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We know to expect a very good crossword when we see Eccles named as the setter.
I like clues where the entry can be read as a cryptic indication for a word in the clue. Today, we have 9 across where the entry could read as WARP AINT, a cryptic indication of TINA in the clue.
Harry Shearer [born 1943] is referenced in the clue at 11 across. He has provided the voices of a number of characters in The Simpsons for many years. I have seen very few episodes of The Simpsons, so I don’t know whether any of his characters is a real troublemaker.
At 13 across, E is harmonically equivalent to F flat, allowing Eccles to write an interesting clue.
It took me a while to solve MOWN DOWN. I got the DOWN bit fairly quickly but it took longer than it should have done to spot the other OWN [admit] in the entry.
ANTA (21 across) is a fairly common feature in barred crosswords, but doesn’t appear that often in blocked crosswords.
I confidently entered NEPAL at 3 down thinking that the French far-right politician’s surname was LA PEN, but I had to think a bit more about the wordplay when I found the surname was actually LE PEN.
The clue for MANKIND (19 down) was very good, as it took me a little bit of time to realise that the definition was people. Eccles uses misdirection very effectively.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Stop ruling Germans out (4,2)
REIN IN (check or stop) REIGNING (ruling) excluding [out] the two occurrences of the letter G (Germans) REIN IN |
| 5 | Party with northern group of actors, becoming dispirited (8)
DOWNCAST (dejected; dispirited) DO (party) + W (with) + N (northern) + CAST (group of actors) DO W N CAST |
| 9 | Instruction to get Tina in make-up? (3,5)
WAR PAINT (informal term for make-up) WARP AINT is a cryptic instruction to form TINA* where WARP is the anagram instruction) + AINT (is the anagram fodder) WAR P AINT |
| 10 | Picked up unpopular duty creating structure of language (6)
SYNTAX (grammatical structure in sentences) SYN TAX (sounds like [picked up] SIN TAX (duty paid on something unpopular, for example, or just an ‘unpopular tax’ which probably describes every tax in the view of many solvers) SYN TAX |
| 11 | Troublemaker Harry Shearer ill (4-6)
HELL-RAISER (person who enjoys boisterous debauchery; troublemaker) Anagram of (harry) SHEARER ILL HELL RAISER* |
| 12 | One beginning to make a mark as Muslim leader (4)
IMAM (the officer who leads the devotions in a mosque; Muslim leader) I (Roman numeral for one) + MAM (first letters of [beginning to] each of Make, A and Mark) I MAM |
| 13 | Alternative name for E, everybody assumed, is going to be a damp squib (4,4)
FALL FLAT (fail completely, have no effect; be a damp squib) F FLAT (The note E on a piano keyboard could be described as F FLAT) containing (assumed) ALL (everybody) F (ALL) FLAT |
| 16 | Speculate excessive wind can be stopped by doctor (6)
GAMBLE (speculate) GALE (high or excessive wind) containing (stopped by) MB (Bachelor of Medicine; doctor) GA (MB) LE |
| 17 | Apportions when claiming tax back (6)
ALLOTS (apportions) AS (when) containing (claiming) TOLL (tax) reversed (back) A (LLOT<) S |
| 19 | Run over, as Mike admits hiding diamonds (4,4)
MOWN DOWN (killed; run over by a vehicle, for example) M (Mike is the international radio communication codeword for the letter M) + (OWN [admit] + OWN [admit], the two occurrences giving ‘admits’) containing (hiding) D (diamonds) M OWN (D) OWN |
| 21 | Advantageous to protect decorative pillar (4)
ANTA (a square pilaster at either side of a doorway or the corner of a flank wall; decorative pillar) ANTA (hidden word in [protect] advANTAgeous) ANTA |
| 22 | Ring celebrity quietly about a subgenre of music (7,3)
GANGSTA RAP (A style of rap music, usually characterized by lyrics about Black street gangs in the US, often with violent, nihilistic, and misogynistic themes; subgenre of music) GANG (crew; ring) + ([STAR {celebrity} + P {piano; quietly}] containing [about] A) GANG STA R (A) P |
| 25 | Returned Ames tests containing parasite (6)
TSETSE (a small fly of the African genus Glossina that transmits trypanosome parasites and causes sleeping sickness and nagana [tsetse-fly disease]; parasite) TSETSE (reversed [returned] hidden word in [containing] amES TESTs) TSETSE< |
| 26 | I cry for help and somehow stay in a balanced state (8)
ISOSTASY (a condition of equilibrium held to exist in the earth’s crust, equal masses of matter underlying equal areas, whether of sea or land down to an assumed level of compensation) I + SOS (An internationally recognized distress signal in which the letters SOS are repeatedly spelt out, as by radiotelegraphy: used especially by ships and aircraft; cry for help) + an anagram of (somehow) STAY I SOS TASY* |
| 27 | Carried out surgery; chose to take a long time (8)
OPERATED (carried out surgery) OPTED (chose) containing (to take) ERA (a long period of time) OP (ERA) TED |
| 28 | Husband gatecrashes rubbish party (6)
THRASH (a party) H (husband) contained in (gatecrashes) TRASH (rubbish) T (H) RASH |
| Down | |
| 2 | Make happy European tardy (5)
ELATE (raise the spirits of; make happy) E (European) + LATE (tardy) E LATE |
| 3 | Feminine version of French far-right politician raised in foreign land (5)
NEPAL (a foreign country [land] in Asia) LA PEN (reference the French right-wing politician Marine LE PEN with the masculine form of ‘the’ (LE) changed to the feminine form (LA) to give LA PEN) then all reversed (raised; down entry) (NEP AL)< |
| 4 | Novelist McEwan perhaps upset converted Christian (7)
NAIPAUL (reference V S NAIPAUL [1932 – 2018], Trinidadian-born British author) IAN (reference IAN McEwan [born 1948], British novelist and screenwriter, an example of an IAN) reversed (upset; down entry) + PAUL (reference St PAUL who became a Christian on the road to Damascus) NAI< PAUL |
| 5 | When visiting romantic partner, start to transfer file (4,3)
DATA SET (a file of information) (AS [when] contained in [visiting] DATE [romantic partner]) + T (first letter of [start to] TRANSFER) DAT (A S) E T |
| 6 | American cleaner used to be hard to tease (7)
WASHRAG (American term for a cleaning item like a flannel) WAS (used to be) + H (hard, when describing pencil lead) + RAG (to tease) WAS H RAG |
| 7 | Ratified two companies welcoming new editor (9)
CONFIRMED (ratified) (CO [company] + FIRM [a company] giving two companies) containing (welcoming) N (new) + ED (editor) CO (N) FIRM ED |
| 8 | Kelvin abandons hunting groups turning up around American naval base (5,4)
SCAPA FLOW (a sheltered body of water in the Orkney Islands, used as a naval base during the First World War) (WOLF PACKS [hunting groups] excluding [abandons] K [kelvin]) all reversed (turning up; down entry) and containing (around) A (American) SCAP (A) FLOW< |
| 14 | A large loan to get drink? Absolutely! (3,4,2)
ALL ENDS UP (completely; absolutely) A + L (large) + LEND (loan) + SUP (drink) A L L END S UP |
| 15 | “Take care of tool,” freak snarled (4,5)
LOOK AFTER (take care of) Anagram of (snarled) TOOL FREAK LOOK AFTER* |
| 18 | FBI agents in clique creating division (7)
SEGMENT (portion; division) G-MEN (FBI agents) contained in (in) SET (clique) SE (G MEN) T |
| 19 | People briefly sling swimsuit on top of deckchair (7)
MANKIND (the human race; people) MANKINI (A man’s swimming costume consisting of a narrow V-shaped piece of material extending from the crotch to the shoulders; male swimsuit) excluding the final letter (briefly) I + D (first letter of [top of] DECKCHAIR MANKIN D |
| 20 | Most of war cry is complete failure (7)
WASHOUT (complete failure) WA (2 of the 3 [most of] the letters of WAR) + SHOUT (cry) WA SHOUT |
| 23 | Picked up change in place of worship (5)
ALTAR (place of worship) ALTAR (sounds like [picked up] ALTER [change]) ALTAR |
| 24 | Part of foot is under bottom, reportedly (5)
ARSIS (literally, a lift, an up-beat; hence the weak position in a bar or foot; understood by the Romans as the strong position; used in English in both senses; part of foot) ARS (sounds like [reportedly] ARSE [bottom]) + IS – as this is a down entry the letters IS are ‘under’ the letters ARS ARS IS |
Another wonderful puzzle from this setter. Today’s inevitable new words for me were ANTA and ARSIS, and I was of course delighted to see the US indicator in 6d. MANKIND was my favourite of many ticked clues.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Yes, a few new bits: anta the pillar,; isostasy the equilibrium (but cf isobar, etc), and arsis (cf -tarsal, anatomical part). Otherwise, nothing too gnarly and lots to enjoy, ta Eccles and duncan.
In 12a, I took ‘beginning to’ just for ‘make’ then A then M for ‘Mark’ as in the old currency.
Great fun from Eccles as always.
The trick for NEPAL seemed familiar: here’s Twin doing much the same thing a few months ago. Great minds think alike.
Another excellent puzzle from this setter complete with the expected sprinkling of new words to investigate. Almost fell into the ‘E’ trap until I realised that the ‘proper’ name for such was far too long to fit into the grid but the actual answer, FALL FLAT, turned out to be one of my favourites along with WASH OUT.
Thanks to Eccles for the pleasure of his puzzle and to Duncan for the review.
For a while I decided that the man who cleans your car at the car was is a WASHGUY but the crossers put me right. Delightful puzzle. Thanks
As jane says, Eccles regularly deals us a few new words but they are always fairly clued. WARPAINT, GAMBLE, THRASH, CONFIRMED, SCAPA FLOW (lovely spot) and WASHOUT were my faves today. The double ‘admits’ is a nice trick.
Thanks Eccles and duncan
” An Eccles A Day” keeps the blues at bay.
Loved this one.
I’m a bit sheepish claiming a full solve: the “French feminine version” of LE PEN passed me by, I just assumed I had it wrong, and it must be “LA PEN”, despite the received pronunciation.
WAR PAINT? superb. One of many.
Hats off again, Ecc, & cheers duncan
Thanks both. Took me for ever to realise what was happening in FALL FLAT, and I more readily associate party with bash than THRASH but I see it listed as a definition. Still a little unsure over SYNTAX connecting ‘sin’ and ‘unpopular’.
Wondered if a sin tax is unpopular because it’s anti-fun .. 🙂
Thanks Eccles and duncanshiell. Harry Shearer can be relied on to make a bit of trouble each week in his Le Show podcast. Well worth a listen.
Lovely puzzle. Favourites have been mentioned above. Fell down over ARSIS (nho) as forgot about the metrical foot (again) and put in BASIS before solving GANGSTA RAP and then checked it and got the dreaded crossed out squares. Thanks both.
I found this pretty straightforward for the most part, with a couple more chewy ones including new words for me (as for others, it seems) including ISOSTASY and ARSIS, both of which seemed reasonable via comparison with similar words, as previously noted – though will I ever remember the metrical foot?!
I’m another for whom the lovely FALL FLAT took too long and for whom MANKIND (sling swimsuit) was the top pick; that surface was so smooth with “over top of deckchair” seeming so natural that it took a good few moments to stop looking for synonyms of deckchair, despite even having the D in place!
I loved the double “admits” for MOWN DOWN, which again too too long since after the DOWN became obvious I ruled MOW DOWN out for being too short… those pesky past participles such as “run” which are identical to their present tense forms!
I also enjoyed the “ruling Germans out” for REIN IN which surprisingly was my LOI; I just couldn’t spot that phrase.
TFO@9 I think you have to take SIN TAX as a whole to interpret the “unpopular duty”; the duty on alcohol, tobacco (and one might include petrol) are generally only grudgingly accepted, at least by those whom they affect! (I think that’s what gif@10 is also saying.)
Thanks both