Independent 11,598 by Eccles

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Our Wednesday challenge is from Eccles.

I always enjoy this setter’s puzzles, but I thought this one was harder than usual. 26a was a very unfamiliar word, so it would be good to give it a straightforward wordplay, but “express” had an unhelpfully loose synonym here – one of several in the puzzle, as noted below. I spent ages on 3d wondering what Greg had to do with a late-80s car, before the penny dropped; I liked it when I eventually saw it, but our overseas solvers may justifiably complain they had no hope of getting it. And I haven’t been able to parse the wordplay for 1d at all – any suggestions? UPDATE: yes, of course there were – thanks.

Some typically Eccles-ish delights, though: I liked the German port, and the surfaces of 10a (amid my pre-Christmas cooking) and the rather improbable 2d. Thanks Eccles as always.

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

ACROSS
6 BEDSORE
Sleep with love god, taken from behind, leading to ulcer (7)
BED (sleep, as in “early to bed, early to rise”), then EROS (Greek god of love) reversed (taken from behind). UPDATE: as in the comments below, Eccles may well have intended “bed” = “sleep with”.

A pressure ulcer caused by lying in the same position for long periods.
7 PILGRIM
Edge around gloomy devoted worshipper (7)
LIP (edge of a cup or bowl) reversed (around), then GRIM (gloomy).
9 LINKS
Golf course in German port? (5)
Definition and cryptic definition. A type of golf course generally built on sandy coastal land; or the German word for left (as opposed to right) = port in nautical terms.
10 RICE PAPER
Prepare to turn around one hundred baking sheets (4,5)
Anagram (to turn?) of PREPARE, around I + C (Roman numerals for one and a hundred).

Edible paper made from rice starch, used in baking.
11 EVENING
Trying to get flat just before bedtime? (7)
Double definition. Evening [out], as a verb = smoothing or flattening; or the last part of the day.
13 GANGES
Groups crossing English river (6)
GANGS (groups) containing (crossing) E (abbreviation for English).

River in Asia.
15 STOP AT NOTHING
Instructions for Countdown: Make sure you win! (4,2,7)
Double definition. Count down = to go through a descending sequence of numbers ending at zero (nothing); or to use any possible means to achieve one’s goal.
19 AGAVES
Gave in when producing Mexican plants (6)
GAVE inserted into AS (when, as in “I’ll deal with that as it happens”).

Genus of plants, some of which grow in Mexico – including the one used to make tequila.
20 REFRAIN
Chorus of “Desist!” (7)
Double definition. A repeated section in a song, sung with the same words after each verse; or an instruction to stop or avoid doing something.
23 IN THE MAIN
Mostly at sea? (2,3,4)
Double definition. Another way of saying “mainly” = mostly; or main = a literary or archaic word for the sea.
24 AMBIT
Slightly over medium range (5)
A BIT (slightly), around M (abbreviation for medium size).

Ambit = range = extent, especially the range of someone’s responsibility.
26 ACOUCHI
American Express can get one a South American rodent (7)
A (abbreviation for American) + COUCH (as a verb = to express something in a particular way, especially by using indirect language) + I (one in Roman numerals).

Acouchi – no, I’ve never heard of it either.
27 EMBASSY
Important mission regenerating assembly line abandoned (7)
Anagram (regenerating) of ASSEMB[l]Y, abandoning the L (abbreviation for line).
DOWN
1 ODIN
When naked, I can be supreme creator (4)
Sorry, I have absolutely no idea about the wordplay for this one. Odin is a Norse creator god, and perhaps the definition should also include “supreme”, but I can’t see what else is going on. Maybe I’ll be kicking myself when someone tells me.

UPDATE: Thanks to commenters – yes, it’s obvious when you see it. [i]ODIN[e] (I = the chemical symbol for this element), without the outer letters (naked).

The Norse creator god.
2 BONSAI
Chlorofluorocarbon said to protect small tree (6)
Hidden answer (. . . to protect) in [chlorofluorocar]BON SAI[d]. The chemical is generally abbreviated to CFC, and agreed to be a Bad Thing for trees and the planet in general.

A Japanese ornamental miniature tree.
3 SEGREGATE
Single out car from 1989/90 that’s blocking Seat Ateca, essentially (9)
G-REG (short for G-registration: in the UK, a motor vehicle registered between August 1989 and July 1990, which had a registration plate starting with the letter G), inserted into (blocking) SEAT + middle letter (essentially) of [at]E[ca].

Segregate = to split into separate groups according to a particular characteristic (such as gender or nationality). I don’t think that’s quite the same as “single out”, which is to pick out one from a larger group.
4 SLAPDASH
Careless husband down with friends from the south (8)
H (abbreviation for husband) + SAD (down = in a low mood) + PALS (friends), all reversed (from the south = upwards in a down clue).
5 PROPAGANDA
Cockney’s announced right good look at biased information (10)
The sound in a Cockney accent (Cockney’s announced) of PROPER (right) + GANDER (as in “take a gander at” = slang for a look at something). I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to read it as “right good” or “good look” – the “good” isn’t really needed in either case.

Information disseminated by a government or other organisation to promote its own point of view exclusively.
6 BALLET
Everyone in fancy dance (6)
ALL (everyone) in BET (fancy?). I think you could say “I bet that” or “I fancy that” something is true, in the sense of “I believe that” or “I guess that”, but “I bet that” carries the additional suggestion that you’ll lose in some way if it turns out not to be true.
7 PACT
Treaty stored on phone (4)
Homophone (on phone = spoken aloud) of PACKED (stored).
8 MORISH
Tempting Muslim missing first love (6)
M[o]ORISH (historical term for the Muslim civilisation in North Africa and Spain) without the first O (zero = love in tennis scoring).

More usually spelled “moreish”, I think; of food, tempting in the sense of making you want to eat more of it.
12 EXTRACTION
Stock additional tonic supply (10)
EXTRA (additional) + anagram (supply = in a supple way) of TONIC.

Stock = liquid made by boiling meat, vegetables etc in water to extract the flavours. UPDATE: as a couple of people have pinted out, a better explanation is stock = extraction = family lineage. I was born in Wales but I’m of English extraction.
 14 DO A RUNNER
Tear up about row with a Parisian making escape (2,1,6)
REND (tear = pull apart), reversed (up, in a down clue), containing (about) OAR (as a verb = row = propel a boat using oars) + UN (French, therefore Parisian, for the indefinite article “a”).

Slang for run away, especially to avoid arrest.
16 PRESENCE
Physical appearance of Sham 69’s leader knocking out tenor (8)
PRE[t]ENCE (sham), with the leading letter of S[ixty-nine] replacing the T (abbreviation for tenor). Nothing to do with the punk band from Hersham in Surrey.
17 MARINA
Spoil home with a basin that’s enclosed (6)
MAR (spoil) + IN (home = at home, as in “will you be in this evening?”) + A.

Marina = small harbour = enclosed basin on the coast or on a waterway.
18 SNOTTY
Snobbish hostess not typically welcoming (6)
Hidden answer (. . . welcoming = containing) in [hostes]S NOT TY[pically].

Slang for snobbish or supercilious.
21 FLABBY
Wonderful times eating bit of lamb fat (6)
FAB (short for fabulous = wonderful) + BY (times = multiplied by, as in “3 by 2”), containing (eating) the first letter (a bit) of L[amb].
22 BARI
Pub on island in Italian city (4)
BAR (pub = drinking establishment) + I (abbreviation for island).

Port city in south-east Italy.
25 BUSY
Tied up detective (4)
Double definition. Tied up = slang for occupied with something, as in “I’ll be late home – I’m tied up at work”; or busy = slang for a police detective.

17 comments on “Independent 11,598 by Eccles”

  5. My goodness this was tough, made more so by some devious synonyms along the way. I learnt two new words in 19a & 26a, and, like Quirister I spent a long time trying to figure out how GREG could be a car from 1989/90 until the resounding PDM.

    Many thanks to Eccles for an enjoyable challenge and to Quirister.

  6. Thanks also to Quirister for parsing LINKS – taking knowledge of German a bit too far perhaps? In 6a, I think Eccles is being a little naughtier than you make out with ‘bed’ equating to ‘sleep with’ not just ‘sleep’.

  9. LOI went with AVOICEI for 26a (to voice is to express). Looked a bit unlikely , but fit the clue as well as the never heard of correct answer did, i think. Really enjoyed this, so thanks to Eccles and also to Quirister and commenters for a couple of explanations.

  10. KVa and Hovis – thanks, I knew there must be an obvious answer to 1d. And you’re probably right about “bed” too. I’ll update the blog.

  11. Took a long time for the penny to drop over the parsing of ODIN, likewise SEGREGATE, but another undeniably excellent puzzle from our setter.
    Top three here were AGAVES, STOP AT NOTHING and FLABBY.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to Quirister for the review.

  12. Just about managed to complete this, and pleased to learn new (to me) slang (‘busy’ = ‘detective’). Much enjoyed, so thanks Eccles and Quirister.

  13. 3d SEGREGATE could just as easily have been “…1968/69…”
    and 16d PRESENCE “Physical appearance of Sham 69’s leader” (Jimmy Pursey) would be “Lace up boots and corduroys”
    Nice lift-and-separate.
    Parsed 12d EXTRACTION as in Shane MacGowan (RIP) was of !rish extraction, from good !rish stock.
    Thanks E&Q

  14. KVa, FrankieG – yes, thanks, I think you’re right about “stock”. I’ve obviously spent more time on cooking than on genealogy recently. I’ll update the blog.

  15. Thanks both. Was pleased to parse ODIN but needed the guidance here for LINKS which is clever now I understand it. For me BUSY would be a beat officer not a detective, and spelt more like ‘ bizzy’. My only issue was also with ACOUCHI for reasons already stated, plus that ‘can’ in the clue seems superfluous.

  16. Thought that was tough. Finished with a couple unparsed (ODIN, the G-REG bit) & having cheated & looked up a list of S American rodents. PROPAGANDA my fav.
    Thanks to Eccles & to Quirister

  17. Loved PROPAGANDA
    Liked the way initial blogger gave updates rather than direct edits. It makes the future contributions fit into place.
    Thanks both and all.

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