Times Jumbo 1211

Author   PenfoldPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic

I bet you didn’t even notice that this is nearly two weeks late.  If I’m wrong, and you’ve been lurking at the top of the stairs brandishing a rolling pin, waiting for me to bring this jumbo home, then humble apologies.  The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic.

I’d say this was a puzzle of average difficulty with not too much registering on the obscurityometer.

If I’ve left out the clue or clues that stumped you then just ask.

First in was STEGOSAUR, last in RHODES. 


Across

1
CRASH LAND  – RASH in CLAN then D(aughter).

6
SQUARE DANCING – “quirky” CD

13
UTICA – Hidden. Not a place I’d heard of. 

14
SANHEDRIN – straightforward anagram for a not very straightforward word I had to look up.

15
TIGHTEN – G(ood) in a reversal of NET HIT. I can’t find any direct dictionary support for “improve focus” as the definition but I guess it works figuratively.

16
HOIST WITH ONES OWN PETARD  – (inepthotheadisnowworst)* My first effort of HOIST BY was only marginally worse than the next stab with HOIST UPON.  You don’t see many petards these days.  You can’t get the wood.

18
RANCHMAN – Clever construction – R then ANCH{OR}MAN.

20
PALO ALTO – Unlike Utica I think I’d heard of this one horse town.  According to Wiki “Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States and its residents are among the most educated in the country”, but they would say that, wouldn’t they.

23
PADDLE – “No great advance in the main?” is the rather verbose definition / PAD as in flat as in apartment + D{o}LE, UK slang for unemployment benefit.

24
RHODES – RODE around H then S.  I think this was my LOI because “colonial businessman” didn’t look too promising as the def.

25
STEGOSAUR – B(argue toss)* for that “dinosaur” (stegosaurus is a stegosaur) with the ridge of bony plates along its back.  In the coffee bar of the business school at Leeds Poly the Cornish pasties on offer were affectionately known as “stegs”.

28
FOSTER HOME – ST in FOE then H(urry) in ROME.

29
AVOW – O in A VW

30
TOP GEAR – DD of sorts.

32
INHALER – IN HALE R a medical device used for delivering medication into the body via the lungs. It is mainly used in the treatment of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

34
LEEK – LEE + K   a market town in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet.

35
MONOGAMOUS – CD.  There were mutterings on the club forum about this one, presumably on the basis that polygamy is not “not allowed” everywhere.

38
INGENIOUS – I + NOUS around GEN + I

39
CO-HOST – OH in COST

43
LAPEL – “5th time round circuit” = LAP E then L.  For too long I was looking for something with V for 5. 

45
DIMINISH – DISH around “I’m in” for “expect me to participate” which I thought was clever.

49
STICK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB  – I think this is just a CD but it doesn’t really work for me.  If I’m missing something please let me know.

53
SCINTILLA – homophone of sin & tiller.

54
CHINA – CHAIN with the A moved to the end.

55
OLD CLOTHES MAN  – Reversal of LO then (mothscandle)*.  A new one on me but pretty self-explanatory.

56
MEDITATED – ME + DI{c}TATED


Down

1
COUGH DROP – COUGH as in grass/squeal + DR + OP

2
AFICIONADOS – (aidofcasino)*  Helpful wordplay.  Asked to spell this blind I’d probably have doubled either or both of the Fs and Cs (and possible the Ns and Ds).

4
AESTIVAL – ITS E(nergy) in LAVA all reversed.  “Belonging to or appearing in summer”.

6
STERNWARDS – DD, one “whimsical” as they say in these parts.  Hattie Jacques springs to mind.

7
UNRESPONSIVE – (persons)* in UNI then VE{ry}.

8
RENEWAL – (persons)* in UNI then VE{ry}.

9
DATA PROTECTION  – IT reversed in D.A. TAP ROTE CON.

11
INTERROGATE – IN TERROR(r) + GATE

12
GENT – REGENT with RE for “about” deleted.

17
CHARTRES – CHART + RES{t} 

19
HELVELLYN – ELVE{s} replacing the I in HILLY plus N for he highest point of the Helvellyn range in England’s Lake District, a north-south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ullswater.  For a while I was fooled into thinking that ELVE was the collective noun for pixies.

22
SHAMBLES – SHAM BL{u}ES

25
SAWHORSE – straightforward charade with arab being horse rather than Omani. For a change.

26
OPHANAGE – O(rdinary) R(anks) + P.H. + AN AGE.

27
SHERWOOD FOREST – (dofortreesshow)  Sherwood Forest, of course, is most famous for being home to Center Parcs and the Sherwood Forest Art & Craft Centre.

28
FAIR ISLE – (leaf)* around IRIS for something to do with sweaters.

31
MERCANTILISM  – (metcriminals)*

33
HIGH-PITCHED – DD one fanciful based on the premise that football in Peru is played at altitude.  I’d have gone for Bolivia myself, as we all know that Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz, Bolivia, is the highest national stadium in el mondo.

36
OPPORTUNIST – OP then TUNIS in PORT

37
CHESTERTON – The town of Chester plus ton for fashion (see the dictionary if in doubt) for old GK himself.

42
GOURMAND – artfully hidden.

44
LACTEAL – ACT in LEA plus L(itre)

48
ASYLUM – our unknown is Y, wedged into A SLUM

51
DADO – D(uke) + ADO.  I always thought the dado rail was much higher than the skirting board (but lower than the picture rail).  Maybe the setter has large mice.

 

3 comments on “Times Jumbo 1211”

  1. Of medium difficulty to me, messed 40a by wrt PRIM=affected then realized my blunder and corrected it. (Ong’ara, Nairobi, Kenya )
  2. I think there are two parts to this with Definition: Be easily seen and the rest of the clue referring to hitch-hiking.

    Thanks for blog for a puzzle that was tricky to finish with some new words for me, not that easily found from wordplay, but I got there in the end.

Comments are closed.