Times Jumbo 1089

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Like the last Jumbo I blogged on, I thought this was towards the tougher end of the spectrum, but with some very enjoyable clues.

As usual, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 LAGOS – LAG + OS (Ordnance Survey)
4 MASCARPONE – CARP + ONE, after MA’S
9 SYMBOL – sounds like ‘cymbal’
14 DOLGELLAU – hidden in ‘you all: e.g. lodge’, reversed
15 UNDER MILK WOOD – UNDER MILK (‘Fail fully to exploit’), + WOO + backhanD
16 A BAD LOT – (told a BA), reversed
17 HALLOWEEN – HALLO + WEE + N
18 INDIE – wINDIEr
19 WHIPLASH INJURY – (ship unwarily + h + j)*
22 SIGHING – GIs (reversed) + HINGe
25 EVERY OTHER – RY (railway) + OT (Old Testament) + HE, in EVER
27 FIT AS A FIDDLE – FIDDLE (‘racket’), after FIT + AS + A
30 ISTLE – broughT in ISLE (indicated by ‘inch’, another word for an island)
31 RED QUEEN – RED, + QUEEN (a female cat). I loved ‘brought to life piece’ in the (cryptic) indication
32 ASHPLANT – AT, around SH (silence!, indicated by ‘peace’) + PLAN
35 ICE-CREAM – I + CEC (short for Cecil) + REAM
36 CAP SCREW – CAPS (capital letters) + CREW
37 ACT ON – AC (alternating current) + TON
39 AGONY COLUMNS – (young man’s)* around COL
41 LADY CHAPEL – LAD, + YELl around CHAP
43 EGOTIST – EG (‘say’) + OTT (over the top) around IS (‘singles’)
45 A SHOT IN THE DARK – AS + HOT (‘piping’) + IN THE ARK around roaD
48 SHEAF – F replacing R in SHEAR
49 AMENHOTEP – A MEP, around (on the)*
51 BLOW-OUT – double cryptic definition
53 CROWN IMPERIAL – CR + OWN + IMPERIL around A
54 EGON RONAY – (one angry)* around O. A nice ‘&lit’ clue, where the wordplay is also the definition
55 AYE AYE – sounds like the letter ‘i’, twice
56 ASBESTOSIS – (branch to assess i)*
57 SOLAR – SO LA (the two notes following FA), + Rules

‘

Down
1 LAD MAG – AD (advertisement; ‘something to sell’) + M, in gal (reversed). Another &lit clue
2 GOLIATH BEETLE – (lethal bite)* in GO + E
3 SHELL – SHE’LL
4 MILITIA – sounds like Melissa as it might be pronounced by someone drunk
5 SOUTH SHIELDS – (old h uses this)*
6 AQUILINE – LINE, after A + QUIt
7 PEDRO – hidden in ‘for deputation’, reversed
8 NURSERYMAN – yr, in names run, all reversed
10 YAKKING – YAK KING
11 BLOW-DRIED – (weird old)* after B
12 LADLE – LAD + LiablE
13 GIANT’S CAUSEWAY – GIANT SWAY around CAUSE
20 PAY DEARLY – PA (per annum) + YEARLY, around D
21 UNIVERSE – VERSE under UNI
23 GREAT UNCLE – A TUN + CL (Cl is the chemical symbol for chlorine), replacing ec in ‘Greece’. The definition refers to Great Uncle Bulgaria in the Wombles
24 LEGITIMATE – LEG IT, MATE (‘familiar advice to another to flee’) around I
26 TERRACOTTA ARMY – cryptic definition
28 IMPEACHED – IMP + EACH (‘a head’) + ED
29 SUSANNAH – ANNA in SUSHi
33 ANTI-PERSONNEL – (one learns)* around N TIP
34 GREAT NEPHEWS – (w teenagers)* around PH
38 HUMANENESS – HUM + A + NENE + SS
40 OZONE HOLE – sounds like ‘owes own whole’. The definition is ‘very high deficit’
42 STATELET – STATE + LET
44 INFANCY – IN (‘home’) + FANCY
46 HOBNOBS – HOBo + NOBS. Another &lit
47 STAYER – ST + AYER (A. J. Ayer, the British philosopher)
48 SACRA – (arc as), reversed
50 HEINE – ‘the bed linen’, with first and last letters of each word removed
52 ORRIS – alternate letters of ‘Sour fruit’s’

9 comments on “Times Jumbo 1089”

  1. I’ve been looking forward to this blog since I finished the puzzle, as I could not figure out how my last 3 or 4 ‘solves’ worked. Never thought of (or heard) CEC as short for Cecil, Never heard of the Wombles, let alone Uncle Bulgaria, never heard of a LAD MAG and only put it in after a lot of playing with the alphabet, never heard of DOLGELLAU and had to go to my atlas, having failed to spot the hidden. Some nice clues; I especially liked 27ac, 32ac, and 11d.
    1. I thought of you as soon as I saw the clue for 23D – “Kevin Gregg’s gonna struggle with that one!”
  2. Liked this one, though best not dwell on how long it took to finish. I’ve never heard of Cec. as short for Cecil either. But wan’t 14ac a spectacular hidden clue?
  3. Dear Helen,

    Most grateful for some further clarification. “Owes” = “must pay” and “whole = “sum” but I don’t understand “own” as “individual”.

    Many thanks for your blogs.

    Regards,
    Adrian Cobb

    1. Many thanks Adrian. I interpreted this as ‘one’s own’, i.e. one’s personal or ‘individual’.
  4. I’m glad others found this puzzle difficult. I made the mistake of doing it on a Saturday evening after I’d been out drinking with a couple of friends during the afternoon and it must have taken me a couple of hours, but I’m not sure I’d have been too much quicker had I attempted it stone cold sober.

    HUMANENESS was my LOI, and it took me a long time to see LEGITIMATE, AGONY COLUMNS and OZONE HOLE. I knew “Cec” as a short form of Cecil because that’s what one of the parishioners of my mother’s church was known as.

  5. Yes, very tough but highly enjoyable. About an hour and half, with interruptions. I must have been too worn down by it to check my answers, though, because I managed to write MELITIA and PADRO.
  6. I too found this tough but enjoyable – it must have taken a while because I wrote down the time I started but there is no indication of when I finished.
  7. Hello,this one was quite tough but got all bar that one that had me scratching my head for 2 days ie ???Y CHAPEL.Got help from someone.BTW,Ulaca,how long did this take you?My average is 4hrs.
    Chadwick Ong’ara,
    Nairobi,Kenya.

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