Eccles appears as a setter in the Independent every two weeks on a Wednesday
Eccles has a reputation for excellent clues with smooth surfaces, as was the case today.
I doubt if I was the only solver who confidently entered DOWN IN THE MOUTH at 1 across, before hitting a brick wall in the North East corner later on. I didn’t really notice the word ‘eventually’ in the clue till I found that no down entries fitted with MOUTH and didn’t appreciate its meaning till I came to write the detail of the blog and parse DOWN IN THE DUMPS as described in the detail below.
The wordplay for FIBRES at 9 down is very clear and yesterday’s news about fines for attendees at parties ‘that didn’t happen’ will confirm the wordplay in the eyes of many solvers. I wonder though if some right wing newspapers would have accepted the clue at all.
There were many clues that raised a smile – ones that come to mind are those for SLOTH, HEATH, and OBLIVIOUS.
I look forward to solving many more Eccles puzzles in the future.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Glum, the (eventual) result of not spitting feathers? (4,2,3,5) DOWN IN THE DUMPS (depressed; unhappy; glum) DOWN (feather) + IN THE DUMPS (I think this is a reference to defecation, saying that if you don’t spit out feathers they will eventually work their way through the alimentary and intestinal processes of the body) DOWN IN THE DUMPS |
| 10 |
Small piece of land in narrow strip of water, north to south (5) ISLET (small piece of land surrounded by water) INLET (narrow strip of water) with N (North) replaced by (to) S (south) ISLET |
| 11 |
Spectator and Times support the Queen (9) BYSTANDER (spectator) BY (multiplied by; times) + STAND (support) + ER (Elizabeth Regina; queen) BY STAND ER |
| 12 |
Ponder rejecting big fan of Enigmatic Variations’ introductions (7) REVOLVE (ponder) – a definition I have never come across before (EV [initial letters of each of ENIGMATIC and VARIATIONS] + LOVER [big fan of]) all reversed (rejecting) Enigmatic Variations is a series of crosswords in The Telegraph (REVOL VE)< |
| 13 |
A group of Marines that helps you stay afloat? (7) ARMBAND (inflatable plastic cuff worn on the upper arm as a buoyancy aid) A + (RM [Royal Marines] + BAND [group]) A RM BAND |
| 14 |
Keep quiet about husband of salty individual showing laziness (5) SLOTH (laziness) SH (direction to keep quiet) containing (about) LOT (reference the ‘wife of LOT‘ who was turned into a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom, as described in the Book of Genesis) S (LOT) H |
| 16 |
Most of planet worried by Sweden’s floods (9) SATURATES (floods) SATURN (planet) excluding the final letter (most of) N + ATE (worried) + S (International Vehicle Registration for Sweden) SATUR ATE S |
| 19 |
Is son restricted by awful rejection? (9) DISMISSAL (rejection) (IS + S [son]) contained in (restricted by) DISMAL (depressing; awful) DISM (IS S) AL |
| 20 |
Has once pinched the backside of Little Ted? (5) HEATH (reference Edward [Ted] HEATH [1916-2005], former UK Prime Minister) HATH (archaic [once] spelling of ‘has’) containing (pinched) E (last letter of [backside of] LITTLE) H (E) ATH |
| 22 |
Source of nutrition you nearly left by overturned barrel (4,3) YOLK SAC (container for the nutritive non-living material contained by an ovum) YOU excluding the final letter (nearly) U + L (left) + CASK (barrel) reversed (overturned) YO L (K SAC)< |
| 25 |
Course of treatment, say, taken by miner in a bad way (7) REGIMEN (course of treatment) EG (for example; say) contained in (taken by) an anagram of (in a bad way) MINER R (EG) IMEN* |
| 27 |
Backwards-looking study describing duke gone over again (9) RETRODDEN (gone over again) (RETRO [reminiscent of, reverting to, or recreating the past; backwards looking]) + DEN [study]) containing (describing) D (duke) RETRO (D) DEN |
| 28 |
Swimmer staggers as if drunk when taking clothes off (5) OTTER (aquatic fish-eating carnivore [swimmer]) TOTTERS (staggers as if drunk) excluding the outer letters T and S (when taking clothes off) OTTER |
| 29 |
Broadcast for every boring responsible student becoming tense (7,7) PRESENT PERFECT (example of a tense in grammar) (SENT [transmitted; broadcast] + PER [for every]) contained in (boring) PREFECT (school pupil with some measure of authority over others; responsible student) PRE (SENT PER) FECT |
| Down | |
| 2 |
Plain clothes police essentially ignorant (9) OBLIVIOUS (absent-mindedly unaware or ignorant) OBVIOUS (plain) containing (clothes) LI (central letters of [essentially] (POLICE) OB (LI) VIOUS |
| 3 |
Blatantly regressive concealing of birth (5) NATAL (related to birth) NATAL (reversed [regressive] hidden word in [concealing] BLATANTLY) NATAL< |
| 4 |
Group of people of high rank? No thanks (9) NOBLESSES (NOBLES [high ranking people] collectively) NOBLESSE is defined as nobles collectively so I assume the plural is more than one collective group of high ranking people) NO (no) + BLESSES (BLESS is defined as being thankful for, so I suppose BLESSES can be defined as thanks) Interesting combination of plural plurals. NO BLESSES |
| 5 |
Coffee seller changing taps for Lily (5) HOSTA (plant of the Lily family) COSTA (reference the COSTA coffee chain of cafes) with C (cold [tap]) replaced by (changing) H (hot [tap]) HOSTA |
| 6 |
Solemn music from dreary Cambridgeshire town (4,5) DEAD MARCH (solemn music) DEAD (dull; dreary) + MARCH (town in Cambridgeshire) DEAD MARCH |
| 7 |
Eccles getting help upon rejection in the papers, perhaps (5) MEDIA (newspapers are part of the wider MEDIA [communication channels]) ME (Eccles; crossword setter]) + AID (help) reversed (upon rejection) ME DIA< |
| 8 |
Australian longs for progress (7) STRIDES (Australian word for trousers [longs]) STRIDES (steps; progress]) STRIDES |
| 9 |
Threads about plugging Boris Johnson’s statements? (6) FIBRES (threads) RE (with reference to; about) contained in (plugging) FIBS (untruths; lies – many people reckon Boris Johnson does not always tell the truth) FIB (RE) S |
| 15 |
Ethanol is abused in a bit of cold weather (9) HAILSTONE (ball of frozen rain; bit of cold weather) Anagram of (abused) ETHANOL IS HAILSTONE* |
| 17 |
Ability to withstand hardship shown by European scratching head in daze (9) TOLERANCE (ability to withstand hardship)
T (OLE) RANCE |
| 18 |
I cut arm at training, which is distressing (9) TRAUMATIC (emotionally shocking; distressing) Anagram of (training) I CUT ARM AT TRAUMATIC* |
| 19 |
I’d party with abandon in short excursion (3,4) DAY TRIP (short excursion, there and back the same day) Anagram of (with abandon) I’D PARTY DAY TRIP* |
| 21 |
Poor country abandoned by Austria (6) HUNGRY (poor) HUNGARY (country) excluding (abandoned by) A (International Vehicle Registration for Austria) HUNGRY |
| 23 |
Drunk on just under two pints (5) LITRE (metric volume equivalent to 1.76 imperial pints – just under two pints) LIT (drunk) + RE (with reference to; on) LIT RE |
| 24 |
Greek characters leaving French wine for trainee (5) CADET (trainee) MUSCADET (French light dry white wine) excluding (leaving) MUS (MU is a character of the Greek alphabet) CADET |
| 26 |
Mess up foxtrot turn (2,3) GO OFF (deteriorate; [turn] bad) GOOF (mess up) + F (Foxtrot is the international radio communication codeword for the letter F) GO OF F |
5 is HOSTA, changing Cold to Hot, rather than the other way round, but I know what you meant.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Ian SW3 @ 1
Oops! Thanks – I’ve got the parsing of 5 down the right way round now
I’ll admit to having down in the mouth, probably because that’s what usually appears in a crossword, until of course it doesn’t work with the Down clues!
Another fine crossword from Mr Every Other Wednesday – I’ll pick 14a as my favourite as I did like the ‘husband of salty individual’
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan
Thanks both. I momentarily raged at the perceived injustice of 1ac before realising its subtlety and humour – the word dump after all is a great example of onomatopoeia if delivered with sufficient emphasis
DUMPS came more naturally to me than MOUTH, fortunately. Once again I learned that my dictionaries are out of date, and even search engines apparently, as nowhere could I find ‘revolve’ = ‘ponder’. Never mind, much enjoyed, so thanks Eccles and Duncan.
This was hard going and I ended up not being able to get NOBLESSES. A few others like PRESENT PERFECT went in unparsed and there were some not exactly OBVIOUS bits like REVOLVE for ‘Ponder’, ‘Australian longs’ at 8d and TOLERANCE rather than “endurance” at 17d.
Of course I went for “Down in the mouth” for 1a; thanks (I think!) for explaining what turned out to be the correct answer.
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan
1a Very nicely put, duncanshiell. Good fun and thanks to both. 14a excellent.
Eccles’ puzzles can sometimes prove difficult but we found this one relatively easy. Of course we had ‘mouth’ instead of ‘dumps’ at first but when the music in 5dn had to be a march we soon realised our mistake – and appreciated the subtlety of 1ac. We made a wild guess that the definition for 29ac was ‘tense’ and pencilled in PRESENT PERFECT from the enumeration so we were pleasantly surprised when the crossers confirmed it as the answer. FIBRES was one of last few in – we’d been trying to fit something into ‘lies’ rather than ‘fibs’. REVOLVE was another late entry but we checked in Chambers and ‘ponder’ is the third definition. And 20ac could also refer to band leader Ted HEATH (1902-1969).
Thanks, Eccles and Duncan.
I couldn’t decide between MOUTH and DUMPS, but, for once, the MEDIA clarified the situation. I was pleasantly surprised when my first guess PRESENT PERFECT actually parsed. I liked SLOTH. I would imagine a lot of work went into that.
Thanks Duncan, and all commenters.
I did consider having mouth in the top line and dumps in the bottom, with similar clues, but thought it wouldn’t be very satisfying to solve.