Eccles sets today’s puzzle in his usual fortnightly Wednesday slot
There was a fairly eclectic mix of words and phrases in the grid with no obvious theme. A couple of wines / grapes appeared, SEMILLON and ZINFANDEL. I am quite partial to a SEMILLON, but my one experience with a white ZINFANDEL has meant I have never drunk it again. Although I don’t like white ZINFANDEL as a drink, I thought the clue was good.
I liked the clue at 11 across with the allusions to Tracey Emin and her 1998 art work ‘My Bed’. The clue for BALMORAL raised a smile
There were three consecutive clues, 20, 21 and 24 down where we had to remove the final letter of a component part. I probably wouldn’t have commented if the clues had been spread throughout the puzzle, but the co-location of three similar types of clues raised an eyebrow.
Continuing on the eye theme, there is one clue where I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if I had to solve it in Private Eye, but I reckon the Independent has a slightly different audience.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Screenwriter‘s nonsense about field and glen (9) BLEASDALE (reference Alan BLEASDALE [born 1946], English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. His works include Boys from the Blackstuff and The Monocled Mutineer) (BS [bullshit; nonsense] containing [about] LEA [field]) + DALE (valley; glen) B (LEA) S DALE |
| 8 |
A fictitious story describing female as friendly (7) AFFABLE (pleasant or friendly) (A + FABLE) containing (describing) F (female) A (F) FABLE |
| 10 |
Driver of people carrier from Milan unfortunately crushing foot (7) LIFTMAN (person whose job is to operate an elevator [people carrier]) Anagram of (unfortunately) MILAN containing (crushing) FT (foot) LI (FT) MAN* |
| 11 |
Distinguish between overturned mattress and the work of Tracey Emin? (4,5) TELL APART (distinguish between) PALLET (mattress or couch [usually made of straw]) reversed (overturned) + ART (Tracey Emin [born 1963] is an English artist) TELL AP< ART |
| 12 |
Gold accessory, so to speak (6) ORALLY (using the spoken word; so to speak [?]) OR (in heraldry, the tincture gold) + ALLY (person that co-operates or helps; accessory [one who helps to commit a crime]) OR ALLY |
| 15 |
Small volume of pickled peppers, perhaps – half left for Mark (7) SPECKLE (spot; mark) S (small) + PECK (measure of capacity [volume] for dry goods such as peppers) + LE (2 of 4 [half] letters in LEFT) S PECK LE |
| 16 |
When Penny drops off man at home (3,6) AHA MOMENT (the point at which the solution to a problem becomes clear; when the penny drops) Anagram of (off) MAN AT HOME AHA MOMENT* |
| 19 |
Grape unknown in France and Spain close to sensational (9) ZINFANDEL (black wine grape of California) Z (letter frequently used to represent an unknown value in mathematics) + IN + F (International Vehicle Registration for France) + AND + E (international Vehicle Registration for Spain) + L (final letter of [close to] SENSATIONAL) Z IN F AND E L |
| 20 |
Prevent anger onslaught (7) BARRAGE (onslaught) BAR (prevent) + RAGE (anger) BAR RAGE |
| 22 |
Resolution means we rub shoulders (6) ANSWER (resolution) ANSWER (hidden word in [shoulders] MEANS WE RUB) ANSWER |
| 23 |
What onanist wants to do for romance in tall trees (4,5) DATE PALMS (tall trees) This is a cryptic definition referring to one use of PALMS of the hand by an onanist. Feel free also to look up the definition of the phrase ‘a date with Rosie Palms’ in the Urban Dictionary DATE PALMS |
| 25 |
Balladeer‘s eye is running (7) ORBISON (reference Roy ORBISON [1936-1988], American singer-songwriter, known for emotional ballads; balladeer) ORB (eye or eyeball) + IS + ON (in operation; running) ORB IS ON |
| 27 |
Phooey! Shower in Middle Eastern country (7) BAHRAIN (Middle Eastern country) BAH (phooey) + RAIN (shower) BAH RAIN |
| 28 |
Those deep in trouble summarised information for the better (9) DOPE SHEET (racing publication giving information on horses and the outcomes of horse races; information for the punter [better]) Anagram of (in trouble) THOSE DEEP DOPE SHEET* |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Bishop’s unethical, drinking drop of liquor in Queen’s house (8) BALMORAL (BALMORAL Castle is one of the Queen’s residences in Scotland) B (bishop) + (AMORAL [unethical] containing [drinking] L [first letter of {drop of} L [LIQUOR]) B A (L) MORAL |
| 2 |
Magical being in Munich’s team? (3) ELF (in European folklore, a supernatural being, generally of human form but diminutive size; magical being) ELF (ELF is German (Munich) for eleven. Many sports have eleven players in a team) double definition ELF |
| 3 |
Wine‘s nose ruined in crush? On the contrary (8) SEMILLON (grape variety grown worldwide, used to produce various wines, including Sauternes) MILL (grind; crush) contained in (in) an anagram of (ruined) NOSE – the containment being the opposite of [on the contrary] ‘nose ruined in crush’ SE (MILL) ON* |
| 4 |
Mock topless relative (4) AUNT (relative) TAUNT (mock) excluding the first letter T (topless) AUNT |
| 5 |
The quality of sound from Don Henley and co. makes for magical rock (10) EAGLESTONE (hard-encrusted nodule of argillaceous oxide of iron, formerly thought to have magical properties) EAGLES (Don Henley and his colleagues formed the American rock band The EAGLES) + TONE (quality of sound) EAGLES’ TONE |
| 6 |
Recently, vitamin B9 has raised oxygen level (2,4) OF LATE (recently) FOLATE (relating to FOLIC acid, an acid in the vitamin B complex [tetrahydrofolate] found in leaves, liver, etc) with the O (chemical symbol for oxygen, raised up the this down entry to form OF LATE) OF LATE |
| 7 |
Insect let out another (6) BEETLE ([another] insect) BEE (insect) + an anagram of (out) LET BEE TLE* |
| 9 |
Illicit opportunity to dispatch Ultron at last for Marvel character (5,5) BLACK WIDOW (BLACK WIDOW is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.) BLACK (unofficial, illicit as in BLACK operations) + WINDOW (opportunity) excluding (to dispatch) N (final letter of [at last] ULTRON) ULTRON is also a character from Marvel Comics and is an enemy of BLACK WIDOW. BLACK WIDOW |
| 13 |
European abandoning a preference to get cat only with difficulty (2,1,7) AT A STRETCH (with difficulty) A + TASTE (preference) excluding (abandoning) E (European) + RETCH (vomit; cat) A T A ST RETCH |
| 14 |
Unfamiliar enthusiasm with overseas destination (3,7) NEW ZEALAND (country; overseas destination for those solvers who don’t live in NEW ZEALAND) NEW (unfamiliar) + ZEAL (enthusiasm) + AND (with) NEW ZEAL AND |
| 17 |
Is able to steal one’s pot? (8) CANNABIS (pot can be defined as the drug CANNABIS in any of its forms) CAN (is able to) + NAB (steal) + I (Roman numeral for one) + S (the possessive ‘S) CAN NAB IS |
| 18 |
Exciting article about new instrument (8) CLARINET (musical instrument) Anagram of (exciting) ARTICLE containing (about) N (new) CLARI (N) ET* |
| 20 |
Comply with Times supporting Trump’s successor, mostly (4,2) BIDE BY (a variant of ABIDE BY [comply with]) BIDEN (reference Joe BIDEN [born 1942], successor to Donald Trump as President of the United States) excluding the final letter N (mostly) + BY (multiplied BY; times) This being a down entry the letters in BY support the letters in BIDE BIDE BY |
| 21 |
Unending plea to get Rex to emerge (6) APPEAR (emerge) APPEAL (plea) excluding the final letter L (unending) + R (Rex) APPEA R |
| 24 |
Cleaning agent very suitable when scratching bottom (4) SOAP (cleaning agent) SO (very) + APT (suitable) excluding the last letter T (scratching bottom) SO AP |
| 26 |
Clock occasionally found in Sweden (3) SEE (understand; clock) SEE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [occasionally] of SWEDEN) SEE |
This provided the usual enjoyable excellence from this setter although the less said about 23a the better.
I learnt two new meanings of familiar words in the mattress in 11a and the cat in 13d. The answer to 28a is an Americanism (confirmed by Collins), as to my mind is the abbreviation in 1a, ?although it seems a number of folk this side of the pond have picked up on it.
With great surfaces and clever cluing throughout there were lots of candidates for favourite, but I think BALMORAL just edges it for me with ZINFANDEL running it close.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Very strange, I didn’t type that spurious question mark @1. Hmm…
Pretty much as duncansheill said… and Rabbit Dave re “cat”… I just thought STRETCH was a catty thing but I did first think SCRATCH, which was less helpful… 23ac raised a chuckle as did 17dn, also enjoyed the simplicity of 24dn and 25ac.. another really enjoyable outing..
Thanks Eccles n duncansheill
Entertaining puzzle from Eccles. The ones I’d never heard of – DOPE SHEET and EAGLESTONE – weren’t difficult to work out from the wordplay and I wasn’t too inclined to follow up the half-understood DATE PALMS any further. I missed the relevance of the wordplay for TELL APART and didn’t know the details of the ‘Marvel character(s)’ at 9d, but was very impressed by your obviously encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject.
Favourite was AT A STRETCH, simply because I was able to remember the crossword land meaning of ‘cat’ as a verb.
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
Enjoyed this immensely. “Mrs.Palm and her 5 lovely daughters” was my LOI, and I do love a “Private Eye” style clue.
Thanks Eccles and DS
[I’m not surprised you didn’t like white Zinfandel, Duncan. It’s the same grape as the Italian Primitivo, and is usually used to make full-bodied reds, which are very drinkable.]
Like WordPlodder @4, I was pleased to remember that cat=vomit which I’ve only ever encountered on the crossword pages. And I thought the Tracey Emin surface and device in TELL APART was superb. No problem with the risque clue – several setters get away with this and worse elsewhere on this site. It raised a smile. I also share with WP my two unknowns of the day – DOPESHEET and EAGLESTONE.
I agree with those who highlighted BALMORAL and I also had ticks for the beautifully hidden and indicated ANSWER, the succinct BEETLE (though I feel I may have seen that before), ZINFANDEL with its lovely surface, NEW ZEALAND for the same reason and CANNABIS for the construction. Final mention in dispatches for the sublimely simple ELF.
Thanks Eccles and duncan
I once visited Marin Cellars in San Rafael where they had two shepherds one of them named Zinfandel
My credit card took a bashing and I only bought 3 bottles.
Super puzzle
Thanks Duncanshiell and Eccles
I seldom laugh out loud at clues. But 23 caused me to make a spectacle of myself when I snorted beer all over the table of the restaurant where I was when I solved it!
Great puzzle as ever from Eccles.
Thanks to Eccles, fine puzzle. 3 was new to me, but obtainable from wordplay after much thought. I have questionable taste regarding naughty clues (big fan of Paul’s smutty side, for instance), but will admit to finding 23 hilarious. Didn’t see it for a long while, wondered what could possibly be in store, and guffawed when the penny finally dropped.
Enjoyed this, but couldn’t parse it all so thanks to Eccles and Duncanshiell. Never heard of Eaglestone, a dopesheet or any individual Marvel characters, so I learned a lot. Hope to remember at least some of it! Like others, favourites were Balmoral and Zinfandel (though also not a fan of the wine – semillon much more to my taste)
Sorry, Eccles, you lost me somewhere between the bullshit, vomit and the pastimes of onanists. Is this really what counts as humour these days – sometimes I despair…………..
I agree with Jane … well, the last three words of her post anyways. BTW, the best way to get over despair is copious booze, laughs and fun and a little bit of the Eccles. Loads to enjoy here, I thought. 🙂
Rarely finish in time to comment but have been enjoying Eccles work and this one was well up to scratch. 23 was laugh out loud and nice to see a mention for the big O at 25. Thanks to E and D.S.