Times Jumbo 1254

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Another (probably) not-exceptionally-difficult Jumbo.

As always, * indicates an anagram.

Across
1 REFECTORY – alternate letters of bEeF, in RECTORY
6 SHOW-OFF – SHOW, + OF F
10 ORIEL – OR + IE + L
13 SURREPTITIOUS – SURREy, + PIOUS around TIT
14 ON THE SPOT – double definition
15 HEELTAP – HE + E +LT, + pa (reversed)
16 TWELFTH – priesT, + (left)* in W + churcH
17 GRIMACE – AC in GRIME
18 PAMPHLETEERS – P in (team helpers)*
20 INTERNSHIP – IN + TERN’S + HIP
23 JUNTA – JUN (short for June) + TA
24 SEED PEARL – SEE EARL, around D + Purchase
25 SHE-BEAR – SHE (the H. Rider Haggard novel) + BEAR. “Rupert’s mother” refers to the long-running UK cartoon strip for children
26 CITY SLICKER – (cricket is lowkey)*
28 CHRONOMETER – on mantelpiece in (the corner)*
30 SIGHT-READER – READER (“senior lecturer”) after SIGHT
32 UNNATURALLY – UN, + LadY after NATURAL
34 ROADBED – ROBED around AD
36 NOTORIOUS – NOT US, around O + RIO
38 IMPEL – IE around MP, + L
39 WISHY-WASHY – (why his way seems)*
41 STRONG-MINDED – MINDED after STRONG
45 PROGRAM – PRO + G + RAM
46 BUTTERY – UTTER, in B + Youth
47 SHARPEN – HARP in SEN
49 DESPERADO – DES + ADO, around rep (reversed)
50 AUDACIOUSNESS – A + U, + cad (reversed), + NESS after IOUS
52 EASED – E + AS ED[itor]
53 DUKEDOM – Distinguishing + UK, + mode (reversed)
54 OBSTINACY – OB (Old Boys), + TINY around AC

Down
1 ROSE-HIP – or (reversed), + SHIP around E
2 FORGET-ME-NOT – TOT around MEN, after FORGE
3 CLEFT – CLEF + collectT
4 OCTUPLE – (couple + abouT)*
5 YET – Trust after YE
6 STONECROP – STONE, + COP around caR
7 OSSIFY – hidden in crOSS IF You
8 OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY – (on orgy looting royal hospital)*. The beauty of a Jumbo puzzle is that it can include lovely 19-letter words like this!
9 FATIGUE – FAT + GUy, around I, + E
10 OBEDIENCE – ONCE, around BEDE around I
11 IMPEACHMENT – I’M PEACH, + MEN + Taking
12 LATTE – LATE around T
16 THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK – THE NEW KID (both Billy and KID refrrring to goats), + ON THE BLOCK
19 HEADSET – HE + SET, around AD
21 PORTRAYAL – RAY in PORTAL
22 MANCHU – hidden in RoMAN CHUrch
23 JACK SCREW – JACK + SCREW
24 STIPEND – TIro in SPEND
25 SONATAS – SON + AT + Abingdon School
27 RARITY – RAT + Y, around RI
29 MARTINI – MART + IN + I
31 GLASSHOUSES – double indication
33 LEPIDOPTERA – (dire to apple)*. At the risk of seeming pedantic (oh all right then, I admit it, I’m pedantic!), the LEPIDOPTERA are an order of insects, not a class of insects – they’re part of the class Insecta
35 BOYFRIEND – FRIEND (member of the Quakers or Society of Friends) after BOY (‘my’ here indicates an exclamation)
37 ROTTERDAM – R + OTTER +DAM
40 ARMBAND – ARM + B + AND
42 GASEOUS – Employed Only, in GA + S US
43 DYNASTY – DodgY + NASTY
44 STRAND – double definition
45 PADRE – PAD + RE
48 ASSAI – A + S + S + AI
51 COO – double definition

9 comments on “Times Jumbo 1254”

  1. As Helen says, not exceptionally difficult; I’ve got nothing written in the margins of my copy. My LOI, of all things, was STRAND; for me lock and strand are not synonymous, and it took me forever (and the checkers) to come up with something other than ‘tress’. In defense of 33, much as I like to indulge in pedantry myself, ‘class’ is also (nay, primarily) a non-scientific term, and in that non-scientific sense an order, or a family, or a species, … is a class of organisms. And ‘An order of insects…’ would have been a less satisfactory clue, no?
    1. You’re quite right, Kevin, and the surface reading probably wouldn’t have been so good with ‘order’ – but as I’m a biologist, I decided that a little bit of pedantry was permissible here!
      1. I’m with you on this one Helen .. a class is a class and an order is, well, an order..

        I did very much love 8dn, almost a puzzle in itself..

        Edited at 2017-03-25 05:05 pm (UTC)

  2. I found this quite tricky. It took me ages to see ROADBED. Took 91:46 in all. OTO and OLOGY came to mind soon enough but the other bits kept me guessing for a while. An enjoyable enough puzzle. Thanks setter and Helen.
  3. Bah!One error,BATTERY for BUTTERY,careless of me.Would someone please explain SHOW-OFF?I got it from ‘exhibitionist’,though.
    Ong’ara,
    Nairobi.
    1. Cats, possibly = SHOW (i.e., the musical ‘Cats’)
      belonging to = OF
      female = F
    2. Hi Ong’ara – commiserations about BATTERY/BUTTERY. Yes, a SHOW-OFF could be an ‘exhibitionist’ – the OED defines it as ‘A person given to making a show of or drawing public attention to his or her possessions, accomplishments, skill, etc.; a person who behaves in an ostentatious or attention-seeking manner’.
  5. We had this in another puzzle just recently and the military prison definition eluded me. Then Kevin reminded me that it occurs in Powell’s Dance To The Music Of Time in the war years – which I’d forgotten.

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