Eccles is occupying his usual mid-week slot this week.
I found this to be an easy-to-medium difficulty puzzle by Indy standards, set on a grid that provides a lot of initial letters as it is filled in, but which accommodates no longer entries.
I needed to look up 7, 13 and the “jack” at 14, all of which were new to me, but which could be teased out satisfactorily from the wordplay.
My favourite clues today were 9 and 19A, both for smoothness of surface; 16, for the misdirection around “sue”; and 26, for originality.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | COURSE | Damn inspiring old programme
O (=old, as in Old Testament) in CURSE (=(to) damn) |
| 04 | JACKASS | When to cut green targets for idiot
AS (=when, as conjunction) in JACKS (=green targets, on bowling) |
| 09 | ETHIOPIAN | African is playing the piano around 1
I = *(THE PIANO); “playing” is anagram indicate |
| 10 | AMBER | Cautionary signal – slope’s beginning to be ignored
<c>AMBER (=slope, curve); “beginning to be ignored” means first letter is dropped |
| 11 | VERDI | Composer exaggerated when naked
<o>VERDI<d> (=exaggerated, went too far); “when naked” means first and last letters are dropped; the reference is to Italian compose Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) |
| 12 | HOPSCOTCH | Spring put an end to kid’s game
HOP (=spring, jump) + SCOTCH (=put an end to, scupper) |
| 13 | RINGENT | Call otolaryngology department, having gaping lips
RING (=call, phone) + ENT (=otolaryngology department, i.e. ear, nose and throat) |
| 15 | RIPSAW | Oddly, Raid insect repellent is something the chippy uses
R<a>I<d> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) + PSAW (WASP=insect; “repellent” indicates reversal); the “chippy” of the definition is a carpenter |
| 17 | ABUSES | Slags off advanced coaches
A (=advance, as in A level) + BUSES (=coaches) |
| 19 | SLOVENE | European inhabitants love new clothes
Hidden (“clothes”) in “inhabitantS LOVE NEw” |
| 22 | ROADCRAFT | Reportedly went on courses, primarily to get waterborne vessel driving skills
Homophone (“reportedly”) of “rode (=went on, e.g. horse)” + C<raft> (“primarily” means first letter only) + RAFT (=waterborne vessel) |
| 24 | EDEMA | On return, famed epidemiologist nurses American’s swelling
Reversed (“on return”) and hidden (“nurses”) in “fAMED Epidemiologist”; “edema” is the US spelling of “oedema” |
| 26 | MANTA | Perhaps Ray thanks Ray?
MAN (=perhaps Ray, i.e. US visual artist) + TA (=thanks); a manta ray is a giant species of ray |
| 27 | TORTURING | Painful nonsense about war hero
TOR (ROT=nonsense, drivel; “about” indicates reversal) + TURING (=war hero, i.e. British mathematician and WWII cryptanalyst Alan Turing) |
| 28 | SURGEON | Advocate stops son becoming medical practitioner
URGE (=advocate, strongly encourage) in SON |
| 29 | BEFALL | Happen to call about absolutely nothing
FA (=absolutely nothing, i.e. Fanny Adams or f*** all) in BELL (=call, ring, as in Give me a bell) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CLEAVER | Bright guards are making knife
A (=are, i.e. metric land measure) in CLEVER (=bright, intelligent) |
| 02 | USHER | American specified female attendant
US (=American) + HER (=specified female) |
| 03 | SHOWINESS | Nazis drinking house wines as affectation
[HO (=house) + WINES] in SS (=Nazis, i.e. Schutzstaffel) |
| 04 | JUNIPER | Japanese seat of learning exercises right to display tree
J (=Japanese) + UNI (=seat of learning, i.e. university) + P.E. (=exercises, i.e. physical education) + R (=right) |
| 05 | CRAIC | King meeting maniac regularly for fun
CR (=king, i.e. Charles Rex) + <m>A<n>I<a>C (“regularly” means alternate letters only); in Irish English, craic is fun, enjoyable activity and conversation, often in a pub, according to Chambers |
| 06 | ARBITRATE | Judge slightly occupied by Republican charge
[R (=Republican) in A BIT] + RATE (=charge, tariff) |
| 07 | SARTHE | She stores art in French department
ART in SHE; Sarthe is a département in western France, north of Angers |
| 08 | WITH IT | Alert as comedian struck
WIT (=comedian, joker) + HIT (=struck, knocked); alert is on the ball, with it |
| 14 | NO-BRAINER | In game of cards Jack drops, followed by Queen, to give easy decision
NOB (=in game of cards Jack, i.e. in cribbage) + RAIN (=drops) + ER (=Queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) |
| 16 | PROSECUTE | Writing with Sexy Sue
PROSE (=writing) + CUTE (=sexy, attractive); as a verb, to sue is to prosecute, take to court |
| 18 | START ON | Pick a fight with celebrity running around Thailand
T (=Thailand, in IVR) in [STAR (=celebrity) + ON (=running, in operation)] |
| 19 | SATIRE | Cross left out as show of irony?
SA<l>TIRE (=cross, on flag) ; “left (=L) out” means letter “l” is dropped |
| 20 | EVANGEL | Gospel of electronic keyboard player and composer is ignored
E (=electronic, as in e-commerce) + VANGEL<is> (=keyboard player and composer, from Greece; “is ignored” means letters “is” are dropped) |
| 21 | GRAMPS | Mass producers disheartened old man
GRAM (=mass) + P<roducer>S (“disheartened” means all central letters are dropped) |
| 23 | CHASE | Hunt Charles I of England
CHAS (=Charles, colloquially) + E<ngland> (“I of” means first letter only) |
| 25 | ERICA | Anger returned about Heather
ERI (IRE=anger; “returned” indicates reversal) + CA (=about, circa) |
Thanks to setter & blogger. Nob = Jack in 14 is wrong – having checked Chambers, the setter is off the hook because Chambers is wrong in the relevant entry. ‘One for his nob’ means one for the jack’s head – scored if a player has a jack in their hand (or in the ‘box’ for the dealer) that is of the same suit as the card that was turned over by the elder hand (dealer) when the younger hand cut the remaining pack after the hands had been dealt & both players had discarded 2 cards into the ‘box’. So nob just means head not the jack itself. Typically such mistakes in Chambers are justified by common usage but I have never met a crib player who would call the jack itself a nob & they’re the only ones who would use the phrase.
Thanks Eccles and RatkojaRiku
Nice puzzle with some great clues. Thought showiness was pretty weak with half the answer being a straight transposition from clue
13a RINGENT derives from the same Latin verb as rictus, but “otolaryngology” needs a Greek nose rhino in the middle – otorhinolaryngology – to clue the N in ENT.
Liked JACKASS, VERDI, ROADCRAFT and PROSECUTE.
Thanks Eccles and RatkojaRiku.
Great fun as usual with very smooth surfaces, inventive clueing, and a long list of top picks for: JACKASS, HOPSCOTCH, MANTA, USHER, JUNIPER, NO-BRAINER, PROSECUTE and EVANGEL.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
I am very short of time today so popping in very quickly to thank setter and blogger and to echo the choice of clues highlighted by KVa and RD.
Always a sense of satisfaction upon completion of an Eccles puzzle and invariably a couple of things to check on along the way – this time it was the gaping lips and the French department. I sometimes wonder whether even the majority of French people would be able to list them all!
PROSECUTE raised a smile as did EVANGEL.
Thanks to Eccles for another great puzzle and to RR for the review.
Enjoyed this… slow start as always but speeded up with arrival of a few crossers, which were needed to confirm a few eg SURGEON as I didn’t immediately see SON +URGE, looking for the more usual DA+S combo.. and then the département was as straightforward as it could get, even if it’s one we’ve never heard, altho’ most of us have probably heard of Le Mans… Eccles keeps one on one’s toes…
Regarding Jack/nob.. euphemisms apart, strictly speaking, shikasta@1 has a point, but common usage does come into play a lot in cribbage and crosswordland…
Thanks Eccles n RatkojaRiku
Thanks both. This did feel slightly on the easier side, which tends to be a compliment to the clues, but also a nice balance of a few which took some further thought, including MANTA which was an unknown, wherein I resolved that ‘Perhaps Ray’ was simply indicating it is a male first name, and though I have distantly heard of Man Ray, that is nearly as tenuous.
Thanks Eccles for an excellent crossword with VERDI, HOPSCOTCH, the cleverly hidden SLOVENE, MANTA (COTD), TORTURING, SURGEON, and GRAMPS being favourites. RIPSAW took me awhile because I was stuck on ‘chippy’ being a fish-and-chips shop and I couldn’t parse BEFALL because I had forgotten about Fanny Adams. Thanks RR for explaining.