Saturday Times Jumbo Cryptic 1017 Saturday January 12Th 2013

[topcat-007]

54a - Drunk in front of house making short work of artist (5)

L_T_O

[bibblebub]

litho

[ubasses]

lotto

[Baldric]

Litho

[topcat-007]

Many thanks chaps/chapesses

[bonzothedog]

Surely the answer is LOTTO . Blotto =Drunk ( B in front of house "Lotto" ) and Venetian artist Lorenzo Lotto ( 1480-1557 ).

[boxtops]

I suggest Lotto too - Lotto game is also called House or Housey-housey

[bibblebub]

drunk = LIT in front of house = HO

and LITHO is short for lithograph, so no need to reference an obscure painter

[Calibax]

Litho looks right to me.
Lit (drunk) in front of Ho (house)
Litho(graph) short work of artist

[bonzothedog]

Sorry bibblebub , he's hardly obscure http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/lorenzo-lotto

[Mrsspagnoli57]

I had LOTTO too-I'm confused as to why LIT should mean DRUNK could bibblebub tell me ? thanks

[bibblebub]

because it's an informal word for drunk or drugged, usually in the form lit up

http://www.tfd.com/lit and also given in Chambers

[bibblebub]

p.s. i don't send the crossword in so if it's wrong then it's no big deal for me, i'm simply happy with the answer that i have

[Mrsspagnoli57]

thanks-I don't send it in either, mainly because I rarely finish them, but I keep them and check the answers. I can see merits of both answers now ! My theory is that checking the answers helps me see how the setter is thinking and may-eventually-enable me to finish one. Time will tell!