Times Jumbo 801 (Sat 21 Feb)

Author   nmacsweeneyPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Pleasing puzzle, not too difficult I found, solving time, 60 mins

* = anagram < = reversed
1 COMPTES RENDUS Being familiar with French helped me here, and it was a very good idea to clue it with a fairly obvious anagram (Consumer Depts)*
8 A SPAR A GUS
13 ‘OUSE L
14 BE(g)AN COUNTER COED confirms it can be a bureaucrat as well as an accountant. Hope there are beans left to count…
15 P AND A Excellent clue
16 S(CIENTIS)T (It’s nice)* Another excellent clue.
17 IN CH
18 JE (I in French) RE M(I)AD Excellent once more.
20 AGEIST (Gate is)*
21 REINVENT THE WHEEL
24 T(I)T FOR (TA)T TT = middle of baTTle
26 RON DEAU “Dough”
27 LASS O
29 COURT PLASTER (torture clasp)* Good surface
31 LACE RATING
33 NAP OLE ON(e) I C
35 CAVE A T EMPT OR From Latin, buyer’s responsibility to check quality
38 R O TOR
39 TO (PM) AST
40 TR (AN SI) ENT is<
42 BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH
44 S (PART)A weaponless army = Salvation Army (SA)!
47 NOTORNIS (sin rot on)< My last entry
49 LEA R King Lear, tragedy by Shakespeare
50 ILL AT EASE Hidden
52 ISSUE Double definition
53 I (MAGI) NATION
54 M AIDS Excellent
55 contesT ENNESSEE All letters after T are points (of the compass)
56 GUARDIAN (AN) GEL
DOWN
1 CRO(I)SS ANT
2 MISS I’VE
3 TALENT SCOUT (ten louts act)*
4 SU (B M)IT
6 DICTION ARIES Another excellent clue
7 SCUTCHEONS (cuts chosen)*
8 ANTE Etna<
9 PORTER HOUSE S TEAK
10 RU (PE)E
11 GENT ILE
12 SCANDALMONGER (old Germans can)*
19 ST (E’ER)AGE
22 W ALL A A less common version of WALLAH – good the wordplay was straightforward
23 A TALE OF TWO CITIES Charles Dickens’ novel about the capitals London and Paris
25 (tan)TRUM PET
28 SKIT T(a)LE
29 CONTRA (BAND I) ST
30 SNIP PETS Excellent
32 SANT (A BAR BAR) A
34 LO (RN)A(d)
35 MESOPOTAMIA M E (map is too)* containing a
37 CASH I.E. RING
40 TEST I FIE(l)D
41 T (RAVER)SAL last< think last is model used by sculptors etc
43 (p)ARTISAN
45 READING Double definition
46 GLEN D A (a d)<
48 RE EVE ER< (first lady i.e. The Queen)
51 BASE Always shiver at ?A?E but pretty sure this is right (double definition)

6 comments on “Times Jumbo 801 (Sat 21 Feb)”

  1. I took a stack of old Jumbos on holiday with me recently and coldn’t finish any of them. Somehow I’m always left with one or two that defeat me, and this was no exception. I couldn’t sort out the construction of JEREMIAD and didn’t know the word. I did get NOTORNIS but had to presume it was a bird. Turns out to be the takahe, recently transferred from very long list of extinct native NZ birds to the very short list of extant native NZ birds. How much longer it remains there depends largely on the stoats. We’ve had a run of NZ birds lately; maybe that’s a heads up for more to come.

    I seem to remember enjoying this puzzle, not only because it was on the easier side. Liked the cheeky reference to the Guardian.

  2. First Jumbo I haven’t finished in a while, and it was JEREMIAD that did me in.
  3. Like George this was my first incomplete Jumbo for a while, though I failed with greater distinction. It’s all very well having an “easy” anagram at 1a but if you haven’t heard of the phrase it becomes pretty tricky. I eventually plumped for COMPTUS NERDES having decided that was the most likely of all the possibilities. JEREMIAD also failed to reveal itself but no complaints there. I considered NOTORNIS but decided that it couldn’t possibly be a word and, finally, ?A?E had too many choices and BASE just didn’t come into my addled brain. It may be sour grapes but I didn’t find this puzzle pleasing at all, in fact I thought it was a bit of a slog with only one or two enjoyable moments.
  4. Can’t remember much about the puzzle …

    1A – I think the key to this is guessing that an unfamiliar word or phrase may well be in French. Then the -TES and -US endings are easier to guess at, or to recognise as possibilities. (The phrase felt new to me, but as it’s cropped up in some other recent puzzle, I wonder whether it really is new.) Much the same goes for NOTORNIS, though I didn’t notice the -ornis = bird (Gk.) ending when solving. Judging by nearby bits of Chambers, notos = “back or south” seems another bit of Greek worth, er, noting.

    41D: Sculptors? Cobblers! (i.e. lasts are specifically models of feet)

    1. Yes, I was very unsure about the model part, but the answer TRAVERSAL is right.

      Curiously the paper gave AVERSE rather than AGEIST as a solution but the clue seems definitely to lead to the latter.

      1. Didn’t mean to imply anything about 41A’s answer.
        AGEIST is given for 20 in the on-line solution, so the paper’s difference must just be a typo.

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