE – OIL (fuel) + BEETLE (Volkswagen car model). | |
| 27 | For animation, paint lily mauve with artfulness (14) |
| MANIPULATIVELY – (paint lily mauve)* [for animation]. | |
| 28 | Rival showing off after work (8) |
| OPPOSING – OP (opus; work) + POSING (showing off). | |
| 31 | Acquittal holding up force’s media statement (5,7) |
| PRESS RELEASE – PRESS (force) being held up by, i.e. on top of RELEASE (acquittal). | |
| 33 | Slip in 28 Down? Check (11) |
| COUNTERFOIL – COUNTER (opposing; 28 down answer) + FOIL (check). | |
| 36 | Lumbering trumpeter off-key for Pachelbel’s Canon? (11) |
| ELEPHANTINE – ELEPHANT (trumpeter) + IN E (off-key for Pachelbel’s Canon which is In D). Rather an inventive bit of wordplay! | |
| 37 | Men struggling with lessons in Gravity (10) |
| SOLEMNNESS – (men + lessons)* [struggling]. | |
| 41 | Conductor in person from brass group (5,4) |
| NERVE CELL – NERVE (brass; impudence) + CELL (group). | |
| 42 | Ex-president in papers with vacuous gaffe (8) |
| COOLIDGE – COOL (in) + ID (papers) + outside letters of GaffE [vacuous]. | |
| 44 | Was emcee, introducing Orbison in the middle, uplifted? (7) |
| HOISTED – Middle letter of OrbIson in HOSTED (was emcee). | |
| 46 | Her claim about shedding pounds is fantasy (7) |
| CHIMERA – (her c{l}aim)* [about] without the L (pounds; from pounds shillings and pence = LSD). | |
| 48 | Yankee chap chopping fine chicken (6) |
| YELLOW – Y (Yankee in the phonetic alphabet) + {f}ELLOW (chap) chopping the F (fine). | |
| 50 | Weep at Edinburgh Tattoo’s salute (5) |
| GREET – Double definition, the first referring to the Scottish meaning of GREET. | |
| 51 | Cat in top of linden tree (4) |
| LASH – First letter of Linden + ASH (tree). | |
I had very few queries on this so I assume I found it quite straightforward. I missed the parsing of AI and didn’t know the word PECCAVI although the answers were obvious, but that was it. Fortunately I knew the German word BILDUNGSROMAN.
Peccavi=I have sinned. Or, I have Sindh. See e.g. https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/02/17/culture-re-view-peccavi-a-misattributed-quote-and-the-british-raj
I managed this in around 40 minutes so very much quicker than arguably the easier one that I have blogged today from Bank Holiday Monday. I also knew BILDUNGSROMAN and was also able to suddenly see BAROMETERS – possibly because I am on my umpteenth circumnavigation of the Aubrey-Maturin novels.
This is one of the very rare times that I have done a Jumbo outside my blogging duties and am starting to get the bug!
Many thanks setter and John.
A bit of a disaster here: I had to cheat to get BAROMETERS – one I would never have got from this definition – and ended up with two silly typos anyway.
Yes, when reporting earlier I failed to notice that I cheated to get BAROMETERS too, but now I remember it was my LOI.
I agree the definition ‘glasses’ isn’t really sufficient. Only one of the usual sources (Collins) gives a direct link from glass to barometer , but that’s only in a list of examples of items that might be made wholly or partly of glass. Chambers only has glass = weather glass, as does the ODE which adds that it’s ‘dated’.
Having looked up the answer I vaguely recall people in the past might have said ‘tap the glass’ when wishing to check the weather on a barometer, but I sort of assumed they were referring to the glass panel rather than the whole device.
In a nautical context, “tapping the glass” refers to the old sailor’s tradition of gently tapping the face of a ship’s aneroid barometer.
The pressure pointer on the barometer only moved if the glass was tapped, so that one could assess the recent change in pressure, generally far more important than the actual pressure.
You’re not really beating the accusation of obscurity here! 😄
I read Roy’s contribution more as a response to the comment in my final paragraph, confirming the use of ‘tapping the glass’.
There’s also the expression “the glass is falling” as a warning of bad weather to come as the air pressure drops, but still pretty dated/obscure
If Chambers has glass = weather glass and weather glass = barometer I think that legitimises it on paper. As for obscurity, there was “Glass is awkwardly remote within tavern (9)” in a recent FT puzzle, and the Guardian’s arguably more difficult “It’s measured by the glass (10,8)” (BAROMETRIC PRESSURE). So not quite Mephisto-level vocab.
Hated 6a, never heard of it, didn’t get it and thought it very unfair. I felt much the same about barometers (35a), oil beetle (26d) and greet (50d).
No longer have the paper so I’m not sure if I marked any as a favourite.
My notes are a good match to yours, Johninterred! Groaned and laughed at Holidaymakers. Barometers was the last one in. Circled a few other clues which needed a second look.
I really liked Gone for a Burton and also enjoyed the cheeky Thingy.
Tried to complete this on Eurostar back to Blighty but was beaten by the German word. Sour grapes from me but that seems to be an obscure word clued with an anagram. I’ll hope for better with the next jumbo.