This is my first blog of a Jumbo puzzle and because I know the readership isn’t as extensive as for QC and 15×15 puzzles I have compressed my blogging style a little. If there’s anything that needs further explanation please ask, and I or one of the other contributors will be pleased to expand further. I usually solve Jumbos over several sessions and sometimes several days, so I don’t keep a note of my solving times.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | No tough guy, Mike’s given kind concession (7) |
| MILKSOP | |
| M (Mike), ILK (kind), SOP (concession) | |
| 5 | Hesitation backing scams in political campaigning (8) |
| HUSTINGS | |
| UH (hesitation) [backing], STINGS (scams) | |
| 9 | Sacred instrument up to now has captured hearts (6) |
| SHOFAR | |
| SO FAR (up to now) [has captured] H (hearts). News to me, this is a ram’s-horn trumpet used in Jewish religious services. | |
| 13 | Day PC stops keen hunters giving fictional account (5,11) |
| DAVID COPPERFIELD | |
| D (day), AVID (keen), COPPER (PC), FIELD (hunters). Reputed to be a fictional account of Dickens’s own early years. | |
| 14 | Zero tax returns in company book (6) |
| OCTAVO | |
| O (zero), VAT (tax) [returns] in CO (company) | |
| 16 | Prior and head of abbey inside, saving face (8) |
| ANTERIOR | |
| A{bbey} [head], {i}NTERIOR (inside) [saving face] | |
| 17 | Telegraph lowbrow’s right wing rage (4) |
| WIRE | |
| {lowbro}W [‘s right wing], IRE (rage) | |
| 18 | He or I, say, without work, running off (9) |
| ELOPEMENT | |
| ELEMENT (He or I, say) contains [without] OP (work) | |
| 20 | Authorised rubbish tours here in Provence (8) |
| OFFICIAL | |
| OFFAL (rubbish) [tours] ICI (here in Provence) | |
| 21 | Leftist put off after brief time in game (6,2,3) |
| CHEMIN DE FER | |
| CHE (leftist), MIN (brief time), DEFER (put off) | |
| 24 | Enchanting figure, entering bank, is less relaxed (9) |
| TWITCHIER | |
| WITCH (enchanting figure) [entering] TIER (bank) | |
| 25 | Charlie never on rocking chair (8) |
| CONVENER | |
| C (Charlie), anagram [rocking] of NEVER ON. Presides over or chairs a meeting. | |
| 26 | Auntie going back and forth? (4) |
| BEEB | |
| BEEB (Auntie – BBC). ‘Going back and forth’ indicates the palindrome. | |
| 29 | Wanting bottle, paid for peanuts (7,4) |
| CHICKEN FEED | |
| CHICKEN (wanting bottle), FEE’D (paid) | |
| 31 | One showing property of say a boring English fellow (6,5) |
| ESTATE AGENT | |
| E (English), STATE (say), A, GENT (fellow) | |
| 33 | Reason I’m going to start to imitate street artist (11) |
| POINTILLIST | |
| POINT (reason), I’LL (I’m going to), I{mitate} [start], ST (street) | |
| 36 | Calling up troops with little sense (11) |
| REMINISCENT | |
| RE (troops), MINI (small), SCENT (sense) | |
| 38 | Reported section of fork in river (4) |
| TYNE | |
| Sounds like [reported] “tine” [section of fork] | |
| 39 | Grams not working as a unit of measurement (8) |
| ANGSTROM | |
| Anagram [working] of GRAMS NOT | |
| 41 | Finish second, then second again, in rallies (9) |
| COMEBACKS | |
| COME (finish e.g. last in a race), BACK (second), S (second again) | |
| 44 | Steer cars, let in English region (11) |
| OXFORDSHIRE | |
| OX (steer), FORDS (cars), HIRE (let) | |
| 45 | Knight, rider lacking height, is a medieval invader (8) |
| NORSEMAN | |
| N (knight), {h}ORSEMAN (rider) [lacking height] | |
| 48 | Giving out piece scoffing sandwiches (9) |
| EMANATING | |
| EATING (scoffing) contains [sandwiches] MAN (piece) | |
| 49 | Maybe a saxophone key with round shape (4) |
| ALTO | |
| ALT (key), O (round shape). The instrument comes in several pitches of which alto is one. | |
| 50 | Little piece of grass, possibly sleek tip (8) |
| SPIKELET | |
| Anagram [possibly] of SLEEK TIP | |
| 52 | Nothing left over in wine-producing area (6) |
| OPORTO | |
| O (nothing), PORT (left), O (over) | |
| 53 | Maybe glamping staycation in town with mud opera star organised (11,5) |
| PORTMANTEAU WORDS | |
| Anagram [organised] of TOWN MUD OPERA STAR | |
| 54 | Meat packing sector ultimately provides revelatory career! (6) |
| STREAK | |
| STEAK (meat) [packing] {secto}R [ultimately]. Run (career) revealing all! | |
| 55 | Sensible having Democrat ousted by Republican, one of a salacious nature (8) |
| PRURIENT | |
| PRU{D}ENT (sensible) in which D (Democrat) is replaced [ousted] by R (Republican) + I (one) | |
| 56 | Rejecting tango dancing, shun cute, ineffectual types (7) |
| EUNUCHS | |
| Anagram [dancing] of SHUN CU{t}E [rejecting tango] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Place where Muslims learn, briefly, to make spicy food (6) |
| MADRAS | |
| MADRAS{a} (place where Muslims learn) [briefly] | |
| 2 | Appeal to block tax, showing good cheer (6) |
| LEVITY | |
| IT (sex appeal) [to block] LEVY (tax) | |
| 3 | Men in south of France providing case of ipecac or diaphoretic (9) |
| SUDORIFIC | |
| OR (men) [in] SUD (south of France) + IF (providing), I{peca}C [case]. NHO this. | |
| 4 | Possible spin by party out of office, lacking power, it’s suggested (11) |
| PROPOSITION | |
| PR (spin), OP{p}OSITION (party out of office) [lacking power] | |
| 5 | Market, upon vacation, holiday games (4) |
| HYPE | |
| H{olida}Y [upon vacation], PE (games) | |
| 6 | Proper quality extremely special plates served well (6-5) |
| STRAIT-LACED | |
| S{pecia}L [extremely] contains [plates – covers] TRAIT (quality), then ACED (served well – e.g. at tennis) | |
| 7 | I travel about amid landscape having shifting colours (11) |
| IRIDESCENCE | |
| I, RIDE (travel), then C (about) [amid] SCENE (landscape) | |
| 8 | Duck spinning bit of timber with hole I picked up (9) |
| GOLDENEYE | |
| LOG (bit of timber) spinning, DEN (hole), EYE sounds like [picked up] “I” | |
| 10 | Fencing off nice ground, possessed a large house (8) |
| HACIENDA | |
| HAD (possessed) containing [fencing off] anagram [ground] of NICE, then A | |
| 11 | What gives RE basic criteria for judgment (5,2,9) |
| FRAME OF REFERENCE | |
| RE is literally the frame of ReferencE | |
| 12 | Male boxer’s ending with another jab, losing head (7) |
| ROOSTER | |
| {boxe}R [ending], {b}OOSTER (another jab) [losing head] | |
| 15 | Chirpy Antipodean ex-president in new role, given time (8) |
| LORIKEET | |
| IKE (ex-president) in anagram [new] of ROLE, then T (time) | |
| 19 | Statesman departs with countryman? (8) |
| DISRAELI | |
| D (departs), ISRAELI (countryman) | |
| 22 | What a drug dealer might do, getting kitchen item (8) |
| STOCKPOT | |
| What might a drug dealer do? STOCK POT | |
| 23 | Papers written up on party’s view for working arrangement (8,2,6) |
| DIVISION OF LABOUR | |
| ID (papers) [written up], VISION OF LABOUR (party’s view) | |
| 27 | Something of no value: drug ingested in worst trial (4-4) |
| BETA TEST | |
| TAT (something of no value) + E (drug), [ingested in] BEST (worst) | |
| 28 | Quantity of harissa’s served in sauce from the US (4) |
| SASS | |
| Hidden in [quantity of] {haris}SA’S S{erved} | |
| 30 | One’s flown east with equipment earlier (4) |
| KITE | |
| KIT (equipment), E (east) | |
| 32 | What convict does with joker, one getting punched (8) |
| TIMECARD | |
| TIME (what convict does), CARD (joker) | |
| 34 | Strength of pine on part of deck (4,4) |
| LONG SUIT | |
| LONG (pine), SUIT (part of deck of cards) | |
| 35 | With energy dropping in that place, control ship (5-6) |
| THREE-MASTER | |
| THERE (in that place) becomes THREE when energy – e – drops, MASTER (control) | |
| 36 | What protesters do right before topless show (11) |
| REMONSTRATE | |
| R (right), {d}EMONSTRATE (show) [topless] | |
| 37 | Feeling less pressure, old Reg is found here (11) |
| NUMBERPLATE | |
| NUMBER (feeling less), P (pressure), LATE (old) | |
| 40 | With jazzy style, note covers from Oliver! entrance (5,4) |
| SWING DOOR | |
| SWING (jazzy style), DO (note), O{live}R [covers] | |
| 42 | Bishop hasn’t white pen, perhaps (5,4) |
| BLACK SWAN | |
| B (bishop), LACKS (hasn’t), WAN (white) | |
| 43 | Maiden brought in to make a light repast (5,3) |
| CREAM TEA | |
| M (maiden) [brought in] CREATE [make], then A | |
| 44 | Demanding responsibility, saving deposit up (7) |
| ONEROUS | |
| ONUS (responsibility) containing [saving] ORE (deposit) reversed [up] | |
| 46 | One’s part of the cloth weaving circle (6) |
| CLERIC | |
| Anagram [weaving] of CIRCLE | |
| 47 | Society led by police state ruling out change (6) |
| STASIS | |
| 51 | Ace flier doing that activity (2,2) |
| AT IT | |
| A (ace), TIT (flier) | |
I read 47d as STASI (police) + S, with the definition being ‘state ruling out change’.
Thanks. Yes, that makes more sense.
I didn’t care much for this one. I have ‘feh’ written in the margin by a number of clues, my indication that I didn’t like the surface: Duck spinning bit of timber with hole I picked up (8d), for instance. LEVITY is not ‘good cheer’ (or does Chambers say it is?). DNK diaphoretic, which I looked up. No COD.
As a general rule I pay little attention to surfaces when solving but often return afterwards to appreciate them, however with Jumbos I’ve usually had enough by the time I get to the end so I don’t bother. Perhaps when blogging Jumbos I should think more about surfaces.
You may have a point about ‘levity’ and ‘good cheer’ as I can find no direct correlation anywhere.
I DNK diaphoretic OR sudorific but the IKEA assembly job wasn’t too onerous.
2:27:59. I, too, usually take several sessions but I solve online so the electronic clock adds them all up, to the second, and reveals that I have yet again exceeded the two hours. So here I am consoling myself in the comfort of the Jumbo Lounge at the SCC. I found this a standard Jumbo, and that’s fine. I liked POINTILLIST and PORTMANTEAU WORDS. And FRAME OF REFERENCE – we seem to be seeing more reverse cryptics lately, unless I just didn’t see/understand them before.
Many thanks, jackkt, for your first Jumbo blog
You can pause, you know, to stop the clock.
Yes. I do. You are perhaps going to find this clarification hard to believe. My time is the sum of the actual times of a number of sessions with the clock turned off in between, not left running. Yes, some of us take that long sometimes
Stricken, alas, with an all-too-frequent transcription error from my paper copy to online, where I had LONG SUIT on paper and unaccountably entered LONG SHIP. Grr. I found this rather an average Jumbo (it took me about 42 minutes), with the usual couple of unknowns (in this case SUDORIFIC, SHOFAR and MADRASA). I see I failed to parse PROPOSITION but everything else was fine. Not many ticks on my copy, but ELOPEMENT was a clear favourite. Thanks setter and Jackkt… and welcome to the Jumbo blogging team!
1:06:28 so some way over my (ambitious) target of 40 mins but mostly straightforward. I liked 53a, 54a, 11d and 15d but not much else stood out.
Thanks Jack and congrats on your first CJ blog (it’s not the Jumbo Cryptic) – sterling effort!
Many thanks, Mr C. I didn’t get where I am today by blogging crossword puzzles!
All correct in 1:20. I forget if this is a real time or if this is two sessions. I don’t stop the clock if I stop solving since I’ve had bad experiences trying to restart the puzzle if I am not online when I try, whereas loading the puzzle to get going, and then working offline always works perfectly well. I knew SHOFAR from visiting Auschwitz a few years ago since there was a story about how somehow someone had a ram’s horn in the camp. But DIAPHORETIC and SUDORIFIC were unknown but easy to assemble from the wordplay.