Eccles is leading us astray today, in a good way – plenty of amusing misdirections.
I enjoyed the definitions hiding in plain sight in 15d and 16d, and the “just do what it says” logic of 20a; I think I’ve seen some variant of 24a before but it’s still good. The best of many great surfaces is probably 23a. Thanks Eccles for the challenge.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SCRAMBLE | Commotion as new edition of Chambers left ‘hospital’ out (8) |
| Anagram (new edition) of C[h]AMBERS + L (left), with the H (hospital) taken out. | ||
| 5 | BEHAVE | Live on own, and conduct oneself properly (6) |
| BE (live) added to (on) HAVE (own). | ||
| 8 | ROD | Staff cross when Oscar is dismissed (3) |
| RO[o]D (cross, in the sense of crucifix), with one O (Oscar in the radio alphabet) removed. | ||
| 9 | INVIGORATE | I ignore VAT being fiddled in rally (10) |
| Anagram (being fiddled) of I IGNORE VAT. Rally = invigorate = encourage / enliven. |
||
| 10 | NEEDLESS | Provokes son, which is unnecessary (8) |
| NEEDLES (as a verb = provokes) + S (son). | ||
| 11 | HEWING | Cutting heroin with family from Dallas (6) |
| H (slang for heroin) + EWING (family from the TV series Dallas). | ||
| 12 | OUST | Exclude acoustic covers (4) |
| Hidden answer (. . . covers) in [ac]OUST[ic]. I’m not sure the definition is quite right – I think “oust” is to force out someone who’s currently in, and “exclude” is to deny entrance to someone who’s currently out. But it’s close enough for crosswords. |
||
| 14 | DOUBLE TIME | Jacket I am beginning to embellish to get better rate of pay (6,4) |
| DOUBLET (old type of fitted jacket) + I’M (I am) + beginning letter of E[mbellish]. Increased hourly rate of pay, typically for working unsociable hours. |
||
| 17 | TIE THE KNOT | Make Union pay church to accept introduction of economic strike in recession (3,3,4) |
| TITHE (pay church: to pay a proportion of one’s income to a religious establishment), including the introductory letter of E[conomic], then TONK (slang for hit = strike) reversed (in recession). Tie the knot = get married = make a union. Crossword beginners may like to note union = marriage, which is a common trick. |
||
| 20 | RAMP | Tuppence divided up in bank (4) |
| Eccles is telling us exactly what to do here: divide up “tuppence” into tup and pence. RAM (tup = male sheep) + P (p = abbreviation for pence). | ||
| 23 | SHAMED | Discredited Welsh politician hides in outhouse (6) |
| AM (Assembly Member = member of the Welsh devolved parliament) hiding in SHED (outhouse). This is no longer quite right because what was the Assembly is now known officially by its Welsh name of Senedd Cymru, and the title for a member is now MS (in English) or AS (in Welsh). But the surface is so good that it would be unreasonable to complain. | ||
| 24 | IDOLATER | Admirer of procrastinator’s mantra? (8) |
| A procrastinator’s mantra would be I DO LATER. Idolater = originally an idol-worshipper, but also “a devoted admirer”. |
||
| 25 | MOONSTRUCK | Crazed idiot’s run out in front of lorry (10) |
| MO[r]ON’S (idiot’s), with R (run) taken out, then TRUCK (lorry). | ||
| 26 | GUT | Devastate German for good (3) |
| Double definition. The first is as in “fire gutted the building”, or the more recent slang usage “I’m gutted” = very disappointed; the second is the German adjective gut = good. | ||
| 27 | IN GEAR | Working, stopping 11 earning (2,4) |
| Hidden answer (stopping = stuck in the middle of) in [hew]ING EAR[ning], where “hewing” comes from 11a. | ||
| 28 | STUDENTS | Maybe undergraduates‘ exploits overwhelming disheartened debutante (8) |
| STUNTS (exploits), containing (overwhelming) D[ebutant]E (dis-heartened = heart taken out = middle letters removed). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STRUNG OUT | Addicted and extremely skint, manage to get joints with difficulty (6,3) |
| End letters (extremely) from S[kin]T + RUN (manage = be in charge of) + GOUT (a disease causing swollen joints = “joints with difficulty”). Strung out = slang for addicted to a drug or suffering withdrawal symptoms from it. |
||
| 2 | REDRESS | Pay for communist on ship (7) |
| RED (communist) + RE (on = on the subject of) + SS (originally “single-screw steamship” but used more generally as “steam ship”). As in “to redress a wrong” = to pay for injury or damage. |
||
| 3 | MAINLY | Macho to eat head of insect? For the most part (6) |
| MANLY (macho) containing (eating) the first letter (head) of I[nsect]. | ||
| 4 | LIVESTOCK | Install new shed with external bolt for farm animals (9) |
| I[n]VEST (install = put in an official position), removing (shedding) N (new), inserted into (with . . . external) LOCK (bolt). | ||
| 5 | BROTHEL | Lay person mostly with bit of lust here (7) |
| BROTHE[r] (a member of a religious order, but not an ordained minister, hence a “lay person”) + the first letter (a bit) of L[ust]. Clue-as-definition: Eccles is hinting at the slang meaning of the verb “lay” in the context of “lust”, for an establishment where such things are encouraged. |
||
| 6 | HEADWATER | Part of stream from main server is initially lost (9) |
| HEAD WA[i]TER (chief / main server in a restaurant: it’s a long time since I’ve seen one, but let’s look forward to the day when we can eat out again), losing the initial letter of I[s]. Another name for the source of a river or stream. |
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| 7 | VIETNAM | Former soldier welcomes current soldier back in Socialist Republic (7) |
| VET (short for veteran = former soldier), containing (welcoming) I (symbol for electric current), then MAN (soldier) reversed (back). | ||
| 13 | TOTEM POLE | Essentially, stop and rate the French hierarchical system (5,4) |
| Middle letters (essentially) of [s]TO[p] + TEMPO (rate = speed) + LE (French “the”). Carved structure that symbolises (among other things) representations of ancestry. It may or may not be arranged hierarchically, with the most important carvings at the top or (more probably) at the bottom, but the ancestry element probably makes “hierarchical system” close enough anyway. |
||
| 15 | BLOODLUST | Desire for Gore statue to be placed outside toilet by Democrat leader in Louisiana (9) |
| LOO (toilet) + D (Democrat) + first letter (leader) of L[ouisiana], all with BUST (statue) placed outside it. | ||
| 16 | EUPHRATES | Perhaps post-Brexit tariffs restricting pub, of course, in Western Asia (9) |
| EU RATES (perhaps post-Brexit tariffs), containing (restricting) PH (abbreviation for “public house”, used on Ordnance Survey maps). Course = river, which flows from Turkey through Syria and Iraq to the Persian Gulf. |
||
| 18 | INHUMAN | The majority of stupid guards make droning sound, being cruel (7) |
| INAN[e] (stupid; the majority = all but the last letter), containing (. . . guards) HUM (make a droning sound). | ||
| 19 | END USER | Customer ordered nudes with expression of hesitation (3,4) |
| Anagram (ordered) of NUDES, then ER (expression of hesitation). | ||
| 21 | ANTIGEN | Neat gin? Surprisingly, it can stimulate an immune response (7) |
| Anagram (surprisingly) of NEAT GIN. Great surface, though it sounds rather like other dubious “medical” claims we’ve been flooded with recently. | ||
| 22 | FLUKED | Got lucky with female Evangelist on date (6) |
| F (female) + LUKE (Evangelist = one of the four Gospel writers) + D (date). | ||
A very enjoyable outing from Eccles. Lots of great clues such as those for SCRAMBLE, RAMP (my favourite), STRUNG OUT, LIVESTOCK & BLOODLUST. HEADWATER was a new word for me. The only downside, I felt, was 10a which has appeared far too many times. Have seen 24a before but that’s a clue that deserves a repeat showing.
Thanks to Eccles and Quirister.
Yes, there are a couple of ‘old friends’ but that didn’t do anything to spoil another fine Eccles Wednesday
Hard to pick a favourite so I won’t. Thanks once again to Eccles and to Quirister
Yet another very fine puzzle from Eccles, who is one of the best when it comes to smooth surfaces. He is also a master of misdirection.
Very rarely for him, I thought 27a was a little weak. However, with 29 other splendid clues to enjoy, that is splitting hairs.
I learnt a new bit of drugs jargon in 1d. The copious knowledge of the drugs world possessed by many of our setters never fails to amaze me!
RAMP was my favourite but there were very many more contenders.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Quirister.
Once again the SE corner held me up. I couldn’t see the crossing ‘ramp’ or ‘Euphrates’ for ages, then the penny dropped – a very clever use of ‘tuppence’ I agree with all the above about the consistently high standard of Eccles’ puzzles, so thanks to him, also Quirister for the blog.
Another super puzzle from Eccles, with lots of smiles and ahas along the way.
I agree entirely with Quirister’s choice of gems in her preamble – RAMP being top favourite – and I also particularly enjoyed SCRAMBLE, STUDENTS and FLUKED.
Many thanks to setter and blogger for the fun.
most enjoyable… altho didn’t suss the clever stuff in 20ac…
thanks Eccles n Quirister
Once again, a fine puzzle from Eccles. Such great surfaces, so much wit.
Thanks to him & Quirister
I started with the across clues, and entered the first 8 solutions. Got stuck on 17a, with no crossers to help me. So went on to the downs, and entered the first 9 solutions. Stuck on 16d this time. So, back to the acrosses, and carried on from there.
Hence, a very quick solve for me, with only 4 clues giving me any trouble, 17a, 20a, 16d, and 22d, where I was thinking of another word for “got lucky with female”.
Not saying I didn’t enjoy it, it just didn’t last long enough.
Late to the plate commenting today – which is ironic, given I completed the puzzle at 5.30 am this morning! And really only to add my name to the list praising today’s highly enjoyable outing. I liked RAMP along with everyone else but will also single out two others that appealed to my childish sense of humour: BROTHEL and BLOODLUST.
Thanks Eccles and Quirister
Really enjoyed this, and got almost all of it unaided. Loved the cluing for 1A and that set the pattern for many of the clues that followed,.
A fairly brisk solve despite the various misdirections. The only one we couldn’t parse was 27ac; we got the answer by putting together the ‘ing‘ from ‘stopping’ and the ‘ear‘ from ‘earning’ and just couldn’t see what the ’11’ was doing in between.
Very enjoyable. Thanks, Eccles and Quirister.
16D was a great clue, IMHO. I didn’t mind the device in 27A. The whole thing delightfully witty.
Another puzzle full of brilliant constructions with superb and amusing surfaces from Eccles, a setter to always look forward to now.
17, 25 and 28a and 4, 15 and 16 down got the stars from me but almost all clues deserved one.
Yes there was a little groan at 10a but it did not spoil my enjoyment one bit.
Thanks all.
1d has a totally different meaning to me but I understand its more modern interpretation comes from our friends across the pond. I did hesitate over the ‘hierarchical system’ and had to phone a friend for help with RAMP but otherwise a slow but steady solve here.
Top three for me were BEHAVE, IDOLATER and MOONSTRUCK.
Thanks to Eccles for the workout and to Quirister for the review.
What can we say? The easiest would be to reiterate what Eileen said.
Thanks Eccles and Quirister.
Thank you to Quirister – it seems you now have taken over from John, who has been allowed a less onerous slot every few Sundays on the Everyman? – and to all who commented.
Eccles, thanks for dropping in – it’s always good to hear from the setter. Yes, John and I have swapped some slots in the blogging schedules.