FT Bank Holiday Jumbo 18,361 / Leonidas

It’s Leonidas, one of my favourite setters, providing our first Bank Holiday Jumbo.

If you missed the puzzle, it can be found here. 

Leonidas’ Jumbo puzzles sometimes have a theme (hidden or not) – I remember solving one based on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and another on ‘Cluedo’, both of which I knew something about and enjoyed. The only one I’ve blogged, though, was perfectly normal – just bigger.

This time, there was an introductory instruction, which I decided to ignore for the time being and get on with solving, which I knew would be a treat. By the time I reached 24dn, the answer was obvious from the enumeration and the crossers – SHAKEN NOT STIRRED – at which I’m afraid my heart sank: I was familiar with the term as the iconic catchphrase of James Bond and I immediately recalled seeing BOND and MARTINI in the course of the solve – but I have managed to reach my advanced age without ever having seen a single James Bond film and I resigned myself to resorting to a list of them. However, it soon became apparent that there was only one film – GOLDFINGER – involved. It was a case of chasing down any word / phrase that seemed remotely possible and some (PUSSY GALORE and ODDJOB, for instance) had somehow filtered through into my brain over the years and it turned out to be much more interesting than I expected. I’ve highlighted the likely suspects but there may be more and I look forward to learning of any others you may have spotted.

As for the puzzle – the clues were, as expected, typically meticulously and ingeniously constructed, with meaningful and witty surfaces.
The first two clues, with ‘Dad’s new squeeze’ and ‘generational stress’, got me off to a great start with a smile on my face – and I also particularly enjoyed the neat anagrams at INTRINSICALLY, ANTIPERSPIRANT, TOAST MISTRESS and OLIGARCHIES – all great surfaces. I so often say, ‘too many favourites to mention’ but, in a puzzle this size, with so many clues, it’s inevitably the case and so I’ll largely leave it to you to nominate yours – I’ve highlighted one or two of mine in the blog.

This is certainly one of those puzzles where knowledge of the theme was not essential to enjoyment of the puzzle – certainly true in my case – but I realise that for many / most of you it will have added an enjoyable extra layer.

Many thanks to Leonidas for a real Bank Holiday treat.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

 

 

Across

1 Dad’s new squeeze maybe silent on part of flight (7)
STEPMUM
STEP (part of flight of stairs) + MUM (silent)

5 Generational stress briefly comes back around
BOOMERANGS
BOOMER ANGS[t] (generational stress!), briefly

10 Au naturel at last after turn with Democrat (4)
GOLD
GO (turn) + [nature]L + D (Democrat) – a clever clue

14 Pine behind silver trees essentially ancient (3-4)
AGE-LONG
LONG (pine) behind AG (silver) + tr[E]es

15 Lost herons led by duck towards land (7)
ONSHORE
O (duck) + an anagram (lost) of HERONS – a lovely image

16 Introductions from rows at back of field (4-3)
LEAD-INS
DINS (rows) behind LEA (field)

17 Cairn Lily isn’t reassembling per se (13)
INTRINSICALLY
An anagram (reassembling) of CAIRN LILY ISN’T

18 Rod and Bill intercepting Indian side’s defence (9)
BARRICADE
BAR (rod) + AD (bill) inside (intercepting) RICE (Indian side dish)

19 NY hood robbed of fifty Arab quarters (5)
HAREM
HAR[l]EM (New York {neighbour}hood) minus l (fifty)

21 Phantom maybe turns by tracks circling old church (5-5)
ROLLS-ROYCE
ROLLS (turns) + RY (railway – tracks) round O (old) + CE (Church of England)

23 Where riders meet one from Edinburgh? (5)
ASCOT
A SCOT (one from Edinburgh)

25 Think too much of finished Artist Outside of Temple (8)
OVERRATE
OVER (finished) + RA (artist) + T[empl]E

26 Conservative asking about a large hotel’s energy system (7,7)
CENTRAL HEATING
C (Conservative) + ENTREATING (asking) round A + L (large) + H (hotel) – neat construction and surface

30 Instinctively gets Greenlanders to keep time (7)
INTUITS
INUITS (Greenlanders) round T (time) – a neat little clue

31 Renovation of empty old kitchen being tried (2,3,4)
IN THE DOCK
An anagram (renovation) of ’empty’ O[l]D + KITCHEN

32 Spy’s uniform confused Felix? (5)
PUSSY
An anagram (confused of SPY’S + U (uniform)

33 Adders from branch periodically captured by AI (5)
ABACI
AI round B[r]A[n]C, periodically

35 Strange piece on book Jack Of All Trades? (3-3,3)
ODD-JOB MAN
ODD (strange) + JOB (Old Testament book) + MAN (chess piece)

38 Ass that is biting edges of garish gown (7)
NIGHTIE
NIT (ass) + I E (id est – that is) round G[aris]H

40 Sprain patient treated with right spray? (14)
ANTIPERSPIRANT
An anagram (treated) of SPRAIN PATIENT + R (right)

42 Zero routes across Dakota’s borders presently (8)
NOWADAYS
NO WAYS (zero routes) round D[akot]A

44 Australian animal heads to den inspected by WWF? (5)
DINGO
D[en] + I[nspected] + NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation – WWF, for example, hence the question mark) – another splendid clue /surface and a most apposite choice of example in this week of celebration of a remarkable man’s 100th birthday on Friday

45 Huge expert excavation by American on moon (10)
PRODIGIOUS
PRO (expert) + DIG (excavation) + IO (moon of Jupiter) + US (American)

47 Notes on spinning machine that emits a beam (5)
LASER
LAS (notes) + a reversal (spinning) of RE (on)

50 Mark is tense hiding pounds for Uncle Joe supporter (9)
STALINIST
STAIN (mark) + IS + T (tense) round L (pounds) – Uncle Joe is a nickname for Stalin

51 MC Oscar sat playing with Tim’s hair (5,8)
TOAST MISTRESS
An anagram (playing) of O (Oscar) + SAT + TIMS + TRESS (hair) – another lovely picture!

53 Releasing French article with page lost from text (7)
UNTYING
UN (French article) + TY[p]ING (text) minus p (page)

54 Back-to back books next to chap’s seat (7)
OTTOMAN
OT TO (Old Testament – books, back to back) + MAN (chap)

55 Summarise game number five Jerry oddly missed (3,4)
RUN OVER
RU (Rugby Union – game) + NO (number) V (five) + jErRy

56 Agent cryptically represented as ‘DB’ (4)
BOND
D ON B – this looks like the wrong way round, in a down clue: I interpreted ‘on’ as ‘added to’, which worked for me.

57 Angry Enid upset by reference to other works (5-5)
CROSS-INDEX
CROSS (angry) + an anagram (upset) of ENID + X (by)

58 Plan good stuff after donations from the East? (7)
DIAGRAM
G (good) + RAM (stuff) after a reversal (from the East) of AID (donations)

 

Down

1 Unoriginal cut clothing penniless VIP (7)
SLAVISH
SLASH (cut) round (clothing) VI[p], penniless

2 Pilot’s chair base atop Charlie in black and gold car (7,4)
EJECTOR SEAT
E (base) + C (Charlie) – NATO alphabet in JET (black) + OR (gold) + SEAT (car)

3 Low life half-scrubbed sizeable radish (5)
MOOLI
MOO (low) + LI[fe], half-scrubbed

4 Priests on street with judges see where they sit (11,5)
MAGISTRATES’ COURT
MAGI (priests) + ST (street) + RATES (judges) + COURT (see, as in ‘date’) a neat construction

5 Dude with colic cycling for veg (8)
BROCCOLI
BRO (dude) + CCOLI (COLIC, cycling)

6 No longer used ordinary perfume around British swimmer (11)
OBSOLESCENT
O (ordinary) + SCENT (perfume) round B (British) SOLE (swimmer)

7 Shade European in need of a square meal? (5)
EBONY
E (European) + BONY (in need of a square meal?)

8 Writer bearing tree cutting (7)
ACERBIC
ACER (tree) + BIC (writer)

9 Delay retreating mineral in great abundance (6)
GALORE
A reversal (retreating) of LAG (delay) + ORE (mineral)

11 States led by a few bad oil-rich gasmen centrally (11)
OLIGARCHIES
An anagram (bad) of OIL RICH GAS [m]E[n]

12 Setter had recalled small posted object (7)
DISSENT
A reversal (recalled) of I’D (setter had) + S (small) + SENT (posted)

13 Pasta sauce Omar in Aracaju bottles (8)
MARINARA
Hidden in oMAR IN ARAcaju

20 Drink in craft wearing something revealing (7)
MARTINI
ART (craft) in MINI (something revealing)

22 Away with army engineers? Fantastic! (5)
OUTRÉ
OUT! (away with! – as in ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie …!’) + Royal Engineers

24 SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

25 Fine home on a wide area in island group (7)
OKINAWA
OK (fine) + IN (home) + W (wide) + A (area)

27 Relative grabbing second quantity (6)
AMOUNT
AUNT (relative) round MO (second)

28 Serge’s yard manufactured springs (7)
GEYSERS
An anagram (manufactured) of SERGES + Y (yard)

29 Finish victory with party in Northern Ireland (4,2)
WIND UP
WIN (victory) + Democratic Unionist Party (in Northern Ireland)

32 Entwined locks and widgets alternately filling bucket (7)
PIGTAIL
[w]I[d]G[e]T[s] in PAIL (bucket)

34 Motor carried by Rimini tram not safely returned (5,6)
ASTON MARTIN
Hidden reversal (returned) of RimiNI TRAM NOT SAfely

36 What Argonauts did with skinned goat and wine (5)
OARED
[g]OA[t] + RED (wine) – I was all set to say that I dislike these ‘modern’ noun / verb usages but I see that both Collins and Chambers give this as Old English – the Argonauts, of course, rowed Jason on his voyage in search of the golden fleece

37 Mike reordered new door Gemma marked with letters (11)
MONOGRAMMED
M (Mike – NATO alphabet) + an anagram (reordered) of N (new) DOOR GEMMA

39 Music son stops with one very short radio component (11)
TRANSCEIVER
S (son) in TRANCE (music) + I (one) + VER[y] – a new genre of music for me

41 Quiet greeting welcomed by Nick and the other outlaw (8)
PROHIBIT
P (quiet) + HI (greeting) in ROB (nick) + IT (‘the other’ – sex)

43 Kentucky vault opposed criticisms on podcast (4,4)
FORT KNOX
Sounds like (on podcast) ‘fought’ (opposed) + ‘knocks’ (criticisms)

44 Officers run aboard vessel in trouble (7)
DISTURB
DIS (officers) + R (run) in TUB (vessel)

46 Family members ditching the Spanish food in wartime? (7)
RATIONS
R[el] ATIONS (family members) minus el (the Spanish) – I still have my husband’s ration book, which he kept (he kept everything)

48 Play stringed instrument below stripped iron stage (7)
ROSTRUM
[i]RO[n] + STRUM (play stringed instrument)

49 Steal from border when queen’s down south (6)
FINGER
FRINGE (border) with the R (queen) moved to the end – ‘down south’, in a down clue

51 This tutor in retirement accommodates African (5)
TUTSI
Hidden reversal (in retirement) of thIS TUTor

52 Island country garment inscribed with name (5)
TONGA
N (name) in TOGA (garment)