An excellent puzzle. These specials often have a theme or some other gimmick . . .
. . . but if one is involved here, it is eluding me entirely. All I see are solid clues, with a fun sprinkling of unusual and truly obscure words.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLACK BELT |
Martial artist’s dismal career (5,4)
|
| BLACK (dismal) + BELT (career) | ||
| 6 | GEEKDOM |
Heading to Greenland, I’m afraid daughters order anoraks (7)
|
| First letter of (heading to) G[REENLAND] + EEK (I’m afraid) + D (daughters) + OM (Order [of Merit]) | ||
| 10 | DIJON |
Detective and judge attached to French city (5)
|
| DI (detective) + J (judge) + ON (attached to) | ||
| 13 | COSMETOLOGIST |
Rank Scot “gloomiest beauty therapist” (13)
|
| Anagram of (rank) SCOT GLOOMIEST | ||
| 14 | LOTHARIOS |
I love being embraced by wild harlots and libertines (9)
|
| {I + O (love)} inside (being embraced by) anagram of (wild) HARLOTS | ||
| 15 | AUREATE |
Highly-decorated and honoured individual losing face (7)
|
| [L]AUREATE (honoured individual) minus first letter (losing face) | ||
| 16 | FIGURES |
Features important people (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | SMARTLY |
Tidy lady’s clothes without further ado (7)
|
| SMART (tidy) + outside letters of (clothes [of]) L[AD]Y | ||
| 18 | ARCHETYPICAL |
Techy pair edited computer-assisted learning textbook (12)
|
| Anagram of (edited) TECHY PAIR + CAL (computer-assisted learning) | ||
| 20 | LONELINESS |
Sad isolation of colonel in Essex (10)
|
| Hidden in (of) [CO]LONEL IN ESS[EX] | ||
| 23 | STASH |
Whiskers on small squirrel (5)
|
| S (small) + TASH (whiskers) | ||
| 24 | STYLELESS |
Dowdy and dishevelled, Tess yells (9)
|
| Anagram of (dishevelled) TESS YELLS | ||
| 25 | CASTLES |
Moves king about when followed by stalkers regularly (7)
|
| C (about) + AS (when) + alternate letters of (regularly) [S]T[A]L[K]E[R]S, in chess | ||
| 26 | ARTILLERIST |
Constable, perhaps arresting murderers, exposed gunman (11)
|
| ARTIST ([John] Constable, perhaps) around (arresting) [K]ILLER[S] (murderers) minus outside letters (exposed) | ||
| 28 | UNFLAPPABLE |
Composed intermittently funny story to entertain reindeer herder (11)
|
| Alternate letters of (intermittently) [F]U[N]N[Y] + {FABLE (story) around (to entertain) LAPP (reindeer herder, now apparently preferably referred to as Sámi)} | ||
| 30 | SOCKDOLAGER |
Serve beer after bash for Lulu in the States (11)
|
| SOCK (bash) + DO (serve) + LAGER (beer), with a capitalization misdirection, and with “after” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 32 | ATRABILIOUS |
Splenetic, withdrawn baronet getting into trouble promises to pay debts (11)
|
| {BART (baronet) reversed (withdrawn) and inside (getting into) AIL (trouble)} + IOUS (promises to pay debts) | ||
| 34 | ORCHARD |
51 tough fruit trees (7)
|
| ORC ([solution to] 51[D]) + HARD (tough) | ||
| 36 | HODIERNAL |
Al Gore, full of go, leads as of today (9)
|
| {HORN (gore) around (full of) DIE (go))}+ AL, with a capitalization misdirection, and with “leads” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 38 | RIPER |
More suitable epitaph for monarch (5)
|
| Cryptically RIP ER (epitaph for monarch) | ||
| 39 | EUPHEMISMS |
Hemp misuse condemned in polite terms (10)
|
| Anagram of (condemned) HEMP MISUSE | ||
| 41 | TIME-HONOURED |
Long-respected Mountie rode recklessly, capturing hearts (4-8)
|
| {Anagram of (recklessly) MOUNTIE RODE} around (capturing) H (hearts) | ||
| 45 | PROVISO |
In favour of reduced face protection for rider (7)
|
| PRO (in favour of) + VISO[R] (face protection) minus last letter (reduced) | ||
| 46 | INCISOR |
Tooth in front of cakehole is gold (7)
|
| IN + first letter of (front of) C[AKEHOLE] + IS + OR (gold) | ||
| 47 | INTRUST |
Put into care, it turns out (7)
|
| Anagram of (out) IT TURNS | ||
| 49 | ANIMATION |
American people welcoming one’s vitality (9)
|
| A (American) + {NATION (people) around (welcoming) I’M (one’s)} | ||
| 50 | RATIOCINATIVE |
Logically-minded relation, one born on Jersey? (13)
|
| RATIO (relation) + cryptically CI [Channel Islands] NATIVE (one born on Jersey?) | ||
| 52 | LASSO |
Bones left spinning in noosed rope (5)
|
| {OSSA (bones) + L (left)} all reversed (spinning) | ||
| 53 | TENABLE |
Sound intelligent on X (7)
|
| TEN (X, in Roman numerals) + ABLE (intelligent) | ||
| 54 | COR BLIMEY |
Green Party’s former leader mostly eats crumbs (3,6)
|
| [Jeremy] CORBY[N] ([Labour] Party’s former leader) minus last letter (mostly) around (eats) LIME (green). Formidable clue! | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BACHATA |
Welsh mate cheers after ace Caribbean dance (7)
|
| BACH (Welsh mate) + A (ace) + TA (cheers) | ||
| 2 | ABSTRACT ART |
Summary module with page censored – it’s not representative (8,3)
|
| ABSTRACT (summary) + [P]ART (module) minus (censored) P (page) | ||
| 3 | KEEMA |
Served up a mild curry (5)
|
| {A + MEEK (mild)} all inverted (served up) | ||
| 4 | ESOTERY |
Drunkard enthralled by weird secret doctrine (7)
|
| SOT (drunkard) inside (enthralled by) EERY (weird) | ||
| 5 | TOO |
Bore scratching backside excessively (3)
|
| I think this could be either TOO[K] (bore) or TOO[L] (bore) minus last letter (scratching backside) | ||
| 6 | GOING RATE |
Current price of energy? No thanks from this person (5,4)
|
| GO (energy) + INGRATE (no thanks from this person) | ||
| 7 | ENTIRE |
Complete and ultimately futile meltdown over tax (6)
|
| Last letters of (ultimately) [FUTIL]E [MELTDOW]N + TIRE (tax) | ||
| 8 | DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR |
Loud noises unsettled Freud, worried about old lady’s megalomania (9,2,8)
|
| Anagram of (unsettled) LOUD NOISES + {anagram of (worried) FREUD around (about) GRAN (old lady)} | ||
| 9 | MATISSE |
Partially undress – it amuses retired painter (7)
|
| Hidden in (partially) [UNDR]ESS IT AM[USES] inverted (retired) | ||
| 10 | DRAMATICS |
Histrionic behaviour amidst car crashes (9)
|
| Anagram of (crashes) AMIDST CAR | ||
| 11 | JOIN THE CLUB |
Scottish sweetheart pregnant? Me too! (4,3,4)
|
| JO (Scottish sweetheart) + IN THE CLUB (pregnant) | ||
| 12 | NASTY |
Unpleasant new rash, initially unnoticed (5)
|
| N (new) + [H]ASTY (rash) minus first letter (initially unnoticed) | ||
| 16 | FAIRY RING CHAMPIGNON |
Whimsical group munch on gin-soused mushroom (5,4,10)
|
| FAIRY (whimsical) + RING (group) + CHAMP (munch) + anagram of (soused) ON GIN | ||
| 19 | EXHALED |
Blew out flame once well ensconced at last (7)
|
| EX (flame once) + HALE (well) + last letter of (at last) [ENSCONCE]D | ||
| 21 | SUSPENSER |
Tense film from US upset English poet (9)
|
| US inverted (upset) + [Edmund] SPENSER (English poet) | ||
| 22 | MEDUSA |
Jellyfish in sea starts to unnerve some anglers (6)
|
| MED (sea) + first letters of (starts to) U[NNERVE] S[OME] A[NGLERS] | ||
| 23 | SOAPSTONE |
Soft rock ultimately improves oldie’s mood (9)
|
| Last letter of (ultimately) [IMPROVE]S + OAP’S (oldie’s) + TONE (mood) | ||
| 24 | SHELLED |
Novelist Mary nearly died under fire (7)
|
| SHELLE[Y] (novelist Mary) minus last letter (nearly) + D (died) | ||
| 25 | CHAEBOL |
Tea virus curtailed Korean business empire (7)
|
| CHA (tea) + EBOL[A] (virus) minus last letter (curtailed) | ||
| 27 | TIRADE |
Denunciation of reported robbery at men’s outfitters (6)
|
| I think this parses as: Homophone of (reported) TIE RAID (whimsically robbery at men’s outfitters) | ||
| 29 | PALERMO |
Less colourful second city of Italy (7)
|
| PALER (less colourful) + MO (second) | ||
| 31 | CACOPHONIES |
Leaders of Camorra aggressively compete over frauds and rackets (11)
|
| First letters of (leaders of) C[AMORRA] A[GGRESSIVELY] C[OMPETE] O[VER] + PHONIES (frauds) | ||
| 33 | OPPORTUNISM |
Self-seeking operator left university with first of several millions (11)
|
| OP (operator) + PORT (left) + UNI (university) + first [letters] of S[EVERAL] M[ILLIONS] | ||
| 35 | AMERICANO |
Cavorting on camera, I drink (9)
|
| Anagram of (cavorting) ON CAMERA I | ||
| 37 | ERIK SATIE |
Composer tries Ikea bunk (4,5)
|
| Anagram of (bunk) TRIES IKEA | ||
| 40 | IRONIST |
Person mocking press is German (7)
|
| IRON (press) + IST (is [in] German) | ||
| 42 | OLIVIER |
Bolivia and Peru both out of bounds for actor (7)
|
| {[B]OLIVI[A] + [P]ER[U]} both minus outside letters (both out of bounds), referring to Laurence Olivier | ||
| 43 | DITHERY |
Vacillating, hollowly deny having sex with that woman (7)
|
| Outside letters of (hollowly) D[EN]Y around (having) {IT (sex) + HER (that woman)} | ||
| 44 | SCARAB |
To wit, horse dung is what it eats (6)
|
| SC. (to wit) + ARAB (horse) | ||
| 45 | PEARL |
Drop stitch, so it’s said (5)
|
| Homophone of (so it’s said) PURL (stitch) | ||
| 48 | TRAIL |
Virginia abandoning toil for wilderness path (5)
|
| TRA[VA]IL (toil) minus (abandoning) VA (Virginia) | ||
| 51 | ORC |
Monster’s naked strength (3)
|
| [F]ORC[E] (strength) minus outside letters (naked) |
Loved this and spent a few happy hours on Saturday with it.
Lots of favourites – forgot to tick them but from memory some were: TIRADE, PALERMO, UNFLAPPABLE (loved the reindeer herder), GEEKDOM (is that really a word), ARCHETYPICAL, CASTLES, JOIN THE CLUB (remembering the Robert Burns poem John Anderson my Jo) FAIRY RING CHAMPIGNON
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Cineraria
Is it me, or are these Jumbos becoming more difficult? There were quite a few more NHOs than I expected and I finished with several answers unparsed.
I ticked BLACK BELT, IN TRUST, ENTIRE and OLIVIER
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Cineraria
An absolutely superb puzzle. Then again it is Rosa Klebb, so it is to be expected. Way too many favourites to list them all. Thanks Rosa and blogger.
Thanks Rosa for the Jumbo gem. If I listed all of my favourites my phone battery would need recharging so I’ll limit myself to a ‘top ten’: LOTHARIOS, LONELINESS, ARTILLERIST, EUPHEMISMS, MATISSE, MEDUSA, SHELLED, CACOPHONIES, ERIK SATIE, and DITHERY. I did find this on the trickier end of Rosa’s spectrum and I used a word finder for several clues. A tip of the cap to anyone who either knew the word HODIERNAL or who could figure it out from the wordplay. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Cineraria.
Superb puzzle. Excellent blog.
TIRADE
TIE RAID works for me. Had the same parse.
TOO
Took ‘bore’ as ‘took’ (the blogger has mentioned this too). I know the tool as borer, but
I could be wrong.
Thanks for the blog , perfect puzzle for a sunny Bank Holiday Monday on the beach .
Sorry Tony , you need your cap , HODIERNAL aberration is important in astrometry , I also compile a HODIERNAL log ( my star-gazing diary ) .
Tonight/tomorrow is a blue moon and also a micromoon , pretty rare and not seen again until 2053 .
KVa@5: For TOO: Yes, I had in mind “tool” in the slang sense of “a boring person,” i.e., an obnoxious jerk. I think “took” was probably the intended parsing.
Thanks Cineraria.
Thanks to Rosa Klebb for an excellent puzzle. I agree it was a bit tougher than, say, Jason’s jumbo offerings, with a few slightly obscure words, but all the better for that. I wasn’t familiar with HODIERNAL, either, but deduced it from the latin hodie, meaning today, as in the carol “Hodie Christus natus est”.
Rosa makes it all look so effortless, doesn’t she? So many superb clues, for various reasons – as always, the surfaces are honed to perfection, with witty misdirections all over the place, causing momentary hold-ups, followed by dramatic pdms (textbook as an adjective, squirrel as a verb …) – I was thankful I was not solving this on a train, as there were many occasions when I did laugh out loud (and yet I’d have loved to share the joke). (LOTHARIOS, COR BLIMEY, JOIN THE CLUB … … …)
Tony @4 – your opening comment made me laugh: I tip my cap to you for pruning your list to ten. There isn’t anything approaching a dud clue here – and so many gems. As for HODIERNAL … here’s an answer for all those who, decades ago, scoffed at my choice of A Level Latin (at my state school) – ‘What use is Latin?’ – and that could be my top favourite, if my life depended on naming one: as well as the derivation (hodie {hoc die} = today), a perfect ‘lift and separate’ in Al Gore, with another noun as verb in horn and a splendidly precise definition. (I see that while I have been composing this, Perplexus has corroborated the above. 😉 )
I’m glad to see that so many others shared my delight in this lovely puzzle. Huge thanks to Rosa, as ever and chapeau to Cineraria for a superb blog.
Well, I tip my cap to those of you that completed this puzzle in a few hours – it has taken me the whole week!!
Michael Reardon @11 – that’s one of the joys of these Bank Holiday Specials. 😉
From Rosa, with love?
I wasn’t expecting a shoe-in, but, unlike 007, this one got the better of me. Too many obscurities way beyond my licence to solve.
But a very accomplished puzzle, very smart, great surfaces, and like the closing credits always say, “I Will Return”.
Thanks, Dama Klebb and Cineraria
[Roz@6: thanks for the tip-off. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it because my chances of catching the repeat in 2053 are not good.]
[ Hector@14 , opposition in the UK is at 9.45am Sunday but the moon has set long before so Sat/Sun nights both classed as full , just need the clouds to behave . Blue apogean syzygy . ]
Roz @6: When I posted my comment containing HODIERNAL I knew someone here would be familiar with the word and that you would be a good candidate for that person. Perplexus @9 and Eileen @10: I had two years of Latin in high school — clearly that was inadequate 😄
I enjoy the Jumbos, and Rosa, but this was too hard for me. One clue over halfway solved!
I wanted to jump back in to echo the praise for the puzzle and for Rosa Klebb as a setter. I do not know if the editor reads this blog, but it would be so great to see more of her.
I also tip my hat to Roz@6.
Thanks again Rosa Klebb and Cineraria
I finished this and enjoyed much, but not all, of it. There were too many NHO (SOCKDOLAGER, ATRABILIOUS, HODIERNAL) for my liking, where I wasted ages of my precious time, so I do not share the enthusiasm above.
It feels as if WORDsearch is being used by setters when setting, to the detriment of the puzzle.
I loved the story that John Wilkes Booth pressed the trigger to assassinate Lincoln when the word Sockdalager was mentioned in the play. He thought the sound of the laughter would muffle the sound of the shot.
What amazing things crosswords teach us.
Thanks to Rosa – it made such an enjoyable bank holiday for us
Moly @19: I can’t imagine filling a grid, especially a Jumbo one, without using a word search. Some word finders will rank the possibilities in order of ‘commonness’ but sometimes only ‘odd’ words are available. If they’re clued clearly I generally don’t mind.