A fun mid-week challenge from Eccles today
As we have come to expect, Eccles has given us a really enjoyable puzzle with plenty of great clues and a well-connected grid. Only one new word for us (at 4d).
Across
1 Fool bathes with bloodsucker (8)
DIPSTICK
DIPS (bathes) TICK (bloodsucker)
5 Suddenly burst into appreciative noise when taken from behind during sex (6)
IRRUPT
PURR (appreciative noise) reversed or ‘taken from behind’ in or ‘during’ IT (sex)
8 Inebriated naked dash (3)
RUN
dRUNk (inebriated) without the outer letters or ‘naked’
9 Cryptic clue originally “It’ll leap about across India” (10)
ELLIPTICAL
An anagram of C (first or ‘original’ letter of ‘clue’) and IT’LL LEAP (anagrind is ‘about’) round or ‘across’ I (India in the phonetic alphabet)
10 Drugs making one crazy (8)
CRACKPOT
CRACK and POT (drugs)
11 Cook leftover food, ultimately, for what? To consume (6)
REHEAT
R (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of ‘for’) EH (what?) EAT (consume)
12 A bit constrained by Riot Act (4)
IOTA
Hidden in or ‘constrained by’ rIOT Act
14 When optimists buy ammunition to take aim (4,6)
BULL MARKET
BULLET (ammunition) round or ‘taking’ MARK (aim)
17 Some splats can result if solution is drunk (5,5)
EPSOM SALTS
An anagram of SOME SPLATS – anagrind is ‘can result’
20 Returning after the expected time with other people (2,2)
ET AL
LATE (after the expected time) reversed or ‘returning’
23 I’m frightened to go round ancient city area, providing I’ve found it (6)
EUREKA
EEK (‘I’m frightened’) round UR (ancient city) + A (area)
24 Member of the aristocracy jokes in pubs (8)
BARONESS
ONES (jokes) in BARS (pubs)
25 Beginning to believe what my poorer crosswords do reveals bad spelling? (5,5)
BLACK MAGIC
B (first letter or ‘beginning’ of ‘believe’) LACK MAGIC (‘what poorer crosswords do’) – we haven’t noticed any of Eccles’ puzzles to date fitting this description!
26 Bird doesn’t finish making bird sound (3)
COO
COOt (bird) without the last letter or ‘not finishing’
27 One who deals in Communist paintings, perhaps, in revolution (6)
TRADER
RED (Communist) ART (paintings) all reversed or ‘in revolution’
28 Under no circumstances worry lady on vacation about onset of cholera (8)
SCARCELY
SCARE (worry) LadY (without the middle letters or ‘on vacation’) round C (first letter or ‘onset’ of ‘cholera’)
Down
1 I have to follow terrible court order (9)
DIRECTIVE
I’VE (I have) following DIRE (terrible) CT (court)
2 Standard necklace has centrepiece of granite rather than diamonds (7)
PENNANT
PENdANT (necklace) with ‘N’ (middle letter of ‘granite’) in place of the ‘d’ (diamonds)
3 Time wasted by son; little changes (6)
TWEAKS
T (time) WEAK (wasted) S (son)
4 Largely informal seminars (9)
COLLOQUIA
COLLOQUIAl (informal) without the last letter or ‘largely’ – a new word for us
5 Can cycling muck up acting? (7)
INTERIM
TIN (can) with the first letter moved to the last or ‘cycling’ + MIRE (muck) reversed or ‘up’
6 Perhaps Arab people start to regret wearing stockings (9)
RACEHORSE
RACE (people) + R (first letter or ‘start’ to ‘regret’) in or ‘wearing’ HOSE (stockings)
7 Friends with webbed feet (7)
PALMATE
PAL and MATE (friends)
13 Previously mentioned ideas for a novel (9)
AFORESAID
An anagram of IDEAS FOR A – anagrind is ‘novel’
15 Lacking energy, teach girl to dance (9)
LETHARGIC
An anagram of TEACH GIRL – anagrind is ‘to dance’
16 Stroll around in river? I don’t believe it (4,5)
TALL STORY
An anagram of STROLL (anagrind is ‘around’) in TAY (river)
18 Tradesman‘s ideal job finally about to turn up (7)
PLUMBER
PLUM (ideal) B (last or ‘final’ letter of ‘job’) + RE (about) reversed or ‘turned up’
19 Male in bed with queen, getting kiss (7)
SMACKER
M (male) in SACK (bed) + ER (queen)
21 From time to time, saucily covered in, say, maple syrup (7)
TREACLE
Alternate letters (‘from time to time’) of sAuCiLy in TREE (‘say, maple’)
22 Prisoner and scoundrel agree (6)
CONCUR
CON (convict – prisoner) CUR (scoundrel)
Thanks to Eccles and B&J. Most enjoyable as usual. EPSOM SALTS in particular v good, I thought.
I could have looked at all the crossers for 4d until Christmas and not got COLLOQUIA so a DNF. Boo.
All the usual good fun from Eccles with 17a & 25a my joint favourites.
I was very surprised to see in Chambers that one of the meanings of 28a is “not at all”; I have only ever thought of this as meaning “hardly ever”. I was in the same boat as Baerchen @1 regarding 4d.
Many thanks to Eccles and to B&J.
Loved this. Lots to laugh about. Probably as an ex-academic, COLLOQUIA was quite easy for me. I can picture Eccles having a snigger when he came up with the clues for IRRUPT & EPSOM SALTS, the latter also being my favourite.
My only query was the definition in 28a. Surely SCARCELY means “hardly at all” not “under no circumstances”. Also “From time to time” in 21a didn’t quite work for “regularly” but that’s maybe nitpicking.
Many thanks to Eccles and Bertandjoyce.
RD @2. We crossed. Just checked my Chambers – Live and learn.
I really enjoyed this. Worth doing for the &littish EPSOM SALTS alone, with the ‘Some splats can result’ (it doesn’t repay thinking about too much and sorry to point out the bleedin’ obvious, but just in case you haven’t already, read it with ‘can’ as a noun – Yuk!) my favourite bit. I liked DIPSTICK, which to me is an affectionate term for a ‘Fool’. Same surprise about SCARCELY as others.
I agree with B&J that Eccles’ concern that his/her crosswords might LACK MAGIC is misplaced. They always have some sparkle for me.
Thanks to Eccles and to B&J
I’m another who questioned 28a and I was also unfamiliar with ONES = jokes. Learnt something new in 4d but will very likely forget it!
Top three for me were 10a plus 6&7d.
Thanks to Eccles for an enjoyable puzzle and to B&J for the blog.
Thanks Eccles and BnJ
‘Scarcely’ in the sense of ‘not at all’ works dependent on context, I think.
“Did you enjoy the play?” “Scarcely” implies to me no enjoyment at all, not a modicum.
Simon @7 ie a polite way of saying “no it was total crap”
Very enjoyable with some good anagrams and other amusing stuff, particularly BLACK MAGIC. Needed all the crossers for COLLOQUIA, my LOI. Also liked EPSOM SALTS.
Agree that “scarcely” can effectively mean “under no circumstances” or “never”, I think generally used as a mildly sarcastic understatement.
Thanks to Eccles for the diverting puzzle and to Bertandjoyce for the typically excellent blog.
An enjoyable solve again from Eccles. We smiled at the surface of 5ac and laughed out loud at 17ac. But we took ages to see CRACKPOT and the crossing TWEAKS – a bit of a 23ac moment when we got them. We knew COLLOQUIA, though. If there’s a CoD it has to be the 13dn 17ac.
Jane@6: ‘ones’ for ‘jokes’ is im the sense of ‘have you heard the one about …?’
Thanks, Eccles and B&J
Brilliant, especially 5a.
Being a science conference veteran, colloquial was straight forward.
Great stuff many thanks eccles and b&j
An appreciative noise, naturally, for IRRUPT, and a smile at the RUN. An “eww!” for EPSOM SALTS, but very clever!
My new (or more likely forgotten) word of the day was PALMATE.
Many thanks Eccles and Bertandjoyce.
Thanks to B&J for the usual fine blog, and to all commenters. Hovis, I did have a smile at those two, but the irrupt one was partly relief, as it was the last to be clued and I had been struggling a bit to get anything sensible.