Eccles is standing in for Dac again this week, and it’s fallen to us to blog the puzzle, as we did in January.
We found this an enjoyable, straightforward solve, although we did need to check the personalities referred to in 25ac and 1d.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | Butterfly toe is a peculiar gift from the French (6,2,7) | |
| STATUE OF LIBERTY | An anagram of BUTTERFLY TOE IS A – anagrind is ‘peculiar’ | |
| 10 | “Ask the Family” – it’s shown at the end of October (7) | |
| PUMPKIN | PUMP (ask) KIN (family) | |
| 12 | Very old tin can somehow used to store sheep’s heart (7) | |
| ANCIENT | An anagram of TIN CAN (anagrind is ‘somehow) around or ‘storing’ E (middle or ‘heart’ of sheep) | |
| 13 | Gutless academic locks women in theatre (9) | |
| ACTRESSES | First and last letters of A |
|
| 14 | Instrument brought back from Bratislava (5) | |
| SITAR | Hidden and reversed or ‘brought back’ in BRATISlava | |
| 15 | Get assessed and shouted at (7) | |
| BERATED | BE RATED (get assessed) | |
| 18 | Perhaps the Po floods Italy and a part of coastal France (7) | |
| RIVIERA | RIVER (Po perhaps) around or ‘flooding’ I (Italy) and A | |
| 21 | Exhorts Scottish football organisation to abandon extravagant spending sprees (5) | |
| URGES | ||
| 23 | Walked drunkenly, not in a straight line (9) | |
| STAGGERED | Double definition | |
| 25 | “Greetings, Mr Yorke. Everything’s beginning to strike a chord?” (3,4) | |
| HIT HOME | HI (Greetings) THOM (Thom Yorke is a band member of Radiohead) E (beginning letter of ‘everything’) | |
| 26 | Regularly exchanges broken toaster (7) | |
| ROTATES | An anagram of TOASTER (anagrind is ‘broken’) | |
| 29 | Establishment figures discovered at home with girlfriend leading to broken hearts (8,7) | |
| FOUNDING FATHERS | FOUND (discovered) IN (at home) GF (girlfriend) and an anagram of HEARTS (anagrind is ‘broken’) | |
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | Quickly, like Tony McCoy (4) | |
| ASAP | AS for ‘like’ went in easily and we guessed the answer then from the definition. We needed a search to find out that the jockey Tony McCoy is also known as AP McCoy, short for Anthony Peter. | |
| 2 | Injury observed in hospital department (4) | |
| HARM | H (hospital) ARM (department) | |
| 3 | Most gloomy kid set off without us (8) | |
| DUSKIEST | An anagram of KID SET (anagrind is ‘off’) round or ‘without’ US | |
| 4 | Contacts Mark and Dot? (6) | |
| POINTS | POINTS (mark and dot are both points) | |
| 5 | Charlie relies on Queen’s make-up remover (8) | |
| CLEANSER | C (Charlie) LEANS (relies) ER (Queen) | |
| 6 | Former Eurovision winners swear out loud? You can count on it (6) | |
| ABACUS | ABA (sounds like (‘out loud’) ‘Abba’ – Eurovision winners in 1974) CUS (sounds like ‘cuss’ – swear) | |
| 7 | Leaders of Rangers Supporters Trust reported someone who might be charged in Providence? (8) | |
| ARRESTEE | ARRESTEE – sounds like (‘reported’) R S T the first letters or ‘ leaders’ of Rangers Supports Trust | |
| 8 | Syria, the troubled state of frenzied emotion (8) | |
| HYSTERIA | An anagram of SYRIA THE (anagrind is ‘troubled’) | |
| 11 | Article taken from immoral pawnbroker (5) | |
| UNCLE | UNCLE |
|
| 15 | Abruptly reject shrub as the answer? (5,3) | |
| BRUSH OFF | You have to see the answer as the clue as an anagram of ‘shrub’ being BRUSH, with the anagrind being ‘OFF’ | |
| 16 | Just shocking to be topless (8) | |
| RIGHTFUL | ||
| 17 | Spots nuclear research centre in Norfolk town (8) | |
| DISCERNS | CERN (nuclear research station) in DISS (Norfolk town) | |
| 19 | Grow destructive? Get a teddy to cuddle (8) | |
| VEGETATE | Hidden (‘cuddled’) in ‘destructiVE GET A TEddy’ | |
| 20 | District magistrate always rejected taking ecstasy (5) | |
| REEVE | EVER (always) reversed or ‘rejected’ around or ‘taking’ E (ecstasy) | |
| 22 | How Sesame Street might describe scimitars and sabres? (6) | |
| SWORDS | Sesame Street is a programme for children and they may describe words beginning with S as S-WORDS | |
| 24 | Without purpose, I’d fart about (6) | |
| ADRIFT | An anagram of I’D FART (anagrind is ‘about’) | |
| 27 | Supports Middlesbrough based on this (4) | |
| TEES | Middlesbrough is situated on the river TEES | |
| 28 | Frame made from small tree (4) | |
| SASH | S (small) ASH (tree) | |
This was a quick and relatively easy solve, apart from being unsure of the parsings of ASAP and DISCERNED.
Favourite was SWORDS.
Thanks Eccles and B&J.
Pleasant midweek solve with nothing too complicated though I didn’t know the people referred to in 25a and 1d either and I was stuck on POINTS at the end. I liked BRUSH OFF and ‘…the nuclear research centre in Norfolk town’.
Thank you to B&J and Eccles.
Thanks to Eccles and to B&J.
Some very nice, agreeably off-the-wall touches. The French should ask for their butterfly toe etc. back, if you ask me.
My first thought for 25a was footballer Dwight of that Ilk, which got me thinking of dear old Wilfrid Hyde-White for some reason.
Good puzzle, took me a long while to solve the top half. Ignorance of French gifts didn’t help – had no idea that’s where it came from. I had no idea about Mr Yorke or Sesame Street but the crossers and definitions gave me what I needed.
15d is excellent, also 6d. And an 8-letter hidden is impressive But 7d doesn’t work for me – surely the answer is pronounced with the A as in CAT not as in CAR, and not much inflection on the middle syllable?
Thanks for the blog and to Eccles
Well done Eccles, another most enjoyable puzzle. Much was reasonably straightforward but there were quite a few bits where pause for thought was needed. I liked HYSTERIA, ACTRESSES, PUMPKIN, and more. Looking forward to the next one.
Thanks also B&J
I didn’t like 7D either but forgave it as 24D made me chuckle.
I’m always amazed at what people do and don’t know on here.
I’m no fan of horse racing but as AP McCoy was champion jockey for 20 consecutive seasons I’m amazed he’s unknown to some.
Just shows I guess.
Nice and easy stuff again today. A PB was on the cards for me by a country mile, but I foiled meself taking ages to see 4d. No particular COD, just lots of nice stuff so thanks to Eccles for the puzzle and B&J for the blog.
I’m meant to be on a crossword break, but couldn’t resist this one. I did have to enlist help with Mr McCoy and the Scottish football thingy, but the rest was all very pleasant and not too taxing – perfect for a busy day. 10a made me chuckle, and that was before I ate some for dinner with some good wine and even better company.
Many thanks Eccles, and thanks to to B&J for the blog.
(I meant thanks too … etc. of course – I blame that wine.)
“I’m meant to be on a crossword break” ?
Nah.
Good to see you here [blame it on the wine?, seeing double? 🙂 (= smilie but not in my preview)]
While this puzzle might be ‘easy’ to some (and Hoskins in particular 🙂 [= another smilie]), I do appreciate the surfaces which are a bit more exciting than what we normally get.
I mean, there’s Eurovision, Thom Yorke, Sesame Street, Ask the Family, even Middlesborough (!).
On the other hand, unlike reddevil I do not like clues like 24d very much.
Good stuff, Eccles.
And thanks to B&J.
Smile 🙂 to you too, Sil. (Right number of o’s this time!) Nice to be welcomed here … on the other hand, I fear my plans to concentrate on things other than crosswords for a while might be about to be derailed!
Thanks for the fine blog, B&J, and also to those who took the time to comment. I fully intend to be in the Pitcher and Piano in May – it is about half a mile from my house.