I always look forward to blogging an Eccles puzzles
Eccles clues have excellent surfaces, none more so today than the splendid 10 Downing Street, Angela Leadsom clue for PISTOLS at 18 down.
I also liked the Mariah Carey clue even though GATE is a bit of a cliché for scandal now. As a golfer I enjoyed the clue for SEVENTY-TWO at 29 across.
I had to think a bit about the parsing of ARCHEST at 6d. As the A in WARCHEST is pronounced differently from the A in the entry, it took me a while to understand what was going on.
‘Can’ was well hidden as the definition at 16 across.
Finally, I haven’t solved many puzzles with a quadruple definition, as is the case for FAIR at 21 across.
I don’t think there was an obscure entry in the puzzle.
Goof fun! Thanks to Eccles.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Drunken priest shows lively wit (6) |
Anagram of (drunken) PRIEST ESPRIT* |
ESPRIT (wit or liveliness) |
| 5 | Passing wind, single dad goes back inside (8) |
PA (dad) reversed (goes back) contained in (inside) an anagram of SINGLE (wind) EL (AP<) SING* |
ELAPSING (passing) |
| 9 | Curlicue is slightly plain, perhaps? (8) |
FLOUR (reference, plain FLOUR) + –ISH (suffix signifying somewhat,slightly) FLOUR ISH |
FLOURISH (a CURLICUE is a fancy twist or curl, especially in handwriting) |
| 10 | Adjust drape in church (6) |
HANG (drape) contained in (in) CE (Church [of England]) C (HANG) E |
CHANGE (adjust) |
| 11 | Glen cuddles Unionist rogue for entertainment (10) |
VALE (valley; glen) containing (cuddles) (U [Unionist] + DEVIL [rogue]) VA (U DEVIL) LE |
VAUDEVILLE (variety entertainment) |
| 12 | Follow Dravidian language, but heart isn’t in it (4) |
TA TAIL |
TAIL (follow) |
| 13 | A radical statesman, another? (8) |
A + R (radical; Collins gives R as an abbreviation for radical in chemistry) + KANSAN (someone from the State of Kansas; statesman) A R KANSAN |
ARKANSAN (someone from the State of Arkansas; another statesman) |
| 16 | Can head of trafficking ring enable one to infiltrate? (6) |
I [Roman numeral for one] contained in [enable … to infiltrate] (T [first letter of {head of} TRAFFICKING] + O [ring-shaped letter] + LET [grant; enable]) T O (I) LET |
TOILET (CAN is a slang term for a TOILET) |
| 17 | Piece of advice: crock should reverse to get to A1 (6) |
TIP (piece of advice) + POT (crock) reversed (reverse) TIP TOP< |
TIPTOP (excellent; A one; A1) |
| 19 | Stray from the subject of scandal involving Mariah Carey? (8) |
DIVA (great female singer and / or a prima donna; Mariah Carey is reputed to fit at least one of these definitions) + -GATE ( a suffix now applied to anything that must be described as a scandal) DIVA GATE |
DIVAGATE (digress; stray from the subject) |
| 21 | Respectable blonde just fine (4) |
FAIR (reasonable; respectable) FAIR (light coloured; blonde) FAIR (equitable; just) FAIR |
FAIR (not raining; fine) quadruple definition |
| 22 | Happening to break kinky women’s toys often par for the course? (7-3) |
EVENT (happening) contained in (to break) an anagram of (kinky) (W [women] and TOYS) S (EVENT) Y–TWO* |
SEVENTY-TWO (for a golf course with 4 par 3s. 10 par 4s and four par 5s, the overall par score would be 72. Many championship courses are constructed in this form) |
| 25 | 6 tease old ill-tempered woman (6) |
VI (Roman numeral for six) + RAG (tease) + O (old) VI RAG O |
VIRAGO (violent or bad-tempered woman) |
| 26 | A large number of staff eaten by big cat from the east (8) |
MEN (staff) contained (eaten by) TIGER (big cat) reversed (from the east) REGI (MEN) T< |
REGIMENT (figuratively, a large number) |
| 27 | Wanton and loose? Nuts ache! (8) |
Anagram of (loose) NUTS ACHE UNCHASTE* |
UNCHASTE (wanton) |
| 28 | Strips down to the essentials before 24 hours around hot city (6) |
RI (central letters of [down to the essentials] STRIPS) + DAY reversed (around) + H (hot) RI YAD< H |
RIYADH (capital city of Saudi Arabia) |
| Down | |||
| 2 | Like girl to somersault, then take top off, in dance (5) |
(AS [like] + LASS [girl]) all reversed (to somersault) to form (SAL SA)< |
SALSA (dance) |
| 3 | Without acceleration due to gravity, earth is spherical (5) |
ROUND |
ROUND (spherical) |
| 4 | First Lady stuffs this in trousers (7) |
EVE (reference ADAM [first man] and EVE [first lady) contained in (stuffs) THIS THI (EVE) S |
THIEVES (trousers, in the sense of appropriates money) |
| 5 | Musk worn by revolutionary is rank (7) |
CHE (reference CHE Guevara [1928 – 1967], Argentine Marxist Revolutionary) contained in (worn by) ELON (reference ELON Musk [born 1971, engineer, industrial designer, and technology entrepreneur]) E (CHE) LON |
ECHELON (particular level in the hierarchy of an organization; rank) |
| 6 | Funding for campaign work is cancelled, which is extremely sly (7) |
AR CHEST |
ARCHEST (extremely sly) |
| 7 | Remarkable bird swallows tail of bandicoot (9) |
STARLING (bird) containing (swallows) T (last letter of [tail of] BANDICOOT) STAR (T) LING |
STARTLING (astonishing; remarkable) |
| 8 | Breaking linnet egg is irresponsible (9) |
Anagram of (breaking) LINNET EGG NEGLIGENT* |
NEGLIGENT (thoughtless; irresponsible) |
| 14 | Downfall when union oddly stops helping (9) |
UIN (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of UNION) contained in (stops) RATION (helping) R (UIN) ATION |
RUINATION (collapse; downfall) |
| 15 | Frame that suspect, in the end (9) |
Anagram of (suspect) FRAME THAT AFTERMATH* |
AFTERMATH (later consequences; in the end) |
| 18 | Pressure on 10 Downing Street leads to Leadsom selling arms (7) |
P (pressure) + (IO [representing the number ten] containing (downing) ST [street]) + LS (first letters of each of [leads to] LEADSOM and SELLING) P I (ST) O L S |
PISTOLS (weapons; arms) |
| 19 | Various loons on ecstasy (7) |
DIVERS (loons are diving birds) + E (ecstasy) DIVERS E |
DIVERSE (various) |
| 20 | Slav in e.g. Armenia fences off alcohol? (7) |
VINEGAR (hidden word in [fences off] SLAV IN EG ARMENIA) VINEGAR |
VINEGAR (VINEGAR is made through the fermentation of ethanol alcohol) |
| 23 | Delicious introduction to yeasty … er … goodness (5) |
Y (first letter of [introduction to] YEAST) + UM (expression of hesitation, as is ER) + MY (gosh!, goodness!) Y UM MY |
YUMMY (delicious) |
| 24 | Drank,and complained audibly (5) |
WINED (sounds like [audibly] WHINED (complained peevishly) WINED |
WINED (drank) |
Eccles didnt seem to have much competition today. Really enjoyed this
Thanks all
great puzzle as usual, but I think 18d is simply outstanding.
Thanks to Eccles & duncanshiell
Duncan’s intro pretty much said everything so I’ll just say “bravo” and thanks to Eccles with 18d the cream of the crop.
You wouldn’t think you’d be commenter no 4 and everything would have been said already. I agree with Duncan and Baerchen particularly
Thanks to Eccles for a wonderful crossword and to Duncan for the blog
What crypticsue said.
This is Eccles at his very best. Normally a good QD like 21a would take first prize but it has been trumped today by the magnificent 18d.
I’m not 100% convinced by “alcohol” as the definition for 20d and wonder if it is intended to be “off alcohol” using simply “fences” as the lurker indicator?
This is just the sort of puzzle we need to help lighten the constant gloom we are all going to be living in for quite some time.
Bravo Eccles and thank you. Thanks too to Duncan.
RD @6. I had “off alcohol” also.
Thanks to duncanshiell and Eccles
“off alcohol” here too, with “fences” being “deals in stolen” in the surface.
22a “w” is also an abbreviation for “women’s”
Near perfect. A shame Leadsom had been shuffled before publication.
What most people have said already.
But we weren’t happy with 19ac – it was new to us and we only found it from the blog; on checking in Chambers we see it’s described as ‘literary’ and thus obscure. We knew of Ms Carey as a singer but to describe her as a diva was not an obvious connection to make. That spoiled an otherwise excellent puzzle.
Thanks nevertheless to Eccles and Duncan.
A quick round of applause for the quadruple definition but my favourite was the loons on ecstasy.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review.
Ditto generally, though the usual pleasurable hold-up of a few tricky ones at the end was missing today.
I wonder if 10 Downing Street will be seen again. It seems too good for a one off. I’ll certainly remember where I saw it first.
Thanks Eccles, Duncan
allan_c @9, oddly I thought of Diva almost immediately. I am not very familiar with Ms Carey’s songs (that melismatic stuff gets tiresome quickly for me) but her reputation as a diva has followed her throughout her career. Bottle of mineral water to bathe her dogs, a chewing gum disposal attendant, white kittens and doves in her trailer, etc. There’s probably an element of embellishment involved, to be respectable/blonde/just/fine. I agree on the -gate suffix, every new one sets my teeth on edge. I’m reminded of the Mitchell and Webb sketch
It was Arkansan that floored me. I’ve just never heard the term before. It’s strange to think that, had the clue been “A radical state, another?”, I would probably have got Arkansas without hesitation.
18d though! Applause, cheers, etc. Also liked Seventy Two and Toilet
Thanks Duncan and all who commented. The definition in 20d was indeed intended to be ‘off alcohol’.
Re 18d, I’ve had the isto idea for a while, and finally found a decent way to use it, but had the strange nagging doubt that I had nicked it from somewhere. If I did, I can’t find where.
I’ve not seen the Mitchell and Webb sketch before. It’s a fair comment, it is overused, but just too irresistible!
Scutter@12: Not knowing of Ms Carey’s reputation it seems we need to get out more. What was that about some sort of virus? :-J
Splendid puzzle as usual. Joyce was so pleased to read the blog as Bert solved 18d and didn’t mention it – maybe it was getting late and we were keen to finish!
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
After finishing Boatman early yesterday and reading the first sentence of the blog I decided to have a go at my first Eccles – and what a treat it was. I found it really tough and needed several goes at it, but apart from ARCHEST where I don’t like the word every clue was meticulously fair.
Like Scutter I was beaten by ARKANSAN – I only got to ARIZONAN which didn’t work with the crossers or the wordplay. Whilst FAIR and PISTOLS are outstanding clues my favourite was FLOURISH as I’ve never come across PLAIN in that sense in a crossword before – one to remember.
Thanks to Duncan for the blog intro which got me started and the blog itself which got me finished, to Eccles for a superb puzzle, and to other commenters whose praise I echo.