Eccles has produced today’s puzzle, offering me a rare opportunity to blog an example of this compiler’s work.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, which I consider to be pitched at exactly the right level in terms of difficulty for a mid-week puzzle, in that I solved it mainly in one session and needed to come back to it briefly to solve the last couple of clues.
There was much to be relished in this puzzle: 12 made me smile; I liked 17 and 26, both for their surfaces; and 8 and 27, both for sheer ingenuity. My favourite overall, however, was 15, since it took me ever such a long time to spot the anagram in what was a clue with such a smooth surface reading. On the other hand, the Swiss town in 9 and the adjective in the wordplay at 19 are perhaps a tad obscure for a daily cryptic, although both clues were solvable without this solver at least knowing either!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ORCHESTRA PIT | Chorister apt to be confused if found here
*(CHORISTER APT); “to be confused” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit. in that a chorister would not expect to be physically located in an orchestra pit! |
| 09 | DIVERSION | American loon going to Swiss town provides amusement
DIVER (=American loon, i.e. aquatic bird) + SION (=Swiss town, capital of Valais canton) |
| 10 | ALIBI | Story of a large wading bird with no tail
A + L (=large, of sizes) + IBI<s> (=wading bird; “with no tail” means last letter dropped) |
| 11 | RESIGN | Quit, or extend contract?
To “re-sign”, i.e. to sign again, could mean to extend a contract |
| 12 | ASTONISH | Surprise? Part of Birmingham is hot
ASTON (=part of Birmingham) + IS + H (=hot, on taps) |
| 13 | YARROW | Concern about consuming a flowering plant
A in YRROW (WORRY=concern; “about” indicates reversal) |
| 15 | NIGHT OWL | Good candidate for job involving late work with long shifts
*(WITH LONG); “shifts” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | PEDESTAL | Millipede’s talent is protecting foot
Hidden (“is protecting”) in “milliPEDE’S TALent” |
| 19 | BREEZE | Jolly spiffing run, heading west into light wind
BEEZER (=jolly spiffing, in Scottish slang); “run (=R) heading west” means letter “r” moves to an earlier position in the word |
| 21 | RELISHED | Fancied mum in lounge, wearing red
[SH (=mum, as in quiet) in LIE (=lounge, as verb)] in RED |
| 23 | WALLOP | Knock supporting structure over with power
WALL (=supporting structure) + O (=over, from cricket) + P (=power, in physics) |
| 26 | DINGO | Wild dog fending off bears
Hidden (“bears”) in “fenDING Off” |
| 27 | ISLE OF MAN | The proof that John Donne was wrong?
John Donne famously said that “No man is an island”, the very existence of the Isle of Man might cryptically disprove! |
| 28 | OSTENTATIOUS | Extravagant, very large marquee, say, at Oxford University is overwhelming
OS (=very large, i.e. outsize) + TENT (=marquee, say) + AT + [OU (=Oxford University, as in OUP) in IS] |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ORDERLY | Reserve lovely skirts for regular
ORDER (=reserve, book) + L<ovel>Y (“skirts” means first and last letters only) |
| 02 | CAVES | Young animals left out in holes on the ground
CA<l>VES (=young animals); “left (=L) out” means letter “l” is dropped |
| 03 | EGREGIOUS | Twice, say, accepting Republican promises of payment – very bad
[R (=Republican) in EGEG (E.G.=say, for example; “twice” means x2)] + IOUS (=promises of payment) |
| 04 | TWIT | Taunt Dickens character wanting seconds
TWI<s>T (=Dickens character, i.e. Oliver Twist); “wanting seconds (=S)” means letter “s” is dropped |
| 05 | AGNOSTIC | I got scan to be reviewed, being sceptical
*(I GOT SCAN); “to be reviewed” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | IDAHO | State “I date a prostitute”
I + D (=date) + A + HO (=prostitute, in slang) |
| 07 | SILICONE | E. coli’s in stew, which might be cause of bust-up?
*(E. COLI’S IN); “stew” is anagram indicator; cryptically, silicone could be the “cause of a bust-up” in that it is used in breast enhancement surgery! |
| 08 | WITHAL | Nevertheless, how Bill ran America from 1993 to 2001
Bill (Clinton) ran America with Al (Gore)! |
| 14 | REDOLENT | To undergo a second period of abstinence is evocative
To “re-do Lent” would be to “undergo a second period of abstinence”! |
| 16 | HEREABOUT | Listen to a fight on the radio in the general vicinity
Homophone (“on the radio”) of “hear (=listen to) a bout (=fight)” |
| 17 | BASELINE | Reprehensible row in back of court
BASE (=reprehensible, immoral) + LINE (=line, rank); the “court” of the definition could be a tennis court |
| 18 | PARODY | Poke fun at staff without wages? On the contrary
ROD (=staff, stick) in PAY (=wages) |
| 20 | EXPANDS | Waxes former girlfriend, quietly and slowly at first
EX (=former girlfriend) + P (=quietly, i.e. the instruction piano in music) + AND + S<lowly> (“at first” means first letter only); to wax is to grow, expand (of e.g. the moon) |
| 22 | SHOES | Reportedly drives away in people carriers
Homophone (“reportedly”) of “shoos” (=drives away) |
| 24 | LIMBO | Dance down under?
Cryptic definition: a limbo is a dance in which people have to dance under a bar which is gradually lowered |
| 25 | SLOT | Drunk around start of lunch time
L<unch> (“start of” means first letter only) in SOT (=(a) drunk); a slot is a designated time in a schedule |
This was well worth the fight with the on-line system to print a copy – the crossword I enjoyed the most of all of today’s offerings – Lots to enjoy, I did mark several with stars but the gold medal has to go to 7d
Thanks to Eccles for the great fun and to RR for the explanations
The somewhat tougher end of Eccles’ spectrum I thought but very enjoyable.
Tops for me were John Donne being wrong and the cause of bust-up, with a mention for how Bill ran America.
Thanks to Eccles for a great puzzle and to RR for the blog. Wonder why the reviews are running a day late?
Apologies – it’s me who’s got ahead of myself. Very unusual occurrence I can assure you!
Struggled with this one, but got there in the end with a little bit of letter revelation for my last 2, BASELINE and BREEZE. Couldn’t see the parsing for BREEZE, so thanks RR. Liked NIGHT OWL and WITHAL. I had to look up what John Donne was famous for before 27a hove into view. Great clue! Thanks Eccles for a great workout, and RR for the explanations.
We got most of this but had to resort to a wordfinder for BASELINE, our LOI – we were fixated on ‘reprehensible’ being the definition. We got BREEZE because it couldn’t be anything else but we couldn’t parse it. NIGHT OWL we thought was just a rather loose cryptic definition until we spotted the anagram fodder. We got DIVERSION easily enough – Tees visited the same Swiss town at the end of April! The ‘bust-up’ in 7dn was ingenious, though it evoked a groan one we got the answer. ISLE OF MAN was a write-in for us – a bit of an old chestnut, we thought.
Lots to like, though. Thanks, Eccles and RatkojaRiku.
Well 7D makes a change from ‘bust down reason’ Sue!
Many thanks, RR, and also to all commenters.