A medium-strength Jumbo to see in another Bank Holiday weekend, and a pleasant enough fill. The relatively low number of repeats was welcome too (though one was a repeat we see all the time!).
You can find my completed grid below along with explanations of my solutions where I have them. I hope you find them helpful. If a recent Jumbo has escaped your ken then you might find my Just For Fun page of use, where you’ll find links to solutions for hundreds of the things.
Thanks again for the kind words and input. It’s always interesting to hear the thoughts of other solvers once the dust settles. Till next time, stay safe out there kids.
LP
RBV (Repeats-By-Volume): 5%
Across clues
- Unusual Scots MP fibbed about Siamese perhaps being not involved (13)
Answer: UNCOMPLICATED (i.e. “not involved”). Solution is UNCO (i.e. “unusual Scots”, or a Scots word meaning “unusual”. A new one on me, but I like it) followed by MP, then LIED (i.e. “fibbed”) once wrapped “about” CAT (i.e. “Siamese perhaps”), like so: UNCO-MP-LI(CAT)ED.
- I teach juggling with set principle of style (9)
Answer: AESTHETIC (i.e. “principle of style”). “Juggling” indicates anagram. Solution is an anagram of I TEACH and SET.
- Discourage animal eating turnip’s top (5)
Answer: DETER (i.e. “discourage”). Solution is DEER (i.e. “animal”) wrapped around or “eating” T (i.e. “turnip’s top”, i.e. the first letter of “turnip”), like so: DE(T)ER.
- Inferior cheese is months old – consume with gin, perhaps? (9)
Answer: MOUSETRAP (i.e. “inferior cheese”). Solution is M (a recognised abbreviation of “months”) followed by O (ditto “old”), then USE (i.e. “consume”) and TRAP (i.e. a variant meaning of “gin”).
- Chap keeping Swiss canton’s travel business (7)
Answer: TOURISM (i.e. “travel business”). Solution is TOM (i.e. “chap’s” name) wrapped around or “keeping” URI’S (i.e. “Swiss canton’s” – no, me neither), like so: TO(URI’S)M.
- Musician playing in recitals includes Tippett’s last two pieces (12)
Answer: CLARINETTIST (i.e. “musician”). Solution is an anagram (indicated by “playing”) of IN RECITALS wrapped around or “including” TT (i.e. “Tippett’s last two pieces” or letters), like so: CLARINE(TT)IST.
- Leader’s alarm perhaps with state of climate? But there’s no answer (10)
Answer: BELLWETHER (i.e. a “leader”). Solution is BELL (i.e. “alarm perhaps”) followed by WEATHER (i.e. “state of climate”) once the A has been removed (indicated by “but there’s no answer”, A being a recognised abbreviation of “answer”, e.g. in Q&A), like so: BELL-WETHER.
- Consternation of saint hugged by two girls (6)
Answer: DISMAY (i.e. “consternation”). Solution is S (a recognised abbreviation of “saint”) placed between or “hugged by” DI and MAY (i.e. “two girl’s” names), like so: DI-(S)-MAY.
- Puzzle of a wrong mark and right mark for oral presentation (8)
Answer: ACROSTIC (i.e. “puzzle”). Solution is A followed by homophones (indicated by “for oral presentation”) of CROSS (i.e. “wrong mark”) and TICK (i.e. “right mark”), like so: A-CROS-TIC.
- Give a sermon with power and range of influence (6)
Answer: PREACH (i.e. “give a sermon”). Solution is P (a recognised abbreviation of “power”) followed by REACH (i.e. “range of influence”).
- Slow treacle flowing in a river (10)
Answer: DECELERATE (i.e. to “slow”). Solution is an anagram (indicated by “flowing”) of TREACLE placed “in” DEE (i.e. “a river” in Scotland), like so: DE(CELERAT)E.
- Strong declaration in favour of those abandoning the centre position (12)
Answer: PROTESTATION (i.e. “strong declaration”). Solution is PRO (i.e. “in favour of”) followed by TE (i.e. “those abandoning the centre”, i.e. the word “those” with all its middle letters removed) and STATION (i.e. “position”).
- Horse galloped around ring (4)
Answer: ROAN (i.e. a type of “horse”). Solution is RAN (i.e. “galloped”) wrapped “around” O (i.e. “ring”), like so: R(O)AN.
- Tricked out of diamonds after tea dance (8)
Answer: CHACONNE (i.e. a “dance”). Solution is CONNED (i.e. “tricked”) with the D removed (indicated by “out of diamonds” – D being a recognised abbreviation of “diamonds” used in card gamers) and the remainder placed “after” CHA (i.e. “tea”), like so: CHA-CONNE. One nailed from the wordplay.
- Educated people fired by it are coming back (8)
Answer: LITERATI (i.e. “educated people”). Solution is LIT (i.e. “fired”) followed by IT ARE reversed (indicated by “coming back”), like so: LIT-(ERA-TI)
- Support alcoholic drink? Nearly all not drinking (8)
Answer: TEETOTAL (i.e. “not drinking”). Solution is TEE (i.e. “support” for a golf ball) followed by TOT (i.e. a small amount of “alcoholic drink”) and ALL once its last letter has been removed (indicated by “nearly…”), like so: TEE-TOT-AL.
- Short-lived insect – he mates initially in record time (8)
Answer: EPHEMERA (i.e. “short-lived insect”, or anything short-lived for that matter). Solution is HE and M (i.e. “mates initially”, i.e. the first letter of “mates”) placed “in” between EP (i.e. “record”, specifically an Extended Play) and ERA (i.e. “time”), like so: EP-(HE-M)-ERA.
- Send a telegram with anger (4)
Answer: WIRE (i.e. “send a telegram”). Solution is W (a recognised abbreviation of “with”) followed by IRE (i.e. “anger”). Appeared in grid 1584 back in November, also on even intersecting letters, so…
- Calm northern valley of great beauty in poetic evening sunset colour (4-8)
Answer: EVEN-TEMPERED (i.e. “calm”). Solution is N (a recognised abbreviation of “northern”) and TEMPE (i.e. “valley of great beauty” – over to Chambers: “the valley of the Peneus in Thessaly, praised by the ancient poets for its unsurpassed beauty”) placed “in” between EVE (i.e. “poetic [form of] evening”) and RED (i.e. “sunset colour”), like so: EVE-(N-TEMPE)-RED.
- Fish with a nice wild sparkle (10)
Answer: BRILLIANCE (i.e. “sparkle”). Solution is BRILL (i.e. a variety of “fish”) followed by an anagram (indicated by “wild”) of A NICE, like so: BRILL-IANCE.
- Fuss about name surrounded by female and male enthusiasts? (6)
Answer: FANDOM (i.e. “enthusiasts”). Solution is ADO (i.e. “fuss”) wrapped “about” N (a recognised abbreviation of “name”) and the whole then placed between or “surrounded by” F and M (recognised abbreviations of “female” and “male” respectively), like so: F-(A(N)DO)-M.
- Alcoholic drinks with a lot of ice beat writer (8)
Answer: Allen GINSBERG (i.e. “beat writer”). Solution is GINS (i.e. “alcoholic drinks”) followed by BERG (i.e. “a lot of ice”).
- What’s in a can of beer? Weight I would gain (6)
Answer: WIDGET (i.e. “what’s in a can of beer”). Solution is W (a recognised abbreviation of “weight”) followed by I’D (a contraction of “I would”) and GET (i.e. “gain”).
- What newspapers want academic craft? (10)
Answer: READERSHIP. Solution satisfies “what newspapers want” and “academic craft”.
- Madly irate lunatic with unclear speech (12)
Answer: INARTICULATE (i.e. “with unclear speech”). “Madly” indicates anagram. Solution is an anagram of IRATE LUNATIC.
- National poet’s got backing in India more than once (7)
Answer: ISRAELI (i.e. a “national”). Solution is Edward LEAR’S (i.e. “poet’s”) reversed (indicated by “got backing”) and placed in I and I (i.e. “India more than once” – “India” being I in the phonetic alphabet), like so: I(S’RAEL)I. Following my comments in grids 1604 back in March and 1595 back in January, I knew setters would eventually find ways of clueing up ISRAELI without using DISRAELI, or vice versa. Well done. It can’t be easy for them, especially considering how often their grid-filling software keeps picking ISRAELI as a solution. And so, predictably…
- Fraud has Charlie and Tanya consistently left short (9)
Answer: CHARLATAN (i.e. “fraud”). Solution is CHARLIE AND TANYA once the last two letters have been removed from each word (loosely indicated by “consistently left short”).
- One having to complain about girl (5)
Answer: NAOMI (i.e. “girl’s” name). Solution is I (i.e. “[Roman numeral] one”) and MOAN (i.e. “to complain”) all reversed (indicated by “about”), like so: NAOM-I. Another one the office GridFill 4000TM likes to pick, last appearing in grid 1575 back in September, also on odd intersecting letters, so…
- Second French cathedral throws out daughter with a mammal (9)
Answer: MONOTREME (i.e. the oldest living order of “mammal”, apparently. It appeared a few years ago in grid 1456, and I didn’t know what one was back then either). Solution is MO (i.e. a “second” or short space of time) followed by NOTRE DAME (i.e. “French cathedral”) once the D and A have been removed (indicated by “throws out daughter with a” – D being a recognised abbreviation of “daughter”), like so: MO-(NOTRE-ME).
- Chambers perhaps with entries for second and note optional (13)
Answer: DISCRETIONARY (i.e. “optional”). Solution is DICTIONARY (i.e. “Chambers perhaps” – I’d have been disappointed if I hadn’t twigged this one) wrapping separately around or being “entered” by S (a recognised abbreviation of “second”) and RE (i.e. a “note” in the sol-fa scale), like so: DI(S)C(RE)TIONARY.
Down clues
- Open University took chances during study that’s set up (9)
Answer: UNDECIDED (i.e. “open”). Solution is U (a recognised abbreviation of “university”) followed by DICED (i.e. “took chances”) once it has been placed “during” DEN (i.e. “study”) and this latter bit all reversed (indicated by “that’s set up” – this being a down clue), like so: U-(N(DECID)ED).
- Weapon category including uranium and tritium primarily (7)
Answer: CUTLASS (i.e. “weapon”). Solution is CLASS (i.e. “category”) wrapped around or “including” U (chemical symbol of “uranium”) and T (i.e. “tritium primarily”, i.e. the first letter of “tritium”), like so: C(U-T)LASS.
- Slightly spoil spirit for the whole year (10)
Answer: MARGINALLY (i.e. “slightly”). Solution is MAR (i.e. “spoil”) followed by GIN (i.e. alcoholic “spirit”), then ALL (i.e. “the whole”) and Y (a recognised abbreviation of “year”).
- Allowed to hold naughty child, one clinging on forcefully (6)
Answer: LIMPET (i.e. “one clinging on forcefully”). Solution is LET (i.e. “allowed”) wrapped around or “holding” IMP (i.e. “naughty child”), like so: L(IMP)ET.
- Where to hear major Roman poet supporting emperor’s retinue? (5,7)
Answer: COURT MARTIAL (i.e. court held by the armed forces, or “where to hear major”). Solution is MARTIAL (i.e. “Roman poet” – he popped up in Jumbo 1599 back in February, but it took me ages to remember him) placed after or “supporting” COURT (i.e. “emperor’s retinue”).
- Prize short willow, perhaps on a southern river (8)
Answer: TREASURE (i.e. “prize”). Solution is TREE (i.e. “willow, perhaps”) with its last letter removed (indicated by “short”) and the remainder followed by A, then S (a recognised abbreviation of “southern”) and URE (i.e. an English “river”), like so: TRE-A-S-URE.
- A place for the rest of pupils either end of dining-room (4)
Answer: DORM (i.e. “a place for the rest of pupils” at a boarding school). When written as D OR M the solution also satisfies “either end [letters] of dining-room”. Chambers would disagree, treating dining room as two separate words, but then it does its case no good by hyphenating dining-hall and dining-car. But not dining table. I give up.
- Be sensitively aware of increase in price (10)
Answer: APPRECIATION. Solution satisfies “be sensitively aware of” and “increase in price”.
- Item of furniture’s alight (6)
Answer: SETTLE. Solution satisfies “item of furniture” – specifically “a long-highbacked bench” (Chambers) – and to “alight”.
- Height on river wave – such a one could damage locks (12)
Answer: HOUSEBREAKER (i.e. “one could damage locks”). Solution is H (a recognised abbreviation of “house”) followed by OUSE (another English “river”) and BREAKER (i.e. a kind of “wave”).
- Perhaps piece of chicken’s off with temperature going over (5)
Answer: THIGH (i.e. “perhaps piece of chicken”). Solution is HIGH (i.e. gamy or “off”) with T (a recognised abbreviation of “temperature”) placed ahead or “over” it, like so: T-HIGH.
- Remove pinches rum in school (13)
Answer: COMPREHENSIVE (i.e. “school”). “Rum” indicates anagram. Solution is an anagram of REMOVE PINCHES.
- Rage after Sir takes time for one more rum (8)
Answer: STRANGER (i.e. “more rum” – lots of booze in this week’s Jumbo. Bottoms up!) Solution is ANGER (i.e. “rage”) placed “after” SIR once the I (i.e. “[Roman numeral] one”) has been swapped “for” T (a recognised abbreviation of “time”), like so: S(I)R-ANGER => S(T)R-ANGER.
- I am appearing in a country film (9)
Answer: ANIMATION (i.e. “film”). Solution is I’M (a contraction of “I am”) placed “in” A and NATION (i.e. “country”), like so: A-N(I’M)ATION.
- Announce concert including the French in Channel Islands (8)
Answer: PROCLAIM (i.e. “announce”). Solution is PROM (i.e. “concert”) wrapped around or “including” LA (i.e. “the French”, i.e. the French for “the”) once it has first been placed “in” CI (a recognised abbreviation of “Channel Islands”), like so: PRO(C(LA)I)M. Appeared in grid 1570 back in August, but on odd intersecting letters.
- Cold meat on sale finally with Christmas coming up is a slow mover (9)
Answer: CHAMELEON (i.e. “a slow mover” – come on, setter. The clue scans nicely, but that’s a bit of a leap for solvers to make). Solution is C (a recognised abbreviation of “cold”) followed by HAM (i.e. “meat”), then E (i.e. “sale finally”, i.e. the last letter of “sale”), then NOEL (i.e. “Christmas”) once this latter has been reversed (indicated by “coming up” – this being a down clue), like so: C-HAM-E-LEON.
- Fitting garment with the necessary skill (8)
Answer: SUITABLE (i.e. “fitting”). Solution is SUIT (i.e. “garment”) followed by ABLE (i.e. “with the necessary skill”).
- Company representative has residence and second pad (8)
Answer: COMPRESS (i.e. to “pad”). Solution is CO (a recognised abbreviation of “company”) followed by MP (i.e. “representative”, specifically a Member of Parliament), then RES (short for “residence”) and S (a recognised abbreviation of “second”).
- An element of resistance with King Arthur’s father taking girl into marketplace (13)
Answer: RUTHERFORDIUM (i.e. “an element”). Solution is R (a recognised abbreviation of “resistance”) followed by UTHER Pendragon (i.e. “King Arthur’s father”), then DI (i.e. “girl’s” name) once placed in FORUM (i.e. originally a “marketplace”, it seems), like so: R-UTHER-FOR(DI)UM.
- Opponents met wrangling for delay (12)
Answer: POSTPONEMENT (i.e. “delay”). “Wrangling” indicates anagram. Solution is an anagram of OPPONENTS MET.
- What aids preservation for rare tiger all over the place (12)
Answer: REFRIGERATOR (i.e. “what aids preservation”). “All over the place” indicates anagram. Solution is an anagram of FOR RARE TIGER.
- House band only making one side of an LP? (10)
Answer: SEMICIRCLE (i.e. “one side of an LP”, or Long-Play record. I get what the setter is playing at here, given LPs are usually round in shape… I just don’t agree. A circle has no sides, let alone two. Instead a circle has a circumference. Yes, I’m fun at parties). Solution is SEMI (i.e. “house”, short for semi-detached) followed by CIRCLE (i.e. “band”).
- Indistinct slur concealing a new instruction to musicians (10)
Answer: DIMINUENDO (i.e. “instruction to musicians” to pipe it down a bit). Solution is DIM (i.e. “indistinct”) followed by INNUENDO (i.e. “slur”) once one of the Ns (a recognised abbreviation of “new”) has been removed or “concealed”, like so: DIM-INUENDO. This was a swine to get when only given the even intersecting letters. Bradford’s came to the rescue in the end, at least for the INNUENDO part.
- End of English eleven one short with time up in test (9)
Answer: EXTREMITY (i.e. an “end” of something). Solution E (a recognised abbreviation of “English”) followed by X (i.e. “eleven one short”, or the Roman numeral for ten), then TIME once reversed (indicated by “up” – this being a down clue) and placed “in” TRY (i.e. to “test”), like so: E-X-TR(EMIT)Y.
- Who painted only at sea in shades like crimson and scarlet? (8)
Answer: Joshua REYNOLDS (i.e. 18th century portrait “painter”). Solution is an anagram (indicated by “at sea”) of ONLY placed “in” REDS (i.e. “shades like crimson and scarlet”), like so: RE(YNOL)DS.
- Cereal managed in Angola without key nitrogen (7)
Answer: GRANOLA (i.e. “cereal”). Solution is RAN (i.e. “managed”) placed “in” ANGOLA once the A and N have been removed (indicated by “without key nitrogen” – A being a musical note; N being the chemical symbol of nitrogen), like so: G(RAN)OLA.
- Rise high like magpie circling rook (6)
Answer: ASPIRE (i.e. “rise high” – Chambers offers “to tower up”, and for tower “to soar up high so as to swoop on quarry”). Solution is AS (i.e. “like”) followed by PIE (i.e. a variant meaning being a “magpie”) once wrapped around or “circling” R (a recognised abbreviation of “rook” used in chess), like so: AS-PI(R)E.
- Note good trap needed for seal (6)
Answer: SIGNET (i.e. “seal”). Solution is SI (i.e. another of those sol-fa “notes”, the seventh – apparently this was later superseded by TI) followed by G (a recognised abbreviation of “good”) and NET (i.e. a “trap”).
- Island a Republican managed (5)
Answer: ARRAN (i.e. a Scottish “island”). Solution is A followed by R (a recognised abbreviation of “Republic”) and RAN (i.e. “managed”).
- Boy eats right sort of fat (4)
Answer: LARD (i.e. “sort of fat”). Solution is LAD (i.e. “boy”) wrapped around R (a recognised abbreviation of “right”), like so: LA(R)D.
Lucian Poll's Web Ramblings 
Thanks Lucian. A bit of a mixed bag this week, we thought. Some good clues, but marred by a heavy reliance on names – including two in one clue (18a), and it feels very sloppy to use DI twice in two different clues (18a and 29d). We didn’t fully understand the parsing of DORM (7d), so thanks for clearing that up.
Fun fact: a MONOTREME (56a) is an egg-laying mammal. There are only two species in the world: the duck-billed platypus and the echidna. The latter looks like an oversized hedgehog, and the former looks as if it was designed by a committee.
Take care, and stay safe. SB
Thanks Lucian.
I wonder if ‘dorm’ was also a play on the idea of being a place to rest one’s eyes (pupils)?
Nothing to add, Lucian. Just thought I’d sign in to say thanks again for your post which I look forward to reading once the jumbo is put to bed. Cheers
Some nice clues, I especially liked Discretionary. Not so pleased with having to look up Tempe and Uther but I guess other people would be better informed than me. Luckily my clever musical wife knew Chaconne and Si.
Just a minor quibble – is an Acrostic a puzzle?
Boddingtons used to have a widget in their cans. I haven’t seen one for years!
Just a suggestion of a slight change to your explanation of 49 across: academic=reader, craft=ship.
“49 across: academic=reader, craft=ship.” Yes, this is surely the correct explanation.
As for the semicircle (37d), very poor. To satisfy the LP reference it would have to be “House band making half an LP” i.e. broken in half. But that would be ridiculously clumsy. However “one side of an LP” simply cannot be a semicircle. Presumably the setter has forgotten whatever Euclid he/she ever knew.
But I’m very happy to admit I never knew the origin of “bellwether” (17a), so setter has done me a service there by making me look up the spelling (I’d assumed it was “bellweather”, not having seen it written down in my life I think). Webster says “formed by a combination of the Middle English words belle (meaning “bell”) and wether (a noun that refers to a male sheep that has been castrated)”. Well I never.
O, and I meant to say, as we’re talking Arran (50d), if you want the best qualité-prix rapport (that is your actual French, Mr Poll) in a single malt, this is the kiddie. Wonderful drop for a bottle still under fifty quid. Not apropos (more French) Jumbos, I know, but thought people might appreciate the tip from a tippler. I’ll get my coat.
8d – Appreciate rather than appreciation. Pete.