Independent 10,747 / Eccles

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Eccles has supplied the Wednesday puzzle this week, one which I found more challenging than what we are used to on a Wednesday.

I think that I have now solved and parsed everything to my satisfaction, although I found the parsing quite difficult to crack in a few cases, not least at 1, 6, 12 and 16A. 15A kept me guessing for a while, but only because I didn’t know the obsolete sense of the word used here.

My favourite clues today were 16A – once I had fathomed it out – for making me smirk; and 8, for overall construction and the splitting of Revolutionary // Guards in the wordplay.

Incidentally, I would always have written 22 as one word, as it appears in Chambers, but a quick Google search reassures me that for many users it can be written as two.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

 

Across  
   
01 MACAROON Baked food made from pasta, mostly, with egg in

O (=egg, i.e. pictorially) in MACARON<i> (=pasta; “mostly” means last letter is dropped)
   
09 AGARIC Fungus damaged a cigar

*(A CIGAR); “damaged” is anagram indicator; according to Chambers, agaric is a fungus, properly one of the mushroom family, but loosely applied
   
10 CARE Queen abandoning life’s work is a worry

CARE<er> (=life’s work); “Queen (E.R.) abandoning” means letters “er” are dropped
   
11 MAGISTRATE One included in stratagem designed to obtain justice

I (=one) in *(STRATAGEM); “designed” is anagram indicator; a justice is a magistrate
   
12 PEBBLE Exercise books on cutting good rock

P.E. (=exercise) + BB (=books) + LE<g> (=on, i.e. side in cricket; “cutting good (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped)
   
14 TIMELINE Tiny boy with cat fathoms out chronological list

TIM (=tiny boy, i.e. Tiny Tim in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol) + <f>ELINE (=cat; “fathoms (=F) out” means letter “f” is dropped)
   
15 WIGHT Isle of Man, once?

“Wight” is an archaic term for a creature or a person, hence “Man”
   
16 EIGHT A number argue after female receives another stroke on bottom

FIGHT (=argue); “after female (=F) receives another stroke on bottom” refers to how, in handwriting, a capital letter “F” that receives a third bar or stroke at the bottom becomes a capital letter “E”
   
17 ENORMOUS More rioting by American claiming negative response is monumental

NO (=negative response) in [*(MORE) + US (=American)]; “rioting” is anagram indicator
   
20 SATEEN Like going around with adolescent woven fabric

SA (AS=like; “going around” + TEEN (=adolescent)
   
22 COAT HANGER Change rota for moving item in wardrobe

*(CHANGE ROTA); “for moving” is anagram indicator
   
23 ACRE Camcorder oddly confiscated in Israeli port

<c>A<m>C<o>R<d>E<r>; “oddly confiscated” means that all odd letters are dropped
   
24 REVEAL Celebrate penning a show

A in REVEL (=celebrate)
   
25 TOUCHING It pains me to kick out rector in Hertfordshire town for kissing

OUCH (=it pains me, as exclamation) replaces R (=rector) in TRING (=Hertfordshire town): to kiss is to touch gently
   
Down  
   
01 CANAPÉ Outspoken Glaswegian unable to fork out for appetiser

Homophone (“outspoken”) of how a Glaswegian might say “cannot pay (=unable to fork out)”, i.e. “canna pay”!
   
02 BABE Child of hairdresser runs away

BA<r>BE<r> (=hairdresser); “runs away” means 2 x R (=run, in cricket) are dropped
   
03 ROOMIEST Jumper on male that is extremely short and extremely baggy

ROO (= “jumper”, i.e. kangaroo) + I.E. (=that is) + S<hor>T (“extremely” means first and last letters only)
   
04 BALSAM Where mother does experiments standing upside down in oil

Cryptically, in “Ma’s lab” would be “where mother does experiments”; balsam is a liquid resin or resinous oily substance, especially balm of Gilead
   
05 FAIRY LIGHT One pound off reasonably unsubstantial Christmas decoration

FAIR<l>Y (=reasonably; “one pound (=L) off” means letter “l” is dropped) + LIGHT (=unsubstantial)
   
06 DISTINCT Separate area popular for receiving international leaders

DISTRICT (=area); “popular (=in)” for “R<eceiving> I<nternational> leaders, i.e. first letters only, means that letters “ri” are replaced by “in”
   
08 NIGHT Can Revolutionary Guards start to guard hospital in darkness?

[G<uard> (“start to” means first letter only) + H (=hospital)] in NIT (TIN=can, e.g. of drink; “revolutionary” indicates a reversal)
   
13 BIG BROTHER Totalitarian leader, Republican, in deep trouble

R (=Republican) in [BIG (=deep) + BOTHER (=trouble)]; the reference is to George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
   
15 WINSOMER Conquers Rome, somehow being more charming

WINS (=conquers) + *(ROME); “somehow” is anagram indicator
   
16 ENSHROUD Cover rushed on ground

*(RUSHED ON); “ground (up)” is anagram indicator
   
18 ORACLE Caught in exam with electronic medium providing revelation

[C (=caught, in cricket) in ORAL (=exam)] + E (=electronic)
   
19 SIGHT What is being referred to is uplifting around G-spot

G in SIHT (THIS=what is being referred to; “uplifting” indicates vertical reversal)
   
21 ERRAND Make mistake with small job

ERR (=make mistake) + AND (=with)
   
23 ACHE Burn detached houses

Hidden (“houses”) in “detACHEd”; to burn is to sting, ache
   

 

23 comments on “Independent 10,747 / Eccles”

  1. I do like Eccles Wednesdays and this was a good one. My favourite was 25/1/12

    Thanks to Eccles for the fun and RR for the blog

  2. As I found with his previous Indy puzzle two weeks ago, Eccles continues today in a tough vein, but this was as enjoyable as ever.

    My podium comprises CANAPE (my last one in), EIGHT (my favourite and last one to be parsed), WIGHT and DISTINCT.

    For 16a I was unable initially to justify the replacement of the F from FIGHT by an E, but the penny eventually dropped with a resounding clang.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.

  3. Eccles on top form – but when isn’t he?

    My favourites were the clever WIGHT, BABE (lovely surface), BALSAM (made me smile), DISTINCT, NIGHT (both for the construction) and two ticks for EIGHT (surface and ingenuity). I also liked the clue for WINSOME – but not the word!

    Many thanks to Eccles and RR.

  4. I parsed WIGHT in the sense of a ghost or undead – which might once have been a man. I’m intrigued to discover it once meant a person and have never encountered it in that way. WINSOMER does not deserve to be a word imo! And I needed our blogger to parse both EIGHT and DISTINCT.

    I agree with RR on EIGHT and also ticked PEBBLE (clever use of ON), TOUCHING (amusing surface and construction), COATHANGER (clued very differently from another recent appearance), CANAPE (an outrageous homophone), BALSAM (again for the surface) and SIGHT for the misdirection.

    Thanks Eccles and RR

  5. Eileen @3: I acknowledge crossing less often these days but was amused – if unsurprised – to find we share a dislike today!

  6. Funny to see COAT HANGER(Ko tanga in NZ) two days running but favourite was the Jockism

    Always a welcome start to the day.

    Thanks RR and Eccles

  7. Fun little puzzle, and thanks to Eccles for setting and RatkojaRiku for blogging. Did no-one else notice the compass direction conceit with 15A, 16A, 8D and 19D then? The G’s in the middle of them all caused me to squint in suspicion 🙂

  9. Liked the placements of WIGHT, EIGHT, NIGHT & SIGHT.

    Didn’t properly parse EIGHT. Tried to get the E from strokE but it didn’t quite work. What a great construction. I did know WIGHT fortunately.

  10. We crossed postmortes. I admit that I didn’t spot the N S W E initial letters in the correct compass positions though – nice spot.

  11. Well spotted, postmortes and Hovis! I actually did register that I had filled in ‘IGHT’ several times but didn’t notice the placement. The icing on an already excellent cake.

  12. We found this a fairly easy solve, although we struggled with some of the parsing. In 12ac we didn’t think of le[g] and the best we could think of was PE + B[ooks] + [a]BLE where ‘able’ means good in the sense of being good at a job – but we thought that was a bit too convoluted. We didn’t know WIGHT for ‘man’ but the answer was obvious given the four symmetrical ‘ights’. And in 5dn we took the ‘one’ in ‘one pound off’ to indicate that only one L: was to be removed from ‘fairly light’ (= reasonably unsubstantial).
    Lots to like. Favourites were MAGISTRATE and CANAPÉ.
    Thanks, Eccles and RatkojaRiku.

  13. I’m with Postmark@4 for the parsing of wight – surely most people have read Lord of the Rimgs and remember the barrow-wights that imprison the hobbits early-ish in the 1st book.

    Found this quite easy and excellent fun as always from Eccles.
    Thanks to him and RR

  15. Despite having read Lord of the Rings, the use of WIGHT didn’t ring any bells and have to admit that I wasn’t taken with WINSOMER but there was much to enjoy elsewhere.
    CANAPE made me laugh once the penny dropped and my favourite was probably FAIRY LIGHT.
    Never noticed the strategic compass points but definitely a clever touch from our setter.

    Thanks to Eccles for the puzzle and to RR for the review.

  16. Oh dear! There’s always letters when clues include homophones and unfortunately this is no exception.
    My wife (Glaswegian by extraction) insists it would be pronounced “canny pay”.
    Other than that, I greatly enjoyed the workout.

  17. I wish I’d noticed the compass points! A lot of fun, BALSAM my last in and favorite. A lot of clever substitutions in this one.

  18. Steady work for me.. loved most of it.. but difficulty parsing as mentioned by RatkojaRiku… don’t think I would ever have looked for the homophone in 1dn.. the clear definition was the only thing I could use, with the crossers.. clever stuff with the compass thing.. obviously failed to spot it..
    Thanks Eccles n RatkojaRiku

  19. I know wight as being simply man, bloke, fellow – I feel sure it is in Shakespeare somewhere (Eileen?), probably more than once.

    Hilarious homophone in 1D, best for the year so far.

    Thanks to Radian and RatkojaRiku.

  21. Hi Eccles. Thanks for an enjoyable solve bar a little quibble re 7 A. I doubt whether you will receive many round Easter Eggs this year. Thanks to RatkojaRika too.

  22. Hi Kryptickate, I am indeed unlikely to – however, it does look very much like a 0, so do you object to nothing, love, and duck as indicators for o, too? Love and duck are derived from l’oeuf and duck egg for 0 too, I believe, so pretty much the same.

  23. After seeing Kryptickate writing down ‘7A’, I looked at the blog, only to find that there isn’t a 7A.
    For what it’s worth, what is 1A in the blog should be the missing 7A.

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