Times Jumbo 1079

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
A fairly straightforward Jumbo, I thought, with quite a high proportion of double definitions/indications. A few of the answers – possibly ALCALDE, CICERONE, PENEPLAIN – may not be familiar to everyone, but they’re in most of the standard dictionaries.

As usual, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 ANTELOPE – ELOPE after ANT
5 DRIFTS – RIFT between D and S
9 BEEF TEA – BEE + FT (Financial Times) + Enjoy + A
14 CHAMBERMAID – CHARM + AID, around MBE
15 LOUTISHNESS – (he insults so)*
16 LASER – LA’S, + ER (Queen Elizabeth, hence ‘top woman’)
17 AFGHANI – A + F + GHANa + I
18 RATTLES ON – RATTLE SON
19 EXAMINE – axe (reversed) + MINE
20 PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH – cryptic definition. ‘Traditional’ may describe a ploughman who uses a (plough)share, but the term itself, describing a meal of bread, cheese and chutney, was apparently dreamt up in the 1950s by the British Cheese Bureau
22 PRESENT-DAY – PAY, around RESENT + rewarD
23 THWART – THe + WAR + thaT
25 CUBE – CUB + E
28 AS THE CASE MAY BE – double definition
30 SKIN-DEEP – KIND in SEEP
32 CICERONE – ICE in CRONE
34 COLLECTIVE NOUN – cryptic definition (school is the COLLECTIVE NOUN used for many types of fish, i.e. ‘swimmers’)
37 BORE – B + ORE, and double definition (‘hole’; ‘not something of interest’)
38 TORERO – TORE, + OR (other ranks), reversed
39 IONOSPHERE – (here poison)*
43 FINISHING SCHOOL – double definition
45 LONG LEG – double definition. Yes, it’s this week’s cricketing clue
47 ENROLMENT – E + NR + O, + LT (lieutenant) around MEN
49 OCARINA – hidden in turbOCAR INActive
51 PETAL – Prose + ET AL (short for ‘et alia’, indicated by ‘other writers’)
52 DON GIOVANNI – (vain doing no)*
53 SECRET AGENT – SENT, around CRETE around AG (symbol for the element silver)
54 SLENDER – S + LENDER
55 DIGEST – double definition
56 STANDS IN – STAND SIN

Down
1 ALCALDE – AL (Capone), + C, + (deal)*
2 TRANSPARENT – A + N + SPA, in TRENT
3 LIBERTINE – BERT + I, in LINE
4 PERMANENT MAGNET – cryptic definition
6 RADIATOR – RA + DIOR, around heAT
7 FILLING THE BILL – double definition
8 SQUARE MEAL – ‘mare squeal’, indicated by ‘horse yelp’, would be a Spoonerism of MARE SQUEAL
9 BRITTEN – joB + wRITTEN
10 ETHEL – EeL around THE
11 TREASONABLE – TABLE (indicated by ‘move at meeting’, as in ‘table a motion’), around REASON
12 ABSINTHE – A + B + SIN + THE
13 SANG – SlANG
20 PLANET – PLAN, + ET (‘the extra-terrestrial’)
21 LICENSE – (silence)*
22 PLANCK – sounds like ‘plank’
24 TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT – double indication. IT is short for ‘Italian vermouth’, which a gin drinker might or might not take
26 DAY OF RECKONING – double indication
27 SPONGE – double definition
29 EARNERS – lEARNERS
31 SCROLL – double definition
33 CROWN PRINCE – CROW IN CE (church of England), around N + PR
35 OPEN LETTERS – (rotten sleep)*
36 FRIGHTENED – F + RIGHTENED
40 PENEPLAIN – PEN + LAIN, around EP (extended play record)
41 EFFENDIS – (stiffened)*
42 MOLASSES – LASSES, after MO (moment)
44 ICE OVER – I + COVER around Evening
46 GELATIN – G + E + LATIN
48 LAIRD – I in LARD
50 INCH – IN + CH (in church, hence possibly ‘at communion’)

4 comments on “Times Jumbo 1079”

  1. I wrote “licence” for 21dn – I never have been able to get the difference quite straight in my head – but fortunately spotted and corrected it before submission.
    Entertaining crossword though over-heavily sprinkled with cliches, I thought.. ch, mo, ep, it, et, er, or, ft, e, s,i .. rather a lot
  2. I appear to have spent 20 mins on this one and wrote alongside ’10 mins quicker than the Times today’.
  3. 22m. I was worried about PENEPLAIN. I didn’t know the word, and although the wordplay was clear there are so many possibilities for “writer” and “record” and had an uneasy feeling I might be picking the wrong ones.
  4. 55′, quick for me (always happy to get in under the hour). Never heard of 40d, but was fairly confident that I had the wordplay right. On the other hand, I misinterpreted ‘penned’ at 9d as an enclosure indicator, which slowed me down a good deal. Also slowed down by not seeing rift as meaning squabble; the possible result of a squabble, yes, but not a squabble itself. I’ve become so confused as to how I’m supposed to spell ‘defense’, etc., that I automatically double-checked 21d.

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