I found this one of about average difficulty but of above-average enjoyment, with some quirky clues and amusing wordplay, not least 1A. Apologies for the slight lateness but I'm house-sitting for someone at the moment and it's been a shock to the system to have to use a Windows machine again.
I must say that one aspect in which the new Crossword Club is inferior to the old is that there is now an obvious lag on the Jumbos. I can type in a long answer and the letters won't fully appear in the grid until up to 5 seconds later. Even navigating with the cursor keys has this same lag, leading to me increasingly having to use the mouse (the horror ...) in order to position myself in the correct cell. This does detract from the enjoyment of solving the Jumbos online, not least because it makes typos rather more likely. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some IT bod at the Times will speed things up a bit but, seeing that this lag has been present on the main Times site for some time now, I'm not getting my hopes up. Paper solving beckons.
Definitions are underlined, {} = omission, * = anagram
I must say that one aspect in which the new Crossword Club is inferior to the old is that there is now an obvious lag on the Jumbos. I can type in a long answer and the letters won't fully appear in the grid until up to 5 seconds later. Even navigating with the cursor keys has this same lag, leading to me increasingly having to use the mouse (the horror ...) in order to position myself in the correct cell. This does detract from the enjoyment of solving the Jumbos online, not least because it makes typos rather more likely. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some IT bod at the Times will speed things up a bit but, seeing that this lag has been present on the main Times site for some time now, I'm not getting my hopes up. Paper solving beckons.
Definitions are underlined, {} = omission, * = anagram
| Across | |
| 1 | Choral item that may be heard on leaving prison? (7) |
| CANTATA - if you were leaving prison, then you might be given a CAN (slang for prison) TA-TA (informal term for goodbye). A great clue to start with. | |
| 5 | Interview poet outside one church (8) |
| AUDIENCE - AUDEN (poet) outside I (one), + CE (church) | |
| 9 | Tall, blonde wife leaves crowd in resort (6) |
| NORDIC - (CRO{w}D (wife leaves crowd) IN)* | |
| 13 | Naive indication boy’s washed face properly? (3,6,3,4) |
| WET BEHIND THE EARS - literal interpretation | |
| 14 | A company guarding one’s back in old empire (6) |
| PERSIA - reversal of A + REP (company, i.e. a repertory company in theatre) around I'S (one's) | |
| 16 | Dancer, perhaps, overheard partner’s weather forecast? (8) |
| REINDEER - homophone of "Rain, dear" (partner's weather forecast), and the definition referring to the reindeer Dancer from the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas ("'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house", etc) | |
| 17 | Parent keeps up an appearance of immaturity (4) |
| PUPA - PA (Parent) around UP | |
| 18 | Express musically this faint glimmer (9) |
| STARLIGHT - a reference to the musical Starlight Express | |
| 20 | Send out a person after small interval (8) |
| SEMITONE - S (small) + EMIT (Send out) + ONE (a person) | |
| 21 | Great construction that is invisible (7,4) |
| CHINESE WALL - kind of a double definition, referring to the Great Wall of China and the supposed demarcation in banks between departments that should not be exchanging certain information | |
| 24 | What’s needed for one being sick on the way? (9) |
| STRETCHER - ST (the way) + RETCHER (one being sick), and an extended definition | |
| 25 | Emphasise attack around arena (5,3) |
| BRING OUT - BOUT (attack) around RING (arena) | |
| 26 | Unable to pick up coffee, not cold (4) |
| DEAF - DE{c}AF (coffee, not cold) | |
| 29 | Implacable soldiers, having disposed of a detective? (11) |
| REMORSELESS - RE (soldiers) + MORSELESS (having disposed of a detective - referring to Inspector Morse of book and TV fame) | |
| 31 | Cherished number from very valuable magazine (6,5) |
| GOLDEN OLDIE - GOLDEN (very valuable) + OLDIE (magazine - actually The Oldie rather than just Oldie) | |
| 33 | Swiss pop groups that clerics may have by the neck (6,5) |
| GENEVA BANDS - GENEVA (Swiss) + BANDS (pop groups), to give (Chambers): "The two strips of white linen hanging down from the neck of some clerical robes". I'd never heard of these until they came up in a Quicky I blogged about a year ago. | |
| 36 | Rugby player is hard and cold (11) |
| STANDOFFISH - STAND-OFF (Rugby player) + IS + H (hard) | |
| 38 | Large poem is a rich source (4) |
| LODE - L (Large) + ODE (poem) | |
| 39 | Worth buying what food is on credit (8) |
| CREDIBLE - CR (credit) + EDIBLE (what food is), with buying used in the sense of believing | |
| 41 | So do we like traffic lights? Pine for one (9) |
| EVERGREEN - I think this is supposed to be that we like traffic lights to be EVERGREEN, with the "So" used in the sense of "In this condition" | |
| 44 | Sorcerer, a storyteller at exhibition centre (11) |
| NECROMANCER - NEC (exhibition centre, specifically the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham) + ROMANCER (storyteller) | |
| 45 | Keeping going after working in new dough (8) |
| HOUNDING - (INN (new) DOUGH)* | |
| 48 | Boy has spectacles dropped in missile creating big bang (5,4) |
| SONIC BOOM - SON (Boy) + ICBM (missile, i.e. Intercontinental ballistic missile) around OO (spectacles). I've seen the OO=spectacles equivalence a number of times before and it always strikes me as a little imprecise. | |
| 49 | Invoices not faced become big problems (4) |
| ILLS - {b}ILLS (Invoices not faced) | |
| 50 | Miss, feminine and fabulous, to be shamed (4,4) |
| LOSE FACE - LOSE (Miss) + F (feminine) + ACE (fabulous) | |
| 52 | Valet’s short pleasantry about first wife (6) |
| JEEVES - JES{t} (short pleasantry) about EVE (first wife, at least in the Bible) | |
| 53 | Result of stand-up forgetting his routine? That’s serious (2,8,6) |
| NO LAUGHING MATTER - literal interpretation, in that if a stand-up forgot his routine then he would have NO LAUGHING MATTER | |
| 54 | Upset monk, taking one of his rooks (6) |
| BOTHER - B{r}OTHER (monk, taking one of his rooks) | |
| 55 | Not so long since bank holding very little money (8) |
| RECENTLY - RELY (bank) around CENT (very little money) | |
| 56 | Filled with energy, reorganised a study period (7) |
| TUESDAY - (A STUDY E (energy))* | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Eccentric hugs that hurt wimp (6) |
| COWARD - CARD (Eccentric) around OW (that hurt) | |
| 2 | Up in time, shortly accompanied by fool (6) |
| NITWIT - reversal of IN, + T (time) + WIT{h} (shortly accompanied by) | |
| 3 | Correction: staff finish off shift after noon (9) |
| AMENDMENT - AMEND (noon, i.e. the end of AM and the beginning of PM) + MEN (staff) + {shif}T (finish off shift) | |
| 4 | Stay here for a hymn (5,4,2) |
| ABIDE WITH ME - literal interpretation | |
| 5 | Assistant thought the last to become leader (4) |
| AIDE - IDEA (thought), with the last letter moved to the front | |
| 6 | Bashed a tune out in supercilious fashion (2,4,2,3) |
| DE HAUT EN BAS - (BASHED A TUNE)* It literally means something like "from high to low", hence the definition. | |
| 7 | Highly attractive, as moneyed, for example? (3-8) |
| EYE-CATCHING - monEYEd contains the word EYE, hence it could be considered to be EYE-CATCHING | |
| 8 | Cringes as criminal is showing affection (9) |
| CARESSING - (CRINGES AS)* | |
| 10 | Perhaps makes inappropriately large tissue for covers (8) |
| OVERLIES - the phrase "a tissue of lies" means a lot of lies, and someone who lies too much might whimsically be said to be someone who overlies | |
| 11 | Chosen club for a non-drinker (10,6) |
| DESIGNATED DRIVER - DESIGNATED (Chosen) + DRIVER (club) | |
| 12 | Item of property: its changing hands would make some talk (7) |
| CHATTEL - CHATTEr (some talk) with its r changed to an L (changing hands, i.e. changing right to left) | |
| 15 | Breed of which only the bitch barks? (8) |
| MALEMUTE - if only the bitch barks then the MALE is MUTE | |
| 19 | A number strove for audition, not at first noticed (8) |
| FOURTEEN - homophone of FOUGHT (strove), + {s}EEN (not at first noticed) | |
| 22 | Moulding a girl, keeping skills up (8) |
| ASTRAGAL - A + GAL (girl), around reversal of ARTS (skills). Chambers: "A small semicircular moulding (often a beading) round a column or elsewhere (architecture)" and "A round moulding near the mouth of a cannon" | |
| 23 | Cold after walk and running, one really fancied some music (9,7) |
| PROMENADE CONCERT - PROMENADE (walk) + C (Cold) + ON (running) + CERT (one really fancied, i.e. a favourite in a horse race, say) | |
| 27 | Generous applause for such drawing? (8) |
| FREEHAND - FREE (Generous) + HAND (applause) | |
| 28 | Predatory male one’s doing well to keep from the door (4) |
| WOLF - if you are doing well (or, at least, avoiding poverty and hunger) then you are said to be keeping the WOLF from the door | |
| 30 | To wander in small wood not good (4) |
| ROVE - {g}ROVE (small wood not good) | |
| 32 | Drop greeting after heading for exit as hooligan comes round (5,3) |
| LEAVE OUT - E{xit} (heading for exit) + AVE (greeting), in LOUT (hooligan) | |
| 34 | Pointed remarks, holding a party in holiday island (8) |
| BARBADOS - BARBS (Pointed remarks), around A + DO (party) | |
| 35 | Is under boat, swimming lower (11) |
| SUBORDINATE - (IS UNDER BOAT)* | |
| 36 | Realise one’s error; rage easily borne (3,3,5) |
| SEE THE LIGHT - SEETHE (rage) + LIGHT (easily borne) | |
| 37 | Battleship and escort initially struggling in shortage of water (11) |
| DREADNOUGHT - (ANDE (escort initially))* in DROUGHT (shortage of water) | |
| 40 | Style of art millions submit is rot (9) |
| DECOMPOSE - DECO (Style of art) + M (millions) + POSE (submit, e.g. a question) | |
| 42 | Soldier and general getting drunk? Not on this (6,3) |
| GINGER ALE - GI (Soldier) + GENERAL*, and an extended definition | |
| 43 | Short story includes chapter on setter (8) |
| CONCRETE - CONTE (Short story), around C (chapter) + RE (on) | |
| 44 | Is efficient worker, say, in operation? (4,3) |
| NOSE JOB - homophone of KNOWS + JOB, which is what an efficient worker does | |
| 46 | Held back one note to add into bundle (6) |
| WAITED - I (one) + TE (note), in WAD (bundle) | |
| 47 | Not quite noon? Well before (6) |
| NEARLY - N (noon) + EARLY (Well before) | |
| 51 | Strong and flexible, one has twisted round (4) |
| WIRY - I (one) in WRY (twisted) | |