Times Jumbo 985 (23 Jun 2012)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Jumbo Cryptic
Solving time: I would guess between an hour and a half and two hours which is pretty average for me. Hard to say, though, as I did it in fits and starts over the course of a weekend.

A couple of new words for me – PRELAPSARIAN and BASSO, but both could be got from the wordplay. Lots to enjoy in this one.

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

Across
1 NIGHTCLUB = “KNIGHT” + L in CUB
6 DU(MB)ST + RUCK
12 AC + CRETE
13 MAR + CO + POLO
14 F(USE)E – I’m struggling to come up with a justification for USE = ‘advantage’, to use someone is to take advantage of them, but I can’t think of a sentence that would pass the substitution test. A fusee is grooved conical pulley used in clock-making. My LOI.
16 PRELAPSARIAN = (REAPPRAISAL)* + N – I spotted the wordplay straight away, but it took me an age to unscramble the anagram, and I needed all the checkers in place. The word refers to the time spent by Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden before it all got a bit ‘fruity’.
17 KINETIC ART = (TIE-IN)* in TRACK rev
19 SENTIMENTALITY = SENT (excited) + MENTALITY (mind) about I
22 BONE + IDLE
24 ARTFUL – dd – ‘What gallery should be’ makes a good definition
25 BRIDGEHEAD = (BEG DIE-HARD)*
26 AWARE = WAR between Arabs and Europeans
29 TWEE – a lisped version of CHERRY TREE, although I read this as a deliberate mis-spelling of CHEWY at first, probably because of its proximity to the word ‘sweet’
30 MOONWALK – cd
32 CHOCOLATY = LOCO (crazy) rev in CHAT (rabbit) + celerY – ‘Brownies are so’ is the definition
34 STATES + IDEa
35 SHRAPNEL = (HER PLANS)*
36 G(L)OB
39 INEPT = PEN rev in IT
40 SA(LAMA)NDER
42 SIGNAL = SIN + GAL with the G advanced one place
44 inFILTRATE
46 ON ONES LAST LEGS – cd – a last being a foot-shaped frame used by cobblers to hold boots and shoes while they work on them.
48 IMPRESARIO = (OPERA IS MR)* – Richard D’Oyly Carte was a theatrical impresario in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
49 RABBLE-ROUSER = (RULES A ROBBER)*
53 TWANG = Trespasser + GNAW rev
54 ITCHINESS = ITS about CHINESe
55 B(RIG)AND
56 PERTINENCE – hidden
57 LOONY LEFT = (NOTE FOLLY)*
Down
1 NICHE – hidden
2 GREGARIOUS = (I + RAGE) rev in GROUSe – Interesting to compare this to a clue for the same word from the Daily puzzle, published just three days after this – “Sociable bitch, mostly holding back individual anger”. While the clue reads very differently, the construction is identical.
3 THE ASHES = (HEAT)* + SHE’S – ‘remains hotly contested’ is a marvellous definition, with ashes being hot remains, although the ashes in question ceased to hot quite some time ago.
4 LEMUR = LargE + RUM rev
5 BARNACLED = BARED about NACL (NaCl being the chemical formula for sodium chloride, or common salt)
6 DR + OP
7 MYOPIA = YOP in AIM rev
8 ST + ONE + COL + DSO + BE + R – quite a neat surface considering the number of elements used
9 REF + RIG + ERA + TOR
10 CO-STAR’D – a costard being a variety of apple used predominantly for cooking
11 MA + U + PASS + A + NT – Guy de Maupassant was a French writer famous for his short stories.
15 EXTREMELY – cd – frostbite affects ones extremities first
18 STREAKER – cd – I assume it’s supposed to suggest photography, but it didn’t with me. Maybe I just have a dirty mind.
20 NOT(RE + DAM)E – the famous Parisian cathedral sits on the Île de la Cité, a natural island in the River Seine.
21 T(A + RANT)ELL + A
23 BENCH + PRESS
27 A + TAG + LANCE
28 NOW + IN SITU AT + ION
31 AS + S(UM)ING – I liked the ‘if and when’ construction
33 WELTERWEIGHT = (WREsTLE + W) rev + EIGHT
34 SKIN + FLINT
37 BALUSTRADE = Against + LUST + R all in BAD + vicE
38 RIOT POLICE = (PRE-COOL IT)* – Kettling is a tactic used by the police to control large crowds.
41 NONPAREIL = LION rev about (N + PARE)
43 PAPER BOY – cd – ‘organ’ for newspaper comes up from time to time
45 LAP + LACE – Pierre-Simon Laplace was the mathematician. I vaguely remember studying Laplace transforms at university.
47 ZI(RC)ON
50 BASSO = (SOBS)* about A
51 SMART = TRAMS rev
52 PIKE – dd

10 comments on “Times Jumbo 985 (23 Jun 2012)”

  1. I lost track of the time at some point, trying vainly to solve 52d; a run through the alphabet, as virtually always in my case, not being thorough enough. I realized just now that I’d never checked my flagged clues to see if I understood them, but I see that once again I needed Dave’s help, e.g. for 29ac & 44ac. I suppose one could say that a streaker who runs fast flashes, but streaking and flashing are generally quite different modes of exposure.
  3. Its just a slang word for small coins, Jon, presumably British, since you are asking. All those stupid little coins you get left with, that are hard to shift.
    1. I suspected as much, but couldn’t confirm it in the one dictionary I didn’t need to leave my chair to reach. I blame the heat!
  4. I took a while to finish this one. OK with prelapsarian, but struggled with fusee, a word I only know in connection with matches that don’t go out, and also unsure about use = advantage.
  5. 27:01 for me – but looking back over the puzzle again, I don’t know quite why I was so slow.

    I’m not sure I understand “rising” in the clue to 33dn (WELTERWEIGHT). I can think of one possible explanation, or even two, but neither seems entirely satisfactory. Am I missing something obvious?

    1. “Rising” indicates the reversal, as correctly parsed above, namely: {WRESTLE – S + W}< + EIGHT. (It’s not a jumble.)
      1. Doh! Thanks, Roger – goodness knows what I was thinking. (Probably my brain was confused by “wrestle” and “out” into imagining there was a jumble involved, even though these were clearly making other contributions to the wordplay. And for some reason I find that particular combination of letters quite hard to see. I’ve no excuse for failing to read the blogger’s explanation though!)
  6. This is an interesting one. Use is very often clued by “benefit” which is very similar to “advantage”, yet one makes for an easy substitution and the other one doesnt. I suspect that this is just that advantage is never commonly used in this context, even though it is perfectly logical or reasonable to do so.

    For example “did you get any use out of my old racket” could easily be “did you get any benefit” but never “did you get any advantage” even though the meaning remains the same.

    1. Both Collins and the COED/ODE give “advantage” in their definitions of “use”. The Collins example is “it is of no use to complain”. The ODE examples are “it was no use trying to persuade her” and “what’s the use of crying?”.

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