I always look forward to an Eccles crossword
As ever we were treated to some excellent clues with well disguised definitions and a good dollop of topicality with references to politics and football (just ahead of the European Championships)
I liked the clue for MANTA RAY which took me a little while to crack.
There was one outrageous homophone and I’ll leave it to natives of the Birmingham to tell us how accurate it is.
I’m not convinced that WAISTS and TRUNKS are the same thing as defined at 27 across. One refers to a part of the other.
Once again, an enjoyable crossword from Eccles.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Two different lives next to quality city (8) BELGRADE (capital city of Serbia) (BE [exist; live] + L [live, as an abbreviation in Collins] together giving two different lives) + GRADE (quality) BE L GRADE |
| 5 |
Judge Conservatives, ultimately, to be led by donkeys (6) ASSESS (judge) ASSES (donkeys) + S (last letter of [ultimately] CONSERVATIVES) ASSES S |
| 8 |
I’ve made a mistake ignoring leader in military manoeuvres (3) OPS (operations; military manoeuvres) OOPS (exclamation drawing attention to or apologizing for, etc, a mistake) excluding the first letter O (ignoring leader) OPS |
| 9 |
Eccentric farmed on Orkney’s outer reaches since we started (4,3,3) FROM DAY ONE (since the very beginning) Anagram of (eccentric) FARMED ON and OY (first and last letters of [outer reaches] ORKNEY) FROM DAY ONE* |
| 10 |
Considered player to be tense, pragmatic type – one to replace Kane in the end (8) TRIALIST (player being assessed or considered) T (tense) + REALIST (pragmatist) with I (Roman numeral for one] replacing E (last letter [in the end] of [Harry] KANE, English footballer) T RIALIST |
| 11 |
Creator set out to make inserts for dresses (6) GODETS (triangular piece of cloth inserted in a skirt, etc, eg to make a flare) GOD (creator) + an anagram of (out) SET GOD ETS* |
| 12 |
Revolutionary song about German capital (4) RIGA (capital city of Latvia) AIR (song) reversed (revolutionary) containing (about) G (German) RI (G) A< |
| 14 |
Arsonist gutted pretty country clubs (10) PYROMANIAC (one who has an obsessive urge to set things alight; arsonist) PY (letters remaining in PRETTY when the central letters RETT are removed [gutted]) + ROMANIA (country in Eastern Europe) + C (clubs) PY ROMANIA C |
| 17 |
One may buy new tights here? (4,6) HIGH STREET (shopping area where one might buy tights) Anagram of (new) TIGHTS HERE HIGH STREET* |
| 20 |
Quality of hearing reduced (4) AURA (quality) AURAL (of, relating to, or received by, the ear; of hearing) excluding the final letter L (reduced) AURA |
| 23 |
Reportedly studied newspaper in late night flight (3-3) RED EYE (overnight plane journey) RED (sounds like [reportedly] READ [in the past tense, studied]) + EYE (sounds like [reportedly] I [reference the i newspaper]) RED EYE |
| 24 |
A lot of bears see you fish (5,3) MANTA RAY (type of large fish with winglike fins and a whiplike tail) MANY (a lot of) containing (bears) TA-RA (goodbye; see you) MAN (TA RA) Y |
| 25 |
Hairy armpit hunt is successful (10) TRIUMPHANT (successful) Anagram of (hairy) ARMPIT HUNT TRIUMPHANT* |
| 26 |
Dishonourable man runs away from Jack, perhaps (3) CAD (scoundrel; dishonourable man) CARD (a Jack is a playing CARD) excluding (away) R (runs, in cricket scoring notation) CAD |
| 27 |
Trunks used to be keeping one’s backside in sight (6) WAISTS (narrowest parts of the human trunk). Are WAISTS and TRUNKS synonymous given one is just part of the other? WAS (used to be) containing (keeping) (IS [ones] + T [last letter of {backside in} SIGHT) WA (IS T) S |
| 28 |
They disparage attention seekers (8) KNOCKERS (critics; they disparage) KNOCKERS (people who rap on a door or table to gain attention) double definition KNOCKERS |
| Down | |
| 1 |
It burns waste and rubbish lying around church (9) BLOWTORCH (a tool that creates a flame that can burn) BLOW (squander; waste) + ROT (rubbish) reversed (around) + CH (church) BLOW TOR< CH |
| 2 |
Eternal city’s secret operation (7) LASTING (enduring; eternal) LA (Los Angeles; city) + STING (a trap for criminals set up by the police; secret operation) LA STING |
| 3 |
Draw green woodpecker striking head next to river (6) RAFFLE (lottery; draw) R (river) + YAFFLE (green woodpecker) excluding the first letter Y (striking head) R AFFLE |
| 4 |
Temper rising, perhaps Queen is pessimist (9) DOOMSAYER (pessimist) MOOD (temper) reversed (rising; down entry) + SAY (for example; perhaps) + ER (Elizabeth Regina; Queen [Elizabeth]) DOOM< SAY ER |
| 5 |
Mixture of aluminium in molten rock rejected (7) AMALGAM (mixture or blend) AL (chemical symbol for aluminium) contained in (in) MAGMA (molten or pasty rock material) reversed (rejected) AM (AL) GAM< |
| 6 |
Small present put on island by American in national park (9) SNOWDONIA (National Park in Wales) S (small) + NOW (the present) + DON (put on) + I (island) + A (America) S NOW DON I A |
| 7 |
Inspect radio picking up ranges of frequencies (7) SPECTRA (range of frequencies of sound) SPECTRA (hidden word in [picking up] INSPECT RADIO) SPECTRA |
| 13 |
Cheats lit up track and field events (9) ATHLETICS (track and field events) Anagram of (up) CHEATS LIT ATHLETICS* |
| 15 |
Forces sweetheart to earn nothing up front repeatedly (4,5) OVER AGAIN (repeatedly) O (character representing zero; nothing) + VERA (reference VERA LYNN [1917 -2020] singer known as a Forces Sweetheart during the Second World War) + GAIN (earn) O VER A GAIN |
| 16 |
Cautious, initially, because distractedly ignoring signs is a danger to seafarers (9) CHARYBDIS (a dangerous monster that dwelt under a fig tree on a rock opposite to Scylla, and three times a day swallowed and threw up the waters of the sea, later identified with a current or a whirlpool on the Sicilian side of the Straits of Messina; danger to seafarers) CHARY (cautious) + BDIS (first letters of [initially] each of BECAUSE, DISTRACTEDLY, IGNORING and SIGNS) CHARY BDIS |
| 18 |
Popular Scottish county, according to Brummie, shows tendency to remain unchanged (7) INERTIA (tendency to remain unchanged – technically the inherent property of matter by which it continues, unless constrained, in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line) IN (popular) + ERTIA (sounds like, in a West Midlands accent [according to Brummie] AYRSHIRE (Scottish county) IN ERTIA |
| 19 |
Net removed from outside of lowest flask (7) THERMOS (brand of vacuum flask) NETHERMOST (lowest) excluding NET (removed from) THERMOS [blog edited since Hovis comment at 5 below] |
| 21 |
University creep Kelvin lost in part of labyrinth (7) UTRICLE (chamber in the inner ear. Labyrinth can be defined as ‘the cavities of the inner ear’) U + TRICKLE (move gradually; creep) excluding (lost) K (Kelvin, a unit of thermodynamic temperature) U TRICLE |
| 22 |
Still delighted European Community is no more (6) STATIC (stationary; still) ECSTATIC (delighted) excluding (no more) EC (European Community) STATIC |
Another superbly enjoyable puzzle from Eccles, which I found challenging particularly in the NW corner. Lovely surfaces and great mis-directions as always.
I couldn’t find L = live in Chambers and I don’t think that TRUNKS is an accurate definition for WAISTS.
UTRICLE and YAFFLE were new words for me. My runaway favourite was INERTIA which made me LOL, although doubtless this one will divide opinion.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
After a bit of a hiatus , the dog got up early this morning so I thought I’d use the opportunity to get back in the groove
I thought it was a well balanced puzzle – enough “in’s” to get me started , plenty of clever word play and the usual set of ones that baffle me (including two new words)
My Bagpuss knowledge helped me on my favourite clue “RAFFLE” and I enjoyed INERTIA (although I understand this might be not universal!)
Thanks a lot to Eccles and to Duncan (I don’t know how any of you bloggers manage to unpick some of the clues!)
While I nearly always defer to Chambers for single letter abbreviations, L= Live is extremely common in all electrical connections.
I always enjoy Eccles Wednesdays and this was another fine example of his work.
I too wondered about the homophone in 18a and like Tombsy @2, was helped by Bagpuss with 3d.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan
You’ve crossed out one too many Ts in your parsing for THERMOS so no reason to equate nett & net.
Found this very hard and failed to parse the very clever MANTA RAY, so thanks for that.
Love a good Eccles. 18dn reminded me of a (possibly apocryphal) story about a physics teacher in a West of Scotland school asking
“What’s Inertia?” To which a pupil replied “ Troon Miss”
Thanks Duncan and Eccles
Hovis @ 5
Thanks – I have updated the blog
INERTIA is a shocker! I LOVE it
Thanks Eccles and duncan
Very enjoyable fare. Similar unknowns to others – Yaffle and UTRICLE – and failure to parse MANTA RAY. INERTIA went over my head – and I was born in Brum and am a great lover of Scotland!
I did come up with a plausible alternative to the aforementioned UTRICLE: University creep Kelvin lost in part of labyrinth suggested an anagram of U, CREEP and K which gave me UPCREEK which, surely, with or without paddle, suggests somewhere in a labyrinth! And then I got a crosser and that was that.
Thanks Eccles and Duncan
Good fun as ever from this setter and my biggest ticks went to RED EYE, LASTING, SNOWDONIA & STATIC with RAFFLE in pride of place.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review.
Lovely stuff. Another who failed to parse MANTA RAY. I liked RAFFLE . It reminded me of watching Bagpuss with the kids with Professor Yaffle