Eccles has provided a good Wednesday puzzle today
There is one clue where I have struggled with the definition and that is at 20 down. I am confident of REMOVE being the entry , but I don’t understand where the definition is in this clue. Almost certainly, I’m missing something obvious.. The best I can come up with is that ‘distance’ can mean ‘reserve’ and REMOVE is the opposite [on the contrary] of ‘reserve’ in another sense.
Otherwise the wordplay and definitions were unambiguous.
I like Eccles surfaces. The best example for me today was the clue to DUTCH TREAT (5 down)
Wednesday’s puzzles tend to be gimmick and message free and that seems to be the case again today.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Put off job by somebody in the Police Department (9) |
POST (job) + (ONE [somebody] contained in [in] PD [Police Department]) POST P (ONE) D |
POSTPONED (put off to a future date) |
| 8 | Implement termination of shiatsu, and of stretching endlessly (7) |
U (last letter of [termination of] SHIATSU + TENSILE (of or relating to stretching) excluding the final letter (endlessly) E U TENSIL |
UTENSIL (any useful or ceremonial implement, tool or vessel.) |
| 10 | About to eat, wife downed booze (3,4) |
RE (with reference to; about) + (DINE [eat] containing [downed] W [wife]) RE D (W) INE |
RED WINE (alcoholic drink; booze) |
| 11 | TV presenters swapping roles with Queen’s drink carriers (9) |
DEC ANT (the ubiquitous TV presenters are usually presented as ANT & DEC, but here we have them the other way round [swapping roles]) + ER‘S (Elizabeth Regina’s ; monarch’s) DEC ANT ERS |
DECANTERS (ornamental stoppered bottles for holding liquor poured from the original bottle; drink carriers) |
| 12 | Expelled, fought with Lance, but not Jack (6) |
JOUSTED (fought with a lance) excluding (but not) J (Jack) OUSTED |
OUSTED (expelled) |
| 15 | This evening, functioning drunk is going outside (7) |
TIGHT (drunk) containing (going outside) ON (working; functioning) T (ON) IGHT |
TONIGHT (this evening) |
| 16 | One’s lager supply results in one producing memorable phrases (9) |
Anagram of (supply; from supple) ONE‘S LAGER SLOGANEER* |
SLOGANEER (one whose job is to produce memorable phrases) |
| 19 | Waiter at alfresco meal? (9) |
SCAVENGER (cryptic definition of person who waits, searches for and gathers discarded items from garbage bins etc, i.e. one who waits around outside [al fresco] to try to find a meal from scraps) SCAVENGER |
SCAVENGER – see definition in the word play |
| 20 | Stay to consume university leftovers (7) |
RESIDE (stay) containing (to consume) U (university) RESID (U) E |
RESIDUE (that which is left) |
| 22 | Bride upset by small junk (6) |
Anagram of (upset) BRIDE + S (small) DEBRI* S |
DEBRIS (rubbish; junk) |
| 23 | Sailing equipment that might be seen at parent’s toga party (9) |
MA (mother; parent) + IN SHEET (wearing a toga for example) MA IN SHEET |
MAINSHEET (rope attached to the lower corner of the mainsail; sailing equipment) |
| 25 | Greek suffering, with Leander oddly absent (7) |
HELL (suffering) + ENE (letters 2, 4 and 6 [even letters only; oddly absent] of LEANDER) HELL ENE |
HELLENE (a Greek) |
| 27 | Convict protected by disgusting settlement (7) |
LAG (convict) contained in (protected by) VILE (disgusting) VIL (LAG) E |
VILLAGE (settlement) |
| 28 | Party with rector during the hours of darkness? Absolutely! (9) |
DO (party) + W (with) + (R [rector] contained in [during] NIGHT [hours of darkness]) DO W N (R) IGHT |
DOWNRIGHT (utterly; absolutely) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Both slow mover’s times are superseded by Penny, a swimmer (8) |
TORTOISE (slow moving animal) with both Ts (times) replaced by (superseded by) Ps (penny) PORPOISE |
PORPOISE (a member of a short-snouted genus of the dolphin family; swimmer) |
| 2 | Heads of state are disproportionally unhappy (3) |
SAD (first letters of [heads of] each of STATE, ARE and DISPROPORTIONALLY) SAD |
SAD (unhappy) |
| 3 | Jordan sensitive about possible effect of competition in the retail sector (5,3) |
PRICE (reference Katie PRICE [born 1978], sometimes known as Jordan, English media personality, model, author, and businesswoman) + RAW (sensitive) reversed (about) PRICE WAR< |
PRICE WAR (form of commercial competition in which firms competing in the same market successively lower their prices in order to secure a larger share of that market) |
| 4 | Require massage, reportedly (4) |
NEED (sounds like [reportedly] KNEAD [massage]) NEED |
NEED (require) |
| 5 | Most of information about Utrecht wrong – everyone contributes here (5,5) |
DATA (information) excluding the final letter (most of) A containing (about) an anagram of [wrong] UTRECHT) D (UTCH TRE*) AT |
DUTCH TREAT (an occasion [eg a meal or an entertainment] when each person pays for himself or herself) Utrecht is in Holland which adds to the surface reading, but the fact is not really relevant to the wordplay |
| 6 | Control hips – they support 50% of core (4,2) |
RE (2 of the 4 [50%] letters of CORE) + IN (in fashion; hip) + IN (in fashion; hip) This being a down entry, the letters RE are supported by the letters in the two occurrences of hip [hips]) RE IN IN |
REIN IN (check; control) |
| 7 | Suffer defeat in court in private (6) |
LOSE (suffer defeat) contained in (in) CT (court) C (LOSE) T |
CLOSET (as an adjective, private) |
| 9 | Sweet delight met with snigger when excited (4,6) |
Anagram of (when excited) MET and SNIGGER STEM GINGER* |
STEM GINGER (superior grade of crystallized or preserved ginger; sweet delight) |
| 13 | Fills cash register without moving at all (5-5) |
STOCKS (fills) + TILL (cash register) STOCK S TILL |
STOCK STILL (utterly unmoving) |
| 14 | Went on a terrible date (10) |
PER (a) + SEVERE (terrible) + D (date) PER SEVERE D |
PERSEVERED (continued steadfastly; went on) |
| 17 | Partygoer‘s wake-up call I ignored, ending in disaster (8) |
REVEILLE (sound of the drum or bugle at daybreak to awaken soldiers) excluding (ignored) I + R (last letter of [ending in] DISASTER) REVELLE R |
REVELLER (partygoer) |
| 18 | Chance to blossom right out, getting confident on vacation (8) |
PROSPER (blossom) excluding (out) R (right) + CT (letters remaining in CONFIDENT when the central letters ONFIDEN are removed [on vacation]) PROSPE CT |
PROSPECT (chance of success or advancement) |
| 20 | Theorem overestimating stopping distance? On the contrary (6) |
REMOVE (hidden word in [stopping] THEOREM OVERESTIMATING) REMOVE |
REMOVE – I don’t understand where the definition is in this clue. Almost certainly, I’m missing something obvious.. The best I can come up with is that ‘distance’ can mean ‘reserve’ and REMOVE is the opposite [on the contrary] or ‘reserve’ in another sense. |
| 21 | Terrible yen for lecturer results in consternation (6) |
DISMAL (terrible) with Y [yen] replacing [for] L [lecturer] DISMAY |
DISMAY (consternation) |
| 24 | During this, watch cold disappearing somehow (4) |
Anagram of (somehow) WATCH excluding (disappearing) C (cold) THAW* |
THAW (to become so warm as to melt ice; make cold disappear) |
| 26 | One may be beaten for one grand (3) |
E.G. (for example; for one) + G (grand) EG G |
EGG (something that can be beaten [with a whisk]) |
In 20d I think the definition is just “distance”, as in “at one remove”. “On the contrary” indicates that REMOVE is “stopping” (i.e. filling) “Theorem overestimating” rather that vice versa, as the clue says.
Thank you to Eccles for a straightforward midweek crossword I think I agree with Andrew@1 about remove.
Thanks also to Duncan
This was good fun with nice cluing and good surfaces throughout. 16a is one of those words that I find very grating but which seem somehow to have found their way into our language. I too agree with Andrew about 20d.
14d was my favourite with 5d in second place.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Thanks to everyone who has come up with what is clearly the correct parsing of 20 down. Gaufrid suggested it to me as well.
For some reason I was fixated on THEOREM OVERSTATING exerting a grip on [stopping] REMOVE rather than the other way round that everyone else has seen, so I had difficulty with the ‘on the contrary’ bit in the clue.
20 down, REMOVE: my ageing Chambers Dictionary gives “step or degree of remoteness or indirectness” – hence “at one remove”. That’s good enough, isn’t it? (I hope so, as I’ve been boasting that I solved AND parsed everything.)
Enjoyable puzzle from Eccles in which 14d topped my list with 13d getting a mention for being something that supermarket till operators seem to have down to a fine art.
Thanks to him and to Duncan for the blog – such a relief to discover that even our bloggers can’t ‘see the wood for trees’ at times!
Certainly enjoyable, but we needed help with 6dn and 19ac. CoD was 1dn – simple but brilliant!
Amusing coincidence that John yesterday got Katy Perry and Katie Price confused and Katie Price turns up today.
Cheers to Duncan for the usual comprehensive blog, and to all commenters. Geoff, I reckon so, well done.