Independent 11,010 / Eccles

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Eccles is occupying his regular mid-week slot today.

I found this to be an enjoyable puzzle, and sufficiently challenging for a Wednesday. In actual fact, I needed to cheat to find 19, which was a new word for me. I also needed Chambers to crack the wordplay at 6A, and it took a while for me to see the link between 8 and 9.

My favourite clues today were 3, 14, 18 and 24, all for surface reading; and 16, for making me smirk.

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

Across  
   
06 CHICAGO City in a whirl

CHIC (=in, fashionable) + A + GO (=whirl, as in to give something a whirl, i.e. to have a go at)
   
07 SEALANT Perhaps wax can be obtained from marine mammal, one in a colony

SEAL (=marine mammal) + ANT (=one in colony)
   
09 ATLAS One of eight finally finishing early

AT LAS<t> (=finally; “finishing early” means last letter is dropped); Atlas was one of the Titans (=entry at 8) in Greek mythology
   
10 TIGHT SPOT Marijuana found on leggings, creating difficult situation

TIGHTS (=leggings) + POT (=marijuana, grass)
   
11 EPONYMS Spy on me getting changed in Knutsford and Peterlee?

*(SPY ON ME); “getting changed” is anagram indicator; Knutsford appears to have been named after King Canute, while Peterlee is named after Durham miners’ leader Peter Lee, hence “eponyms”
   
13 COCOON Clown working in safe environment

COCO (=clown, i.e. Nikolai Poliakoff) + ON (=working, of e.g. machine)
   
15 ATACAMA DESERT Oddball mated with a car seat in barren patch

*(MATED + A CAR SEAT); “oddball” is anagram indicator
   
19 AREOLA Ring American about old city

A (=American) + RE- (=about, i.e. regarding) + O (=old, as in OT) + LA (=city, i.e. Los Angeles); an areola is a ring of colour around e.g. a nipple or pimple
   
20 LODGERS Left old men evicting Charlie’s tenants

L (=left) + <c>ODGERS (=old men; “evicting Charlie (=C, in radio telecommunications) means letter “c” is dropped)
   
23 PLAY BY EAR Improvise parking spot in wood

LAY-BY (=parking spot, off road) in PEAR (=wood)
   
24 RAVER Leader of rogue state is party animal

R<ogue> (“leader of” means first letter only) + AVER (=state, declare)
   
25 TELSTAR Tornados hit hotel, startling hosts

Hidden (“hosts”) in “hoTEL STARtling”; Telstar was a 1962 hit by the UK band The Tornados
   
27 SAVELOY Piece of meat in bar floozy oddly ignored

SAVE (=bar, except) + <f>L<o>O<z>Y (“oddly ignored” means odd letters are dropped)
   
Down  
   
01 DILL Herb finally cured problem

<cure>D (“finally” means last letter only) + ILL (=problem, misfortune)
   
02 RAMSAY Gordon MacDonald, for two bucks, meets a Yankee

RAMS (=bucks, i.e. sheep) + A + Y (=Yankee, in radio telecommunications); the reference is to the British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (1966-) and to the British PM Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937)
   
03 LOATHSOME Stoma (hole after surgery) is disgusting

*(STOMA HOLE); “after surgery” is anagram indicator
   
04 FACTIONS Groups following proceedings

F (=followings) + ACTIONS (=proceedings, in court)
   
05 DAMP COURSE Barrier on waterway under pressure provides protection from water

DAM (=barrier) + P (=pressure, in physics) + COURSE (=waterway)
   
06 CHAPEL Man supported by the Spanish church

CHAP (=man) + EL (=the Spanish, i.e. a Spanish word for the)
   
07 SIGN Sound of wave motion

Homophone (“sound of”) “sine (=wave, in physics)”; to motion is to indicate, signal, hence “sign”
   
08 TITANS Model returning to collect bronze colossi

TAN (=bronze, sunbathe) in TIS (SIT=model, for painter; “returning” indicates reversal)
   
12 ON THE TABLE Greek character to stop running ballet regularly, it’s proposed

THETA (=Greek character, i.e. letter of Greek alphabet) in [ON (=running, e.g. of machine, tap) + B<a>L<l>E<t> (“regularly” means alternate letters only are used)]
   
14 ADULTRESS Terribly sad result for love cheat

*(SAD RESULT); “terribly” is anagram indicator
   
16 CELIBATE Cable-tie nuts to become chaste

*(CABLE-TIE); “nuts” is anagram indicator
   
17 CARPET Material for floor exercise bores coach and gymnast, ultimately

PE (=exercise) in [CAR (=coach, e.g. on train) + <gymnas>T (“ultimately” means last letter only is used)]
   
18 OSPREY Very large game bird

OS (=very large, i.e. outsize) + PREY (=game, hunted animals)
   
21 DERIVE Get club hit around Spain

E (=Spain, in IVR) in DRIVE (=club hit, i.e. in golf)
   
22 BEAR Animal // to give birth // in harbour

Triple definition: a bear is an animal AND to bear a child is to give birth to one AND to bear a grudge is to harbour one
   
23 VALE Nearly man Glen

VALE<t> (=man, i.e. manservant); “nearly” means last letter is dropped
   

 

18 comments on “Independent 11,010 / Eccles”

  1. Annoyed with myself for not getting RAMSAY, having become fixated on the idea that both names are those of Scottish clans.

    Yet another wholly enjoyable challenge from Eccles who never seems to disappoint. PLAY BY EAR was particularly neat with a lovely spot of the inclusion of ‘layby’.

    Thanks Eccles and RR

  3. I did find the clue for 3d a little too much like its answer, but otherwise a nicely-done puzzle from Eccles today.

    Thanks also too RatkojaRiku.

  4. Andrew @2: exactly. I was taking them as two examples of clans, families, tribes, surnames, ilk etc etc. And never thought of first names. Doh!

  5. Another great crossword from Mr Every Other Wednesday. Lots to enjoy with some interesting ‘read across the solutions’ I don’t think I’d fancy a 27a the size of 26a but I did like the idea of a 23a/24a!

    Thanks to Eccles and RR

  6. I do know the word AREOLA but still failed to get it without cheating with a word fit. Felt for sure I was looking for a city, perhaps even an old one, so beaten by that one. Didn’t fully parse RAMSAY as I didn’t know the PM and was trying to get the M to represent MacDonald and failing.

    As an aside related to 11a, Susie Dent on Countdown recently reiterated the fact that Nottingham was named after Snotta and used to be called Snottingham. Strange but true.

  7. I was another who took a long time to equate ‘eight’ in 9ac with 8dn but they were both among my favourites when I did – I loved the aptness of ‘bronze colossi’.

    Thanks to Andrew for elucidating 2dn – I was puzzled by RAMS = two bucks – and to crypticsue for her amusing observations.

    I also took a while to see the wordplay of 6ac – and I confess that I didn’t actually finish the puzzle: I couldn’t get beyond an unparsed LESSEES for 20ac, so my stubbornness prevented me from seeing the fairly simple 21dn – Grrh!

    Nevertheless, a hugely enjoyable puzzle from Eccles, as usual, so many thanks to him and to RR for a great blog.

  8. Overall a pretty challenging, but enjoyable, puzzle. A brain fade at the end for SIGN but there were a few other ones I couldn’t parse including the ‘whirl’ bit for CHICAGO, the ‘One of eight’ in ATLAS, and the ‘MacDonald’ link to RAMSAY.

    I can understand the last plantaganet @3’s viewpoint, but I’ll give clue of the day to the yucky LOATHSOME.

    Thanks to Eccles and RR

  9. Brilliant again, as we have come to expect from Eccles.

    The parsing for 9a puzzled me for quite a while until the penny dropped as there were 12 Titans – d’oh!

    Every single clue came into consideration for nomination as my favourite, but I’ll give the nod to TELSTAR.

    Many thanks to Eccles for the fun challenge and to RR for the review.

  10. Excellent as ever from Eccles. Favourite was Play by ear: very clever and very neat. Chicago was made up of three standard bits of clueing but somehow took a while to get (held up by the Ramsays – I thought of the PM but not the chef and was trying to think of a double letter abbreviation for dollars. But it’s all in the game) A shout out for 20a too. I love the word codgers and wish there was a female equivalent.
    Thanks to Eccles and to RatkojaRiku for the explanations.

  11. Although biddies is close to being a female equivalent to codgers, as is often the case, the female version tends to have negative connotations and the male version positive.

  12. CHICAGO was enhanced by the fact that it is known as “the windy city’. I wondered whether letters could be tenants as well as landlords and cetters old boys of some obscure public school before the penny dropped on LODGERS. A very enjoyable puzzle, thanks, both.

  13. Great fun from Eccles with CHICAGO making for a very amusing start. The two bucks did confuse me for a while and my wave motion sounded like a sigh but no other problems to report.
    Along with 1a, TIGHT SPOT, COCOON & CHAPEL earned big ticks here.

    Thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review.

  14. A pleasant and fairly quick solve with EPONYMS, DAMP COURSE and OSPREY among our favourites. We liked TELSTAR too, but wondered how many younger solvers would get it. ATACAMA DESERT was a bit of a write-in as by coincidence it featured in a news item this morning. We did puzzle over 20ac for a bit wondering if it could be ‘lessees’ till the D from 21dn jogged our memory about old codgers.
    Thanks, Eccles and RatkojaRiku.

  17. to Andrew @2 and others: I agree with your interpretation of “for two” at 2D and have amended the blog accordingly. Ever so slightly unfair in that there is nothing to indicate that the two names should be taken separately, i.e. no comma, no “and”, etc.

  18. RR @ 17

    I don’t think that’s unfair. I’ve seen it quite a lot of times, once in the last week or so, and view it as another tool in the setter’s misdirection armoury. It’s their luck that in the context of the clue two separate names combine to form a third known one.

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