Times Jumbo 959

Author   helenoughamPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Thanks to everyone who welcomed me to the site after my last posting.

I found this Jumbo pretty straightforward – 22 minutes solving time. There was one quite obscure answer (41ac) and one clue I wasn’t convinced by (39ac), offset by several enjoyable clues, but nothing much else to comment on.

Across
1 AQABA – A Q A BA
4 SQUEEZE BOX – SQUEEZE = PRESS, BOX = accommodation for press as in journalists
9 LOUCHE – LOU(t), E behind CH = church
14 THESAURUS – TAURUS around HES (His Excellency’s)
15 SCINTILLATING – anagram of SIGN IN ATTIC LL = Liberals
16 INDULGE – IN LUD (reversed) G E
17 CHARABANC – CHAR BAN in AC
18 INANE – (duns)INANE
19 HENRY THE SECOND – HENRY (Longfellow) THE SECOND = support
22 EYELASH – double cryptic definition
25 CLASSICIST – LAS in C(l)I(n)C(h) IST = German for is
27 REASSESSMENT – RE ASSES MEN in ST
30 ORGAN – this seems to me a rather weak, not-very-cryptic clue. Maybe I’m missing something.
31 MOUSE MAT – (MUM AT SEA)*. Surfer is Internet surfer here.
32 ASSENTER – SEN in ASTER
35 POSITION – triple definition
36 ELLIPSIS – E PILL (reversed) SIS. ELLIPSIS is defined by … at the end of the clue – clever, I thought
37 DRUID – DID around RU = rugby union
39 INTERFEMORAL – INTER FE = iron MORAL = point (of a story etc.)
41 POUNCET BOX – POUNCE TB OX. POUNCET BOX is another (fairly obscure) word for a pomander.
43 HOLBEIN – HOL(y) BEIN(g)
45 MASON DIXON LINE – SON in MAD XI (reversed) ONLINE
48 ELGAR – EL(even) R around G(e)A(r)
49 SONGSMITH – G (last letter of featuring) in SONS MITH which sounds like myth (=story)
51 IMPASSE – PASS in I ME
53 VENTRILOQUISM – a nice misleading indication
54 EARTHWORM – EARTHWOR(k) M
55 RACEME – hidden in AndorRA CEMEtery
56 WELLINGTON – W ELLINGTON. Nice clue!
57 WHEAT – W E in HAT

Down
1 ANTRIM – A TRIM around N
2 ABERDEEN ANGUS – (ABUSE ENDANGER)*
3 AVAIL – sounds like a veil
4 SERPENT – double definition (the first lady = Eve)
5 UNSUCCESSFUL – (FUSS SUN CLUE C)*
6 ENSLAVER – RENE (reversed) around SLAV
7 ERICA – hidden in summER I CAn
8 OUTLANDISH – LAND in OUT anagram of HIS
10 OPALINE – (t)OP AL (Capone) IN E
11 CHINAWARE – CHINA WARE
12 EAGRE – R replacing L in EAGLE. Bore here is the tidal surge (e.g. Severn Bore)
13 BLACK-EYED SUSAN – LACKEY in BED SUSAN
20 RESONATOR – REASON, with A moved down to the end, TOR
21 OPERATIC – OP ER(r)ATIC
23 HETERODOXY – (THEY RODE)* around OX(ford)
24 ACCOMPLISH – accomplice if pronounced with a drunken slur
26 COMPOSE ONESELF – double definition (refers to ELGAR at 48ac)
28 SPEEDWELL – SPEED = methamphetamine, WELL = source
29 HELL-CATS – HE = high explosive LL CATS
33 THUMB ONE’S NOSE – double definition
34 ASTONISHMENT – (THIS MANS NOTE)*
38 COMMUNIQUE – I QU in COMMUNE
40 TELEGENIC – TEEN IC around LEG = on in the cricketing sense
42 INDIAMAN – IN DIANA (last 2 letters reversed) around M
44 EARDRUM – (A MURDER)*
46 OMICRON – OM C in IRON = club
47 HERMIT – Peter the Hermit; H replacing P in PERMIT
48 ELVER – EL REV (reversed)
50 STILL – double definition
52 PSHAW – P HAW = fruit around S

2 comments on “Times Jumbo 959”

  1. 20:29 here for a reasonably straightforward puzzle. I was obviously helped by knowing POUNCET-BOX – familiar mainly from literature, I think, rather than crosswords.

    I wasn’t too worried about 30ac (ORGAN). This seemed just a rather old-fashioned Times crossword clue, where the surface reading was (presumably) supposed to lead you towards plumbing rather than music.

  2. Whizzed through this one in a mere hour and 49 minutes, and managed to mistype VENTRILOQUISM to boot. I shared Helen’s qualms about ORGAN. Like Tony, I knew (from Shakespeare?) POUNCET-BOX, although it took me a long time to get it. CODs to 49ac and 9ac.

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