Times Jumbo Cryptic Crossword 3rd Oct

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1462 - 3rd October

I think this may be the most entertaining Jumbo crossword I've had the pleasure of blogging. Packed full of amusing and inventive wordplay and deceptive definitions, it was, I think, significantly harder than usual, taking me about 1 1/4 hours compared to my usual 35-45 minutes. Between drafting the blog and finishing it for publication one of the best clues, 21A, reappeared in almost identical form in this Tuesday's daily cryptic, prompting some comments about having seen it before recently. Was it the same setter, perhaps?

My copy is littered with approving ticks and question marks that I had to resolve for the blog. It's hard to pick a favourite, and I did like 16A a lot, but I will go for 53A, which took me the longest to parse. Great stuff! More like this please, editor! How did everyone else get on?

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