Eccles is becoming a regular Wednesday setter.
The clue at 15 down would not have been out of place yesterday with its reference to staff and rod
I don’t think I’ve come across the word SURD [in the wordplay to 3 down] since I studied mathematics at school many years ago, but it must have stuck in the mind somewhere.
I liked the clue for NOUNS at 8 across which conjured up an amusing, if unlikely, word picture.
There was good misdirection in the clue for 11 across (AFTERNOON) given all the press about Prime Ministers (PM) recently.
Overall, this was an enjoyable puzzle.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Port, as drunk at the end of second degree (7) |
MO (moment; second) + MBA (degree of Masters of Business Administration) + an anagram of (drunk) AS MO MBA SA* |
MOMBASA (port on the coast of Kenya) |
| 5 | Fellow confronted over coffee (6) |
FACED (confronted) reversed (over) + F (fellow) DECAF< F |
DECAFF (DECAFFeinated coffee) |
| 8 | Religious women hiding love for sex and drugs and rock and roll? (5) |
NUNS (religious women) containing (hiding) O (zero; love score in tennis) N (O) UNS |
NOUNS (all of sex, drugs, rock and roll are examples of nouns) |
| 9 | Teacher’s function is to express irritation over fashion (8) |
TUT express irritation) + O (over) + RAGE (vogue; fashion, as in it’s all the RAGE) TUT O RAGE |
TUTORAGE (the function of a teacher) |
| 11 | PM wanting nobody to finish early (9) |
AFTER (in search of; wanting) + NO-ONE (nobody) excluding the final letter (to finish early) E AFTER NOON |
AFTERNOON (12 NOON until evening; post-meridiem; PM) |
| 12 | Must leave dry area (5) |
GO (leave) + TT (teetotal; dry) + A (area) GO TT A |
GOTTA (GOT to; must)
|
| 13 | Desire to marry, wanting first husband (4) |
HITCH (marry) excluding (wanting) the first H (husband) ITCH |
ITCH (desire) |
| 14 | Mark religious festival on the radio in a rush (8) |
STAMP (mark) + EDE (sounds like [on the radio] EID or ID (Muslim religious festival such as Id Al-Adha or Id -Al-Fitr) STAMP EDE |
STAMPEDE (any mass rush to do something) |
| 18 | Craftsman irked me terribly, concealing answer (8) |
Anagram of (terribly) IRKED ME containing (concealing) A (answer) DIEM (A) KER* |
DIEMAKER (example of a craftsman) |
| 19 | Twist in plot around November (4) |
BED (plot of flowers or earth in a garden) containing (around) N (November is the International Radio Communication codeword for the letter N) BE (N) D |
BEND (twist) |
| 22 | Talk about new song (5) |
CHAT (talk) containing (about) N (new) CHA (N) T |
CHANT (song) |
| 23 | Papa is appalling traitor, meeting American organisation (9) |
Anagram of (appalling) PAPA + RAT (traitor) + US (United States; American) APPA* RAT US |
APPARATUS (organisation or system that allows things to function)) |
| 25 | Ambitious partisan on the move (8) |
Anagram of (on the move) PARTISAN ASPIRANT* |
ASPIRANT (ambitious) |
| 26 | Stir up Brexit-voting town (5) |
STOKE (feed with fuel; stir up) STOKE |
STOKE (STOKE-on-Trent is a town in England that voted in favour of leaving the European Union by a majority of 69.4% to 30.6%) double definition |
| 27 | Pathetic threesome agreed hosts (6) |
MEAGRE (hidden word in [hosts] THREESOME AGREED) MEAGRE |
MEAGRE (inadequate; pathetic) |
| 28 | Pull clock around for New Yorkers, for example (7) |
YANK (pull) + SEE (understand; notice; clock) reversed (around) YANK EES< |
YANKEES (In America, citizens of the New England States, or an inhabitant of the northern United States, as opposed to the southern. New Yorkers would fit that definition. To British people, YANKEE generally means any American) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Bird poo with a crust cracks (8,4) |
(AND [with] + A + RIND [crust]) contained in (cracks) MUCK (dung; poo) M (AND A RIN D) UCK |
MANDARIN DUCK (crested Asiatic DUCK; bird) |
| 2 | Growth of medicine’s beginning to get rid of pain (9) |
M (first letter of [beginning to] MEDICINE) + OUST (get rid of) + ACHE (pain) M OUST ACHE |
MOUSTACHE (unshaved hair on a man’s upper lip; growth) |
| 3 | Silly sailor’s irrational (6) |
AB (able seaman; sailor) + SURD (in mathematics, an irrational quantity, especially an irrational root or a sum of irrational roots) AB SURD |
ABSURD (silly) |
| 4 | Effect of current and temperature on charged particle (6) |
AC (alternating current) + T (temperature) + ION (an electrically-charged particle) AC T ION |
ACTION (effect) |
| 5 | Parisian and a famous revolutionary set off (8) |
(ET [French {Parisian} for ‘and’) + A + NOTED [famous]) all reversed (revolutionary) (DETON A TE)< |
DETONATE (cause to explode; set off) |
| 6 | Spooner’s watch arrived in Newmarket, perhaps (4,4) |
CARD GAME (Spoonerism of GUARD [watch] CAME [arrived]) CARD GAME |
CARD GAME (Newmarket is an example of a CARD GAME) |
| 7 | Argument of rowing crew leader is baseless (5) |
EIGHT (rowing crew) with the lower [base] arm of the E [the first letter {leader}] removed [less] to form an F) FIGHT |
FIGHT (argument) |
| 10 | Shops German chemist runs, but runs secretly (12) |
HABER (reference Fritz HABER [1868 – 1934], German scientist) + (R [runs] contained in [secretly] DASHES [runs]) HABER DASHE (R) S |
HABERDASHERS (examples of shops |
| 15 | Choose staff to meet judge, at last, one on the circuit (9) |
ELECT (choose) + ROD (staff) + E (final letter of [at last] JUDGE) ELECT ROD E |
ELECTRODE (a conductor by which a current of electricity enters or leaves an electrolytic cell; an element on an electric circuit) |
| 16 | Trump unhinged essentially. Pence? Just a fraction (8) |
FART (break wind audibly; trump) + HING (middle letters of [essentially] UNHINGED) FART HING |
FARTHING (old coin that was worth fraction [a quarter] of a penny) |
| 17 | State part of trade law, a rebuttal (8) |
DELAWARE (hidden word in [part of] TRADE LAW A REBUTTAL) DELAWARE |
DELAWARE (one of the fifty States of America) |
| 20 | Lack of interest, of course, that always stifles (6) |
AY (aye; always) containing (stifles) PATH (course) A (PATH) Y |
APATHY (indifference; lack of interest) |
| 21 | Old Republican is supported by prayer (6) |
O (old) + R (Republican) + IS + ON (supported by) O R IS ON |
ORISON (prayer) |
| 23 | Man perhaps following advanced ecclesiastical route? |
A (advanced) + ISLE (reference of ISLE of Man as an example [perhaps]) A ISLE |
AISLE (passage between pews in a church; ecclesiastical route) |
Good fun as usual from Eccles. I wasn’t keen on 12a and I’ve never come across 5a before spelt with 2Fs.
Lots to like here with 8a & 11a my joint favourites.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan, particularly for the explanation of how the E in EIGHT is cleverly changed to an F in 7d, which I couldn’t see at all.
Thanks to Eccles for the crossword which I found a mix of straightforward and definitely head-scratching
Thanks also to Duncan for the blog
Thoroughly enjoyed this. NOUNS was a favourite. Also never seen DECAFF with a double F – not in my Collins but is in my Chambers. DIEMAKER isn’t in either but a quick look in google confirmed it. The E -> F device in 7d was novel.
Not sure what happened in your intro Duncan but you make 2 references to 9 across. The first refers to 8 across and the second to 11 across.
Many thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
Among a few unknowns, I completely missed the trickery of 7d and wasn’t familiar with the ‘religious festival’ in 14a, SURD or the significance of ‘Brexit-voting town’ in 26a, so this was no pushover.
A big tick to MOUSTACHE and to the surface and def for FARTHING.
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan
Hovis @ 3
Thanks – corrected now
What an amazing coincidence. Our new jar of decaffeinated coffee has DECAFF printed in very large letters on the label. I can no longer say I’ve never come across it before!
I didn’t know the religious festival and it hadn’t occurred to me that SURD might actually be a real word! Amazing and somewhat sad that the dictionary accepts GOTTA as a real word as well.
Favourite was 8a with 11a hard on its heels.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review.
Some head-scratching but we almost got there- we knew the chemist in 10dn but couldn’t think of the shops.
Favourite was 16dn for its great surface!
Thanks, Eccles and Duncan.
I enjoyed this, to finding it just right in a Goldilocks sort of way, but failed to parse 10d, getting obsessed with aber being the German for but. And missed the trick in 7d. I had heard of surd because our daughter did A level maths and accidentally (allegedly) asked their teacher to explain what a turd was.
I enjoyed this, to finding it just right in a Goldilocks sort of way, but failed to parse 10d, getting obsessed with aber being the German for but. And missed the trick in 7d. I had heard of surd because our daughter did A level maths and accidentally (allegedly) asked their teacher to explain what a turd was. Thanks Eccles and Duncan.
Sorry for duplicate post. Phone problems.
I remember being told about the Haber process (to produce ammonia) in A-level chemistry, and I still couldn’t get 10dn without a word search.
Great puzzle and insightful blogging: thanks Eccles, thanks Duncan
Once again, all good fun. Some lovely misdirections and images in the word play and at long last we have the correct word to describe the US president.
Haven’t seen the device used in 7d before although the IQ sometimes has the odd letter rotated or mirrored.
Thanks Eccles and Duncan.
Cheers to Duncan for the thorough blog, and all who commented.
Enjoyed this immensely so thanks all round but Stoke-on-Trent is a city surely….