Eccles has once again provided the Wednesday puzzle this week.
I found this to be an enjoyable, medium-difficulty puzzle, with progress being hampered by the fact that there were no longer entries in the grid that might have generated more crossing letters. I am almost happy with my parsing, but I would appreciate confirmation at 21 (where I can’t come up with a sentence in which “endows” could replace “founds”) and 25 (with “do” for “put on”).
My favourite clues today were 7, for the reference to WAGs; 17, for the “notice flies” device; and 16, 23 and 24, all for smoothness of surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BRANDY | Spirit derived from husks of grain extremely dodgy
BRAN (=husks of grain) + D<odg>Y (“extremely” means first and last letters only) |
| 04 | OSTRICH | Miles dumped by especially wealthy bird
<m>OST (=especially, extremely; “miles (=M) dumped” means letter “m” is dropped) + RICH (=wealthy) |
| 09 | AMUSEMENT | Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians dispatched, including message without content for fun
<p>A<ul> (“second” means second letter only) + MU (=letter to the Corinthians, i.e. of the Greek alphabet) + [M<essag>E (“without content” means all middle letters are dropped) in SENT (=dispatched)] |
| 10 | DOPER | Party with a drug cheat
DO (=party, function) + PER (=a, each) |
| 11 | OVERS | Many deliveries of blankets banishing cold
<c>OVERS (=blankets; “banishing cold (=C, on tap)” means letter “c” is dropped); overs are sets of 6 deliveries in cricket |
| 12 | AUBERGINE | At home in inn that is purple
IN (=at home) in AUBERGE (=inn, hostelry) |
| 13 | TOPSAIL | Rig part of a pilot’s training
*(A PILOT’S), “training” is anagram indicator; a topsail is part of a ship’s rigging |
| 15 | REDCAR | Mostly dismiss seaside town
(to) RED-CAR<d> is to dismiss, from football pitch; “mostly” means last letter is dropped |
| 17 | CAVERS | Underground explorers notice flies from dead bodies
C<ad>AVERS (=dead bodies; “notice (=ad(bvert) flies from” means letters “ad” are dropped |
| 19 | PASTERN | Pressure behind part of horse’s foot
P (=pressure, in physics) + ASTERN (=behind); the pastern is the part of a horse’s foot from the fetlock to the hoof |
| 22 | OVERTRUST | Show too much faith in something that might hinder sale of car?
Cryptic definition: overt rust on a car might hinder its sale! |
| 24 | GLASS | Good girl, one able to hold her drink
G (=good) + LASS (=girl) |
| 26 | NERVE | Under no circumstances move rook to more advanced position to display courage
NEVER (=under no circumstances); “move rook (=R, in chess) to more advanced position” means letter “r” moves towards the front of the word |
| 27 | BANGALORE | Boycott all over the place in Indian city
BAN (=boycott, veto) + GALORE (=all over the place, aplenty) |
| 28 | SLENDER | Poster about Lima is inadequate
L (=Lima, in NATO alphabet) in SENDER (=poster, of message on social media, say); slender proof or a slender budget could be described as being “inadequate” |
| 29 | BEATTY | American actor to attend therapy on vacation
BE AT (=to attend) + T<herap>Y (“on vacation” means all middle letters are dropped); the reference is to US actor Warren Beatty (1937-) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | BEAR OUT | Confirm fight is receiving attention
EAR (=attention, as in to have someone’s ear) in BOUT (=fight, in boxing) |
| 02 | ABUSE | America stops its former president getting insults
US (=America) in ABE (=its former president, i.e. Abraham Lincoln) |
| 03 | DEEP STATE | Those responsible for Liz Truss’s failure (according to Liz Truss) hurtle around museum
DEEPS (SPEED=hurtle, race; “around” indicates reversal) + TATE (=museum, in London); the reference is to a statement made by former UK PM Miz Truss at a right-wing conference in the US in February 2024 |
| 04 | OCTOBER | Old Conservative to be tearful, essentially, for a month
O (=old, as in OT) + C (=Conservative) + TO BE + <tea>R<ful> (“essentially” means middle letter only is used) |
| 05 | TUDOR | Beating up inspiring director in old house
D (=director) in TUOR (ROUT=beating, drubbing; “up” indicates vertical reversal); the reference is to the House of Tudor, i.e. English royalty |
| 06 | IN PRIVATE | Secretly rip native off
*(RIP NATIVE); “off” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | HARLEM | WAGs drinking in large home of iconic basketball players
L (=large, in sizes) in HAREM (=WAGs, i.e. wives and girlfriends); the Harlem Globetrotters are an acclaimed US basketball team |
| 08 | DERAIL | Prevent queen entering Irish parliament
ER (=queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina) in DÁIL (=Irish parliament); to derail a project or plan is to prevent, stop it |
| 14 | PLANE TREE | It grows in Earth, perhaps, on Earth?
PLANET (=Earth, perhaps) + RE- (=on, regarding) + E (=Earth) |
| 16 | DESIGNATE | Gent’s aide is working class
*(GENT’S AIDE); “is working” is anagram indicator; to designate is to class (as), describe, classify |
| 18 | SLUMBER | Rest of Scottish Labour primarily supported by Brown
S<cottish> L<umber> (“primarily” means first letters only) + UMBER (=brown, i.e. colour) |
| 19 | PATENT | Clear head? Not when exhausted
PATE (=head) + N<o>T (“when exhausted” means empty, hence middle letter is dropped) |
| 20 | NOSHERY | No alcoholic drink (except drop of rum) in food outlet
NO + SHER<r>Y (=alcoholic drink: “except drop (=first letter) of rum” means one letter “r” is dropped) |
| 21 | FOUNDS | Endows money for project around Oregon’s capital
O<regon> (“capital” means first letter only) in FUNDS (=money for project); endow is one of the meanings of “found” listed in Chambers |
| 23 | TREND | Mind over matter finally in vogue
<matte>R (“finally” means last letter only) in TEND (=mind, care for) |
| 25 | ADOPT | Appropriate trousers put on, which is appropriate
DO (=put on, stage) in APT (=appropriate, fitting); to adopt is to appropriate, take as one’s own |
Eccles on cheeky form today, with some gems to enjoy! GLASS was sublime… and as for the back-parsed HAR[L]EM, my split-second indignation turned to me spitting out my coffee in laughter as I twigged that we should think of the WAGs as all being of the same guy.
I liked AMUSEMENT and CAVERS for the clever surfaces, OSTRICH and BANGALORE for their fun simplicity, NOSHERY because I spent ages trying to get an “r” into “dry” or somesuch rather than remove it from a tipple; and TREND and ADOPT just because.
@RR, I equated do and put on via stage too
The couple of times I’ve been invited to “advance the letter” such as in the clue for NERVE, I’ve been unsure as to whether to move the letter to the left or to the right. If we think of the word as an entire, static thing then I guess the more “advanced” positions are the earlier ones; but in cryptic crosswords, where we’re so often focused on small components, I tend to think of the letters as individual characters “marching forward” from the start to the end of the word (the direction in which English is read), and so the “vanguard” of advanced positions are the later ones in the word. Given that the relevant full words for this clue were at either end of the surface, it felt like one of those soundalike clues in which the choice of answer is ambiguous. I’ve no doubt that this is just me, though!
Thanks both for the fun
For 21A, endow is to “establish (a university post, annual prize, etc.) by donating the funds needed to maintain it.” How firm a foundation? I did quite well on this one…it didn’t require me to imagine a non-rhotic pronunciation or know obscure UK slang.
I too struggled to parse 21D, the wording of the clue seemed to be all wrong, but Rubricate has it. Thanks Eccles and RatkojaRiku.
Excellent fun as usual from Eccles but, oh dear, however did the ghastly 20d get included?! I know it appears in both Chambers and Collins but I would like never to hear or to see that word ever again.
I’ve too many ticks to list them all. PIck any one from the grid (except for 20d, of course).
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
I like the image of Boycott all over the place. (Those tricky Indian spinners). CAVERS was another favourite. Thanks both.
Lovely puzzle. Laughed out loud at OVERTRUST. BRANDY was FOI and FOUNDS brought up the rear. Failed to parse REDCAR despite living 8 miles up the road from it! Thanks Eccles and RR.
Faves: AMUSEMENT, OVERTRUST, BANGALORE and TUDOR.
Thanks Eccles and RR.
Another excellent puzzle from this setter although I must admit that DEEP STATE was a ‘follow the clue’ entry as I didn’t recall the specific comment. Top clues for me were CAVERS, GLASS, BEAR OUT & TREND.
Many thanks to Eccles for the AMUSEMENT and to RR for the review.
Loved OVERTRUST too. Had to guess at REDCAR as I couldn’t have worked it out in a month of Sundays, knowing nothing about football except from crosswords (ditto cricket). Wrestled for a bit trying to derive it from discard. Liked this very much and very nearly completed without help so many thanks Eccles and RR.
I had never heard of REDCAR, so that was a failure for me. I’ve come to accept that the UK has hundreds of seaside towns, and I can’t learn them all.
To be completely clear, the Harlem Globetrotters don’t exactly play basketball. It’s basketball-related entertainment, involving trick shots, balletic moves, physical comedy, and the like. To be sure, there is always technically a basketball game going on, which the Globetrotters always win over the hapless Washington Generals. But the game is totally not the point of the show, and one hardly buys a ticket to find out who wins! (I think I read once that the Generals have actually won once or twice…by accident.)
Didn’t get around to this on Tuesday, so only just completed it now.
I ground this out over a very long period. Not sure why I found it so difficult.
Couple of things..
Too late now but there is a small error in the blog at 18d. You have L when it should be L.
I had a similar reaction to RD @4 when solving 20d. I don’t use dictionaries (as I don’t have one) and didn’t know NOSHERY was a word. It went in OK from the wordplay, but I expected to see a ? after food outlet. Fair enough though that there isn’t one as it is indeed a real word.
Also the TATE establishments I always think of as galleries rather than museums. Indeed they don’t ever appear to refer to themselves as museums. From the horses mouth… “Tate is a family of art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall”
Thanks to Eccles for some lovely clues and to RR for a blog which filled in a few holes (the parsing for REDCAR and BEAR OUT for example evaded me!)
Very late to this, but in response to the blog for 25d I took “Do” to impersonate (put on) a character as in can you do Frank Spencer. Conversely, to “take off” would mean the same thing.