Eccles made his debut in the Indy just over a year ago, but it’s the first time I’ve had the chance to blog one of his puzzles. I enjoyed it very much, especially for the well-crafted surfaces and the inclusion of a couple of clever anagrams.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Excellent performer in school play?
CLASS ACT
A cd cum dd.
5 Kind of iron age bird
PIGEON
A charade of PIG for a ‘kind of iron’ and EON. You copyright infringers know what’s coming. Only trouble is that feral pigeons are even more ugly than starlings, so the obligatory Pierre bird link shows you a fancier’s variety, the fantail, which is a lot more striking.
9 Uneducated Italian woman rejected at first, not disheartened
IGNORANT
A charade of [S]IGNORA and N[O]T.
10 Someone who doesn’t turn up as meal currently doesn’t have starter
NO-SHOW
A charade of NOSH and [N]OW. Nice surface.
12 Derelict cell refashioned as multiple occupancy accommodation
HALL OF RESIDENCE
(CELL REFASHIONED)* Good spot for the anagram and another good surface reading. I am warming to this puzzle already.
13 I say, that is small footwear
WELLIES
A charade of WELL!, IE for id est, and S.
14 Get engaged in game show
MESH
Hidden in gaME SHow.
18 Regularly indulged in lounge
IDLE
The odd letters (‘regularly’) of InDuLgEd.
19 Public official’s first love is moving east to become singer
CROONER
Eccles is inviting you to take CORONER as your ‘public official’ and move the first O or ‘love’ eastwards by one space. Bing stayed in bed during the construction of this clue.
23 Brake discs avert disaster, but passengers in critical condition
BACK-SEAT DRIVERS
(BRAKE DISCS AVERT)* with ‘disaster’ as the anagrind. I told you you were driving too close to that car in front.
24 Large wave of misfortune in part of Hull
BILLOW
An insertion of ILL in BOW. The ‘hull’ is the one on a boat rather than the capitalised one on the Humber.
25 Straddle Alton Towers’ star attraction?
BESTRIDE
The Staffordshire theme park’s ‘star attraction’ would be its BEST RIDE, nesspa?
26 This evening, son’s working out in pantihose
TIGHTS
‘This evening’ plus ‘son’ gives you TONIGHTS, and if you take out ON for ‘working’ and take the apostrophe s as ‘has’, you’ve got your answer. If ever I were to spell it, I’d probably write pantyhose. Pantihose is mainly American English usage, I think, but I am no expert on these matters.
27 Was among the spectators perhaps as a race finished
ATTENDED
A charade of A, TT for the Isle of Man ‘race’ and ENDED. Do we need ‘perhaps’ here?
Down
1 Oddly, collie chewed half a chestnut
CLICHÉ
A charade of the first, third and fifth letters of ‘collie’ and CHE[WED].
2 Records Pavlova leftovers being emptied out
ANNALS
A charade of ANNA Pavlova, the Russian Prima Ballerina and L[eftover]S. And since you ask, the meringue-based dessert is named after her.
3 Absolutely right, argued the anguished
SORROWED
A charade of SO, R and ROWED.
4 Dictator in corner at folk dancing
CONTROL FREAK
(CORNER AT FOLK)*
6 Princess‘s confession of drug-dealing
ISOLDE
The princess from mediaeval mythology whose ill-fated love for Tristan has been retold many times. Ecstasy wasn’t invented back then, but if it had been, she might have fessed up to Tristan: I SOLD E.
7 Engineered, and hence improved
ENHANCED
(AND HENCE)*
8 Heard naked girl in capital city
NEW DELHI
I have a feeling that I have seen this recently in Another Place, but it’s a good clue so deserves another outing. It’s a homophone of NUDE ELLIE.
11 A rush to acquire drug which gives heavenly bodies
ASTEROID BELT
An insertion of STEROID in A BELT.
15 The result of one’s girlfriends meeting gradually
BIT-BY-BIT
A whimsical way of suggesting that if you were lucky, or stupid, enough to have two girlfriends and they met, they would be BIT BY BIT. The term is derogatory slang for a young woman, more often heard in BIT OF FLUFF, or BIT OF SKIRT.
16 Members of GMB lack legitimacy for one refusing to strike
BLACKLEG
Another good surface reading. Hidden in GMB LACK LEGitimacy.
17 Scoff at ball girl entertaining heads of international tennis tournament
BELITTLE
An insertion of the first letters of ‘international tennis tournament’ in BELLE of the ball.
20 Arrange official document, being penniless
ASSORT
[P]ASS[P]ORT. ‘Penniless’ as an instruction to remove two Ps works for me; others may disagree.
21 Stop time
PERIOD
A dd.
22 Rise up like church leaders in 8
ASCEND
A charade of AS for ‘like’, CE and ND for the first letters of New Delhi, the solution to 8dn.
Many thanks to the freckled one for this morning’s puzzle.
I really enjoyed this; thanks to Eccles + Pierre.
Great surfaces throughout and I especially liked the embed for BLACKLEG.
The two word dd is always a potential hand grenade and it took me yonks to see PERIOD.
I liked PERIOD too-in fact a very welcome puzzle after seeing England humbled.
Thanks Eccles and Pierre.
A fun time is guaranteed with Eccles, and I liked too much of this to get listing. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to spend a long PERIOD pondering 21d. Thanks to Eccles and Pierre.
Great crossword. Thought the anagrams for BACK-SEAT DRIVERS & CONTROL FREAK were excellent and the clue for ASTEROID BELT was also nicely constructed. Took me some time to get PERIOD, my LOI.
Thanks Eccles, Pierre
Cracking anagrams, generally v enjoyable. The number of times I counted the letters in Franco …
What others have said. Thanks, Eccles and Pierre.
I enjoyed this puzzle. I especially liked CONTROL FREAK and BACK SEAT DRIVERS. I had to write down the crossers for 21d before seeing PERIOD. I tried to fit IMELDA and IMOND? into my LOI, 6d before the penny dropped. CLICHE was my FOI. Liked CLASS ACT too. Thanks Eccles and Pierre.
All went in fairly quickly although 21dn required a word search – just couldn’t see it.
Nude Ellie turned up in a Saturday Indie puzzle earlier this month. Stuck in my mind.
Loved almost all of it, Eccles – 1&25a, 8d and many more.
However, 15d earned you a big black mark – not likely to attract even one girlfriend to your side!
Not to worry, might be some good films on TV this Christmas…….
Thanks for the decrypt, Pierre – Eccles will have plenty of free time to bring more goodies for you to blog.
The Indy loves its crudities does it not. But this is derog, so not a fave. That said, a finely-constructed puzzle, and worthy of one’s attentions. In The Guardian today we had it far too easy.
Thank you Eccles, and blogger Pierre, for the bail-out.
Apologies. I had the same reaction to 15Dn when checking and sought a replacement clue, but then cocked up the amendment – it seems my instincts were right, but my competence less so.
Cheers for the excellent blog and to all who commented,
Apologies from me for the misjudgement in 15d. I did look it up to check when I wrote it, and neither Collins nor Chambers make any mention of derogatory or offensive, (I now see ‘bit of fluff’ is listed as ‘patronizing’) but I am allowed to make my own judgements and obviously failed. (I’ll add the replacement clue to my store!)
I saw Anax’s clue the other week too, also Harry had crooner clued similarly recently (this puzzle was delayed to avoid it being the same week as that), and I saw assort clued the same way somewhere too, so it happens, unfortunately. At least I can claim that the puzzle was submitted quite a while ago.
Thanks to Eccles for a good start to the week – we hope the bonfire BBQ was as enjoyable as our solve.
It’s all been said already – we have been in London all day and have only just completed the puzzle. Thanks for your comment Eimi – always good to get the background to some of the puzzles!
Thanks Pierre for the blog – pity the bird link was for a b…… pigeon.