Times Jumbo 1204

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
For complicated reasons to do with ospreys, I ended up solving this at around 3:30 one morning, so I’m not sure I can comment on how easy or difficult it was! Not too hard, I don’t think… 13ac and 33dn may be the least widely-known answers, though 23ac may not have been familiar to people based outside the UK.

As always, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 BOTTLE-GREEN – GREEN after BOTTLE
7 SKINNY LATTE – SKINNY, + Thrill in LATE
13 TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA – (apartheid OK I ask)*, around B + I
14 BAKED – BAD (‘off’), around last letters of ‘look fine’
15 ENROBE – ER around N, + OBE
16 SHEDLOAD – SHED + LOAD
17 BOULDER – sounds like ‘bolder’
19 ANGLE IRON – IRON after ANGLE
21 RE-EDITED – TED (Heath), after REED + I
23 TWOC – TWO + C
25 IDEAL – I + DEAL
27 TEETHE – hidden in guaranTEE THEy’ll
28 SEED POTATO – (too deep as)* around Turnip
30 NOT AT ALL – A in NOT TALL
31 PLASTIC SURGERY – PLASTICS + URGE + RY
34 MARKET RESEARCH – MARK + ETRE + SEARCH
35 VA-VA-VOOM – VA, twice, + V, + moo (reversed)
38 GRANADILLA – ILL in GRANADA
40 POROUS – O in PROUSt
41 DATED – double definition (‘saw’ in the sense of ‘went out with’)
43 COCK – double definition
44 ABERDEEN – A, + DEE in BERN
45 A FORTIORI – (for a riot)* + TripolI
48 UTENSIL – cUes + (listen)*
49 SKI-SLOPE – IS LOPE, after first letters of ‘six kilometres’
50 GALOSH – LO in GASH
53 LOTTO – bLOTTO
54 NOUGHTS AND CROSSES – SAND + CROSSES, after NOUGHT (‘love’)
55 THREE-DECKER – Home in TREE DECKER
56 SILLY SEASON – ‘so sane’ could indicate SILLY (here, meaning a jumble of) SEASON

Down
1 BOTHERATION – BOss + THE RATION
2 TRIER – double indication
3 LIKABLE – LAB around I K, + last letters of ‘total carnage’
4 GRIM – GRIMe
5 EVEN-HANDED – EVEN, + AND in HE’D
6 NEANDERTHAL MAN – (had lantern name)*
7 SCHOONER – SOONER, round C + H (cold and hot; ‘taps’)
8 IN BUD – IN + BUD
9 NAAN BREAD – AN in NAB, + READ
10 LABOUR – cryptic indication (men don’t give birth, so are never in LABOUR)
11 TAKE DOWN A PEG OR TWO – double indication
12 EX-DIRECTORY – DIRE + Council, in EX + TORY
18 PRATTLER – Pin + RATTLER. Definition is ‘One may go on’
20 GREATER MANCHESTER – TERM, in (earnest charge)*
22 IBERIA – (Aire + Boat + Idly), reversed
24 GOURMAND – MAN in GOURD
26 LUTHERAN – first letters of ‘living under threat’, + HE RAN
29 PSYCHOANALYSIS – (physical say son)*
32 SNAPSHOT – SNAPS + HOT
33 ASHLAR – ASH + LARch
34 MAGIC BULLET – MAGIC + BULLET
36 MIDNIGHT SUN – the letter G (good) is in the middle of NIGHT, hence MIDNIGHT is ‘cryptically good’; + SUN
37 SOLAR PANEL – (a person all)*
39 IMBALANCE – Incisions + MB + A LANCE
42 DECIPHER – Hole in (pierced)*
46 TEA ROSE – or (‘gold’) reversed, in TEASE
47 ASHORE – ‘a sure’ could be pronounced in the same way as ASHORE
49 SKUNK – double definition
51 OASIS – hidden in AcapulcO AS I Speak
52 ICKY – pICKY

10 comments on “Times Jumbo 1204”

  1. I solved this at a sensible time of day and it apparently took me 20 mins so I’d put it at the easier end of the Jumbo spectrum
  2. When I read the clue for 13ac and saw the probable definition and wordplay I wondered if somebody had coined a word for “hatred of obscure words clued by an anagram”. I managed to put everything together in the correct order and when I checked my Chambers post-solve to see what it actually meant I was slightly disappointed because we need such a word. If memory serves last week’s Jumbo had a couple of clues of the same ilk.

    Edited at 2016-05-14 02:58 pm (UTC)

  3. I’ve no idea what I’m doing wrong; I’ve signed in to my Google account (I think) and yet I still turn up here as Anon!
    Thank you for the blog, sir. You’ve got 55 ac wrong; I also put three master initially but skunk put an end to that. It’s three-decker.
    Regards,
    Adrian Cobb
  4. Rattled through this one.
    TWOC is not a word I have ever encountered, except in crosswordland, so it may in fact be as well known to foreign as to UK solvers. Or maybe I just move in the wrong circles.
    Agree about three decker..
  5. I’m sure THREE-MASTER for THREE-DECKER was a typo as the crossing entries fit the latter not the former. I solved this in several multiples of the times quoted here – enjoyable puzzle.
  6. Thanks to those who pointed out my error in 55ac – it was indeed THREE-DECKER not THREE-MASTER (though without the cross-checking 39dn and 49dn, the latter was equally plausible as an answer). I’ve now amended the blog.
    1. TWOC is a word commonly used by the police meaning Taken WithOut Consent, in reference to a stolen car. The culprits are referred to as twockers.
  8. Had to Google phobias to get 13a after suspecting it could be fear of no 13, as for 23a, guessed from wordplay then googled to confirm. COD 20d.What a shame there’s no smut, l like them immensely. (Ong’ara, Nairobi, Kenya )

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