Times Jumbo 940 (27 Aug 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Time: 1:51:18

Lots of people today – an artist, a composer, a racing driver, a physicist and an authoress. I knew all but the composer, although the artist was only vaguely familiar. The other words I didn’t know were ANONYM, CURRAWONG & SPIFLICATE, but all were deducible from the wordplay & checkers.

Overall, pretty standard stuff, but a few good clues. The &lit at 27a, and the semi-&lit at 35a were both good, as was the misleading wordplay in 40d.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 A + S(K)EW
4 OXTAIL SOUP = TAILS (reverse of a coin) + UP after O (roundabout), all after OX (steer)
9 A + B(AS)ED – I got stuck on ABUSED for a while before the penny dropped.
14 INCOME TAX = (ACT ONE I’M)* + X (vote)
15 FO(LIES + BE)RGER + awarE – The risque Parisienne music hall.
16 AN(T)ONYM – I didn’t know the word ANONYM, similar to a pseudonym so I had to get this from the definition
17 CUR + RA(W + O)NG – another word I didn’t know, but it certainly sounded like an Australian creature of some kind. Probably found by a billabong, I shouldn’t wonder.
18 FRAIL = F (for Forte, the musical instruction for strong) + RAIL (a bird)
19 PERSONAL STEREO = (OR LATE RESPONSE)*
22 O(PUSs)DE + I – A Manx cat is, of course, tailless, hence the removal of the last letter of PUSS. Thanks to Dan Brown for introducing me to the Opus Dei.
25 EQUALS + SIGN
27 SENIOR MOMENT = (MEMORy + ISN’T ONE)* – an &lit
30 DUKAS = SAD rev about UK – I’d never heard of Paul Dukas, although I’m certainly familiar with Mickey Mouse and his enchanted broomsticks in Fantasia’s interpretation of his most famous piece, The Sorceror’s Apprentice. The wordplay took me an age to unravel, so one of my last in.
31 ROSSETTI – Another one that took me an age to parse. It’s SET (circle) after Starve in ROTI (unleavened bread). I didn’t know the bread, and was only vaguely aware of the artist. He featured recently (well, 2009) in a BBC drama Desperate Romantics, played by Aiden Turner.
32 MANTISSA = MANTIS + AS rev – I liked MANTIS being defined as a ‘prayer’, and as a mathematician, I was aware that a mantissa had something to do with logarithms, although I couldn’t have told you precisely what.
35 A + N(Termites)EATER – semi-&lit, and rather a good one, I thought.
36 VINEYARD = VIA + RD about YEN rev – Martha’s Vineyard is a popular second home location for the most affluent residents of the American Northeast.
37 ELIOT = TOIL + audiencE all rev – The author is presumably George, the pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans, who adopted a male name in order to be taken more seriously. She wrote many famous novels including The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner and Middlemarch.
39 GLOCKENSPIEL = (SPEaKING CELLO)*
41 JU(A + N + FAN)G + I + O – Five time F1 World Champion between 1951 & 1957. He still holds the record for the most different teams to win the Driver’s Championship with (four).
43 RE(P)LIC + A
45 F(AIR + TO + M)IDDLING – I was trying to get an anagram out of this for a long time.
48 PRAWN = N + WARP all rev, not a traditional cocktail, but one with Marie Rose sauce.
49 ARI(MAT + HE)A – This went straight in from the definition alone, but I needed the wordplay to help me spell it!
51 STEPS ON – dd
53 A + NAG/RAM + MATISsE
54 KERBSTONE = BST (Summertime) + ONE after K/ER (royal couple)
55 E + VERSO (left hand page)
56 REP(EATED)LY
57 YIKES = (Its KEY)*
Down
1 ANIMAL = LAMINA rev
2 KICK THE BUCKET = THE (article) between KICK (punt) and BUCKET (another vessel)
3 W + OMEN
4 OTT + OMAN
5 TOXICOLOGIST = X (cross) + I (one) + COL (officer) in TOO (to boot) + GIS (soldiers) + huT
6 IN + FA(R)CTS – Thanks to Dr Gregory House for introducing me to the infarction
7 SALSA – dd
8 UNECONOMIC = U + CON in (INCOME)*
10 BIRD FLU = BIRD (time, as in prison sentence) + “FLEW”
11 SKEDADDLE = aSKED + ADDLE
12 broaDcast + WELL
13 IBEG YOUR PARDON = (POOR-BRAINED GUY)*
20 S(ALES)TALK
21 ROENTGEN = R + (NOTE)* + GEN – Wilhelm Röntgen is the man without whom the 24th letter of the NATO phonetic alphabet would probably be Xylophone.
23 INTeRACTION
24 HE(A)D + BANGER, presumably in its definition as a mad or eccentric person, rather than a dismissive comment on the part of the setter about rock music aficionados.
26 SERGEANT AT ARMS = (ARRESTS MAGNATE)*
28 ON THE NAIL – dd
29 BE(RIB)ER + I – there are 24 ribs in a human ribcage. It took me a while to think of this, I was trying to get 4 & 20 blackbirds involved somehow.
33 SLING + ONE + SHOOK
34 VACUUM-PACKED = VACUUM + “PACT”
38 SPIFLICATE = (PLACE IF IT’S)* – Not a word I knew, but it seemed the most likely arrangement of the letters.
40 OR + P(HAN)AGE – I liked the misleading use of ‘gold leaf’
42 IT + CH(I)EST
44 INN + ARDS – The Irish Ards peninsula is the easternmost point of Ireland, just east of Belfast.
46 DESTROY = fisT in DES/ROY
47 sUNLESS
48 PLANE – dd – This is a bit of a chestnut. Although can a plane be a chestnut?
50 AL + IKE
52 E/S + SAY

3 comments on “Times Jumbo 940 (27 Aug 2011)”

  1. I was hurt to see over on the crossword club website that some people had trouble solving 41ac. Fangio was my boyhood hero, and I still consider him possibly the finest racing driver of all time, from an era when muscles were required, there were no seatbelts or crash protection, and many GP races contained a fatal crash..
    1. FANGIO was easy (as I expect it would be for anyone over a certain age), but I had to rely on the wordplay for JUAN.
  2. 31:21 for me – though I thought I’d been faster. Excellent puzzle – but 27ac felt a bit too close to home for comfort!

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