Times Jumbo 833

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Apologies for late posting – I didn’t get various blogging tasks done before a busy weekend. Having made a complete hash of a puzzle and blog at fifteensquared, I’m trying to ensure this one is error-free.

This was a pretty tough Jumbo for me – about an hour’s work, though with a bit of TV distraction, and I resorted to a dictionary to sort out 52 at the end (with 56 also unsovled at that point), though I shouldn’t have needed to.

Across
1 Cryptic def with references to HIPPO=thick-skinned creature,CAMPUS=centre of teaching
7 NEC(k)=short snog,ROMANCER=”who makes amorous advances” – “black artist” is the def, from black art=black magic.
13 CALLS=phones,’OMES=’ousing,ONES=units,BLUFF=frank
16 HEL(LB.)EN,T (Helen of Troy)
17 STRA(T)US(s)
19 B(LAME)LESS
27 BOOTHS – hidden backwards in “wash too bumpily”
28 COME=show=appear,DIE=long=pine,N(i)NE
31 SLEE(PING,BEAU)TY
34 ROYAL ENGINEERS – YALE in (sneering or)*
38 A,LIE=deception,NATION
40 ASSIGN = (sags in)* – fix=assign comes from legal teminology, though their commoner meanings are pretty close
41 LIN=nil rev.,GO=try
43 YSER – hidden in “cavalry sergeant” – a classic case of “it must be” if you see the wordplay type and a checking letter, but don’t know the river.
44 CAMEL=a kind of cloth,LIA(r)=fabricator – ornamental = “an ornamental plant” is the def.
45 ARCHETYPE – R in (eye=patch)*
49 CLIP(C),LOP
50 MILD,EW(e) – which can affect plants as well as forgotten damp laundry
53 EYE,UP=out of bed
54 LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR = (local radio,um, mimer)*
55 REENAC=rev. of (cane,ER),T(M)ENT
65 GRANDPARENT – “step-up generator” just refers to your family tree – I was thinking of the wrong type of generation.
 
Down
1 (c)HUCKLE,B(ERR)Y – I was distracted by (c)HORTLE for “head off laughter” and note that there’s potential for a very similar clue to WHORTLEBERRY in a barred grid puzzle with an excuse to drop the W in the wordplay
2 P=point’s top,O=circle,L=line,A=a,R=radius – a well-worked “one at a time” charade
3 (j)OB SCENE = “employment environment”
5 PROFESSION=career, and a whimisical opposite to “confession”
6 SHERLOCK HOLMES – witty clue here – “Successful solver regularly taking a bow” might just have you wondering whether some repeat Times Crossword champ might be the answer, but it’s our detective friend – I saw the bow as the one for his fiddle, though he did take a “Last Bow” in one story, so must have taken others, possibly on a regular basis.
9 O=old,B=Black,FUSE(CAT=panther,say)E – “Black Panther” is a classic “lift and separate”
10 ABS=stomach muscles,ORB=rounded shape – barred-grid solvers might have seen take=R as a possibility, but I’ve been telling people for years that this is never done in the Times, and have yet to be proved wrong.
11 CO.,UNTERINS=(unrest in)*,URGENCY=”need for action” – a clue that supports Tim Moorey’s inclusion of “in” in his list of “Ten Especially troublesome words” in his guide for Times solvers
12 RED,IS,COVE,RY.
18 RE=concerned with,D(BAR)ON
22 STOL(e),=”almost carried out theft of”,I.D.
24 F(IR.)EW,ALL
26 YEAR(n),LONG are the “couple of pines”
32 GREE(NOC=con rev.)K
33 SIMONE – S=son,I’M ONE = “it’s my ifrst birthday”
34 READ=study,Y(TOW)EAR – year = “full set of terms”
36 DOONE’S = “Blackmore heroine‘s”,WORST=defeat
37 P,IN A,COL(A)D,A=area – note that here we get A = both are (land area measure), and area
39 THAT’S FLAT – colloquial equivalent of “that’s that”
46 ERITRE=retire*,A
47 G.(RAP)P.,A
49 CACHE = “cash”
51 DROVE – double def., nicely done (“Motivated crowd”)
52 A(M)ID – sneaky container clue as the def (“within”) can also be a containment indicator, so you might look for M=millions inside “work possibly”, meaning “Charity”. Well that’s my excuse for making a meal of this one.

5 comments on “Times Jumbo 833”

  1. Should have been in my list – I wrote out the wordplay but forgot to mark the clue number as one to be blogged – should be there in a couple of minutes.
      1. and I’d like to stop being anon but didn’t understand what I was supposed to do. What would be my url?!
        regards
        Adrian Cobb
        1. I’m not sure exectly what you’re asking about the url.

          If you set up a new LiveJournal account with the name “adriancobb” (currently available), your own blog pages will be at http://adriancobb.livejournal.com
          (though many people who comment here don’t bother to write anything themselves). The URL for this blog has a different structure because you have to be a “community” if you want to allow multiple contributors.

          If you’re asked for a URL as part of your user profile details, that’s presumably for the “website” details which other people can see if they look at your profile.

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