Independent 10,299 by Eccles

17 comments on “Independent 10,299 by Eccles”

1. Not my favourite Eccles crossword – trying too hard to be Hoskinseque perhaps>

   I did like the way the clue for setters’ word of the month – NONET – wasn’t fishing-related for a change and also 22d made me smile

   Thanks to Eccles and B&J

2. Apart from 25a, I thought this was top notch.

   Some great anagrams, particularly for 5d and the nice &lit at 15a.

   Personally, I like Eccles ‘schoolboy’ humour such as in 11a, 21a and 21d.

   Thanks to Eccles and Bertandjoyce.

3. I don’t think the ‘alimentary/elementary’ homophone is the worst I’ve seen.
   In R.P., or ‘the Queen’s English, ‘A’ is more-or-less pronounced as ‘E’. Think how Her Majesty (or indeed Holmes) would say it. And I was astonished on a school exchange visit to learn that German schoolchildren were taught to pronounce ‘cat’ as ‘ket’. As I say, I’ve seen and been irritated by many others, mostly involving Scots vowels and sounded Rs.
   Fine puzzle anyway. Thanks to Eccles, B and J.

4. Thanks to Eccles & B&J. What a great clue for CAVA – simple brilliance.

   @Grant

   The debate about English pronunciation guides for German schoolkids is pretty common in my house (my wife is German, we live in Germany) and it is true that they are taught to say “epple” and not “apple”. On the other hand, the German world for Alsace is Elsaß so there’s probably more to this than meets the eye

5. B&J, 12ac and 15ac are not cryptic definitions but & lits, and very good ones at that. The & lit. (or all-in-one) and the cryptic definition couldn’t be more different: an & lit. clue consists of 100% wordplay, whereas a cryptic definition – such as “A pound of sultanas” for HAREM – contains no wordplay whatsoever. In blogs such as this one, which novice solvers rely on for enlightenment, I think it’s important to avoid confusion by getting the terminology right.

6. Apologies to Richard and others. Blog amended but we prefer to use clue as definition as we really don’t like the term ‘& lit’.

7. Some excellent clues/anagrams in this, particularly NUCLEAR REACTION and LAWN TENNIS.

   As for alimentary/elementary, many Melburnians pronounce a short “e” almost as a short “a”.  Listen to Shane Warne.

   19D is SHREK(‘)S holding I.

   Thanks to Filbert and Bertandjoyce.

8. This made me sigh a little and I agree with CS that it seemed to be another attempt to channel Hoskins from a setter who doesn’t need to rely on schoolboy humour.

   More of your true colours please, Eccles.

    

   Thanks nonetheless to our setter and to B&J for the blog.

9. To Bert & Joyce & Richard et al:
   I’m with B&J re the use of ‘&lit’, with or without the spacing.
   I blog meself and I’m always reluctant to award an ‘&lit’ – which I think of as a definite, no-fudge, stand-alone definition of the whole clue – to anything less than, well, an ‘&lit’.
   I do think of it as a rare and well-won accolade.

10. Worth doing for the excellent ÇA VA and SORE THROAT and for learning what a CRESSET is.

    if those German schoolchildren want to learn how to pronounce ‘ket’ for ‘cat’, they should head off down to The Land of the Long White Cloud. Kiwis lead the world in such innovative pronunciation variants.

    Thank you to Eccles and to B&J.

11. P.S. to Richard Heald @5…
    So by my standards – and I’d guess Bert’s and Joyce’s – the Clive James thing would qualify but the 15a ‘sore throat’, not being specific to ‘orators’, would not.

12. We enjoyed this, particularly as there was some inventive cluing. We didn’t see this offering as consciously emulating a certain other setter; there were but a handful of risqué surfaces, whereas elsewhere they can be in almost every other clue.

    CAVA was our LOI, we stared at _A_A for ages thinking it must be CAVA but how can we parse it then the penny (or centime?) dropped!  A great clue; others we liked were GREAT UNCLE, RECIPE, CARD READERS and SEARCH PARTY.

    But ALIMENTARY evoked nothing but a groan.

    Thanks, Eccles and B&J.

13. The ALIMENTARY answer reminded me of the old Python sketch (I think) where Watson is doing a crossword and all the clues he asks Holmes to solve are ‘almost homophones’ of elementary.

    From memory there was not only alimentary but ‘yellow side passge (a lemon entry) and fruit served as main course (a melon entree) and probably others too…

14. Grant Baynham, 15ac certainly does qualify as an & lit. – the question mark at the end is an acknowledgement that orators are merely one example of the kind of people who may be afflicted by sore throats. I agree that ‘& lit.’ – short for “and literally so” – is not the most user-friendly of terms, but it is the most widely-recognised name we have for a very particular type of clue.

    BTW, you’re not by any chance the same Grant Baynham who for a few years in the 80s was one of Esther Rantzen’s sidekicks on That’s Life, are you?

15. Richard – you can check details about Grant Baynham’s past employment on this website under ‘BLOGGERS.

16. Thank you B&J (Which NT property?  I went to Southwell workhouse with my parents last month, but don’t think I saw you!) and all who commented.

    I don’t remember seeing the old comedy sketch – I will admit it is a pretty terrible pun. The rude clue was a late replacement.  I offered 2 clues, and did wince slightly when I saw that had been used!

    I think some would call essayist a semi&lit as the first word (Clive) isn’t part of the wordplay, whereas sore throat is a full &lit, (with the QM indicating it is just an example of people who might suffer from it) but I understand the reluctance to use the terms, and Clue as definition is a more explanatory phrase and covers both.

17. Yes, it is the Workhouse at Southwell. During the Summer you will find me in costume AND picking vegetables.

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