Times Jumbo 1037

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
28:52 on the Club timer (which normally suggests something reasonably straightforward) but with an error. Based on the comments on the Crossword Club, I wasn’t the only one who found an apparent inconsistency at 4dn, and went the wrong way, so I’m not sure where the fault lies.

The last Jumbo I blogged (1032) contained an unarguable error, so I look forward to other opinions as to whether this is another, or just me misreading it. That apart, in this slightly odd mix of very old and very new I found lots of things which really tickled me, and a few more things which had me metaphorically stroking my chin and saying “Really?”; however, as I pointed out elsewhere this week, there are no Crossword Police to enforce Crossword Law, only conventions which people may or may not follow. I think what I’m trying to say is that this felt about as “Guardianish” a Times puzzle as you’re likely to find under the current conventions, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

With Jumbos, which attract a far smaller audience than daily puzzles, I generally confine myself to discussion of answers which I think are a) less straightforward for inexperienced or non-UK based solvers, or b) especially elegant / questionable. In other words, unless it’s an exceptionally interesting puzzle, the coverage won’t be 100%; however, as always, if a particular clue is not discussed, please feel free to raise it in comments for explanation or discussion.

Across
9 SEASCAPE =”SEE”, waveS, CAPE &lit.
13 ALL OVER BAR THE SHOUTING – (THOUGHTSOLVERBRAINALE)*; as regards the good things about this puzzle, I cite as evidence this long anagram and its beautiful surface. Perhaps it’s just me (see userpic for details).
15 PLACEBO – PLACE(=station) + (Old Boy)rev.
16 ENDEAR – END(=design) + GEAR.
17 WATCHNIGHT – i.e. a Spoonerised version of NOTCH “WHITE”. I didn’t know the word (“a religious service held on New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve”) but it was easily deduced from checkers and wordplay.
20 INCOMPARABLE – INCOME + PARABLE.
23 MALI – (ISLAM)rev. minus the Succeeded to give every setter’s favourite African country.
24 FLOORING – MOOR in FLING.
26 NEUROTIC – Ecstasy in (INCOURT)*.
30 TOOTHBRUSH – TOOT,H,BRUSH; TOOT=cocaine requires a bit more street knowledge than H=heroin, and I got the impression it was new to several Club solvers.
32 SLAMDANCER – (LurchANDSCREAM)*; even if you don’t know this particular form of dancing, another which is fairly easily worked out.
34 LITTER BASKET – (BATTLESTRIKE)*. My automatic thinking was litter bin or waste paper basket, but not litter basket, but it seems fine on reflection.
36 SHAKIEST – HANKIES in ST.
38 AUGUSTAN – STAR in [A U(=high class) GUN(=piece)]. When solving I assumed “Augustan” referred to the Golden Age of Latin, and authors such as Virgil and Horace, but a little research tells me that if I’d read English instead of Classics, I might have been put in mind of Pope and Swift instead.
41 RECORD PLAYER – RECORD(=best performance), PLAYER(=actor); has anyone ever referred to Terry Wogan or John Peel as a “record player”? I think not, but I get the idea.
46 RED DEER – RED(what you see when mad) + DEER(does as the plural of doe, of course).
48 DAMPENER – PEN in DAME,Right. “Describe” in the alternative meaning, as in “to describe a circle”, i.e. mark the edge of.
50 THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME – as most famously quoted in The Wizard of Oz, “Be it ever so humble…”
51 NECKLACE – NECK(=brass), LACE(=spike, as in drinks).
53 LA-DI-DA – LAD,IDA. If you’re of my age, this may well make you think of Windsor Davies addressing “Mr La-di-da Gunner Graham”…
 
Down
2 ORATE – ORIGINATE minus 1GIN.
4 REVERENT – and not REVEREND, as I finally chose [apologies, I had this the wrong way round in initial blog, just to confuse matters further]. So, EVER(=always) in REND(=make crack), I thought, no problem, but hang on a minute…surely “worshipping” can only be REVERENT. The choice, then, was whether to follow the wordplay or the definition, and I picked the wrong one. Can anyone provide a convincing citation where REVERENT isn’t “showing reverence” and REVEREND isn’t “deserving of reverence” i.e. diametric opposites? Or, as I say, am I missing something obvious? edit: see comments below and judge for yourself
5 SPREE – double def.
7 EXTRADITION – EXTRA DICTION minus the Conservative.
9 SCHOOLMAN – SCHOOL(=group swimming)MAN(=island). A schoolman is an old term for “a scholastic theologian”, which was again new, and again easily deduced.
10 ACUTE – CUT in A&E, what we used to call Casualty.
12 PIGTAIL – PIG(=unpleasant person)TAIL(=dog); the definition is “archaic a plait of hair worn at the back.”, which was once more unknown, but deduced in this case from knowing that the French for pigtail remains “queue” to this day.
18 AYATOLLAH – [A TOLL] in A YAH.
19 GALENIC – GALE + NICE; I knew of Galen, who stands alongside Hippocrates as the great figure of medicine in Greek antiquity; adding the [‘s] to the definition makes it clear that this is the adjectival form of the name.
22 ABU DHABI – BUD in A HABIT.
35 SPLIT SECOND – SPLIT(=go), SECOND(=back).
37 TOLERANCE – ROLE in TRANCE.
40 GROMWELL – Good,ROM,WELL(=spring); if, like me, you lack horticultural knowledge, this was another 50/50 shout as to whether the memory should be ROM or RAM…
43 HARNESS – HARDNESS minus Daughter.
45 OMEGA – [AGE, Medical Officer]all rev.
47 DEPTH – changing the middle letter in DEATH.

4 comments on “Times Jumbo 1037”

  1. I think you have 4dn wrong Tim. The correct answer is reverent, with a t, for just the reasons you say it should be. It’s what I put, and I was all correct. And it’s what the club solution is showing.
    I couldn’t follow the problem, on the club forum..
    1. Ah, I see, I must have it the wrong way round, and I was looking at my incorrect submission rather than the correct solution, so yes, REVERENT it is. In which case, it becomes a weak clue rather than a plain wrong clue. “Make crack” clearly can’t be RENT, it would have to be REND, so I guess we are supposed to treat “Make” not as part of the literal wordplay, but some sort of filler? In which case, no, not wrong, but clearly misleading, at least to some of us…
      1. I justified it to myself by assuming the clue meant “Put “crack” about “always” to get “worshipping….” it sort of works
  2. 57′, and grateful to be under an hour, and all correct. I’d marked 13ac as COD (anagram division), Tim, so it wasn’t just you.My other COD was 35d. DNK 38d or 17ac, which may have been my LOI.Got 10d from definition and checkers; had no idea what A&E was/is; so thanks for enlightening me. I had ‘revering’ at first at 4d, until I finally realized that ‘ring’ doesn’t make much sense for ‘crack’.

Comments are closed.