Independent 10,975 by Eccles

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Eccles hasn’t lined up with my Wednesday blog slot for a few months; glad to meet up again this week.

I always enjoy Eccles’ quirky definitions such as 1a, 27a and 8d. I liked the extended definitions of 28a and 24d, and some really good surfaces, particularly 19a, 15d and 17d. My favourite today (among many I could have picked) was 29a, both for the surface and for the remarkable anagram. Thanks Eccles for brightening up a dull morning.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 APPLES AND PEARS
Flights from London in planes appear dubious for vacation, unfortunately (6,3,5)
Anagram (unfortunately) of PLANES APPEAR D[ubiou]S (for vacation = middle letters emptied out).

Cockney rhyming slang for “stairs” = flights (of stairs) from London.
10 PALLY
Prince and friend getting close (5)
P (abbreviation for prince) + ALLY (friend).

Pally = like a pal = friendly = close.
11 SAGO GRASS
Southern leader excited by Arkansas being oddly deficient in forage for cattle (4,5)
Leading letter of S[outhern] + AGOG (excited) + [a]R[k]A[n]S[a]S (even-numbered letters only = oddly deficient).

A tall grass grown in Australia as fodder for cattle. I didn’t know that, but the dictionaries did, and the wordplay was straightforward.
12 OBVERSE
Watch Victor swapping places with son? The opposite (7)
OBSERVE (watch), with the V (Victor in the radio alphabet) and the S (short for son) swapping places. Very neat.

When you’re talking about coins, “obverse” and “reverse” are the two sides (otherwise called heads and tails). In other contexts, “obverse” and “reverse” both mean “the opposite”. English is like that.
13 SEATTLE
Work out around American city (7)
SETTLE (work out = resolve, as in to settle a dispute) around A (short for American).
14 THUMB
One may be opposed to request (5)
Double definition. Opposed thumb = forming a grip between the thumb and one or more fingertips; or as in “thumb a lift” = hold up one’s thumb to passing vehicles to request a free ride.
16 ALBATROSS
Scotland sorts out constant burden (9)
ALBA (Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland) + anagram (out) of SORTS.

Metaphorically, a constant burden or impediment, usually the consequence of one’s own actions: from Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in which the sailor who kills a seabird has it hung around his neck as a punishment.
19 BETROTHAL
Promise to marry criminal at brothel (9)
Anagram (criminal) of AT BROTHEL.
20 YETIS
In spite of everything, I start to search for legendary creatures (5)
YET (in spite of everything) + I + starting letter of S[earch].

Yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman = legendary ape-like inhabitant of the Himalayas.
22 CRANIAL
Movement of car rested back of skull (7)
Anagram (movement) of CAR, then LAIN (past participle of the verb “to lie” = rested, as in “I have lain here all day”) reversed (back).
25 CYPRESS
Extremely crafty journalists found in tree (7)
End letters (extremes) of C[raft]Y + PRESS (journalists). Nice to see “journalist” as something other than ED.

Name of various species of conifers.
27 LAKE GARDA
In Italy, a mere 50% of road rage takes place, essentially, with learner reversing (4,5)
Second half (50%) of [ro]AD + RAGE + middle letters (essentially) of [ta]K[es] [pl]A[ce] + L (learner, as in L-plate), all reversed.

Mere = old word for a lake (as in Windermere in the Lake District). Lake Garda is on the southern edge of the Italian Alps.
28 ANIME
Such seminal frames from the east (5)
Hidden answer (. . . frames), reversed (from the east), in [s]EMINA[l].

Extended definition: animated films (frames = individual images in the animated sequence) from Japan.
29 CREEPY-CRAWLIES
Acrylic sweeper agitated spiders, for example (6-8)
Anagram (agitated) of ACRYLIC SWEEPER.
DOWN
2 POLE VAULT
Athletics event in European cellar (4,5)
POLE (person from Poland = European) + VAULT (cellar).
3 LAYER
Film actor taking top off (5)
[p]LAYER (actor) without the first letter (top, in a down clue).
4 SASSENACH
She can broadcast about idiot Englishman (9)
Anagram (broadcast = scattered) of SHE CAN, around ASS (idiot).

Scottish Gaelic word for an English person.
5 NEGUS
Hot drink, say, absorbed by revolutionary rag (5)
EG (e.g. = say = for example), absorbed by SUN (tabloid newspaper = rag) reversed (revolutionary).

A hot spiced wine-based drink.
6 PAGEANTRY
Gay parent’s elaborate display (9)
Anagram (‘s elaborate = is complicated) of GAY PARENT.
7 APART
Cut off a bit (5)
A + PART (bit = piece).

Cut off = apart = separated from something.
8 SYSTEMS
Easy when half-cut, checks for groups with attractive bodies (7)
[ea]SY (with the first half cut) + STEMS (checks, as a verb = stops or limits, as in “stem the flow”).

As in planetary systems: groups of bodies moving aroung each other under gravitational attraction.
9 OPT OUT
Decide not to be involved in work with dodgy ticket seller (3,3)
OP (short for Latin opus = a work, and used in lists of musical works by a particular composer) + TOUT (an unofficial seller of tickets, often at inflated prices).
15 BLOWING UP
Bishop doing cow impressions excited to be going viral, perhaps (7,2)
B (abbreviation for Bishop) + LOWING (making the sound of a cow) + UP (excited).

Going viral = blowing up = rapidly becoming very popular.
17 BALACLAVA
Hood in dodgy cabal getting hot material (9)
Anagram (dodgy) of CABAL + LAVA (molten rock = hot material).

A knitted or woven covering for most of the head and neck, leaving only a small part of the face exposed.
18 ON THE SIDE
In a legitimate position to suppress article secretly (2,3,4)
ON SIDE (in a legitimate playing position in football), containing (to suppress) THE (definite article).

As in “making money on the side” = without official approval.
19 BUCOLIC
Rustic tramp nearly gets abdominal pain (7)
BU[m] (slang for a tramp; nearly = last letter dropped) + COLIC (abdominal pain).
21 SUSSEX
Figure out former partner is somewhere in south England (6)
SUSS (figure out = discover) + EX (former partner).

County on the south coast of England.
23 ANKLE
Snake occasionally seen in beer joint (5)
Alternate letters (occasionally seen) of [s]N[a]K[e], in ALE (beer).
24 LYRIC
Possibly Rice has penned this? (5)
Hidden answer (. . . has penned = keeps confined) in [possib]LY RIC[e].

Extended definition: Tim Rice is best known for writing lyrics for Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s musicals, but he’s also worked with other musicians and with film companies.
26 PEARL
Ring contains rare gem (5)
PEAL (ring = the sound of bells), containing R (abbreviation for rare).

Gem = usually a precious or semi-precious stone, but the term can also cover non-minerals used for jewellery such as pearls and amber.

14 comments on “Independent 10,975 by Eccles”

  1. Another great Eccles Wednesday. My favourites were 1a and 29a – as Quirister says: a remarkable anagram

    Thanks to Eccles for the fun and Quirister for the blog

  2. I’ve run out of superlatives for Eccles so I’ll just have to repeat myself. This was sheer brilliance – a joy from start to finish.

    I learnt three new words: SAGO GRASS, ANIME and NEGUS, but all were fairly clued. The smooth surfaces are a wonder to behold, and, as Quirister says, there are some superbly disguised definitions here. I thought using “the opposite”, which is normally a wordplay instruction, as the definition for 12a was a stroke of genius.

    Favourites? APPLES AND PEARS and CREEPY-CRAWLIES for starters, but everything else came into contention too.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to Quirister.

  3. I agree wholeheartedly with crypticsue and Rabbit Dave (except I did know NEGUS).

    I’ll add ALBATROSS and SASSENACH to the favourites.

    Many thanks to Eccles and Quirister.

  4. Hear hear to all of the above. Slightly at the tougher end of the Eccles spectrum, I thought. I look forward to a themed puzzle about Cockney rhyming slang one day, or has there already been one? At 14A, surely ‘ thumb as lift’ is the only situation where one might use THUMB as ‘request’ – would one thumb a slice of cake? I hope not, without washing one’s hands first. Thanks Eccles and Quirister.

  6. Good fun as always with Eccles. I learnt a bit of CRS at 1a and also loved the ‘In Italy, a mere’ def for the beautiful LAKE GARDA. Some head scratching at the end before SYSTEMS went in – another good def.

    Thanks to Eccles – look forward to the next in a couple of weeks – and Quirister

  7. Same new words for me as RD came across and I was a bit doubtful about 15d although I suppose it works.
    Good work as ever from this setter and my favourite was CREEPY-CRAWLIES.

    Thanks to Eccles for the enjoyment and to Quirister for the review

  8. I thought this was great, too. APPLES AND PEARS brought a smile to my boat race. Earlier this week someone clued YETI as “hard to find”, not in crosswords though, where they are getting quite common

  9. This one stretched me a bit but was very satisfying to solve. Love APPLES AND STAIRS, which kept me guessing almost to the end, and then gave me my last few danglers to finish with NEGUS( a new one on me!), LAYER and POLE VAULT. Liked CREEPY CRAWLIES too. Thanks Eccles and Quinster.

  10. It’s always a pleasure to do an Eccles crossword. First one in was 1a but due to carelessness (or something scarily worse) I wrote apples and pairs, which held me up a bit later today n the North East corner. All good, and better than good, but favourites were the opposable thumb and the Italian mere. Lovely stuff. Thanks to Eccles and Quirister

  11. Thanks Eccles for a fine crossword. Yes, 29a is a wonderful anagram but there really wasn’t a bad clue in the bunch. Favourites included OBVERSE, ANIME, and BLOWING UP, the latter for its absurdly funny surface. I missed NEGUS, a new word for me. Thanks Quirister for the blog.

  12. 1ac brought back memories of my maternal grandmother staying with us when we were little and telling us it was “Time to go up the apples and pears to Bedfordshire.”

  14. Excellent bedtime solve. Stupidly bunged in booming for BLOWING but otherwise ok. Pleased to twig both SAGO GRASS & ANIME both of which new to me. APPLES AND PEARS & CREEPY CRAWLIES my picks too from a great assortment.
    Thanks to Eccles & Quirister

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