I very nearly missed this Jumbo treat – as perhaps some of you did – tucked away among the various bits of last week’s Saturday Guardian.
I had quite a busy weekend and, although I noted a ‘Puzzles Summer Special’ highlighted on the front page of the main bit of the Guardian, it was only when I was alerted on Monday morning to a Brockwell Jumbo that I searched through the various bits and pieces of the paper and realised that the magazine must have somehow dropped out of mine. Fortunately, my paper shop had one remaining copy and was able to supply the missing magazine.
It’s Brockwell – one of my top favourite setters – who always has a theme and is a master at exploiting it to the full. It was spelled out at 32ac PIG, so we were looking for things with a porcine reference, which offered up an intriguing number of possibilities. I had a lot of fun spotting them and chasing down references to anything that might be one and learning some fascinating stuff on the way, particularly at 11dn. I haven’t actually counted them but, knowing Brockwell, I’m pretty sure there are more than I’ve found. It’s over to you from there: you managed to reveal a whole lot more warblers last week!
As always, lots of well-constructed clues, with smooth and witty surfaces, with enough straightforward ones to help us on our way and more complicated ones to keep us absorbed and amused – too many to list and, in any case, a puzzle like this is so much more than the sum of its parts, so I can’t possibly list favourites.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did and I look forward to your comments and extra discoveries.
Many thanks to Brockwell for another super puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Heart of Katie Price broken by morning in town (8)
TAMWORTH
AM (morning) in [ka]T[ie] WORTH (price)
Tamworth is a breed of pig, made famous by two who escaped and caused a media sensation in 1998
5 President chasing bee for honey (4)
BABE
B (bee) + ABE president)
BABE is the Sheep-Pig in the novel by Dick King-Smith and star of the 1995 film
8 Duran Duran singer nailing line in part of Rio (6)
LEBLON
(Simon) LE BON (DD Singer) round L (line)
Leblon is a neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro and also the name of the local beach – I didn’t find it as a breed of pig
14 Cricket sides touring India right to show restraint (3-4)
LEG-IRON
LEG + ON (cricket sides) round I (India) R (right)
15 Rogue wife gatecrashes function (5)
SWINE
W (wife) in SINE (function)
16 Bird cried out for seasoning (5)
THYME
Sounds like (cried out) ‘time’; ‘time’ and ‘bird’ are both slang for a period in gaol
17 Fightback after losing lead in Romanian capital (3)
LEU
A reversal (back) of [d]UEL (fight) minus its initial letter
The LEU is the currency of Romania
18 Endless fallacies in snake worship (6)
OPHISM
[s]OPHISM[s] (fallacies)
19 Broadcasted issue consuming women (4)
SOWN
SON (issue) round W (women)
21 Competition winner meets resistance (4)
RACE
R (resistance) + ACE (winner)
23 Producer of pictures caught out drinking in South African city (6)
ASMERA
[c]AMERA (producer of pictures) minus c (caught) round S (South)
Also spelt Asmara – the capital of Eritrea
24 Game Granny embracing love with European (8)
NAPOLEON
NAN (Granny) round POLE (European) + O (love)
NAPOLEON is a card game and the leader of the pigs in Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’
27 More flashy slice on backhand at first (7)
BRASHER
B[ackhand] + RASHER (slice)
29 One side of 12 tracks (5)
TAILS
One side of a PENNY (12d – also the answer to 12)
30 Increasingly tiddly and free to break rules (7)
RUNTIER
UNTIE (free) in R R (rules)
My penultimate entry: I had ‘randier’ for ages but couldn’t justify it: for one thing, ‘randy’ doesn’t mean ‘drunk’ – but then neither does ‘tiddly’ in this instance: the runt is the smallest (tiddliest) pig in the litter – a huge penny-dropping moment and a reminder of the day I serendipitously discovered 15²: I googled what I thought was an incorrect clue and up came Shirley’s comment @10 on this puzzle
32 Detective Regan essentially a brute (3)
PIG
PI (Private Investigator – detective) + [re]G[an]
33 Look at retiring doctor suppressing anger (6)
REGARD
A reversal (retiring) of DR (doctor) round RAGE (anger)
35 Yen to play with the acetylene (6)
ETHYNE
An anagram (to play) of YEN and THE
37 One opening letters regularly (3)
ACE
AbCdE, the alternate letters of the opening letters of the alphabet
39 Germany international getting close to Peter Storey is fouler (7)
DIRTIER
D (Germany) + I (international) + [pete]R + TIER (storey)
‘happy as a pig in dirt’
40 City boss’s secretary is 32 (5)
PEPPA
PEP (Guardiola – manager of Manchester City football club) + PA (secretary)
41 Happy eating shortcake in part of France (7)
GASCONY
GAY (happy) round SCON[e] (short cake)
Gascony had to be there for a reason: I found this rare breed of pig
42 Grotesque state punishment adopted by judges occasionally (8)
UGLINESS
jUdGeS round LINES (school punishment)
44 Vet’s pet has two revolting germs (3-3)
GUB-GUB
A reversal (revolting) of BUG BUG (two germs)
The vet is Dr Dolittle – see here for Gub Gub the pig
45 Partner of 47 overheard? (4)
EGGS
The partner of bacon (47 down) is EGGS, which is ‘ova’ (‘heard’) – groan
49 Australian star makes a comeback opening (4)
ANUS
A (Australian) + a reversal (comeback) of SUN (star)
50 Tinned food opened by Young Conservative’s secret gizmo (6)
SPYCAM
SPAM (tinned food) round Young Conservative669
52 Exclamation of disapproval from Egyptian leader (3)
TUT
Abbreviation of Tutankhamun (Egyptian leader)
53 Member of U2 losing head and heart for screen (5)
HEDGE
[t]HE [e]DGE (member of U2) minus initial letter (head) and middle letter (heart)
Hedge pig is an old term for a hedgehog
56 Get the better of 0-0 hosting United (5)
OUTDO
O O round UTD (united)
57 Offensive artist left living on rubbish (7)
RUDERAL
RUDE (offensive) + RA (artist) + L (left) – a new word for me, describing a plant growing on wasteland or among rubbish
58 Monet displayed outside Royal Institution deservedly (2,5)
ON MERIT
An anagram (displayed?) of MONET round Royal Institution
59 Irritable swimmer finally enters Serpentine (6)
SNARKY
[swimmer]R in SNAKY (serpentine)
60 Priest in revolutionary Ken Loach film is 47 (4)
SPEK
P (priest) in a reversal (revolutionary) of KES (Ken Loach film – a crossword staple years ago)
61 Minimalist style of Soprano family boss (8)
SKINHEAD
S (soprano) + KIN HEAD (family boss)
Down
1 Del Boy is one-time scoundrel (7)
TROTTER
T (time) + ROTTER (scoundrel
Some ‘lift and separate’ needed here: Del Boy is a character in the sitcom ‘Only Fools and Horses’
2 Obscure description of glam-rockers? (5)
MUDDY
Referring to the glam-rock band MUD
‘happy as a pig in mud’
3 Fisher in very large quarry (6)
OSPREY
OS (very large) + PREY (quarry)
4 Aristotle deployed betting system (9)
TOTALISER
An anagram (deployed) of ARISTOTLE)
6 Medieval language lecturer into country and metal (5-5)
ANGLO-LATIN
L (lecturer) in ANGOLA (country) + TIN (metal)
7 Marshall makes sharper little speakers (9)
EARPHONES
(Wyatt) EARP (marshal) + HONES (makes sharper)
8 Secures wingers from Leeds (5)
LANDS
L AND S are the first and last letters (wingers) of LANDS
Perhaps the easiest clue of all but, unaccountably, my last entry: I had been obsessed with the totally unparsable ‘links’ – and I’d searched the grid for a long time for LAND, to team with 21ac RACE!
9 Centre-back bagging second for Forest (4)
BUSH
A reversal (back) of HUB (centre) round S (second)
Here‘s the bushpig
10 Ducks welcoming unfinished crust on Colorado river (7)
ORINOCO
O O (ducks) round RIN[d] (unfinished crust) + CO (Colorado)
11/13 32 poor college dropouts crossing street (10,3,4)
GLOUCESTER OLD SPOT
An anagram (poor) of COLLEGE DROPOUTS round ST (street) – a super spot!
I remembered this breed from hearing it on ‘The Archers’, many years ago
12 Writer with naughty tips from 1d (5)
PENNY
PEN (writer) + N[aught]Y – not 1 down but one penny again
Two for the price of one here, if we count (pig) PEN
20 Covers nonsense about lifeless alien (8)
BLANKETS
BS (bullshit – nonsense) round LANK (lifeless – hair, perhaps) + ET (alien)
22 Family tent is a big mistake (7)
CLANGER
CLAN (family) + GER (tent – a type of yurt: another new one for me)
25 32 in good spirits (5)
PERKY
Double definition – see here for the first
26 Insatiable Earl bedding journalist (6)
GREEDY
GREY (Earl) round ED (journalist)
27 Enemies of 24 swinging both ways on steroids? (6)
BIPEDS
BI (swinging both ways) + PEDS (Performance Enhancing Drugs – steroids)
A reference to the slogan ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ used by the pigs (led by Napoleon – 24ac) in ‘Animal Farm’
28 Awful choir failing to nail short musical phrase (8)
HORRIFIC
An anagram (failing) of CHOIR round RIFF (short musical phrase)
31The “First Lady of Texas” could make him agog (3,4)
IMA HOGG
An anagram (could make) of HIM AGOG
Googling the “First Lady of Texas” opened up a mine of information about a remarkable lady – I’m ashamed to say that I hadn’t heard of her
34 Valley girl’s head covered in blood (5)
GORGE
GORE (blood) round G[irl]
Gorge = pig, as a verb
36 A lot better after shaking container for eyedrops? (4-6)
TEAR BOTTLE
An anagram (after shaking) of A LOT BETTER – with a cryptic definition – see here
38 Where you might see koalas in a difficult situation (2,1,3,4)
UP A GUM TREE
Double definition: koalas live in eucalyptus forests, their main diet being eucalyptus (gum tree) leaves
40 More than one security provider fails to give correct answer about fishy individual (9)
PASSCODES
PASSES (fails to give a correct answer) round COD (fishy individual)
41 Sound from 32-piece is drudgery (5,4)
GRUNT WORK
GRUNT (sound from a pig – 32) + WORK (piece – poetry or music, perhaps)
43 32 has good time visiting Bedfordshire town (7)
GLUTTON
G (good) + T (time) in LUTON (Bedfordshire town)
46 Worried over teammates in 34d (7)
SWEATED
W E (teammates in bridge) in SATED (gorged) – a similar trick to that in 12d: the D in the clue has to be added to GORGE (34) to make it past tense
47 Painter of flesh (5)
BACON
Double definition: (Francis) Bacon (painter) – who was, additionally, known for his nudes – clever
48 Mystical healer in hospital bandaging thigh (6)
SHAMAN
SAN (hospital) round HAM (thigh)
51 Whopper made from unknown meat? (5)
PORKY
PORK Y (unknown meat) – a porky is a lie (whopper) – rhyming slang, porky pie
And there’s also this character
54 Depressing piece in the gridfill coming up (5)
DIRGE
Hidden reversal (coming up, in a down clue) in thE GRIDfill
55 Vocal drill for male of 32 (4)
BOAR
Sounds like (vocal) ‘bore’ (drill)
Well done Eileen for your determined sourcing of the missing puzzles magazine. And thanks for the reminder of your discovery of this website back in 2008!
I did this one with my brother when we met for a holiday in Namur this week. He lives in Germany and is a carnivore, so he got SPEK, which as a vegan I was ignorant of. But it was a good collaboration as we have slightly different vocabularies and ways of looking at things.
We had to Google a few things, mostly after solving. RUDERAL was a jorum for me, obviously correct from crossers and wordplay but I looked it up anyway. We’d never heard of the Texan lady either, and in fact we Googled MIA HOGG, so I guess that’s a dnf for us!
We’re both Luton Town fans, so the Bedfordshire town was obvious, but I’m ashamed when I think how long it took to separate the G and the T (doh!).
Thanks to the setter for an enjoyable solve. I hope Grecian turns up later to echo my thanks for your super blog, Eileen.
Hi sheffield hatter
I’m so glad someone else found the puzzle! (We were hoping for an online version but it didn’t materialise.) It must have been great fun solving it with someone else – and on holiday, too!
I first came across SPEK on a menu in Italy and was quite intrigued: it didn’t sound at all Italian!
Thank you, Eileen, for searching this out. I found it in the paper and nearly didn’t bother but I’m glad I did. I needed your help with parsing quite a few and a couple that I didn’t solve.
I think you could have highlighted BOAR in red.
Thanks, Pino – I thought I had!
Any more?
Thank you so much Eileen, for such a wonderful blog. It’s such a shame that you’ve gone to so much trouble and there are so few responses, but I really appreciate it.
Other theme words are:
ACE (great-grandson of Babe, in the Dick King-Smith book of the same name)
(PIG) OUTdo
(PIG) SKIN
(PIG) HEAD(ed)
(PIG) LATIN
(PIG’s) EAR
BUSH (PIG)
CLANGER – they were kind of a mouse/pig hybrid (ok, that one’s pushing it a bit 😉)
SWEATed (like a PIG)
Thank you again, Eileen.
Dan (Brockwell)
I saw the puzzle and thought must do this – and promptly forgot.
Having skimmed your comments Eileen I am going to have a go sometime next week.
Thanks
Really cross as we binned this before I realised what it was ( through reading comments here ) and bins were collected last Tuesday !
Not nearly so much trouble as you went to, Dan! It really is a shame.
Thank you for dropping in to fill in the inevitable gaps, most of which I should have seen – I didn’t know ACE.
So SKINHEAD was another BOGOFF – Doh!
I don’t know what happened with 9dn: I certainly had it highlighted in my copy – and I had a link to BUSH pig in my draft! (I’ll amend that now.)
Can’t believe I omitted LATIN. 🙁
I’ll forgive CLANGER!
Thanks again for all the fun.
Fiona – I do hope you haven’t sent your copy for recycling – you have a treat in store!
(I see now that Holly did just that – oh dear, I’m so sorry!)
Grecian’s mention of the “mouse/pig hybrid” reminds me that we didn’t fully parse CLANGER and found ourselves short of motivation when it came to Googling GER for ‘tent’. So, more thanks to Eileen for doing that. 👍 (We wrote it in anyway!)
Despite missing the puzzle at the time of publication, I’ve very much enjoyed reading through the blog and further comments, so many thanks to Eileen and to Dan.
Where can i find a copy of this crossword? Can it be solved online?
worworcrossol @11 – I’m afraid the crossword can no longer be found. It was published last Saturday in a small easily-missed puzzle supplement to the paper (see the introduction to the blog and Holly Anderson’s comment @7).
There was talk during the week of an online version, (see here
https://www.fifteensquared.net/page/2/ ) but, unfortunately, that didn’t appear.
As comments are sparse, I better confirm that I did find the blog helpful, particularly for the parsing of 45a EGGS, so it was welcome. Thank you, Eileen.
My suspicion has always been that there is a relatively small overlap between purchasers of the newspaper and commenters on this site, so the minimal number of comments hopefully does not imply that the puzzle was not widely enjoyed or the blog not given plenty of reference by those not in the habit of commenting.
I’ve just had a final search through last weekend’s paper before putting it in the recycling, and we definitely didn’t get the puzzles supplement. I’m feeling a bit fed up at missing out on this.
Lord Jim @14
In the late copy that I managed to get, it was in the very middle of the ‘Saturday’ section – but I have heard from several others that it was missing from theirs, too.
Van Winkle @13 – I’m sure you’re right but, with no online version available, the potential audience was much smaller than usual: none of our many and valued overseas readers and commenters, for instance, had access to it.
At the bottom of page 2 of each Saturday edition, there are instructions for how to obtain missing sections of the newspaper.
I just spotted it before tossing it in the recycling – phew! Great crossword – I was stuck on ASMERA for days – just couldn’t mentally split South Africa – doh. I think Brockwell is particulary good at these faux pairs – Rod Stewart and Katie Price etc.
It also had a crossword titled “The Most Guardian Crossword Ever” by Alan Connor – not really cryptic but very funny
Didn’t realise it wouldn’t be online. Next time I’ll post a pic online before I scrawl all over it 🙂
Cheers B&E
Thanks VW @16, I hadn’t noticed that before. (It’s in very small print!)
Also the common phrase “SWEAT like a pig” in 46d. Great holiday fun. Thanks both.
Thanks, Oofyprosser – see Grecian (Brockwell) @5. Glad you enjoyed it. 😉
This took me ages to complete and I now see I had 30a wrong. RUNTIER makes much more sense than RANDIER. Thanks for filling in a few bits I didn’t grasp. Online the capital of Eritrea seems to be always spelt with an A … Maybe I should have checked in an actual atlas!
Big Maz @21 – so glad you managed to find the puzzle!