It’s Wednesday in the Independent; it’s Eccles; so we can expect a good well-clued puzzle
I liked the clues for SUNNI, MINNESOTA and MOGADISHU for their surfaces.
I noticed quite a few exclusions of letters from constituent parts of entries where there were 2 or more occurrences of the letter to be removed, without any indication of which one to remove. I suppose it was fairly obvious which one had to be removed, but it used be the case that clues specifically hinted at which one.
Eccles puzzles tend to be theme or message free and I think today’s offering continues that practice.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Fleet is stuck (4)
FAST (rapid; fleet) FAST (firm; fixed; stuck) double definition FAST |
| 3 | Secure cash in Boston to conserve church decoration (4,6)
WIND CHIMES (hanging decoration composed of pieces of shell, metal, etc that tinkle against one another as the breeze catches them) WIN (secure) + (DIMES [example of coins {cash} in Boston, USA] containing [to conserve] CH [church]) WIN D (CH) IMES |
| 10 | Fish in jelly, 25% off (3)
GAR (a pike-like fish) AGAR (a jelly prepared from seaweeds of various kinds used in bacteria-culture, medicine, glue-making, silk-dressing, and cooking) excluding (off) the first A, one of 4 [25%] letters in the word, to leave GAR GAR |
| 11 | That is found in side streets (2,3)
ID EST (Latin for ‘that is’) ID EST (hidden word in [found in] SIDE STREETS) ID EST |
| 12 | Planet scenes with Earth deleted (5)
VENUS (a planet) VENUES (scenes of action) excluding (deleted) E, in this case the second E VENUS |
| 13 | Scare female away, yes? (5)
RIGHT (correct; yes) FRIGHT (a scare) excluding (away) F (female) RIGHT |
| 14 | End it on a high: put oil on body (8)
ANOINTED (smeared [put] oil on body) Anagram of (high) END IT ON A ANOINTED* |
| 16 | Primate kept secret about love with minister (7)
HOMINID (Any primate of the family Hominidae, which includes modern humans [Homo sapiens] and the extinct precursors of man) HID (kept secret) containing (about) (O [character representing zero, the love score in tennis] + MIN [minister]) H (O MIN) ID |
| 18 | Amphibian bit staff (7)
TADPOLE (an amphibian) TAD (a [little] bit) + POLE (staff) TAD POLE |
| 20 | Attack a German woman who eats people after removing the head (7)
AGGRESS (make a first attack) A + G (German) + OGRESS (woman who eats people) excluding the first letter (after removing the head) O A G GRESS |
| 22 | Break very overdue – it’s after ten (7)
VIOLATE (break) V (very) + IO (characters representing the number ten) + LATE (overdue) V IO LATE |
| 23 | Recommend drink close to home but American declined (8)
ADVOCATE (recommend) (ADVOCAAT [liqueur containing raw eggs and flavourings; drink] + E [last letter of {close to} HOME]) excluding (but … declined) the second or third A (American) ADVOCAT E |
| 25 | What a student might be when backing Muslim (5)
SUNNI (a member of one of the two main branches of Islam) (IN NUS [National Union of Students] -a student might be a member of the NUS) all reversed (when backing) (SUN NI)< |
| 28 | Book house by ocean (5)
HOSEA (book of the Old Testament) HO (house) + SEA (ocean) HO SEA |
| 29 | Far-right politician punched by wife for a second time (5)
TWICE (for a second time) TICE (reference Richard TICE, MP for Skegness, [born 1964], Deputy Leader of Reform UK, a right-wing political organisation) containing (punched by) W (wife) T (W) ICE |
| 30 | Take action to employ soprano, moving forward (3)
SUE (take action in a court of law) USE (employ) with the S (soprano) moving forward to front of the word to form SUE SUE |
| 31 | Aim of a Kabaddi player is uncertain (5,3,2)
TOUCH AND GO (Kabaddi is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. The goal of the game is for a single offensive player, called the “raider,” to enter the opposing team’s half of the court, tag as many players as possible, and return to their own side within 30 seconds, all while avoiding being tackled by the defenders; the aim therefore is to TOUCH AND GO) TOUCH AND GO (descriptive of a critical or precariously balanced situation; uncertain) double definition TOUCH AND GO |
| 32 | Irritable in overcrowded gym (4)
EDGY (irritable) EDGY (hidden word in [in] OVERCROWDED GYM) EDGY |
| Down | |
| 1 | Worked out to inspire man, a leader, nominally (10)
FIGUREHEAD (a merely nominal leader, e.g. of an organization or a government) FIGURED (worked out) containing (to inspire) (HE [a man] + A) FIGURE (HE A) D |
| 2 | Quietly called nationalist out for expressive gesture (5)
SHRUG (an expressive gesture) SH (hush; [go] quietly) + RUNG (called) excluding (out) N (Nationalist) SH RUG |
| 4 | I clean revolting Dutch supermarket (7)
ICELAND (name of British supermarket) I + an anagram of (revolting) CLEAN + D (Dutch) I CELAN* D |
| 5 | American leaving waste around old city (7)
DETROIT ([American] city) (DETRITUS [waste] excluding [leaving] US (United States [American]) containing (around) O (old) DETR (O) IT |
| 6 | Own new port (5)
HAVEN (port) HAVE (own) + N (new) HAVE N |
| 7 | State nominates criminal (9)
MINNESOTA (one of the United States of America) Anagram of (criminal) NOMINATES MINNESOTA* |
| 8 | Scandal, primarily, has destroyed band (4)
SASH (band) S (first letter of [primarily] Scandal) + an anagram of (destroyed) HAS S ASH* |
| 9 | Appallingly, tip a cent – a meagre amount (8)
PITTANCE (a meagre amount or a very small payment) Anagram of (appallingly) TIP A CENT PITTANCE* |
| 15 | Earl in colourful uniform gets shipment sent again (10)
REDELIVERY (shipment sent again) E (earl) contained in (in) (RED [colourful] + LIVERY [uniform, usually applied to the clothing of guildsmen or servants]) RED (E) LIVERY |
| 17 | Some say cat gave birth in African port (9)
MOGADISHU (African port city and capital of Somalia) MOG (cat) + ‘AD (had) + ISHU (sounds like [some say] ISSUE [children]) which taken together as a sentence could be interpreted as CAT HAD ISSUE (cat gave birth) MOG AD ISHU |
| 19 | Relatively worthless report about Republican (8)
DROSSIER (more worthless; relatively worthless) DOSSIER (set of documents, that might comprise a report) containing (about) R (Republican) D (R) OSSIER |
| 21 | Pick a fight with boy eating pastry dish (5,2)
START ON (pick a fight with) SON (boy) containing (eating) TART (a pastry dish) S (TART) ON |
| 22 | Contest extension in house inspection (7)
VIEWING ([house] inspection whilst considering a purchase, or just a general inspection) VIE (contest) + WING (extension) VIE WING |
| 24 | It’s a surprise to have periodical stocked in Northern Irish town (5)
OMAGH (town in Northern Ireland) OH (expression of surprise) containing (having … stocked) MAG (MAGazine; periodical) O (MAG) H |
| 26 | Smelled onions and weed regularly (5)
NOSED (smelled) NOS (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of ONIONS) + ED (letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of WEED) or (letters 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 [regularly] of ONIONS WEED) NOS ED |
| 27 | Memo from Conservative twat (4)
CHIT (short informal letter or note; memo) C (Conservative) + HIT (twat is a slang term meaning to strike or hit) C HIT |
Dnk the right-winger but twice was clear. Saw some Oz cricketers this season using a tag game as warm-up, don’t know if it was Kabaddi … might be a thing. Enjoyed the puzzle, thanks Eccles and duncan.
Also enjoyed. Nho AGGRESS although aggression made it fairly obvious. Thought the homophonic gag for MOGADISHU was fun and the 10 in VIOLATE ditto. 36 clues. Certainly get your money’s worth from Eccles. Although I don’t actually pay. Thanks and thanks for a comprehensive blog duncan.
Solving an Eccles puzzle is always enjoyable with smooth surfaces, innovative clueing, and a few new words to find.
2d doesn’t quite work for me. “Quiet” is synonymous with “sh”, but not “quietly”. And when and why did “nose” become a verb meaning to smell? Who else but a crossword setter would use it in that context?
The brilliant MOGADISHU was my favourite.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Solid Wednesday puzzle with MOGADISHU for the fun, PITTANCE and SHRUG for the surfaces, WIND CHIMES for the economic construction, ANOINTED for the use of ‘on a high’, VIOLATE for the ‘it’s after ten’ and ADVOCATE for the simplicity of the deletion being my faves.
Thanks Eccles and duncan
Is a tadpole amphibian?
I’m not sure it is.
Admin @ 5
Wikipedia tells me that “a tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic”.
“Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial.”
So, either aquatic or terrestrial – not amphibian
Liked ANOINTED, AGGRESS, TOUCH AND GO, PITTANCE and MOGADISHU.
Thanks Eccles and duncan.
Really enjoyed this. Too many ticks, but special mention for the very neat three-word clues at 1a, 18a, 6d and 7d. All that, and MOGADISHU, too! Thanks to Eccles and to duncanshiell
This was tremendous fun. Actually laughed out loud at the surface and wordplay for CHIT.
Admin and others: I too had a ? about TADPOLE.
It’s a variation on the ” chicken and the egg” riddle.
Is an egg a chicken?
An enjoyable puzzle, though 27d is not to my taste.
Thanks Eccles and DS
I had the same query about tadpoles being amphibian.
RD @ 3 per the OED ‘nose’ as a transitive verb meaning to smell goes back to the sixteenth century.
22d: Parsed the WING in VIEWING as “extension in house” with the definition as just “inspection”. The house could go either way, or even do double duty.
[For 26d oed.com has NOSE as a verb, with its first meaning – “I.1.a.” – smell, citing Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577), then Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1603)]
{Edit: as Simon S@12 has said just above me} – Me too on the tadpoles.
Good stuff from our setter as usual although I did think (hope) that 19d was a ‘painted myself into a corner’ entry. Top clues for me were those for WIND CHIMES & MOGADISHU.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review.
Tadpoles are definitely not amphibian but may be amphibians?
1If they are not, what class of animal are they?
Amphibian is a taxonomic class, tadpoles don’t change their species.
edit: hmm, DuncT’s comment wasn’t there before, which makes my typing speed 1 word/minute
For ‘amphibian’ Chambers has
“2. Of the Amphibia, a class of cold-blooded vertebrates, typically gill-breathing in the larval state and lung- or skin-breathing as adults, including frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians“
So I guess you could say that tadpoles are amphibian but not amphibious.
Simon S @17 has nailed it. The English language is a wonderful thing :>)
Thanks Eccles for all the clever clues including HOMINID, TADPOLE, EDGY (good surface), and DETROIT. I needed outside help for ADVOCATE (nho ‘advocaat’) and REDELIVERY & I couldn’t parse the amusing MOGADISHU. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.
{The Supremes’ former first lady appeared elsewhere on this day}