Times Jumbo 1229

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
There was one answer (57ac) that I hadn’t come across before – otherwise I thought this was fairly straightforward.

Hope to see some of you at, or after, the Times Championship in London next Saturday!

As always, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 BACKSLASH – BACKS LASH
6 HOLY ORDERS – HOLY (sounds like ‘wholly’) + ORDERS
12 MINIMAL – M + I + aNIMAL
13 ALABASTER – ASTER, after A LB around A
14 VENUS – double indication (‘our Neighbour’ indicating a planet near Earth)
16 LAY IT ON THICK – LAY + I TON + THICK
17 ZABAGLIONE – (along baize)*
19 COCKTAIL LOUNGE – COCK TAIL, + LUNGE around O
22 BINAURAL – BIN A URAL
24 TRUMAN – sounds like ‘true man’
25 AMATEURISH – A MATE, + IRISH with U replacing the initial I
26 CABER – hidden in baREBACk (reversed)
29 DOTE – DO + TE (indicated by ‘notes’, in the musical sense)
30 PURE-BRED – PURRED, around E + B
32 DIVERSIFY – D + I VERSIFY
34 PRESENTER – RESENTER after P
35 CHILEANS – C + LEANS, around HI
36 FAST – double definition
39 RISER – cryptic indication
40 PROPAGANDA – sounds like ‘proper gander’
42 GOANNA – ANNA (‘girl that reflects’, i.e. a palindromic name) after GO
44 SINISTER – (retsina + is), revefersed
46 I’M ALL RIGHT JACK – double indication
48 LANCASHIRE – A + N + CASH, in LIRE
49 SOLOMON’S SEAL – SOLO, + SEAL after MONS
53 TOTEM – M after TOTE
54 INTERSECT – TERSE, in IN + CT
55 BRINGER – Bag + RINGER
56 SPOTTED DOG – SPOTTED + DOG
57 SALLY PORT – (lots r play). The clue indicates that this is a two-word answer; both Chambers and the Oxford English Dictionary give it as a single word (sallyport), although Wikipedia and other online reference sources go for the two-word version

Down
1 BONNY – BONN + Y
2 COME TO THAT – COMET, + OTT around (H + A)
3 SOLENOID – (LINO DOES)
4 ABASH – A BAS + H
5 HEADCOUNT – HEAD COUNT
6 HEAT – HEArT
7 LETHAL – LEiTH + A + L
8 OUR MAN IN HAVANA – OUR MAN IN A VAN, + A, around H
9 DEVIL-MAY-CARE – EVIL M, in DAYCARE
10 RANCOUR – RAN + COURage
11 IMPLICATED – IMPLIED around TOM
15 STEEL GREY – (geyser let)*
18 AGNUS DEI – (g idea)* around NUS
20 COUNTLESS – COUNTESS around L
21 LUMBER ROOM – LOOM, around UMBER + chaiR
23 MIND-READER – MIN (half of ‘minute’, indicated by ‘thiry seconds’) + DREADER
27 BRITANNIA – triple indication
28 MULTIPLE-CHOICE – cryptic indication
31 RECLAIMS – EC + LA, in RIMS
33 NEAR AS DAMMIT – (mainstream ad)*
34 PORT SALUT – PORT, + U in SALT
37 TO A SKYLARK – ASK, in TOY + LARK
38 FORTISSIMO – FOR, + (o + miss + it) reversed
41 ALL COMERS – (more calls)*
43 A GOOD BUY – sounds like ‘a goodbye’
45 NONSTOP – NONeS + T + OP
47 X-RATED – X + RATED
50 OCTAL – hidden in ‘ConcOCT A Lie’. ‘based on…’ refers to the answer to the next clue (51dn), EIGHT
51 EIGHT – wEIGHT
52 DRAG – Gard, reversed

2 comments on “Times Jumbo 1229”

  1. I knew SALLY PORT, fortunately (I would spell it as two words, so for once my enumeration and the setter’s matched!), but SOLOMON’S SEAL was new to me, and took a while. I think 50d/51d is the first instance I’ve seen where the suspension dots actually connect the two clues meaningfully.
  2. Had also not heard of SALLY PORT but wordplay was helpful.Found this of medium difficulty.Ong’ara,Nairobi.

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