Times Jumbo 1055 (21 Sep 2013)

Posted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time: 1:53:04

I wasn’t keen on this one. Some of the general knowledge required seemed very obscure – particularly in 12d & 33d. I also have issues with the spelling in 53a, and the logic in 54a and 46d.

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

1 MAC + HIS + MO
5 E + CLAIR or possibly CLAIRE with the E moved to the front. It depends how you spell the girl’s name, I suppose.
9 WILD + CAT
14 COMFORT ZONE – cd – to console being to comfort
15 RADIO + ACTIVE
16 ICONS = I’S about CON
17 RAF + FISH
18 A + D(V)ENTIST
19 GONDOLA = GO + N + (OLD)* + A
20 BLOOMSBURY GROUP = BURY (cover up) in BLOOMS (flowers) + GROUP (set) – Roger Fry was the artist.
22 PREFER MEN + geT
23 RINGER – dd
25 SORE = EROS rev
28 PLEASED AS PUNCH = PLEASE (If you would) + SAD (miserable) rev + PUNCH (hit) – semi-&lit
30 JOCKEYED = EYED after JOCK
32 SCOURGED = URGE in (S + COD)
34 WELLINGTON BOOT = WELLINGTON (southern city, in New Zealand) + BOOT (it’s an order – to be given ‘the order of the boot’ is to get fired)
37 G(L)UT
38 SYNTAX = “SIN” + TAX
39 SUMMERTIME – cd
43 INCOMPREHENSION = (NINE MICROPHONES)*
45 EXCEEDS = EX-C of E + Expecting Deep Suspicion
47 HANDLEBAR = “HANDEL” BAR
49 S(MET)AN + A – Czech composer
51 sPARSE
52 GREAT CIRCLE = CIRCLE (group) after GREATs (course for Oxford) – ‘Greats’ is another name for the Literae Humaniores, an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford University
53 COMEUPPANCE = COME UP + PACE about libyaN – But surely this in this sense it should be desserts, shouldn’t it? At least that’s what I’ve always thought.
54 NOT THIN + G – Another one where I might be missing something. If it’s not thin, then it is fat. Isn’t it?
55 S + lADDER
56 W(EARTH)IN
Down
1 MOCKING = COMe rev + KING
2 COMPOUND EYE – cd
3 IRONSTONE = (IN STORE ON)*
4 MOTORWAY MADNESS – cd
6 CREDITOR = CREDO about IT + Requires
7 ABRAHAM + LINCOLN
8 RED(CAB + BAG)E
9 WHOEVER = HOWEVER with the W moved to the start
10 LACk + A + N – Jacques Lacan was the psychoanalyst
11 CRIMINOLOGY = (I + GRIM COLONY)*
12 TREETOPS – dd – Some fairly obscure general knowledge is required here. Our current Queen was touring in Kenya and was staying at Treetops Hotel when her father died. Also the top of a tree can be known as the crown. I put this in without full understanding as I had no idea about the royal connection and only found it out later when I came to the blog.
13 GO OFf
20 BANISH = BASH (party) about IN rev
21 GHERKIN – hidden
22 PAPIST = PAT about (PI + S)
24 ROOM TEMPERATURE = (EMPEROR TO MATURE)*
26 QUEEN ANNE’S DEAD – dd – as a phrase it is a response made to someone giving old news. Apparently, unsuccessful attempts were made to hush up the death of Queen Anne, so that by the time the annoouncement was made, everyone already knew.
27 ODETTE – dd – Swann & Odette were the central characters of Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu.
29 STR(AT)UM
31 IN TURN = TURN IN with the worde reversed
33 ONLY CONNECT – dd – A BBC4 quiz program and the epigraph to E. M. Forster’s Howards End.
35 OLIVE + B + RANCH
36 ON THE ROCKS = O + (THEN)* + ROCKS
40 RICE PAPER – def + pun
41 MICHIGAN = (I’M ACHING)*
42 WISEACRE = WIRE about (CASE)*
44 RIBBING = (I + B x2) in RING
46 SHEBEEN = ‘SHE BEEN’ being an illiterate way of saying ‘woman was’. I don’t like it. Illiterate means ‘unable to read or write’ and has nothing to do with having bad grammar.
48 LATHI – hidden
50 A + CM + E

3 comments on “Times Jumbo 1055 (21 Sep 2013)”

  1. Yes Dave, I agree that this was a strange puzzle. There were far too many CDs and some clues for which an element of obscure GK was needed to make sense of them properly.

    The “just deserts” referred to in 53ac is the correct spelling, with “deserts” meaning “what you deserve”.

    I’ve been aware of the “Queen Anne’s dead” phrase ever since one of my teachers at primary school made our class aware of it, although his explanation of its origin was wrong. He told us it came about after the news of her death took so long to get around the country due to the slow communication methods of the age. The explanation in your blog is obviously the right one because of the potential for insurrection that accompanied the change of dynasty after her death.

  2. I rather liked this one, probably only because I got in under the hour for the first time in weeks. There is a chain of sweet shops in San Francisco called ‘Just Desserts’, but of course, as Andy says, the phrase calls for a one-S version. I wouldn’t be surprised if the explanations of ‘Queen Anne’s dead’ that Dave and Andy relate are post hoc and unsupported by evidence–apparently ‘Queen Elizabeth’s dead’ was current for a while earlier. (Then again, I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out I was mistaken.)

    Edited at 2013-10-06 08:03 am (UTC)

  3. Dave. Really appreciate the blog as totally baffled by the two down clues you mention as well as the Queen Anne reference though I did guess the right answers. Whole puzzle took me some 3 hours on the train from Paris to Milan. Grestyman.

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