Eccles returns to his regular Wednesday slot today after successfully straying into theme territory last week.
We found this puzzle to be a lot trickier than we had expected. As usual there is a good range of types of clue. We also have excellent surfaces and some imaginative definitions – all very enjoyable but challenging.
We are walking in the Outer Hebrides this week, so we will not be able to respond to any comments until this evening.
W (women) in MO (second) TON (century)
First letters or ‘overtures’ of A Percussionist Looking Over Mozart + Beethoven
INDEPendent (‘us’) missing the last six letters – ‘just over half’ + TH (Thursday)
LIT (drunk) + an anagram (‘drunk’) of REAL
RED CURRY (dish from Thailand) round or ‘inspiring’ ME, with one of the ‘r’s (right) moving forward – one of our last ones in – the fake metal was new to us
DIS (Hell) H (first letter or ‘opening’ of hole)
HELL + O (hole)
SHOT (photographed) round or ‘guarding’ W (with) BOA (snake) – we struggled with the definition here, but realised after a lot of head-scratching that both definition and answer are verbs, synonyms for ‘show off’
dUMB (speechless) missing the first letter or ‘scratching head’ RE (regarding) + a reversal (‘about’) of ALL (everything)
T (Thailand) OMSK (city in Russia) – rather confusing as Tomsk is also a city in Russia
TOR (hill) C (first letter of climber)
An anagram (‘blown’) of AT LAST REF’S
EARP (Wyatt Earp – ‘wild west gunfighter’) LUG (haul)
TOPS (kills) IDE (fish)
HAS (possesses) LET (permit)
EVERESt (mountain) missing the last letter or ‘almost’, with the last letter moved to the front or ‘cycling’
Double definition – the first being ‘moderate’ in the sense of ‘don’t mince your words’ – it took us longer than it should have done before we had the confidence to write the answer in
Hidden (‘borne’) in boTHER MALe
WALTER (the ‘full-length’ version of Walt Disney’s forename) ‘dropping’ the L (left) to follow F O W (first or ‘initial’ letters of Film On Wigeons)
IVY (climber) after or ‘supporting’ PR (public relations – ‘promoting people’)
OVERDUe (late) missing the last letter or ‘shortened’ + B (first letter or ‘head’ of broadcasting)
BANS (prohibits) TALK (discussion) round E (base – in maths)
D (duke) UNSTABLE (insecure)
HOME (in) O (love) PAT (Patricia) H (first letter or ‘top’ of Hodge)
A reference to the bridge of THE NOSE
An anagram (‘surprisingly’) of PRECISE
MATE (friend) round or ‘cuddling’ alternate or ‘regular’ letters of mIsSuS
Double definition
Hidden (‘some’) in horRID GEntlemen
Great fun as ever. Eccles’ ability to maintain such a consistently high standard whilst combining innovative clueing with super-smooth surfaces is amazing. Many thanks to him and to B&J.
Enjoyed this. RED MERCURY was my loi. Didn’t know it and was only familiar with “green curry”, so was pleased to guess it and checked on google. Always used to know “torc” as an armband but have seen it as a necklace in previous cryptics. Knew Omsk but never heard of Tomsk.
Great fun. Omsk/Tomsk is very clever and came to me quickly, as they were among place names in our school printing club raffle, written on paper then rolled up and placed inside drinking straws. Thanks Eccles and B&J.
Thanks both. WATERFOWL beat me in parsing, but no issues otherwise. I was almost in the opposite camp to Hovis@2 in that I only faintly remember Omsk, but know TOMSK well thanks to The Wombles.
RED MERCURY was LOI for me also – less familiar with the solution but enjoy the curry. Yes, another top class Eccles composition with trademark cunning assemblies and barely a superfluous word. As TFO says, TOMSK is forever associated with The Wombles for some of us. I think Omsk’s biggest claim to fame was as the (short-lived) capital of the anti-Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.
I enjoyed the 11a/12a combo and HELLO is one of my fave clues, along with MOTOWN, LITERAL (COTD), UMBRELLA, SEVERE, THERMAL and ON THE NOSE.
Thanks Eccles and B&J (who, I trust, are escaping the midges)
MOTOWN really shouldn’t have taken me as along as it did – I’m a fan. LOi: WATERFOWL. Thanks E & B&J
Liked LITERAL, RED MERCURY, SHOWBOAT and WATERFOWL.
Thanks Eccles and B&J!
FrankieG @6. Funny how different clues can be to different solvers. MOTOWN then WATERFOWL were my first 2.
Always enjoyable and often informative puzzles from this setter, although I’m not sure when it will come in handy to know about RED MERCURY! The wandering ‘L’ in 3d caused something of a problem for a while and my top two were MOTOWN & EARPLUG.
Thanks to Eccles and also to B&J for the review.
I was really happy to see APLOMB- not an easy word to clue elegantly.
Good workout for me on a rainy afternoon.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Thanks to everyone for their comments.
First leg of Hebridean Way over – no midges – they would never have managed to fly in the horrendous winds that we have had all day!
[B&J – midges can only fly at 3mph. The wind is your friend! Either that – or just keep walking. Typical human walking pace – 3½mph. As Mr Micawber would say, ‘result happiness’. It’s only when you stop to chat, to eat, to admire the view or to answer the call of nature that the little devils catch up with you.]
Both Omsk and Tomsk appear in Tom Lehrer’s Nicholai Ivanovich Lobachevsky.
Echo PeterO@13… both cities engraved in memory due to that classic Lehrer, mildly surprised that wasn’t everyone’s first thought… I had DOG MERCURY down first, which vaguely fits as a curry dish somewhere, I must admit that I felt it was a trifle defamatory of Thailand’s excellent cuisine..
Otherwise took a lot of workings out, including the use of paper n pencil..
Thanks Eccles n Bertandjoyce
Undrell – have to confess I also opted for dog mercury at first, with a raised eyebrow. But dog mercury is a plant so the definition doesn’t really work. Realised my error when I couldn’t find an answer to fit 1d.