Eccles is now a Wednesday regular in the Independent series and you know that you will invariably get a message- and theme-free crossword with grid entries that are derived from an accessible vocabulary.
There is one clue that confuses me and that is for MARINERS at 7 down. I can’t see how to exclude the B of BRINE from the wordplay. Either that or I am barking up the wrong tree completely in my interpretation of the wordplay. I wondered if the B was related to ‘buried’ but I can’t find a dictionary listing B as an abbreviation for ‘buried’
As ever with Eccles there were some very smooth surfaces. For example the ‘love for a’ in 1 across that tells us to replace A with O, is well hidden. Also ‘peeled’ in 18 across sits well with vegetables, but it is qualifying GRAB to produce the RA. The clue for MIDLANDS was also one that I liked with its use of name-dropping.
I thought for a time the grid might be a pangram but we are short of a J, an X and a Z
My 700th blog
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Superhero with fundamental love for a primate (6,6) |
SPIDERMAN (Superhero) + KEY (fundamental) with O (zero; love score in tennis) replacing (for) the A SPIDER MON KEY |
SPIDER MONKEY (an American monkey of the genus Ateles, with long slender legs and tail; primate) |
| 9 | Bingo ball decomposed in stagnant water (9) |
Anagram of (decomposed) BINGO BALL BILLABONG* |
BILLABONG (a cut-off loop of a river, replenished only by floods; an offshoot from a river [strictly one that does not rejoin it], presumably stagnant between floods) |
| 10 | Pressure dipped at first in Slough (5) |
SWAM (dipped) + P (pressure) SWAM P |
SWAMP (low waterlogged ground; marsh; slough) |
| 11 | Element of truth essentially, in stupid takes (6) |
(IN + DIM [stupid]) contains (takes) U (central letter of [essentially] TRUTH) IN DI (U) M |
INDIUM (a soft malleable silver-white metallic element (symbol In; atomic no 49]) |
| 12 | King departs to hunt big game, an adult animal (8) |
STALK (hunt) excluding (departs) K + LION (example of a big game animal) STAL LION |
STALLION (adult male horse kept for breeding) |
| 13 | Tourists in Penzance stop Eccles going back (6) |
(STEM [stop] + ME [Eccles, the setter]) all reversed (going back) (EM METS)< |
EMMETS (term for tourists in Cornwall [Penzance]) |
| 15 | Reveal chap provided with shocking treatment (8) |
MAN (chap) + IF (provided) + EST (electric shock treatment) MAN IF EST |
MANIFEST (reveal or declare) |
| 18 | Vegetables peeled? Grab plates (8) |
RA (letters remaining in GRAB when the outer letters G and B are stripped off [peeled])+ DISHES (plates) RA DISHES |
RADISHES (vegetables) |
| 19 | Habitual drunk is over drink? It’s 50-50 (4-2) |
SOT (a habitual drunk) reversed (is over) + SUP (drink) TOS< S UP |
TOSS-UP (heads or tails – 50-50 chance) |
| 21 | Kids etc hide (8) |
GOATS (baby GOATS are known as kids) + KIN (family [e.g. other goats) GOATS KIN |
GOATSKIN (skin of the goat; leather; hide) |
| 23 | Queen, say, reveals note (6) |
QU (queen) + AVER (say) QU AVER |
QUAVER (musical note) |
| 26 | Mostly average means of mass communication (5) |
MEDIAN (one of the terms used to describe an ‘ average’ value in a string of numbers, in this case the value middle in position but not usually in magnitude) excluding the final letter (mostly) N MEDIA |
MEDIA (means of mass communication) |
| 27 | Like a song from Cambridge before I left half out (9) |
CANTAB (of Cambridge) + I + LE (2 of 4 letters remaining in LEFT when the other 2 [half] F and T are removed [out]) CANTAB I LE |
CANTABILE (flowing and melodious, like singing; like a song) |
| 28 | Give in and let men off hook (12) |
Anagram of (off) GIVE IN and LET MEN INVEIGLEMENT* |
INVEIGLEMENT (persuasion by cajolery or wheedling; ensnarement; hook) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Peter out of the second team? (7) |
SUB (reserve; second) + SIDE (team) SUB SIDE |
SUBSIDE (diminish; peter out) |
| 2 | Dallied, guided by animalistic urges? (5) |
ID (in psychoanalytic theory, one of the three parts of the personality, being the unconscious mass of primitive energies from which come instincts for the gratification of basic desires for food, sex, etc; animalistic urges) + LED (guided) ID LED |
IDLED (dallied) |
| 3 | Discharges judges; fifty will be replaced by clerks, at first (9) |
EVALUATES (judges) with L (Roman numeral for 50) replaced by (replaced by) C (initial letter of [at first] CLERKS) EVACUATES |
EVACUATES (discharges) |
| 4 | Runs away from fool’s bare bottom (4) |
MORON (fool) excluding (away from) R (runs in cricket scoring notation) MOON |
MOON (display one’s bare bottom) |
| 5 | Patching up bedwear (8) |
Anagram of (up) PATCHING NIGHTCAP* |
NIGHTCAP (item of bedwear) |
| 6 | Frame made by predatory mammal with leaves (5) |
WEASEL (small carnivore with long slender body, furtive and bloodthirsty, eating frogs, birds, mice, etc; any of various related species; predatory mammal) excluding (leaves) W (with) EASEL |
EASEL (frame for supporting a blackboard, a picture during painting, etc) |
| 7 | Space probes discovered salt water buried in planet (8) |
BRINE (salt water) contained in (buried in) MARS (planet) I can’t see how the B is excluded to leave us with RINE MA (RINE) RS |
MARINERS (any of a series of US space probes launched between 1962 and 1971 that sent back photographs and information concerning the surface of Mars and Venus and also studied interplanetary matter) |
| 8 | Way to protect wood instrument (6) |
ST (street; way) containing (to protect) PINE (type of wood) S (PINE) T |
SPINET (musical instrument like a small harpsichord) |
| 14 | Take offence at boys name-dropping in central England (8) |
MIND (object to; take offence at) + LADS (boys) with the N (name) of MIND dropping down the entry (name-dropping) to end up in the middle of LADS MIDLANDS |
MIDLANDS (central England) |
| 16 | I clean out pants to protect against disease (9) |
Anagram of (pants) I CLEAN OUT INOCULATE* |
INOCULATE (to introduce (eg bacteria, a virus) into an organism; to give a mild form of a disease to in this way, especially for the purpose of safeguarding against subsequent infection) |
| 17 | America abandons its health insurance scheme, taking tip from Obama – it’s second rate (8) |
MEDICARE (American health insurance scheme) excluding (abandons) A (America) and then containing (taking) O (first letter of [tip from] OBAMA) MEDI (O) CRE |
MEDIOCRE (middling or average in quality, second rate) |
| 18 | Government, for example, snared by Frost (6) |
EG (for example) contained in (snared by) RIME (frost) R (EG) IME |
REGIME (system of government) |
| 20 | It is a sign powerful Republican must be imprisoned (7) |
R (Republican) contained in (must be imprisoned) POTENT (powerful) PO (R) TENT |
PORTENT (evil omen; it is a sign) |
| 22 | Wife sleeps around, returning to produce offspring? (5) |
(NAPS [sleeps] containing [around] W [wife]) all reversed (returning) (SPA (W) N)< |
SPAWN (to produce a mass of eggs; to produce offspring) |
| 24 | Spokesperson of prostitution ring is hiding (5) |
VICE (prostitution is a form of vice) containing O (ring shaped letter) V (O) ICE |
VOICE (spokesperson who delivers the message or opinions of an organisation) |
| 25 | Catch small badger (4) |
S (small) + NAG (badger) S NAG |
SNAG (catch) |
Thanks, Duncan. BRINE is “discovered” so has its “lid” removed.
Couldn’t get Waltzing Matilda out of my head after getting BILLABONG. Didn’t know CANTABILE but did know Cantab. so wasn’t hard to guess.
I parsed 7d as Neil@1. Discovered usually means the removal of both first and last letters but this use is ok to me. Spent far too long to get 3d, my LOI.
As usual with Eccles, we are treated to a masterclass in surface construction. Thanks to Eccles and congratulations to Duncan for reaching this impressive milestone.
NeilW @ 1 and Hovis @ 2
Thanks for pointing out the use of ‘discovered in the clue at 7 down’. I had vaguely thought that the word was redundant in the clue but didn’t think it through properly
Brilliant. Great fun from start to finish with too many good clues to pick a favourite.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Definitely one of the best I’ve seen from Eccles, well done that man!
So many excellent clues, I think 1&22d made me smile the most.
Thanks to Eccles and also to Duncan – that’s an impressive number of blogs you’ve clocked up!
This was the first of three great puzzles in one day. Thanks to all concerned.
All in correctly except for a silly made-up word, ‘manifect’ for 15a, thinking of ‘ect’ for ‘electro-convulsive therapy’. I had to think hard about quite a few including EMMETS and CANTABILE, so this was no cakewalk.
Maybe helped by being an anagram – otherwise I’d never have thought of it for ‘hook’ – but INVEIGLEMENT is an interesting word that I’d never met before and am unlikely to come across again!
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan
All good stuff and an enjoyable solve.
We had to think for a moment about MANIFEST as we too thought first of ‘ect’ rather than ‘est’. Our only other comment (not a complaint, just an observation) concerns 3dn in that we always find it a little odd if one letter which has to be replaced by another is in an unchecked square. Not that there was any doubt about the required answer.
Thanks, Eccles and Duncan.
Thanks Eccles for the fun and duncanshiell for the explanations. I guessed MIDLANDS but needed the explanation; for some reason I always struggle with this type of clue.
As regards 7D, ‘rine’ is defined in the free dictionary as ‘a watercourse or ditch’. This would account for the missing ‘b’ in ‘brine’. Just a thought …
Congratulations to both setter and blogger.
Another great puzzle from Eccles and an impressive number of blogs from Duncan.
Many thanks and congratulations to Duncan.
I had indeed thought of discovered as removing the cover of brine, (in a down clue, so in my mind like taking the cover from a jam jar). I had never heard of rine as a ditch, but it is good to know.
Cheers to all who commented.