Independent 11,190 by Eccles

10 comments on “Independent 11,190 by Eccles”

1. Whizzed through this while waiting for air con re-gas so was obviously on Eccles’ wavelength today. 28 a clear favourite for me. Thanks to Eccles and Quirister

2. Yet another absolutely terrific puzzle from Eccles complete with his hallmark impeccable surfaces. I found this one at the easier end of his spectrum but as enjoyable as ever.

   Most of the clues came into contention when choosing a favourite but in the end I couldn’t decide between ABORIGINE and HORS DE COMBAT so these are my top two.

   Many thanks to Eccles and to Quirister.

3. V. enjoyable and not too difficult although I couldn’t parse TALON, wondering if it might have something to do with fingernails on keyboards; obviously not. INK-CAP was also just recognised. I’m in a bit of a time warp with UK politics (Douglas Hurd is still the Home Secretary isn’t he?), so the ‘Mr Benn’ at 14d who came to mind was “Tony” and NAD(ine) ‘Dorries’ is just a name.

   The usual good surfaces from Eccles. My favourites were those for LAWRENCE, BEATNIKS and especially HORS DE COMBAT.

   Thanks to Eccles and Quirister

4. Basically, what Rabbit Dave said – but I will go a bit further and list a few more favourites: BATTLEGROUND, EGLANTINE, BEATNIKS, HILARITY, which did make me laugh and TARANTINO – I always like that use of ‘so long’.

   I left entering TALON until the end, never, like Quirister, having met that meaning.

   Many thanks to Eccles for a lot of fun and to Quirister for a fine blog.

5. Only four comments (which is a shame for such a fine puzzle) but I find my own post is an amalgam of those that precede. Like Reddevil, I was on Eccles’ wavelength right from the beginning, found the surfaces superb throughout as did RD, like WordPlodder briefly considered the Rt Hon Anthony Wedgwood before remembering the much more forgettable (!) Hilary, and finally sharing all of Eileen’s likes. So, as usual, nothing original from me!

   Except perhaps to acknowledge a very high quality alternate letters clue for LANCASTER.

   Thanks Eccles and Quirister

6. Another unorignal comment – again it was a puzzle I was in tune with rather more than a typical Eccles, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Many thanks to Eccles and Quirister

7. For anyone who hasn’t tried them, I can heartily recommend shaggy ink-caps, used to have them growing in the wild part of my garden at the previous house!
   All the expected enjoyment from Eccles today with my favourites being EGLANTINE, BEER GUT & COKE.

   Thanks to our setter and to Quirister for the review.

8. The particular definition of TALON was new to me as well. I would be disappointed if a week went by without crosswords teaching me a new word/definition so thank you to Eccles for that.

   Interesting how TARANTINO seems to have become the go to ‘Director’ in puzzles. Took a min to parse but enjoyed very much when I did.

   I’ll add a cautionary note on ink caps (common) and alcohol – not that I imagine amateur foragers would cook up any kind of mushroom without being certain of its edibility.

   Thanks to Eccles & Quirister.

   https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/common-inkcap/

9. The number of comments is rarely an indicator of the quality of a puzzle, especially when, like today, we are unanimous in our appreciation. I think TARANTINO and TATI are popular with setters because they end in vowels.

10. Tricky in places but we got there in the end. LAWRENCE was our LOI but the parsing was obvious once we got it. We liked the ‘reverse engineered’ clue for BATTLEGROUND.
    Thanks, Eccles and Quirister.

Comments are closed.