Times Jumbo 1049

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
This took me 21 minutes, and I thought it was fairly uncontentious. I suspect that the two answers of Japanese origin (IMARI and UMAMI) may be the least well-known.

As ever, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 WHISTLE-BLOWER – double definition, with ‘grass’ indicating an informant
8 HUM AND HAW – HUMAN (indicated by ‘being’), + first letters of ‘dithery, having a wobble’. I thought this was a very clever clue
13 IMARI – first letters of ‘is reached as marauders invade’, reversed. IMARI is a kind of china
14 OXFORD UNION – ONION (can make one cry, hence ‘tear-jerker’), around X + FORD + U
15 CANON – ‘rule’ is the definition. I’ve worked this out as either C (circa; approximate date) + ANON (short for anonymous, hence no name specified); or CA (circa again) + NO N. What did others think?
16 TWINKLING – TWIN + KING, around L
17 SIDE – ‘Face’ is the definition; ‘9, perhaps’ refers to 9dn, MANCHESTER UNITED
18 SHOELESS – (he loses brogues)*
20 ALMOND – balD after sALMON
21 DAVY JONES’S LOCKER – cryptic indication. DAVY JONES’S LOCKER is a term for the bottom of the sea, the place where sailors who drown or otherwise die at sea find their permanent resting place
24 DISACCORD – IS + Anarchy, in DC (as in Washington DC), + CORD
26 VESTIGE – I after VEST, + eg (reversed)
27 TIBIA – (a bit), reversed, round I
29 TELEPROMPTER – thesP in (role)*, in TEMPTER
31 SECULARIST – (cult arises)*
33 RAILWAYMAN – cryptic definition
35 WATERING HOLE – cATERING in WHOLE
38 OPTIC – P in OTIC. I’m not sure about ‘ear’ to indicate OTIC – according to the Chambers dictionary, OTIC is solely an adjective whereas ear (in this sense) is a noun
39 LAYERED – L + AYE + RED
40 INELASTIC – double definition (knickers manufacturers might invest IN ELASTIC)
42 SCREAM BLUE MURDER – BLUE (risqué) + MURDER (defined by ‘hit’), after SCREAM (big laugh)
44 COBALT – COB (horse), + ALT (key on computer keyboard)
47 SHAMROCK – cryptic definition – if diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then SHAM ROCK might be her worst enemy
49 ETON – here the ‘ten consecutive letters’ of the alphabet are E TO N
50 ALLERGIST – (girl’s tale)*
52 EXTRA – EX (old), + TRAshy
53 LILLIPUTIAN – cryptic definition – in Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, the Lilliputians were very small, i.e. ‘minute’
54 UMAMI – hidden in ‘mUM A MIghty’. UMAMI is the term used for the fifth component of taste, alongside salt, sweet, bitter and sour
55 LORD MAYOR – L, + MAYO in ORDeR. ‘Showman’ refers to the Lord Mayor’s Show
56 MAKE NO MISTAKE – double definition

Down
1 WAISTBAND – sounds like ‘waste banned’
2 IMAGISM – I’M around MAGI + Slammer
3 THINKING CAP – THIN + KING, + CAP (defined by [to] better)
4 EROTIC – core around it, reversed
5 LIFEGUARD – (lad figure)*
6 WORM’S EYE VIEW – cryptic definition
7 ROUNDHOUSE – ROUND, + HOUSE (music)
8 HAIL – double definition
9 MANCHESTER UNITED – (centimetres and huge)*. The definition is ‘Eleven’
10 NICHE – H in NICE
11 HENPECK – HEN + PECKham
12 WINDSOR CASTLE – W + (cloisters and)*
19 PEKINESE – PESEta around KINE
22 OSTIA – (ait so), reversed
23 MONOSYLLABICALLY – (Sly Colombian)* + ALLY
25 SOLOIST – SO LOST around I
28 BAIL OUT – AIL in BOUT
29 TORTOISESHELL – double definition
30 PLATYPUS – A TYPe in PLUS. I never knew that the platypus was venomous!
32 MANDARIN DUCK – MANDARIN + DUCK
34 WICCA – sounds like ‘wicker’
36 GLAMOUR PUSS – cryptic definition
37 PROMETHIUM – PRO ME TUM, round H + I
40 ITERATION – II (couple), around T + ERA + T, + ON. Clever clue!
41 CUT IT FINE – (fettucini)*
43 REACTOR – RECTOR around A
45 ALI BABA – mALI, + BABA (as in rum baba)
46 PLENUM – PLUM around EmotioN
48 REALM – REAL Madrid
51 SLUR – first letters of ‘Surrey Lancashire utter rubbish’

One comment on “Times Jumbo 1049”

  1. One wrong, put in HEM AND HAW (the US version) instead of HUM; ‘hem’ doesn’t parse, of course, but that often enough doesn’t stop me. Was wondering about ETON; should have occurred to me, but often enough, it doesn’t. I did know about the platypus, so ‘venomous mammal’ was a rather too easy definition. For what it’s worth, I took CANON to be C + ANON; seeing the other possibility now, I still like it. On OPTIC, ‘ear’ could substitute for ‘otic’, as in ‘an ear/otic infection/condition/disorder…’ LOI 35ac. COD to SHAMROCK.

    Edited at 2013-08-31 04:16 pm (UTC)

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