Eccles may not have been in his regular Wednesday slot this week, but Phi starts his 2025 offerings in his usual Independent Friday slot.
I don’t think there is a theme today although there is a connection between PHEROMONE, ENDORPHIN, CADUCEUS and SYNCOPE as all of them relate to the medical profession and in-body events. I also wondered whether RINGs were playing a part in a theme with a TROLLEYBUS that RINGs a bell, KEY [RING] hidden in JOCKEYED and OPERA (Wagner’s RING), but I think I am clutching at straws. Of course, there may well be a theme that has passed me by completely.
CADUCEUS was a new word for me and even after I thought that DUCE would be the fascist leader, I still struggled with to derive the full entry.
I guess the American meaning of CUPCAKE mirrors the British meaning of FRUITCAKE. It was interesting to be reminded of the role of a DONGLE as a computer security device, but I think it is a fairly rare means of implementing security in 2025.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Underground enthusiasts heading for certain states (6)
CAVERS (people who explore deep hollows and passages in rocks; underground enthusiasts) C (first letter of [heading for] CERTAIN) + AVERS (states) C AVERS |
| 5 | Flowering plant’s trouble: kept regressing (6)
DAHLIA (a flowering plant) (AIL [trouble] + HAD [kept]) all reversed (regression) (DAH LIA)< |
| 8 | Mechanic and master at work (9)
TRADESMAN (a mechanic is an example of tradesman) Anagram of (at work) AND MASTER TRADESMAN* |
| 9 | Calls round to meet saint (5)
RINGS (calls) RING (a round object) + S (saint) RING S |
| 11 | Bede, perhaps, coming in to read a manuscript (4)
ADAM (reference ADAM Bede [title of a novel by George Eliot {1819 – 1880}]) ADAM (hidden word in [coming in to] READ A MANUSCRIPT) ADAM |
| 12 | Public transport lines filling routes by going all over the place (10)
TROLLEYBUS (example of a vehicle used for public transport) LL (lines) contained in (filling) an anagram of (going all over the place) ROUTES BY TRO (LL) EYBUS* |
| 13 | Tried for better position Scotsman was observing (8)
JOCKEYED (manouvred to gain an advantage; tried for better position) JOCK (name for a Scotsman) + EYED (observed; was observing) JOCK EYED |
| 15 | US celebrity cancelling finale to include European art form (5)
OPERA (an art form) (OPRAH [Winfrey {born 1954}], US celebrity excluding (cancelling] the last letter [finale] H) containing (including) E (European) OP (E) RA |
| 17 | Moved quickly – discovered with time to spare (5)
RACED (moved quickly) TRACED (found; discovered) excluding (to spare) T (time) RACED |
| 19 | Irregular soldier‘s skill adopted by Italian city resident (8)
PARTISAN (A member of an armed resistance group within occupied territory, especially in Italy or the Balkans in World War II; an irregular soldier) ART (skill) contained in (adopted by) PISAN (native or resident of PISA, an Italian city) P (ART) ISAN |
| 22 | Irreverent about former monarch and very resistant to change? (10)
IMPERVIOUS (not easily influenced by ideas, arguments, etc; resistant to change) IMPIOUS (irreverent) containing (ER [Elizabeth Regina, former Queen of England] + V [very]) IMP (ER V) IOUS |
| 23 | Very good book about Newton – though I wouldn’t think it would do for you! (4)
SNOB (a person who sets too much value on social standing, wishing to be associated with the upper class and their mores, and treating those viewed as inferior with condescension and contempt; someone having similar pretensions as regards specified tastes, such as wine snob, intellectual snob, book snob; someone would think even a very good book would do if it wasn’t written by someone of high social standing) (SO [very good] containing [about]) N [newton; derived SI unit of force]) + B (book) S (N) O B |
| 25 | Understand husband will give up son in plot (5)
GRAPH (a plot) (GRASP [understand] + H [husband]) excluding (will give up) S (son) GRAP H |
| 26 | Chemical secretion increasingly reflected in dial (9)
PHEROMONE (chemical substance secreted by an animal which influences the behaviour of others of its species) MORE (increasingly) reversed (reflected) and contained in (in) PHONE(dial a number, although nowadays you are more likely to press numbered buttons than dial) PH (EROM<) ONE |
| 27 | Sailors tucking into meat about the time things are developing (6)
VERNAL (fresh and youthful, descriptive of a time when things are developing) RN (Royal Navy; sailors) contained in (tucking into) VEAL (a type of meat) VE (RN) AL |
| 28 | Meal excellent, with additional helping of one ingredient (6)
SUPPER (a meal) SUPER (excellent) containing an extra P (with additional helping of one ingredient [letter]) to form SUP (P) ER SUP (P) ER – either P could be the extra ingredient |
| Down | |
| 2 | I am turning up amongst a people not using English language (7)
ARAMAIC (any of a group of Semitic languages once used in an area similar to modern-day Syria, especially in commerce and government) (I AM) reversed (turning up; down entry) contained in (amongst) (A + RACE [people] excluding [not using] E [English]) A RA (MA I)< C |
| 3 | French are imprisoning the old observers (4)
EYES (organs of sight; observers) ES (French for ‘are’) containing (imprisoning) YE (old form of ‘the’) E (YE) S |
| 4 | A few remain unsettled at heart in English county (8)
SOMERSET (English county) SOME (a few) + REST (remain) with the two middle letters (at heart]) swapped round (unsettled) to form RSET SOME RSET |
| 5 | No good blocking state payment for computer security item (6)
DONGLE (device plugged into a computer to allow an authorised application to run; computer security item) NG (no good) contained in (blocking) DOLE (a payment made by the state to unemployed people) DO (NG) LE |
| 6 | Vessel associated with a tower? (5,4)
HORSE BOAT (a BOAT [vessel] towed by [associated with] a HORSE) HORSE BOAT – the clue is simply a cryptic definition based where one of the two meanings of the word ‘tower’ is designed to misdirect the solver) HORSE BOAT |
| 7 | One group of soldiers abandoning French city base (7)
IGNOBLE (mean or worthless; base) I (Roman numeral for one) + GRENOBLE (French city) excluding (abandoning) RE (Royal Engineers, group of soldiers) I GNOBLE |
| 8 | Hurrying to arrest fool? It’s very sad (4- 7)
TEAR-JERKING (something emotional arousing great sadness) TEARING (hurrying) containing (to arrest) JERK (a useless or stupid person; fool) TEAR (JERK) ING |
| 10 | Supporting environmental targets subject to law about pollution (11)
SUSTAINABLE (involving the long-term use of resources that do not damage the environment; supporting environmental targets) SUABLE (subject to law) containing (about) STAIN (pollution) SU (STAIN) ABLE |
| 14 | Hide porn when getting treatment with new brain chemical (9)
ENDORPHIN (any of a group of opiate-like substances produced by the brain and the pituitary gland; brain chemical) Anagram of (when getting treatment) HIDE PORN + N (new) ENDORPHI* N |
| 16 | Endless inducement to imprison fascist leader is a healthy sign (8)
CADUCEUS (a symbol resembling the rod of Hermes, used as an emblem by the medical profession; healthy sign) CAUSE (inducement) excluding the final letter (endless) E containing (to imprison) DUCE (the title assumed by the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini [1883 – 1945]) CA (DUCE) US |
| 18 | Mad American‘s signal to bring in unruly pack (7)
CUPCAKE (North American slang for a mad or eccentric person; mad American) CUE (signal) containing (to bring in) an anagram of (unruly) PACK CU (PCAK*) E |
| 20 | Range around US city, looking up, inducing fainting fit (7)
SYNCOPE (a fainting fit caused by a sudden fall of blood pressure in the brain) SCOPE (range) containing (around) NY (New York; US city) reversed (looking up; down entry) S (YN)< COPE |
| 21 | Get rid of power in fuel with some energy extracted (6)
DISPEL (cause to disappear; get rid of) P (power) contained in (in) DIESEL (fuel] excluding [extracted] the first [one of] E [energy]) DIS (P) EL |
| 24 | Decoration, though denied second top award in pageantry (4)
POMP (pageantry) POMPOM (decoration) excluding (denied) the second occurrence of [second] OM (Order of Merit; a top award) POMP |
DNF: nho CADUCEUS and even with DUCE in place had to reveal the answer. I might have had more luck with Capulets or saluters in that space. I have also never heard the term HORSE BOAT – we’ve always just called them canal boats, even if they occasionally operate on rivers. PARTISAN, SUPPER and CAVERS my podium today.
Thanks Phi and duncan
As an American, I have encountered many fruitcakes (many of whom I count as friends) on both sides of the Atlantic, but I have never heard of a cupcake in any sense other than the edible.
I have been aware since childhood of the use of CADUCEUS to refer to the medical symbol that is in fact the similar-looking Rod of Asclepius. I’m surprised the setter and editor let that common mistake slip in.
LOi: 23a S(N)O+B. How is SO = “very good”? Only in Chambers (’93), where it’s in between ‘…; that will do ;” and “; so what?…” It also defines
16d CADUCEUS as “…a symbol resembling this rod, used as an emblem by the medical profession”. [Asclepius is there, but no entry for his rod.]
Thanks both. I was a little less patient than usual today, and perhaps just as well, as I revealed some of CADUCEUS before guessing the rest, and honestly had no chance as I’ve never heard of it, whether it is correctly defined or otherwise. CUPCAKE was clearly clued, but I only knew it alternatively as a term of endearment, and I arrived at SNOB unconvinced that ‘so’ means ‘very good’.
FrankieG @3,
Thanks for the interesting entry from Chambers ‘93. I would never trust a dictionary that recent! Sadly, so many modern dictionaries give not what a word means but how it is used, which is to say, in many, many cases, incorrectly. Sigh.
FrankieG@3
I think the phrase ‘just so‘ [exactly, I agree; in a precise, neat manner] gets very close to fairly common use of ‘so’ in the sense of ‘very good‘
I’m pretty sure that the Independent uses Collins Dictionary as its reference rather than Chambers. Both dictionaries refer to the rod of Hermes in their definitions of CADUCEUS but the Collins definition also gives a link to the entry for the ‘staff of Aesculapius’ which is defined as ‘An emblem consisting of a staff with a serpent entwined round it, used by the Royal Medical Corps and the American Medical Association’
Tricky indeed, although I eventually surprised myself by constructing the unknown CADUCEUS. An enjoyable workout.
Chambers gives ‘very good’ as definition 19 for ‘so’ (my Collins doesn’t), although I struggle to think of how it works in practice on its own.
Thanks both.
Ian SW3: How a word is used defines what it means. Language changes and disctionaries must move with this. No respected grammarian would agree that any evolution from waht you learnt at school is “incorrect”.
Got there in the end but took a long time to twig CADUCEUS. I’m a bit surprised too that it was defined in the clue by its (mis)use as a symbol of health.
HORSE BOAT and RINGS went in last, and rather uncertainly, having never heard of the former and I struggled with RING for “round” (as opposed to “round thing”).