Independent 10,873 by Eccles

by

Great, it’s Wednesday and I have an Eccles to solve and blog on my own.

Bert is away walking at the moment. He’s already climbed Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike and will be somewhere on Snowdon today. I was really pleased that it was Eccles as his clueing is very precise and he does not include that many obscure words. Also, there’s usually some smiles along the way.

I don’t often solve puzzles on my own, so it was strange to take my time over clues. There were a number today which brought back some memories in one way or another which I might not have noticed otherwise.

Thanks Eccles for today’s fun.

 

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Float around a river – that’s sweet (7)
CARAMEL

CAMEL (float) around A R (river) – I cannot resist caramel!

5. It’s not true I’m over obsession (6)
MIRAGE

I’M (reversed or ‘over’ RAGE (obsession)

8. Plane crashes in mountainous region (5)
NEPAL

An anagram (‘crashes’) of PLANE – Bert had a great time trekking in Nepal before the pandemic

9. Weapons rule India out (8)
ORDNANCE

ORDiNANCE (rule) without I (India)

11. English cross over new European tariff, it’s clear (9)
EXONERATE

E (English) X (cross) O (over) N (new) E (European) RATE (tariff)

12. Small supermarket bag (5)
SCOOP

S (small) COOP (supermarket) – why did I take so long trying to think of a 4-lettered supermarket when we have a Co-op in the village?

13. Progressive Alliance restricts meat? (4)
VEAL

Hidden or ‘restricted’ within progressiVE ALlliance

14. Like article by coach in knitted top (8)
CARDIGAN

DIG (like) AN (article) by CAR (coach)

18. Actor‘s hot wearing ripped panties (8)
THESPIAN

An anagram of (‘ripped’) PANTIES around H (hot)

19. Father Abraham originally in nihilistic art movement (4)
DADA

DAD (father) A (first letter of Abraham or ‘originally’)

22. Request harmony (5)
ORDER

Double definition

24. Forced to cuddle Oscar, female alleged (9)
PROFESSED

PRESSED (forced) around or ‘cuddling’ O (Oscar) and F (female)

25. Partially disrobed, I entertain being submissive (8)
OBEDIENT

Hidden in the clue or ‘partially’ disrOBED I ENTertain

26. Low life cut in half radish (5)
MOOLI

MOO (low) LIfe (cut in half)

27. Gets rid of trousers, time to show piles (6)
STACKS

SACKS (gets rid of) around or ‘trousering’ T (time)

28. Squeal emerging from loose rocks by church (7)
SCREECH

SCREE (loose rocks) CH (church) – Oh how I hate loose rocks – just one of the many reasons I am not climbing the UK 3 Peaks.

DOWN
1. Careful management of refurbished cast-iron oven (12)
CONSERVATION

An anagram of (‘refurbished’) CAST-IRON OVEN

2. In favour of stopping discount for ne’er-do-well (9)
REPROBATE

PRO (in favour of) inside or ‘stopping’ REBATE (discount)

3. Hammer everybody in police force (6)
MALLET

ALL (everyone) inside MET (police force)

4. Husband an idiot to mount scrubber (6)
LOOFAH

H (husband) A FOOL (idiot) reversed or ‘mounting’ as it is a down clue

5. That is Victor wearing decoration from long ago (8)
MEDIEVAL

IE (that is) V (victor) inside or ‘wearing’ MEDAL (decoration)

6. Gilbert maybe takes uplifting bath by end of day – ecstasy (8)
RHAPSODY

RHOD (as in Rhod Gilbert, the comedian) around or ‘taking’ SPA (bath) reversed or ‘uplifting’ Y (last letter or ‘end of day’). I had to check this as I had never heard of the comedian.

7. Fine Charlie, say, for raising lizard (5)
GECKO

OK (fine) C (Charlie) EG (say) all reversed or ‘raising’ – our son and grandchildren had some bananas recently and found a tiny gecko hidden between the fruit!

10. Golf tournament, and one of its locations to get snack (4,8)
OPEN SANDWICH

OPEN (golf tournament) SANDWICH (one of its locations)

15. Prime Minister pleased with extremely suspect individual (9)
GLADSTONE

GLAD (pleased) SuspecT (first and last letters only or ‘extremely’) ONE (individual)

16. On reflection, I would start to assess boring haircuts, which is irregular (8)
SPORADIC

A reversal (‘on reflection’) of I’D A (first letter or ‘start’ to Assess) inside or ‘boring’ CROPS (haircuts)

17. Moisture found in barrier across river next to quiet headland (8)
DAMPNESS

DAM (barrier across river) P (quiet) NESS (headland)

20. Enemy beginning to treat America as undeveloped entity (6)
FOETUS

FOE (enemy) first letter or ‘beginning to’ Treat US (America)

21. England and France’s main bowler? (6)
SEAMER

SEA and MER (English and French words for ‘main’)

23. Unionist’s owing money for the first time (5)
DEBUT

A play on the fact that U (Unionist) is in DEBT so he or she must be owing money

 

21 comments on “Independent 10,873 by Eccles”

  1. Excellent stuff as always from Eccles. I found this one a lot easier than his other recent offerings but no less enjoyable with lovely surfaces throughout.

    The particular Gilbert in 6d was new to me and needed a quick check on Google.

    EXONERATE, SCOOP and SEAMER were my top three, but really any of the clues could have made this list.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to Joyce flying solo.

  2. Recently, people have said Eccles crosswords have been getting harder but this was pretty straightforward. Very entertaining though with lots of slightly naughty clues raising a smile. I particularly liked 27a and 4d.

    Rhod Gilbert always reminds me of his exasperation on buying a quilt from Debenhams. I’ll attempt a link

  3. Thanks so much for the link Hovis. I realise I have seen the comedian – I just didn’t remember his name. Great start to a morning of gardening for the NT!

  4. I didn’t think of the right Gilbert on first pass – & Sullivan is the obvious with the other two contenders, at the time, being & George and Grape. However, second time around the crossers made RHAPSODY the obvious answer and the comedian fell into place. As Hovis says (and thanks for the link), some trademark cheekiness from Eccles as well as clear and fair clueing. I generally try and do anagrams in my head, solving as I do on a laptop generally without pen and paper to hand: I was particularly chuffed to work out CONSERVATION!

    I agree with RD that almost any clue could have been nominated as a favourite – I’m going with OPEN SANDWICH for its simplicity and pertinence – the Open was held at Sandwich this year.

    Thanks Eccles and Joyce

  7. Another super puzzle from Eccles – as has been said, too many favourites to list.

    Many thanks to him and to Joyce.

  8. Camel – second definition in Chambers. A removable float to reduce draft temporarily for a specific purpose. Invented by a Dutchman to get ships of the line over the shallow banks off of Amsterdam.

  10. Thanks from me, too, mw7000: had no idea, and when I searched “camel float” I got pictures of very jolly inflatables for children in swimming pools! Very enjoyable crossword. As others have said, all good, but 21d was my favourite. So neat. Thanks to Joyce for the blog and I hope you enjoy the rest of your solo time.

  12. Very enjoyable, I did wonder about DEBUT as there was no obvious insertion indicator, but owing money = in debt makes perfect sense now.

    I think the standout feature today is how smooth many of the surfaces are.

    Thanks Eccles and Joyce.

  13. I agree that this was on the easier end of Eccles’ spectrum. Even so, like a few other posters, I had no idea of the ‘float’ sense of CAMEL (thanks mw7000 @8) and had never heard of the ‘Gilbert’ at 6d, so it took a bit of work to fill the grid.

    Some amusing, slightly naughty surfaces added to the enjoyment. My pick though was ‘Unionist owing money’ device for DEBUT.

    Thanks to J (sans B for once) and Eccles

  14. I did need to check on the camel and the radish and I tried hard to make my snack a ‘club sandwich’ – had the right feel without being correct!
    Plenty to enjoy from our setter but nothing that stood out for favouritism.

    Thanks to Eccles and to Joyce for flying solo. Looking out of the window, it would appear that Snowdon is shrouded in mist so Bert may not be able to appreciate the view from the summit.

  16. Jane – The weather on the top apparently was very changeable so for a short while there were some views. There weren’t any on Ben Nevis though!

  17. Bert here! Just returned to Dolgellau from Snowdon – very low cloud so a damp and cold ascent and descent, with a howling gale on the exposed western side. Fortunately for a few minutes on top the clouds parted and the sun came out – made the effort well worthwhile. Some scree (28ac) enroute, but nowhere near as much as on Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike – Joyce still wouldn’t liked it though.
    I enjoyed the Eccles too! As expected, all great clues – impossible to name a favourite.

  18. A pre bedtime puzzle so pleased it was nice & gentle. Couldn’t parse RHAPSODY beyond the spa bit despite knowing the comedian & the radish needed confirmation otherwise all ok in what was a quick solve.
    Thanks all.

  19. Never heard of the radish, had the crossers and could only see MAORI (low life?), sorry neighbours , joking.

  20. Funny about 8, the incorrect ALPEN is also an anagram. I first entered that. Error only discovered when 1d and 3, the last two in, failed to parse!

Comments are closed.