Wednesday fun from Eccles.
I think our setter has been sweeping out the neglected corners of the dictionary . . . I vaguely remember 19a from hearing about it once years ago, but 12a and 13a were guess-and-check territory (though helped by clear wordplay). I liked the definition in 25a and the double definition in 20d, but my favourite was probably the very concise 4d for both definition and anagram. Thanks Eccles as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MACEDON |
Ancient state in Malta served well by old knight (7)
|
| M (vehicle registration code for Malta, though in other contexts the country is usually abbreviated to MT or MLT) + ACED (in tennis, served a ball that the opponent couldn’t return = served well) + O (abbreviation for old) + N (abbreviation for knight in chess notation, because K is used for king).
Ancient kingdom (also called Macedonia), in what is now northern Greece. |
||
| 5 | GAS LAMP |
Big contract to fill hole in light (3,4)
|
| SLAM (in card games, a contract to win all the cards = big contract) inserted into (to fill) GAP (hole). | ||
| 9 | GENERIC |
Universal actors Wilder and Pryor hard to abandon (7)
|
| The two US actors and comedians GENE (Gene Wilder) + RIC[hard] (Richard Pryor), without HARD. | ||
| 10 | UPRATED |
Increased the standing of idiot in university education (7)
|
| PRAT (slang for a foolish person = idiot), in U (abbreviation for university) + ED (abbreviation for education, as in B.Ed = a degree qualification in teaching). | ||
| 11 | TOAST RACK |
Actor with task to move round stand (5,4)
|
| Anagram (to move round) of ACTOR + TASK. | ||
| 12 | TAGMA |
In the morning, giant regularly twisted head of insect? (5)
|
| AM (abbreviation for Latin ante meridiem = before noon = in the morning) + alternate letters (regularly) of G[i]A[n]T, all reversed (twisted).
A guess-and-check because I’d never heard of it. Wikipedia says it’s a part of a segmented animal, for example an insect, where a number of segments are grouped together to form a functional part such as its head or abdomen. I’ll be surprised if I ever need to know that in future. |
||
| 13 | NOT UP |
Revolutionary screen showing “Umpire’s call” (3,2)
|
| PUT ON (screen, as a verb = to show a film), reversed (revolutionary).
An umpire’s call in tennis, declaring that the ball bounced twice before being hit and was therefore out of play. |
||
| 15 | INDIGNANT |
I never initially like grandma getting tense and resentful (9)
|
| I + initial letter of N[ever] + DIG (slang for like, as a verb = approve of) + NAN (grandma) + T (abbreviation for tense). | ||
| 17 | STOP PRESS |
Late news: small crush detains head of Transport (4,5)
|
| S (abbreviation for small) + OPPRESS (crush = to rule people harshly), containing (. . . detains) the first letter (head) of T[ransport]. | ||
| 19 | COPRA |
Policeman nearly ran to get dried coconut (5)
|
| COP (slang for police officer) + RA[n] (nearly = all but the last letter).
Dried coconut flesh, especially as part of the process for extracting coconut oil. |
||
| 22 | TATAR |
Repeatedly thanks Russia’s leader in Turkic language (5)
|
| TA (slang for thank you) twice (repeatedly), then the leading letter of R[ussia].
A Turkic language spoken in various regions of eastern Europe. |
||
| 23 | BRAINWASH |
Indoctrinate rude hosts in Washington (9)
|
| BRASH (loud and inconsiderate = rude) containing (. . . hosts) IN + WA (abbreviation for the US state of Washington). | ||
| 25 | LUMBAGO |
Back issues of Linux User magazine belong primarily in the past (7)
|
| First letters (primarily) of L[inux] U[ser] M[agazine] B[elong], then AGO (in the past, as in “a long time ago”).
An old name for what’s now usually called “lower back pain” = medical issues with one’s back. |
||
| 26 | LECTURE |
Rebuke cruel and extremely terse cook (7)
|
| Anagram (. . . cook, as a verb) of CRUEL + end letters (extremes) of T[ers]E.
Lecture, as a verb = slang for criticise harshly = rebuke. |
||
| 27 | DANTEAN |
Colonist interrupts fellow in college regarding old Italian poet (7)
|
| ANT (an insect that lives in colonies = colonist) inserted into (. . . interrupts) DEAN (a senior staff member in a university = fellow in college).
Relating to the late-mediaeval Italian writer Dante Alighieri. |
||
| 28 | WOE IS ME |
I’m upset tolerant outlook lacking King’s English (3,2,2)
|
| WO[k]EISM (awareness of social injustice = tolerant outlook, though it’s generally used as a derogatory term) without the K (abbreviation for king, in chess or playing cards), then E (abbreviation for English).
Archaic phrase expressing unhappiness. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MEGATON |
Dismissive analysis of jewel on the counter that shows explosive power (7)
|
| NOT A GEM (perhaps a declaration that a supposed gemstone is not genuine = dismissive analysis of jewel), reversed (on the counter).
Short for “megaton TNT equivalent” = a measure of explosive power equivalent to the detonation of 1 million tons of TNT. |
||
| 2 | CONTACT |
Conservative diplomacy leads to communication (7)
|
| CON (abbreviation for the Conservative political party) + TACT (diplomacy). | ||
| 3 | DURST |
Dared to clean round back of radiator (5)
|
| DUST (as a verb = to remove dust from surfaces = to clean) around the last letter (back) of [radiato]R.
Archaic past tense of the verb “to dare” = dared. |
||
| 4 | NECTARINE |
Bananas aren’t nice fruit (9)
|
| Anagram (bananas = slang for crazy) of AREN’T NICE. | ||
| 5 | GLUCK |
Composer‘s good fortune (5)
|
| G (abbreviation for good) + LUCK (fortune).
The 18th-century opera composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. |
||
| 6 | STRATEGIC |
Get racist drunk, as planned (9)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of GET RACIST. | ||
| 7 | ANTIGUA |
Island opposed to firearms briefly gets support of America (7)
|
| ANTI-GU[n] (opposed to firearms) without the last letter (briefly), with A (abbreviation for America) after it (below, in a down clue = supporting it).
Caribbean island. |
||
| 8 | PODCAST |
Show swimming group project (7)
|
| POD (a group of whales, dolphins or similar sea creatures = swimming group) + CAST (as in “cast a shadow” = project).
A radio show recorded for listening on demand. |
||
| 14 | PAPERWARE |
Printed material reported remuneration model for clothing based on usage? (9)
|
| Homophone (reported) of PAY-PER-WEAR (a possible system of charging for clothes based on how often you wear them). | ||
| 16 | DISHALLOW |
Make unholy sexy man stand (9)
|
| DISH (slang for an attractive person) + ALLOW (tolerate, as in “I can’t allow it” = stand). | ||
| 17 | SETTLED |
Paid up, and relaxed (7)
|
| Double definition. Paid a debt; or got into a comfortable resting position. | ||
| 18 | OTTOMAN |
Despot to manage clothing empire (7)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . clothing, as a verb = surrounding) in [desp]OT TO MAN[age].
Turkish imperial realm, lasting for several centuries until the early 1900s. |
||
| 20 | PEANUTS |
Strip for a paltry amount of money (7)
|
| Double definition. US cartoon strip created by Charles M. Schulz; or slang for a small amount of money, as in “I earn peanuts” = I don’t get paid very much. | ||
| 21 | ATHLETE |
Long jumper perhaps allowed to enter running heat (7)
|
| LET (allowed), inserted into an anagram (running) of HEAT. | ||
| 23 | BROWN |
Peak and nadir of Stephen Fry? (5)
|
| BROW (peak = the top of a hill) + last letter (bottom, in a down clue = nadir) of [stephe]N.
Brown, as a verb = to cook food at a high temperature (for example by frying) to create a brown colour on the surface. |
||
| 24 | NACRE |
Iridescent material found in northern Israeli city (5)
|
| N (abbreviation for northern) + ACRE (coastal city in Israel).
Another name for mother-of-pearl = the iridescent surface inside some shells. |
Eccles does like to incorporate some fairly unusual words; I often wonder if they are forced by a theme in the grid but he rarely does themes so I conclude he just likes to stretch us. TAGMA is pretty out there, for sure. And to Quirister’s list, I’d add NACRE as another that’s not exactly everyday. But, indeed, all were clearly clued. DISHALLOW and WOE IS ME held me up a bit until crossers came to the rescue.
Faves today inc MACEDON, STOP PRESS, BRAINWASH, LECTURE, DURST, NECTARINE, PODCAST and ATHLETE.
Thanks Eccles and Quirister
Liked NOT UP, WOE IS ME, NECTARINE, PAPERWARE and BROWN.
Thanks Eccles and Quirister.
Excellent as always from Eccles, all clear despite some unusual words. I’m not sure that ‘woke’ people are tolerant, they often seem quite intolerant to me. Thanks Eccles and Quirister.
Eccles comes within an ace of defeating me on each outing, today it was PAPERWARE that took me to the wire. In my defence, such items are often not printed at all!
Top clues for me were STOP PRESS, WOE IS ME, DURST & CONTACT although I agree with Tatrasman in that ‘woke’ people are very often quite intolerant.
Thanks to Eccles for the challenge and to Quirister for the review.
I’d add DISHALLOW to the unusual words: I think if I came across it in reading (I’m pretty sure I never have) I’d mispronounce it in my head, as, like many other folk I know did, as a child, with ‘misled’.
I agree with Quirister’s stand-out favourite NECTARINE: surprised I haven’t seen it before (or don’t remember) – ‘bananas’ is one of my favourite indicators.
From a longer list of ticks, I’ll pick out MACEDON, for the construction, INDIGNANT (being a grandma myself), BRAINWASH, for not being yet another play on BRA IN WASH, LUMBAGO for the definition and PEANUTS (for distant memories of the slogan when teachers were in dispute: ‘If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’).
(An earworm, which I haven’t listened to for a long time, evoked by 5dn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7h_LuVVoyg )
Many thanks to Eccles and Quirister.
The usual Eccles excellence, with some new words to learn – all fairly clued, of course.
As far as I can see, wokeism seems to mean being utterly intolerant.
NECTARINE, WOE IS ME and NOT UP were my top picks.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Quirister.
Eileen @ 5 – the clue for Nectarine rang a bell with me, and it turns out it appeared word-for-word in a Times cryptic I’d solved in July this year! I guess the anagram is easily found, and then there’s a chance the bananas indicator will occur to the compiler. Eccles may have written the clue before the Times version appeared – or maybe the Times was actually one of his too!
Pretty tough in places, but excellent clues for sure. I loved GENERIC as a reminder of Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.
Got held up in 9AC as my first thought for WIlder was Billy. Relied a lot on guessing the answers from the crossing letters so thanks Quirister for the blog. I did happen to know tagma as I once studied insect development. You never know when it’s going to come in useful! Thanks blogger and setter.
I agree with Quirister re. 4d NECTARINE, a lovely ‘bananas’ clue.
I remembered COPRA from school days, but had to look up TAGMA.
Wanted to put PAPERBACK in for 14d, PAPERWARE’s not something I hear or see often (if at all).
As a one-time Linux User subscriber, I thought 25a LUMBAGO was brilliant too – superbly poignant and ironic surface.
Thanks to Eccles and Quirister
Thanks to Eccles, and to Quirister for help with several parsings. Having a bit of German, I initially parsed GLUCK as a DD. Spotted the nina EARWORT but could make nothing of it.