It’s Eccles again today – we’re in for a fun solve!
….and we weren’t disappointed. As usual, some great surfaces and several big smiles.
17ac was a new word for us but with the crossing letters in, it was readily solved by the wordplay. However, we couldn’t believe that such a strange word could exist.
BRAS (underwear) STACKS (piles)
dEPICt (portray) without the first and last letters or ‘clothes off’
An anagram of I (first letter or ‘bit’ of iguana) DUNG I STEP – anagrind is ‘awkwardly’
I (independent) in or ‘boring’ PAR (average)
An anagram of GRIMACE (anagrind is ‘unhappily’) round ROMAN (Italian)
N (Norway) ON (working) AGES (a long time)
NET (make, as in ‘earn’) COR (my) D (daughter)
GO (leave) W (wife) after HO (prostitute) and SO (like this) reversed or ‘on reflection’ – a new word for us – an American slang word for prison (can)
cALUMNy (slander) with the first and last letters or ‘case’ omitted or ‘dismissed’ A judgE (last or ‘end’ letter only)
A play on the fact that an anagram of A CURSE is SAUCER – the anagrind is FLYING
Hidden or ‘trapped’ in oNE ONe (one repeatedly)
PIERRE (Frenchman) round or ‘welcoming’ DATE (romantic meeting)
cEASE (stop) without the first letter or ‘scratching head’
SHORT (brief) LISTS (leans)
A homophone (on the radio) of BOWED (how a violin may be played)
PALS (friends) with the ‘p’ (quietly) moved or ‘sliding down’
Eccles could be described as today’s SETTING AGENT
R (Republican) in or ‘seized by’ ASSETS as opposed to the other way round or ‘on the contrary’
Every third letter (‘regularly’) of biKinI coNteSt’s MagAziNe
An anagram of DROP AN UGLY – anagrind is ‘oddball’
CARES (worries) round a reversal (up) of DIRT (muck) and G (German)
Double definition
You might well decide to put creosote ON THE FENCE
ANONYMOUS (unexceptional) round or ‘claiming’ T (first letter or ‘leader’ of Tory)
WISH (desire) round or ‘drinking’ AS (like) P (penny)
A SUN (star) DE (French for ‘of’) R (resistance)
A homophone (listened to) of PROSE (ordinary language)
MESSi (leading goal-scorer – even we’ve heard of him!) without the last letter or ‘failing to finish’
Typical Eccles – brief cluing, great surfaces, humour and a lot of fun. Just the job for lockdown!
17a was a new word for me but very fairly clued. I had a lot of ticks on my page with the leaders of the pack being 23a, 24a, 3d, 5d &14d.
Many thanks to Eccles and B&J.
I did know HOOSGOW but have never seen it spelt out. Not sure where but probably from Westerns. Apparently, it can also be spelt HOOSEGOW. Can’t recall ever seeing ANTONYMOUS before but it was the obvious word from “antonym”.
Lots to like with favourites including DEPUTISING & MICROMANAGER. The fairly simple NET CORD took me longest to figure out.
Thanks to Eccles and Bertandjoyce.
I do like “Eccles Wednesdays” and this was a great crossword. My particular favourite, out of quite a long shortlist, was 23a as I do like those repeatedly-trapped sort of clues
Thanks to Eccles and B&J
Had trouble parsing a few, had to check on HO for 17a, but all done now. NETCORD and ALUMNAE were others I got from the def. Good workout after a few easier ones this week.
Thanks for a great blog, B&J.
I’ll go along with Rabbit Dave today – adding 9 and 19ac to his favourites.
Many thanks, Eccles, for another super puzzle.
Yes, very nice and not quite as hard as Eccles can be, thankfully for one starting to suffer from puzzle fatigue. I knew 17ac but only with an E in the middle. Favourites Flying Saucer and Pied-a-terre. So obvious when you crack them that you think they must have been seen before, but not by me.
Thanks to S & Bs.
I knew HOOSGOW from the Frank Crumit classic (well, sort of) “I Can’t Stand Sitting In A Cell”. Remembering such film-flam has some advantages anyway.
Very enjoyable Eccles on a Wednesday, as we’ve now come to expect. I liked MICROMANAGER and especially the ‘Independent, boring, average couple’.
Thanks to Eccles and B&J
17a certainly sounded as though it had Scottish connections but apparently not!
24a & 3d were my top two with a mention for 1a.
Thanks to Eccles and to B&J for the review.
Another enjoyable solve.
HOOSGOW was a new word for us too, but we pieced it together from the wordplay and confirmed it in Chambers.
We liked PIED-À-TERRE and, for the mental picture in the surface, ALPS.
Thanks, Eccles and B&J.
Thanks to B&J, and all who commented. Paul A, 24a was new to me too, but after it was submitted I saw very similar clues appear for both it and 1a in other papers. Sorry if anyone suffered from déjà vu.
Thanks, Eccles. Very enjoyable puzzle. 16a, 19a and 4d stood out. I’m American, had only previously seen the spelling HOOSEGOW, but got 17a anyway.
I knew HOOSGOW from a song too, in my case an old 78 we had when I was a kid called Eleven More Months and Ten More Days. It started, “I’m in the hoosgow once again.” and had a chorus, “In eleven more months and ten more days, they’re going to turn me loose, In eleven more months and ten more days, I’ll be out of the calaboose.”