As straightforward a Jumbo as I’ve blogged for ages i.e. a standard Times puzzle which didn’t require much knowledge that wouldn’t already be familiar to regular solvers; as I usually point out under such circumstances, that’s not a criticism (though it can make for a rather thin blog on occasion).
With Jumbos I generally confine myself to discussion of answers which I think might be a) less straightforward for inexperienced or non-UK based solvers, or b) especially elegant / questionable. However, as always, if a particular clue is not discussed, please feel free to raise it in comments for explanation or discussion.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 13 | NEWS-SHEET – NEWS (compass points) + SHEET (=covering); not keen on the sort of clue which vaguely indicates “some letters, which may be any or all of N, E, W and S”, (see also ones which use a random selection of musical notes A-G), but when it’s each cardinal point once and once only, no objection. |
| 15 | HABITAT – A BIT in HAT (the Derby as won by Laurel & Hardy). |
| 18 | POCKET HANDKERCHIEF – POCKET (=nick=steal) + “HANKER” + CHIEF. Nick has a capital here; not that it threw me especially, but isn’t it considered un-Times like to use a proper noun (Nick, as opposed to nick) where the synonym isn’t also a proper noun? I thought this is the convention which leads to setters hiding such words at the start of the clue. I may have dreamed this, and as I can’t see why it should be an immutable rule anyway, I’m thinking I may well have done. |
| 21 |
DISC – DISC |
| 23 |
NUTRIMENT – NUT + RIME + N |
| 39 |
CORONA – [OR (gold) ON] in C |
| 40 |
PATRONISE – PAT + RON + |
| 43 | HANDLEBAR MOUSTACHE – (CLEANMOUTHHASBEARD)*; nice long anagram. |
| 47 |
IMPASSE – not quite sure of the parsing here, though the answer was obvious. I’m assuming that one has to split over-takes so that it’s M |
| Down | |
| 1 |
SANCHO PANZA – SAN |
| 2 | NAWAB – (WAN)rev. + A.B.; while familiar with the Nawab of Pataudi, and the Nawab of Pataudi, I don’t think I realised this was a specifically Muslim honorific. |
| 5 | ESTAMINET – rev. and hidden in ofTEN I’M AT SEa. This seemed somewhat familiar, and indeed Google tells me I blogged it in Jumbo 932, so only a few months ago. |
| 6 | CANTANKEROUS – CAN TANKER (i.e. Is lorry able to) + O + U.S. |
| 8 |
FRIAR – R |
| 19 |
COTERIE – |
| 20 | HEIGH-HO =”HAY HOE”. Hay can be a verb as well as a noun, not that it really matters (unless you like your surfaces to make absolute, literal sense). |
| 22 | PARTING OF THE WAYS – (FEASTWORTHPAYING)*. Another nice long anagram. |
| 24 |
ERRORS – |
| 29 | SALFORD – SAL + FORD. There’s more than one canal in Salford, though I imagine it’s the Ship Canal which is being referenced. Also, Salford is a city these days, isn’t it? |
| 31 |
CARDIAC – CARD + 1 AC |
| 32 | CARAVANSERAI – CAR + A VAN’S + ERA + I. |
| 35 | LIE DETECTOR – [I.E. (TED)rev.] in LECTOR. Ted (=spread out grass to dry) is one of those words that appears far more often in crosswords than in real life. |
| 36 | COVER POINT – COVER (=answer) POINT (=objection); the field is a cricket field, of course.. |
| 38 |
OBSERVANT – OB |
| 41 | TANAISTE – (IAN)rev. in TASTE; while I guess the Taoiseach is reasonably familiar to UK solvers from news coverage of Irish politics, his deputy may not be. |
| 44 | UNBOWED – cryptic def./homograph: pizzicato indicates a string piece to be played by plucking: not using the bow=”unbowed”. |
| 47 |
IZARD – |
I think 47ac is I’M PASSED (one overtakes me) without the last bit.
I don’t think I’ve come across “ted” before, so thanks for that.