Independent 11,976 by Eccles

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It’s Wednesday and it’s Eccles.

What can we say about an Eccles puzzle that we haven’t said before? Smooth surfaces, enjoyable………. we have said it on every puzzle that we have blogged.

Thanks Eccles – keep ’em coming.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Old woman finally conceiving is miracle that’s reimagined in literary style (5,7)
MAGIC REALISM

MA (old woman) G (last or ‘final’ letter of conceiving) and an anagram (‘that’s reimagined’) of IS MIRACLE

9. Terrible meal in Alaska, say, leads to impasse (9)
STALEMATE

An anagram (‘terrible’) of MEAL in STATE (Alaska, say)

10. Roadie regularly working in concert hall (5)
ODEON

rOaDiE (alternate or ‘regular’ letters only) ON (working)

11. Communist seems to reject outsiders, free from blame (6)
REDEEM

RED (communist) sEEMs (missing first and last letters or ‘rejecting outsiders’)

12. In the interval, I’m chasing intended bride at last (8)
MEANTIME

I’M after or ‘chasing’ MEANT (intended) + E (last letter of bride)

13. Shuffle pieces of wood (6)
LUMBER

Double definition

15. Contract British disease (8)
BAILMENT

B (British) AILMENT (disease) – a new word for us

18. In a detailed manner, rate Only Fans (8)
ORNATELY

An anagram (‘fans’) of RATE ONLY

19. Fly backwards inside coolest establishment (6)
TSETSE

Hidden (‘inside’) and reversed (‘backwards’) in coolEST ESTablishment

21. Pass colonists in winter clothing (3,5)
SKI PANTS

SKIP (pass) ANTS (colonists)

23. Stop discharges over the phone (6)
FREEZE

A homophone (‘over the phone’) of FREES (discharges)

26. Distributes treats around Luxembourg (5)
DOLES

DOES (treats) around L (Luxembourg). We had to check that DO = TREAT.

27. Filming the drunk male leaving various clubs and pubs (9)
NIGHTLIFE

An anagram (‘drunk’) of FILmING THE with ‘m’ (male) ‘leaving’

28. Very worried now, as citadel is damaged (2,1,4,5)
IN A COLD SWEAT

An anagram (‘damaged’) of NOW AS CITADEL

DOWN
1. The result of hearing problem possibly, I expelled violent wind (7)
MISTRAL

MISTRiAL (result of hearing problem possibly – the hearing being a trial) without or ‘expelling’ I

2. £1000 in German currency (5)
GRAND

G (German) RAND (currency)

3. Starts to climb large mountain, being most intelligent (9)
CLEVEREST

C L (initial letters or ‘starts’ to climb large) EVEREST (mountain)

4. Times removed striking editor (4)
ERAS

ERASed (removed) without or ‘striking’ ‘ed’ (editor)

5. Eccles is boring celebrity setter about subject (8)
LIEGEMAN

I (Eccles – the setter) inside or ‘boring’ a reversal (‘about’) of NAME (celebrity) GEL (setter)

6. Son dropping new piece of cutlery (5)
SPOON

S (son) POO (dropping) N (new)

7. Local team in tears, mostly (8)
RESIDENT

SIDE (team) inside RENTs (tears) missing last letter or ‘mostly’

8. Most enjoyable, following being ignored, to force kids to leave home (6)
UNNEST

fUNNEST (most enjoyable) ‘ignoring’ ‘f’ (following). We weren’t sure that the word existed so had to check.

14. Animated officer half-heartedly supporting member of staff getting part in The Bill (8)
MANDIBLE

DIBbLE (officer in ‘Top Cat’ – a children’s cartoon) missing one of the middle letters or ‘half-heartedly’ underneath or ‘supporting’ MAN (staff) – we have to be of a certain age to remember ‘Top Cat’!

16. Girl welcomes hackneyed words for passing on (4,5)
LAST RITES

LASS (girl) around or ‘welcoming’ TRITE (hackneyed)

17. Hades lovely when shorn of rocks formed deep underground (8)
PLUTONIC

PLUTO (Hades) NICe (lovely) missing last letter or ‘shorn’

18. Think carefully about going naked, being of the same mind (6)
ONSIDE

cONSIDEr (think carefully) missing first and last letter or ‘going naked’

20. Hint of lead? (7)
ELEMENT

Double definition

22. Crime of the Century ignored by iconic American talk show host (5)
ARSON

cARSON (iconic American talk show host – Johnny Carson) ‘ignoring’ ‘c’ (century)

24. Finest diet drug? (5)
ELITE

Whimsical wordplay – E is the drug and if it is part of a diet it could be described as E LITE

25. At one time, the same leaders in Europe gave Abkhazia legitimacy (4)
EGAL

First letters or ‘leaders’ in Europe Gave Abkhazia Legitimacy – an old word from the French for ‘equal’

 

16 comments on “Independent 11,976 by Eccles”

  2. I’m used to encountering some new words in an Eccles puzzle. UNNEST, EGAL, PLUTONIC, LIEGEMAN and BAILMENT today which made it tricky. Everything else went in fine, smoothly clued as our bloggers say. SKI PANTS, LUMBER, SOON, RESIDENT, ONSIDE and ARSON my bigger ticks.

    Thanks Eccles and B&J

  3. Super smooth and super fun as ever with, as PM says @2, a few new words to find.

    I was slightly puzzled by 26a, as I had thought that “doles out” was the correct synonym for “distributes”. However, although I can’t imagine anyone saying it without the “out”, it does appear in Collins with the rider “usually followed by out”, which I guess means it occasionally isn’t!

    My favourite of very many ticked clues was MISTRAL.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to B&J.

  4. I’m with PostMark, (@2) on the “new word” front: usually, they really annoy me, but not in an Eccles puzzle. The setting is so good, it more than compensates. I can even forgive POO appearing (again).
    Fond memories of “Top Cat”…..60 years ago? (14 down).
    Didn’t they have refer to it as “Boss Cat”, over here….a dispute with a UK cat food brand? I may be wrong.
    The theme tune was great, but I could never decipher some of the lyrics…..” whipped cream for tea” ?
    Anyway, Officer Dibble is a nice play, for oldies like me.

    Great stuff as usual, Mr Ecc, and ta, BJ.

  5. Thanks for raising the name change, ENB@4. It’s been interesting looking that one up. I certainly recall watching TC in my early youth and am surprised that I don’t recall Boss Cat at all. The articles point out that nothing was changed but the programme title – the intro song remained Top Cat, as did the character’s name in the actual episodes (and his TC initials on his top). It’s still Top Cat in my vestigial memory and so it shall remain!

  6. I had the same experience as other commenters; discovered some new words (I had to reveal a couple), and found that same reference in Collins online… I even checked their corpus but they don’t have a single example of dole without out. I thought it was generally smooth, with some nice tricks.

    Thanks both

  7. Liked 18a ORNATELY for the ‘Lift and Separate’ of “Only Fans” [though it could have been combined with Elision (aka Playtex): “OnlyFans”].
    And 14d for the Top Cat (1961-2) reference. Here’s the theme song with lyrics. — (E.N.Boll&@4: “with dignity”?).
    [You can watch the cartoons in the Hayward Gallery café, but their subtitles are very very badly wrong, too.]

  8. Nothing really to add, all very well clued, SPOON my favourite today.

    I remember Top Cat being notable for the characters all being fully clothed above the waist but naked below, but it seemed to work

  10. Nice one Eccles. Loved the Officer Dibble reference. Happy days remembering Benny the Ball saying OK TC. Thanks B&J.

  11. As others have said, invariably a few new words to learn from an Eccles puzzle – EGAL & BAILMENT for me today plus the dreadful UNNEST which I could scarcely believe was deemed acceptable. Plenty to enjoy as ever with top clues for me being MISTRAL and FREEZE.

    Thanks to Eccles and to B&J for the review.

  12. FrankieG@7
    It has only taken 62 years!
    My little self used to sing ” Stroll right in, it’s whipped cream for tea”.
    I now learn, it always was ” Pro..vy….din, it’s with dig-nity”.

    You have shattered my dreams. I will never forgive you.
    Added to which, I used to call the copper, Officer Dribble.

    I must give up this crossword thing.

  13. Thanks Eccles for a superb crossword with my top picks being MAGIC REALISM, MEANTIME, ERAS, LIEGEMAN, SPOON, RESIDENT, ONSIDE, and ARSON, all having silky surfaces. My only stumble was PLUTONIC. Thanks B&J for the blog.

  14. Dible a mystery, no memory of that show, but mandible as part of bill/beak/jaw was obvs from crossers. No other mysteries, tho egal, unrest, etc needed a bit of brainstretch. Good fun, ta Eccles and BandJ.

  15. I loved the MAGIC REALISM clue, which evokes St Elizabeth. EGAL is good German as well as French–that’s where I picked it up–but I don’t think I’ve seen it in English.

    BAILMENTs are still taught in US law schools–if I entrust my personal property to you (in the most common example, for the purpose of your repairing it for me), that creates an implied bailment, which you (the bailee) breach if you don’t give the stuff back on demand. You can also have an express bailment, usually written into contracts whose main point is holding property (warehouses are the usual example). The point is to expressly delineate possession from ownership, and the respective responsibilities of possessor and owner.

  16. Found that odd because the top half went in very fast, but the bottom half was hard.
    Egal is the German for “all the same”, but didn’t know it in English!

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