It’s a puzzle from Eccles today in his regular Wednesday slot.
MEDIAEVAL at 9 across is one of those words that I have great difficulty spelling so it was good to see clear wordplay helping to position the middle three vowels.
I liked the clue for PHENOLS at 13 across using the pH value of an acid.
PATRIOTISM was an impressive hidden word extending over 5 words in a relevant sentence.
For me though, the most interesting part of the puzzle was learning about the Great EMU wars and discovering that the EMUS at 1 down won.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 | Primitive means of communication evaluated: more than half is wasted (9)
MEDIAEVAL (old-fashioned or primitive) MEDIA (means of communication that reach large numbers of people) + EVALUATED excluding (wasted) the last 5 of the 9 (more than half) letters MEDIA EVAL |
| 10 | Fondle German guy? (5)
GROPE (fondle [someone] for sexual pleasure) G (German) + ROPE (reference a guy ROPE of a tent) G ROPE |
| 11 | Abuse staff (5)
STICK (hostility; abuse) STICK (pole or staff) double definition STICK |
| 12 | Marxist compiler is a bounder (3,6)
RED SETTER (a breed of dog than can bound along quite fast; founder) RED (Marxist) + SETTER (crossword compiler) RED SETTER |
| 13 | Aromatic alcohols of pH 1 turned emulsive, essentially (7)
PHENOLS (members of the class of aromatic compounds) PH + ONE (the number 1) reversed (returned) + LS (central letters of [essentially] EMULSIVE) – a liquid classified pH1 is an acid; PHENOLS vare acids although they will have a higher pH1 number as they are described as weak acids. PH ENO< LS |
| 14 | Pacify primate eating vegetables (7)
APPEASE (pacify) APE (example of a primate) containing (eating) PEAS (vegetables) AP (PEAS) E |
| 17 | Clown around, at first, to get drink (5)
COCOA (a drink) COCO (reference COCO the clown [Nicolai Poliakoff [1900 – 1974] who created COCO) + A (initial letter of [at first] AROUND) COCO A |
| 19 | Gallium, sulphur or helium, perhaps? (3)
GAS (helium is a gas) GA (chemical symbol for gallium) + S (chemical symbol for sulphur) GA S |
| 20 | Gathered together with the aim of blocking repellent symbol (5)
TOTEM (any outward symbol given undue respect [Chambers]; OR in some societies, especially among Native Americans an object, species of animal or plant, or natural phenomenon symbolizing a clan, family, etc, often having ritual associations [Collins]) (MET [gathered together] containing (blocking) TO [with the object or aim of]) all reversed (repellent) (T (OT) EM)< |
| 21 | Snore terribly, receiving fine, in game (7)
SNOOKER (a game) Anagram of (terribly) SNORE containing (receiving) OK (okay; fine) SNO (OK) ER* |
| 22 | Body part covered by prisoner’s sunglasses? (4-3)
CLIP-ONS (a form of sunglasses which CLIP ON over the lenses of ordinary spectacles) LIP (a body part) contained in (covered by) CON’S (prisoner’s) C (LIP) ONS |
| 24 | I can still stray a little bit (9)
SCINTILLA (a hint or trace; a little bit) Anagram of (stray) I CAN STILL SCINTILLA* |
| 26 | Object of night out … (5)
THING (an object) Anagram of (out) NIGHT THING* |
| 28 | … in Rome: sex and food? (5)
VIAND (an article of food) VI (Roman numeral [in Rome] for six [or sex in Latin, a language spoken in ancient Rome]) + AND VI AND |
| 29 | Bankers heading off to inform the authorities, doubtless (2,7)
NO MESSING (without a shadow of doubt; doubtless) GNOMES (reference the GNOMES of Zurich, a disparaging term for Swiss bankers who are notoriously secretive) excluding [off] the first letter [heading] G + SING (confess or inform the authorities about illegal activities) NO MES SING |
| Down | |
| 1 | D Trump’s most influential supporter snubbed victors in Australian war (4)
EMUS (reference the winners of the EMU war, a nuisance wildlife management military operation undertaken in Australia over the later part of 1932 to address public concern over the number of EMUS, a large flightless bird indigenous to Australia, said to be destroying crops in the Campion district within the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. The unsuccessful attempts to curb the emu population employed Royal Australian Artillery soldiers armed with Lewis guns—leading the media to adopt the name “Emu War” when referring to the incident. Although many birds were killed, the emu population persisted and continued to cause crop destruction). E MUSK (Elon MUSK [born 1971] is an influential supporter of Donald TRUMP [born 1946]) omitting the final letter (snubbed) K E MUS |
| 2 | Notice Mike Pence, perhaps, providing guidance (6)
ADVICE (guidance) AD (ADvertisment; notice) + VICE (Mike Pence [born 1959], Vice president of the United States during Donald Trump’s term as 45th President of the United States [January 2017 – January 2021]) AD VICE |
| 3 | Second best for the most part, rugby player is getting in a row (4-2-4)
BACK-TO-BACK (following in close sequence; in a row) BACK (support a proposal; second) + TOP (best) excluding the final letter (for the most part) P + BACK (a rugby player) BACK TO BACK |
| 4 | Prevents American former soldiers arresting Republican (6)
AVERTS (prevents) A (American) + (VETS [VETeranS; former soldiers] containing [arresting] R [Republican]) A VE (R) TS |
| 5 | Chasing girls, primarily, the Parisian pulls – but they’re worn out (4,4)
GLAD RAGS (best clothes; clothes worn when going out; they’re going out) G (first letter of [primarily] GIRLS) + LA (one of the French [Parisian] forms of ‘the’) + DRAGS (pulls) G LA D RAGS |
| 6 | Place to leave complaint, and make another (4)
AGUE (burning fever; medical complaint) PLAGUE (medical complaint) excluding (to leave) PL (place) to form AGUE AGUE |
| 7 | Leader to remain in touch to get commission (8)
CONTRACT (commission [defined as CONTRACT in Bradfords]) R (first letter of [leader to] REMAIN) contained in (in) CONTACT (touch) CONT (R) ACT |
| 8 | Hold bishop’s attention (4)
BEAR (support; hold) B (bishop in chess notation) + EAR (attention) B EAR |
| 13 | Chooses guitar players (5)
PICKS (chooses) PICKS (plectrums [pointed devices held in the fingers or on the thumb, with which the strings of a guitar are struck]) double definition PICKS |
| 15 | Twerp at riot is maybe displaying ‘national pride‘ (10)
PATRIOTISM (national pride) PATRIOTISM (hidden word in [displaying] TWERP AT RIOT IS MAYBE) PATRIOTISM |
| 16 | TV awards in balance? Try going climbing (5)
EMMYS (Television awards presented annually by the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) SYMMETRY (balance) excluding (going) TRY and then reversed (climbing; down entry) EMMYS< |
| 18 | Eucalyptus bush, one seen in trendy pub (8)
COOLIBAR (one of the spellings of an Australian eucalyptus bush) I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (seen in) (COOL [trendy] + BAR [pub]) COOL (I) BAR |
| 19 | Good to stop fishes making noises in the throat (8)
GARGLING (making noises in the throat) G (good) contained in (to stop) (GAR [fish] + LING [fish]) GAR (G) LING |
| 22 | Moist, like seafood? (6)
CLAMMY ([unpleasantly] moist) CLAMMY (like CLAMS [seafood]) CLAMMY |
| 23 | God‘s personal assistant getting very upset (6)
OSIRIS (the greatest of Egyptian gods) (SIRI [Apple’s personal assistant, equivalent to Amazon’s Alexa] + SO [very]) all reversed (upset) (OS IRIS)< |
| 24 | Cut husband out to be economical (4)
SAVE (be economical) SHAVE (cut) excluding (out) H (husband) SAVE |
| 25 | Commotion unduly restricts director (2-2)
TO-DO (commotion) TOO (unduly) containing (restricts) D (director) TO (D) O |
| 27 | Former Welsh footballer’s picked up engagements (4)
GIGS (engagements, especially of a band or group) GIGS (sounds like [picked up] GIGGS [reference Ryan GIGGS [born 1973], former Welsh footballer and manager) GIGS |
I bet a fair few of the solvers of a certain vintage got an earworm from 18d. Some tricky parsings but all parsed in the end. Great fun as usual from this setter.
I gave up on this but GROPE reminded me of the slang for an Afrikaner, which is a Rope, because they’re thick, hairy and twisted.
Tricky in places with the nho (sorry, Hovis – no ear worm for me) COOLIBAR last one in. (duncan – you have spelled the solution with an A in the blog). nho the Emu Wars either but the wordplay was clear. A few challenges working out the appropriate synonym from which to delete, EMMYS being potentially the hardest; fortunately I tended to have crossers to help. I suspect I’d have done less well had I needed to cold solve. Today’s faves: GROPE (which made me laugh), PHENOLS (as duncan says, for the nice use of PH 1), SCINTILLA (for the neat anagram), NO MESSING (for the bankers spot), GLAD RAGS (for the surface), PATRIOTISM (beautifully hidden) and GARGLING (for the ludicrousness).
Thanks Eccles and duncan
“Once a jolly swagman…”
[The Christmas episode of The BEAR – (Season 2, Episode 6 ‘Fishes’) – won four EMMYS from nine nominations.] [I Got another (1967) earworm from 5d.]
FrankieG @4
That’s where I’d heard of a COOLIBAR tree – but I didn’t know it was a eucalyptus! Interesting to hear about the EMUS, too.
My thanks to PostMark for highlighting my favourites and for saving me the job of explaining why. 😉
Another great puzzle from Eccles – thanks to him and to Duncan.
I didn’t know it was a eucalyptus either but Frankie G did get the earworm.
Many thanks to Eccles for yet another absolutely superb puzzle.
PATRIOTISM was my favourite.
Thanks too to Duncan.
PostMark @ 3
Thanks – blog corrected now
Another excellent puzzle from our setter and he’s taught me yet another new fact – like Eileen, I didn’t realise that a KOOLIBAR is a type of eucalyptus.
Top clues for me, based on their entertainment value, were RED SETTER & GLAD RAGS.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review.