Eccles is in his usual Wednesday slot ready to challenge our cruciverbal skills.
The NW corner was the last bit of the puzzle to fall for me. I was pretty sure 1 across was PATRON but I took a while to get the wordplay. Once I realised that PAT had to relate to ‘dropping’. the penny also dropped. The parsing of ROADIE at 9 across also held me up for a time until I remembered Kate ADIE, BBC war correspondent.
I learnt about a new SONGWRITER at 18 across as I had never come across Ellie GREENWICH before. I reckoned GREENWICH had to be a SONGWRITER as I couldn’t see any other way of using GREENWICH in the wordplay.
I liked the clue for OLIVE OIL at 3 down involving the central letters of four consecutive words all of which were relevant to cookery.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Dropping head of recruitment working for client (6)
PATRON (client) PAT (cowpat; dropping) + R (first letter of [head of] RECRUITMENT) + ON (working) PAT R ON |
| 4 | Drug gang’s leader is ambitious (8)
ASPIRING (ambitious) ASPIRIN (a drug) + G (first letter of [leader] GANG) ASPIRIN G |
| 9 | One shifts gear and runs over former war reporter (6)
ROADIE (a member of the crew who transport, set up and dismantle equipment for musicians, especially a rock group, on tour; one shifts gear) R (runs) + O (over) + ADIE (reference Kate ADIE [born 1945], Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world) R O ADIE |
| 10 | Embraces Conservative measures to tackle left (8)
CLINCHES (Collins Dictionary gives CLINCH as a slang definition for a lover’s embrace; embraces) (C [Conservative] + INCHES [measures]) containing (to tackle) L [left]) C (L) INCHES |
| 11 | BSE in facecloth worried high ranking official (5,9)
CHIEF CONSTABLE (high ranking official in the local police force) Anagram of (worried) BSE IN FACECLOTH CHIEF CONSTABLE* |
| 13 | Knock back complaint about current collection of politicians (10)
PARLIAMENT (an assemblage of the political representatives of a nation; a collection of politicians) RAP (knock) reversed (back) + (LAMENT [complaint] containing [about] I [electric current]) PAR< L (I) AMENT |
| 14 | Perhaps lead Mike away, with others (2,2)
ET AL (and other things; others) METAL (lead is an example of a METAL) excluding (away) M (Mike is the international radio communication codeword for the letter M) ET AL |
| 16 | Melania’s drinking spirit (4)
ELAN (vigour and style; spirit) ELAN (hidden word in [‘s drinking’] MELANIA [name of the wife of Donald Trump]) ELAN |
| 18 | Spooner’s erroneous practice shot in Greenwich or Berlin? (10)
SONGWRITER (Ellie Greenwich [1940 – 2009] and Irving Berlin [1888 – 1989] were both SONGWRITERs) Reverend Spooner would have pronounced SONGWRITER as WRONG [erroneous] + SIGHTER [practice shot]) SONGWRITER |
| 21 | Upset small child I don’t know about death, and seek offers for work (3,3,2,6)
PUT OUT TO TENDER (seek proposals for and costs for pieces of work) PUT OUT (upset) + (TOT [small child] + ER [expression of hesitancy implying ‘I don’t know’]) containing (about) END (death) PUT OUT TO T (END) ER |
| 23 | Penny running around lake? Keep going (6,2)
PLOUGH ON (keep going laboriously) (P [penny] + ON [working; running]) containing (around) LOUGH (Irish form of loch or lake) P (LOUGH) ON |
| 24 | Tory gets 50% off excellent headwear (3,3)
TOP HAT (headwear) TORY (excluding RY, the second 2 of 4 [50% off] letters of TORY) + PHAT (slang for terrific or superb; excellent) TO P HAT |
| 25 | Clothing industry fashion shoot is back inside (3,5)
RAG TRADE (informal term for the clothing industry) DART (run fast; shoot) reversed (back) and contained in (inside) RAGE (“it’s all the RAGE“, “it’s the fashion”) RAG (TRAD<) E |
| 26 | Idiot in school gets pain from exercising (6)
STITCH (a sharp pricking pain in the side brought on by exercising, especially running) TIT (derogatory term for an idiot) contained in (in) SCH (school) S (TIT) CH |
| Down | |
| 1 | A very dirty look (4)
PERV (described by Collins Dictionary as Australian term for an erotic glance or look) PER (for each or a) + V (very) PER V |
| 2 | Coach leaves with singer (7)
TEACHER (coach) TEA (the drink TEA is made from leaves) + CHER (reference CHER [born 1946], American singer) TEA CHER |
| 3 | Essential ingredients of cold liver and hot milk in salad dressing (5,3)
OLIVE OIL (a pressed fruit OIL that can be used a salad dressing) OL (central letters [essential ingredients] of COLD) + IVE (central letters [essential ingredients] of LIVER) + O (central letter [essential ingredients] of HOT) + IL (central letters [essential ingredients] of MILK) OL IVE O IL |
| 5 | Period of abstinence, stopping at home, in prospect for Carol (6,5)
SILENT NIGHT (name of a Christmas carol) (LENT [a period of fasting or abstinence in the Christian calendar] contained in [stopping] IN [at home]) all contained in (in) SIGHT (prospect) S (I (LENT) N) IGHT |
| 6 | Deleting information about houses set on fire (6)
IGNITE (set on fire) IGNITE (reversed [about] hidden word in [house] DELETING INFORMATION) IGNITE< |
| 7 | Live as a monk? (7)
INHABIT (live [in]) A monk will be wearing [IN] a HABIT (religious costume) for much of his life. As a monk. IN HABIT |
| 8 | Monstrous ogre welcoming stint as preacher (9)
GOSPELLER (preacher) Anagram of (monstrous) OGRE containing (welcoming) SPELL (stint) GO (SPELL) ER* |
| 12 | Millions keep supporting company line abandoned in rush to produce chicken soup? (7,4)
COMFORT FOOD (Defined by Chambers as ‘mood-enhancing food that meets the approval of one’s taste buds, but not of one’s doctor’. A couple of internet references tell me that chicken soup is a COMFORT FOOD. It probably wouldn’t be on my list, but I’m sure others will disagree.) CO (company) + M (millions) + FORT (stronghold; keep) + FLOOD (rush) excluding (abandoned) L (line) – (M and FORT are below and therefore supporting CO in this down entry) CO M FORT FOOD |
| 13 | Editor Morgan briefly stopped by editor Philip – he’s a danger to children (4,5)
PIED PIPER (charismatic person who entices others to follow a course of action, usually to their detriment [after the piper in Browning’s poem The PIED PIPER of Hamelin {1842}, whose piping enticed away first the town’s rats then its children]; he’s a danger to children). PIERS (reference PIERS Morgan [born 1965], former tabloid newspaper editor) excluding the final letter (briefly) S containing (stopped by) (ED [editor] + PIP [Philip]) PI (ED PIP) ER |
| 15 | Expose gang involved in fight (5,3)
BRING OUT (expose) RING (cartel; gang) contained in (involved in) BOUT (fight) B (RING) OUT |
| 17 | Starting late, Trump succeeded playing golf – or perhaps lied? (3-4)
ART-SONG (A song whose words and music are the product of conscious art, the music reflecting every turn of meaning; A German LIED is defined as a German lyric or song, especially an ART-SONG) FART (break wind; trump) excluding the first letter (starting late) F + S (succeeded) + ON (playing) + G (Golf is the international radio communication code word for the letter G) ART S ON G |
| 19 | Passionate after river drive, perhaps (3,4)
TEE SHOT (in golf, a drive is a SHOT from the TEE) TEES (river in the North East of England) + HOT (passionate) TEE S HOT |
| 20 | Desire knight to have bigger clothing (6)
HUNGER (desire) N (knight, in chess notation) contained in (to have … clothing) HUGER (bigger) HU (N) GER |
| 22 | Get fluorine out to corrode metal? (4)
ETCH (create an image by corroding metal) FETCH (get) excluding (out) F (chemical symbol for fluorine) ETCH |
We seem to be getting a lot of Eccles puzzles lately, which is absolutely fine by me. The more the merrier!
This one was great fun and, as usual, there were a couple of new words to check: PHAT and ART-SONG.
As mentioned by Duncan, the specific meaning of PERV needed is Australian so, for me, it should have had an indicator as such.
My top picks were ET AL, SONGWRITER, OLIVE OIL, IGNITE and PIED PIPER.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Lots to like in this, with the exception of 1d….
Thanks both
I tackled this half way through my solve of today’s Guardian where I was getting nowhere. Thanks, Eccles, for reassuring that I can solve clues. (Subsequently returned to the G but the break has done me no good, regrettably!) Very enjoyable though I have to join the club and suggest PERV did need some kind of indicator; I could accept it as an abbreviated word for the individual but the look is surely only a Thing in the Australian context. PHAT is not a word I would use but I vaguely recognise it.
GOSPELLER, OLIVE OIL, TEACHER and CHIEF CONSTABLE were my faves today.
Thanks both
[12a: oed.com’s definition of “chicken soup” ‘…popularly considered as a remedy for all ailments or valued for its restorative properties … often associated with Jewish culture (cf. Jewish penicillin n.).’] …
… [And 1d PERV ‘colloquial‘ is only ‘(originally Australian)’.]
A bag of allsorts from Eccles, mostly tasty, but a few of the brown ones that I don’t like as much.
I think (?) that PERV can be a verb, as in “to look dirtily at”.
Ellie Greenwich unknown to me, but famous in her time, after checking.
PHAT….. I ballsed this one up, going for 50% of [EM]PHAT[IC].
LIED, as a song or air, seems to be becoming a regular visitor, a bit like LAM.
All-in-all, a lot to enjoy, and no bizarro synonyms or indicators. The Spoonerism (18ac) is very cunning.
thanks, ecc + dunc
FrankieG @5. According to both Collins and Chambers, PERV meaning dirty look is Australian without qualification.
Great fun, especially OLIVE OIL and the appearance of PHAT.
I was a bit concerned about coming a cropper in the NW corner, but eventually got both PATRON and PERV. Its nounal form might be Aussie, but regardless of what Chambers says, to ‘perv at/on’ as a verb is familiar to this Pom, so it wasn’t a big stretch to think it could be a noun as well.
Thanks both.
I think if 1d had read “A very dirty look down under”, I would have been even more confused. Before today I wouldn’t have known where the expression came from, but it was easy to guess that it could mean “dirty look”
Like our reviewer, I struggled to parse 1a, very cunning, Eccles! I also needed to investigate Greenwich as a songwriter and had never heard of the slang word required for 24a. ‘Guess and look up’ was definitely the order of the day!
Over in favourites corner I have ASPIRING, ROADIE, OLIVE OIL & PIED PIPER.
Many thanks to Eccles and also to Duncan for the review.
Fail in the North East corner. Figured one down had to be either PEER, PEEP or PEEK which stopped me getting ROADIE. I hadn’t heard of Kate Adie so not sure I would have got it either.
Don’t think I’ve heard PHAT since I was at school.
ART-SONG was my new word of the day which I managed to parse which the help of the crossers.
Also had the same penny drop (I’m sure there’s a pun to be made there) moment with PAT.
I enjoyed that even it was a very annoying DNF.
Favourite: PARLIAMENT
Thanks Eccles and Duncan
Thanks both. As the main debate surrounds PERV I thought it entirely fair game to add no Aussie indicator, as it’s well established here in its short form, though I do wonder if ‘a very dirty person’ might have worked better to address the noun/verb issue?
I normally like to moan but perv is in pretty common use in the UK. Phat on the other hand is totally new to me.
Didn’t think of PERV for 1dn and guessed PORN instead. Well, I was on the right lines.
Thanks Eccles and duncanshiell. Like Dormouse above, for 1D I had PORN, for which the clue works perfectly as a CD imo. Didn’t parse 17. As Jan 20 nears, how could I have missed the scatological association?