The last Wednesday slot of the year has fallen to Eccles to fill and to me to blog.
I think that I have managed to complete this medium-difficulty puzzle correctly, but I would appreciate confirmation of my parsing of the wordplay at 10 and 24.
My favourite clues today were 14, for concision; and 18, and in particular the toughie at 15, both for smoothness of surface.
I realised this week that it is now ten years since my first blog was published on this site back in December 2010. I am already looking forward to the puzzles that we will all get to solve, and some of us to blog, in 2021 and beyond. Happy New Year to one and all!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | DRAWBRIDGE | A way to protect one’s castle to get stalemate game
DRAW (=stalemate) + BRIDGE (=game, of cards); the castle of the definition refers to a fortification rather than to chess |
| 06 | HARP | Marx’s lost love for music producer
HARP<o> (=Marx, one of the Marx Brothers); “lost love (=O, zero score)” means letter “o” is dropped; as an instrument, a harp is a producer of music |
| 09 | MISSTEP | Favourite pupil taken aback after teacher’s blunder
MISS (=teacher) + TEP (PET=favourite pupil; “taken aback” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | UNDERGO | Bear park is halved, therefore
<gro>UND (=park; “is halved” means 3 of 6 letters are dropped) + ERGO (=therefore); to bear is to suffer, undergo |
| 12 | IMPLACABLE | I blame dodgy drinking spot not closing, and can’t be appeased
PLAC<e> (=spot; “not closing” means last letter is dropped) in *(I BLAME); “dodgy” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | ADO | Fuss as radioactive gas uncovered
<r>ADO<n> (=radioactive gas); “uncovered” means first and last letters are dropped |
| 15 | RADISH | Root reckless at first, declaring; India will be put in
[D<eclaring> (“at first” means first letter only) + I (=India, in radio telecommunications)] in RASH (=reckless) |
| 16 | REVERENT | Always enthralled by cleavage, but is respectful
EVER (=always) in RENT (=cleavage, fissure) |
| 18 | SEAFARER | Sailor from distant lands welcomed by prophet
AFAR (=from distant lands) in SEER (=prophet) |
| 20 | LESSER | Inferior hellholes serve bottles
Hidden (“bottles”) in “hellhoLES SERve” |
| 23 | NAG | Harridan’s problem opening shed
<s>NAG (=problem); “opening shed” means first letter is dropped |
| 24 | ROLLING PIN | Equipment belonging to baker trying to get a rise, but short of time, on peg
<t>ROLLING (=trying to get a rise, in fishing; “short of time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped) + PIN (=peg) |
| 26 | DWINDLE | Contract daughter to replace son in scam
SWINDLE (=scam); “daughter (=D) to replace son (=S)” means letter “s” becomes letter “d” |
| 27 | PENGUIN | Quietly engineer Unionist to join popular publishing house
P (=quietly, i.e. piano, in music) + ENG (=engineer) + U (=Unionist) + IN (=popular) |
| 28 | YANK | American’s vote against looking over conclusion to cyber-attack
YAN (NAY=vote against; “looking over” indicates reversal) + <cyber-attac>K (“conclusion to” means last letter only) |
| 29 | BLACK SHEEP | Maverick to censor broadcast about dilapidated shack
*(SHACK) in BLEEP (=to censor broadcast, e.g. blank out a swearword); “dilapidated” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | DEMO | Show discharge when back is scratched
DEMO<b> (=to discharge, from army); “when back is scratched” means last letter is dropped |
| 02 | ASSUMED | When reckoning by English Duke is fictitious
AS (=when) + SUM (=reckoning) + E (=English) + D (=Duke); an assumed name is a fictitious name |
| 03 | BATTLE-SCARRED | Traumatised British Prime Minister mostly frightened to engage Republican
B (=British) + ATTLE<e> (=Prime Minister, i.e. Clement Attlee; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + [R (=Republican) in SCARED (=frightened)] |
| 04 | IMPACT | Mischievous child’s play resulting in crash
IMP (=mischievous child) + ACT (=play, perform) |
| 05 | GRUMBLED | German found out, and complained
G (=German) + RUMBLED (=found out, discovered) |
| 07 | AUREATE | Nobel prize winner loses pound of gold
<l>AUREATE (=Nobel prize winner); “loses pound (=L, as in LSD)” means letter “l” is dropped |
| 08 | PROMONTORY | Point of advert by Nationalist and Conservative
PROMO (=advert) + N (=Nationalist) + TORY (=Conservative); a point is a bill, a headland |
| 11 | DIESEL ENGINES | Polluters stop getting smellier, oddly – no good in El Salvador
DIE (=stop) + S<m>E<l>L<i>E<r> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) + NG (=no good) + IN + ES (=El Salvador, in IVR) |
| 14 | PRESENT-DAY | Modern Christmas?
Cryptically, Christmas (Day) could be described as a “present day” |
| 17 | PELL-MELL | Hurriedly, Americans displaced by Europeans in London street
PALL MALL (=London street); “Americans (=A+A) displaced by Europeans (=E+E)” means that “a” is replaced by “e” on two occasions |
| 19 | ANGLIAN | German in Britain is C of E, not Catholic
ANGLI<c>AN (=C of E); “not Catholic (=C)” means letter “c” is dropped; the Angles were a German tribe that settled in England in the 5th century |
| 21 | SEIZURE | Arrest 16 in Dieppe, including undertaker on vacation
U<ndertake>R (“on vacation” means the word is “emptied” of all but first and last letters are dropped) in SEIZE (=16 in Dieppe, i.e. the French word for sixteen) |
| 22 | BIOPIC | Writer receives ten pence for film
[10 (=ten) + P (=pence)] in BIC (=writer) |
| 25 | SNAP | Unexpected // photograph
Double definition: a snap decision is a sudden, unexpected one AND colloquially, a snap is a photo(graph) |
Good fun. No real problems. Much as I dislike cricket – setters’ favourite sport it seems – I did appreciate the clever surface for 15a. Having the initial R, it was tempting to think this was “reckless at first” which adds to the beauty of the clue. I agree with all your parsings RR but would say that the “castle” in 1a refers to the one in chess in the ‘surface’ but not in the ‘definition’.
Very enjoyable. In 24a I took (t)rolling to be what trolls do on social media etc.
when trying to provoke a reaction (or rise). Still worked, and now I’ve learned of a fishing technique as well! Thanks to Eccles and thanks and congratulations to RatkojaRiku for ten years’ sterling work on the blog.
I thought this was Eccles at his best although I did have a fight to untangle a few of the clues.
Favourite was the ‘modern Christmas’ which really amused.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review. Best wishes to you both for a hopefully happier 2021.
Like Jane, our favourite was ‘modern Christmas’. Our LOI was BIOPIC. We were fooled for quite a while because we wanted to insert X instead of IO for ten.
Thanks Eccles and a Happy New Year to you and everyone else.
Thanks and congratulations to RR – we are a couple of years behind you.
I do like Eccles Wednesdays especially when he forms part of a particularly splendid day for cryptic crosswords
Congratulations and thanks to RR, thanks to Eccles and wishes to all for a much improved new year (it surely can’t be worse than this one, can it??)
I’ve struggled more with Eccles in the past so this was a more comfortable, liked the simplicity of the cluing in 1ac, 26ac,7dn,… simple, that is, post-solving.. agree with general happiness around 14dn.. 16ac, 18ac were equally pleasing… HNY to all
thanks to Eccles n RatkajaRiku
Another who has learned something about fishing today. I shall stand on the banks, in the future, and hurl insults and criticism at the water in the expectation of a fine trout! I enjoyed PRESENT DAY but have seen very similar before which denies it COTD but no less respect for that. Favourites include PENGUIN, MISSTEP, REVERENT, SEAFARER, DWINDLE and GRUMBLED. I agree with Hovis that the castle being defended by the excellent DRAWBRIDGE is not a chess one though the wordplay is clearly alluding to it.
Thanks Eccles and RR
Brilliant, Eccles. Please carry on with puzzles as good as this in 2021!
PRESENT-DAY was my favourite.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
Very enjoyable and not too difficult. We liked PRESENT DAY, too, and we initially parsed 24ac as did jayjay@2, although we were aware of trolling as a fishing technique.
Thanks, Eccles and RatkojaRiku. And in case we don’t get to comment tomorrow, a Happy New Year to all.
Thanks RR and Eccles for the entertainment this year. Much more next year. Phil
Thanks Eccles, RR
Ditto in general.
‘can’t be appeased’ for IMPLACABLE is a bit rummy, though
Loved this. Delayed a bit by laughing out loud at 16a.
I don’t agree with two commenters about 1ac. It’s surely simply as R has it. What has protecting one’s rook in chess got to do with achieving a draw?
Will @13 ??? What on earth do you mean? We were simply mentioning that RR had made a minor slip. The “definition” (as given) is “A way to protect one’s castle”. I’ve never heard of anyone protecting a rook in chess with a drawbridge. So the definition part has nothing to do with chess but the surface/wordplay clearly does.
Pell Mell was my favourite today, I agree with comments on 1a, I read it as “a way to present ones castle” and “ to get stalemate”+”game” and also I wasn’t aware of the fishing term only the online one – but that’s the joy of the blog isn’t it – well done on 10 years of helping me and many more out! And thanks to Eccles
Hovis, I don’t think it was a slip. When RR says ‘the castle of the definition’ he is only saying that the definition part of the clue is where you find the word castle, and spelling out the chess reference in case there are any ‘castle is a chess piece’ deniers out there. I’m sure there aren’t, though.
James @16. A castle is NOT a chess piece, but I wasn’t going to mention it as 1a is a good clue.
RD, 😉
How do you reconcile those two assertions?
James @16. Fair point.
Happy anniversary, RR, and thanks for the blog (it’s been a while!).
Thanks to all the commenters, too. I was thinking of online trolls rather than fishing ones, so an education for me too.
James #11. yes, oops, pity as I liked that clue, and would have been easy to fix. It was a late change, so I hadn’t spent the usual time staring at it.
RD, I did think of you with 1a, but I thought I would be fine, having not equated the two things anyway.
Happy New Year to all, and make sure you do Morph’s NYE puzzle tomorrow – it is an absolute corker.
Apologies to one and all for the slip in the parsing of 1A, which seems to have set the cat amongst the pigeons somewhat. In any case, it now reads as I intended it to.