Times Jumbo 1000 (29 Sep 2012) – A Grand Offering

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time: About 2 hours 40 minutes

First of all, my abject apologies for the lateness of this blog. I should have posted this at the weekend, but it completely slipped my mind. If you haven’t tried this puzzle yet, then stop reading now and go and try it – it’s well worth the effort.

I found this very tough, but a lot of fun. Knowing I was going to be writing the blog for this one, I’ve been wondering for some time how the occasion was going to be marked. I hoped that the milestone would be celebrated with something a bit special, and I wasn’t disappointed.

There were quite a few words I didn’t know, that I had to deduce from the cryptic, and I confess that I had to verfity a few in my dictionary before putting them in. There was quite a bit of imaginative wordplay, and of course, lots of references to crosswords, jumbos, thousands, etc. There was even a nina hidden away in the penultimate row.

All in all, much credit should be given to the setter for an excellent all round puzzle. It’s always difficult to come up with a COD for a puzzle like this, but I think I’ll give it jointly to both 1a, for the subtle indication of the nina, and to 45d, for its number-play as well as its wordplay.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 JE T’AIME = JET (Jumbo) + I (one) + M (thousand) about A + messagE – 35a is CHAMPAGNE, which is a region of France as well as a drink, and this phrase means ‘I love you’ in French, of course. It also, in a rather wonderful self-referential way, tells the solver that this Jumbo will ‘contain a message at the end’. If you read across the penultimate row of the completed grid, between the last two rows of across clues, you will see the message FOR THE 1000TH. This sort of hidden message crops up only very occasionally, and is known as a ‘nina’.
5 ADJUNCT = ACT (do) about DJ (jacket) + UN (one used by Parisian) – a word I was only vaguely familiar with.
9 STRATUS = Rain in STATUS – a neat &lit
13 VENN DIAGRAM = (AND GIVEN)* + RAM (stuff)
14 FERRIS WHEEL = F (following) + ERR (stray) + IS (island) + W (with) + HEEL (order from dog trainer). I thought at first that the ‘following’ was doing double duty, but if you read it as: around ‘island’ is ‘everything else’ then it works fine.
15 AURIC = MAURICE with the ME removed from the beginning & end
16 EARL + OBE – Not a meaning of vestibule that I knew, but, anatomically, it is a small space or cavity at the beginning of a canal. As such there are several dotted about the human body, including in the ear.
17 EXTIRPATE = PAT (conveniently) in EX (other half of old) + TIRE (drain) – another word I didn’t know
18 DETOXIFICATION CENTRES = (NOTICE OF INDIRECT TAXES)*
23 AFTER TAX = (EXTRA-FAT)* – ‘cod’ is the anagrind, as in fake
25 BOD + KIN
27 SOVIETS = SO (true) + VIE (struggle) + ThiS
30 mASKED
32 IN + HAS TEa
33 TARANTULA = (NATURAL AT)*
35 CHAMPAGNE = “SHAM PAIN”
36 OF + FE(R)ED
37 SWEEP = WEEP (keen) after S (son)
38 SEVENTH = EVENT in SH – Judges is the 7th book of the OT, after Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy & Joshua
40 TADJIK = TAD (touch) + Jumbo + I (one) + K (thousand) – A variant spelling of TAJIK, an inhabitant of Tajikistan
41 CLUB + HEAD – ‘Contact section of driver’ was a well-hidden definition. Although I was solving while listening to the Ryder Cup, so the logical leap was not as great as it could have been.
44 LAND’S END TO JOHN O’GROATS = D in (NORTH EAST LONDON JOGS A)* – I got this from the word ‘jogs’ as LE JOG (or even JOGLE if you’re going the other way) is a well-known acronym for the journey. For non-Brits, Land’s End is most south-westerly point of Britain, and John O’Groats the most north-easterly, so these are supposedly the two most distant points in the land and the journey is often made by charity fund-raisers.
48 TRATTORIE = TART (bitter) rev + TORIEs
50 BROWNER = BaR (bar ignored by a) + OWNER (person having) – ‘more chocolate’ is the definition
53 KINDA = mAiDeN wInKs rev – ‘Rather’ is the definition, with ‘casual’ indicating informality
54 FREE RADICAL = (RAILCARD FEE)*
55 HUSH PUPPIES = HUSH UP (not to mention) + PIES (pastry dishes) about Protein – This is one for the Americans, I think. To us Brits, a Hush Puppy is a brand of casual shoe, rather than a piece of fried cornbread.
56 SOFTISH = The tips of Shostakovich are S & H, so if they are frequently exchanged, then ‘S oft is H’. Piano is the Italian for quiet.
57 OVERRUN – dd
58 TOTTERY – dd – although the first is quite cryptic. Tottery could mean ‘like a totter’, with a totter being something that tots, just as a summer is something that sums.
Down
1 J + O + VIA + Luck
2 TENURED = NET rev + U + RED
3 INDI(C)A + TO +R – ‘Shower’ is the well-disguised definition, as in something that shows
4 EVADE – rev hidden
5 AIR + CRAFT – the ellipsis implies that the definition follows in the next answer, or at least an example of it does, hence ‘say’
6 J + UMBO – I failed to spot the use of umbo for a slight rounded elevation quite recently in another puzzle that I blogged, and had my oversight pointed out to me, so I remembered it this time. The general theme helped, of course.
7 NAFFEST = (NESTA)* about FF (very loud, in music)
8 THREE-POINT TURN – A driving manoeuvre consisting of two forward movements and one in reverse. A penalty in Rugby Union is worth three points.
9 SKI STICKS = I’S + Tempted all in S + KICKS (boots)
10 gROWER
11 THE FAERIE QUEENE = (H + FEATURE IN + E/E/E)* about QU – An epic poem by Edmund Spenser. I’d heard of the poem, but couldn’t have told you the author. The anagrist was pretty tricky to pin down as well. I needed quite a few checkers in place before I got it.
12 SOLe VERSe
19 X-RAYING = X (Times) + RAG (newspaper) about YIN (one in Scotland), a nice clue, but having got 18a first, the answer was blindingly obvious.
20 CROSSWORD – Rather a neat &lit dd. The clue can be read in two quite different ways, both of which yield the same answer. A row (or argument) will contain many cross words, and this crossword puzzle, being number 1000, is one of many consecutive ones.
21 NOVENAS = SANE (sound) + VON (of German) all rev. A word I didn’t know. It’s a Roman Catholic series of prayers reserved for specific occasions which takes nine days to complete.
22 DAMASCUS = DISCUS with I replaced by (A + MA) – I thought MA for ‘lover of pop’ was particularly devious. That’s pop as in father.
24 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF = TAKE (steal) + AD (commercial) + VAN (vehicle) + TAG (follow, as in ‘to tag along’) + FOE rev
26 KEEP FAITH = KEEP FIT about A + H
28 STAMPEDE = (ED’S PET)* about (A + M) – ‘Jumbo’s running’ is the definition, and another great nod to the theme.
29 CHEER TO THE ECHO = CHEER (food and drink) + TO + THEE (you once) + CH + O – not a phrase I’ve come across before, but the wordplay and the checkers made it clear
31 DAPHNIS = (AND HIS + P)* – This refers to the classical Greek story Daphnis and Chloe.
34 RIDDLER = RILER about DD – D is 500 in Roman numerals, so DD is a thousand in total. Another nod to the theme.
39 HUN + DR + EDiTH
42 BLACK SPOT = B + LACKS + Puzzle One Thousand
43 GOINGS-ON = GOING ON (boarding, as in boarding a ship) about notoriouS
44 LET-OFFS = S (Spades) after LET-OFF (as in let off a rocket)
45 JUBILEE – dd – Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in June 2012, and rather cleverly, the answers at 6d, 20d & 12d read JUMBO CROSSWORD SOLVERS referring again to the ongoing theme. I can only assume that this was the core that the whole puzzle was built around by the setter.
46 SUNNITE = ET (in France and) + IN + N (North) + US (America) all rev – I’ve not come across this particular word before, but it’s a small jump from the familiar Sunni Moslems.
47 MAR + SHY (pitch as in throw, like a coconut shy)
49 TERRI = TERRITORY with (TO + RY) removed
51 OPHIR – hidden – another word I didn’t know. It was a region famous for its wealth. King Solomon was supposed to have received a cargo of riches from there every three years.
52 REPOT = TOPER rev – ‘pocket over’ is the definition, as in the snooker sense.

9 comments on “Times Jumbo 1000 (29 Sep 2012) – A Grand Offering”

  1. My high-school French is far behind me, but isn’t “je t’aime” “I love you” rather than “I love it”? Or can it be both?
    1. You’re entirely correct. Careless blogging, I’m afraid, which has now been corrected. My school French lessons are also far behind me. Je l’aime would be I love it, I think. It makes no difference to the clue, though.
  2. Dave, one thing you might have missed is that there was also a Nina in the T2 Jumbo that week, with the answers in rows 5 and 15 spelling out TODAY CRYPTIC NUMBERING REACHES PUZZLE THOUSAND.

    Anyway, I agree, a very good puzzle to commemorate the 1000th Jumbo. I’ll add it to the “Memories” section.

  3. 47′, fast for me. Evidently it didn’t leave much of an impression on me; at least I left no comments in the margins, other than ‘COD’ at 23ac, 38ac, & 21d. For this American, at least, HUSH PUPPIES were shoes, too, although I think I knew of the food meaning–something Southern, I’d guess. I think I may be the only person outside of a few English lit professors who’s actually RE-read ‘The Faerie Queene’, and liked it each time. But I know better than to recommend it.
    1. Bravo, Kevin! CS Lewis, that inveterate re-reader, would be proud of you. He once defined a literary person as someone who re-reads. If you get the chance, you could do worse than read Lewis on FQ: best of quite a big bunch for me would be the chapter in his ‘English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama’ (OUP) and the essay ‘Edmund Spenser 1552-99’, which was originally published in ‘Major British Writers’ (Harcourt, Brace and World Inc.) in 1954.
  4. Super puzzle. A high standard maintained consistently across so many clues testifies to the setter’s stamina as well as ingenuity. Thanks too to Dave for a sterling job and hats off to Kevin for a staggering Oughamesque time.
  5. 38:32 for me. A most enjoyable puzzle, full of inventive ideas. My compliments to the setter.

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