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Eccles is occupying his usual mid-week spot once again.
I found this to be challenging puzzle to finish, even though I got off to a confident start. The SE quadrant proved to be very stubborn, almost to the point of my considering the need to cheat, but in the end it all fell into place.
On my parsing, I am looking for input on two points: at 11, I’m not sure why “local” is in the definition; and at 28, I’m not sure if “offer” is part of the definition and if so, if I have parsed it correctly – thanks for input!
As for my favourite clues, I would single out 6, 14 and 22A, all for smoothness of surface; and 2, 11 and 24, all for entertainment value.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | LEGITIMACY | Run away! I’m with a celebrity on vacation to get credibility
LEG IT (=run away, scram) + I’M + A + C<elebrit>Y (“on vacation” means all middle letters are dropped) |
| 06 | PROF | Confirmation nothing escapes teacher
PR<o>OF (=confirmation, evidence; “nothing (=O) escapes” means letter “o” is dropped) |
| 10 | SOLVE | Very, very half-cut nurses left to clear up
L (=left) in [SO (=very) + VE<ry> (“half-cut” means 2 of 4 letters are dropped)] |
| 11 | GAS-LIQUOR | Start to gently creep in Boston, reportedly to get local product of distillation
G<ently> (“start to” means first letter only) + homophone (“reportedly”) of “ass-licker (=creep, sycophant, in Boston, i.e. in US English)”; gas-liquor appears to be a by-product of the manufacture of coal gas |
| 12 | SARDINIA | In Spain, I’d rashly written about Mediterranean island
Hidden (“in”) and reversed (“written about”) in “SpAIN I’D RAShly” |
| 14 | ITEMS | Components of Times cryptic
*(TIMES); “cryptic” is anagram indicator; items are components, elements |
| 16 | RUBELLA | Nearly execute beautiful Italian getting disease
RU<n> (=execute, e.g. a computer programme) + BELLA (=beautiful Italian, i.e. an Italian word for beautiful) |
| 18 | KNITTER | Needleworker’s fancy trinket
*(TRINKET); “fancy” is anagram indicator; since they use knitting needles, knitters could be described as “needleworkers”! |
| 20 | MAMMOTH | Huge match regularly stopped by missiles?
AMMO (=missiles?) in M<a>T<c>H (“regularly” means alternate letters only are used) |
| 22 | CONSOLE | Prisoner’s only comfort
CON (=prisoner, i.e. convict) + SOLE (=only, single) |
| 23 | AGREE | American and European mostly get on together
A (=American) + GREE<k> (=European; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) |
| 25 | REGISTER | Express terrible regret about Iceland
IS (=Iceland, in IVR) in *(REGRET); “terrible” is anagram indicator; to express e.g. an objection is to register, convey it |
| 28 | WASTE PIPE | Refuse offer of pap rub from Spooner
Spoonerism (“of Spooner”) of “paste (=pap, mush) + wipe (=rub)”; a waster pipe is a refuse “off-er”, i.e. something that takes waste away |
| 29 | ALIGN | Order foreign government to replace base
ALIEN (=foreign); “government (=G) to replace base (=E, in maths)” means letter “e” becomes “g”; to align is to arrange, order |
| 31 | RAYS | Beams, as pay increase announced
Homophone (“announced”) of “raise (=pay increase)”; sunbeams are rays of sunlight |
| 32 | PESTILENCE | Perhaps guinea pig still with time to move east in epidemic
PET (=perhaps guinea pig) + SILENCE (=still, quiet); “with time (=T) to move east” means letter “t” moves to a later position in the word |
| Down | ||
| 01 | LAST | Hold out // fake foot
Double definition: to last is to hold out, endure AND a last is a fake foot used by a cobbler to shape shoes |
| 02 | GEL | Almost castrate setter
GEL<d> (= (to) castrate; “almost” means last letter is dropped); a gel is a “setter”, i.e. setting agent! |
| 03 | TREAD | Walk rated abysmal
*(RATED); “abysmal” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | MAGENTA | Mother hides Agent Purple
AGENT in MA (=mother) |
| 05 | COSSACK | Company boss at last to fire old Russian
CO (=company) + <bos>S (“at last” means last letter only) + SACK (=(to) fire, from job) |
| 07 | ROUTE | Cycling around external path
OUTER (=external); “cycling around” means last letter moves to begin |
| 08 | FORESTRIES | Warning shots to protect small expanses of trees
S (=small, in sizes) in [FORE (=warning, in golf) + TRIES (=shots, attempts)] |
| 09 | CIVILIAN | Six cardinals in Rome meeting a nationalist with no military involvement
C I V I L I (=cardinals in Rome, i.e. six cardinal numbers in Roman numerals) + A + N (=nationalist) |
| 13 | ALBUM | Collection of photographs of a large bottom
A + L (=large, of sizes) + BUM (=bottom, rear) |
| 15 | CRIMEAN WAR | Sadat, possibly, supporting unlawful act in conflict
CRIME (=unlawful act) + ANWAR (=Sadat, possibly, i.e. former Egyptian president) |
| 17 | LOOSENER | Laxative in toilets upset Frenchman
LOOS (=laxative) + ENER (RENÉ=Frenchman; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 19 | TROPE | Statement lifting the lid over figure of speech
<r>EPORT (=statement, of facts; “lifting the lid” means that first letter is dropped); “over” indicates vertical reversal |
| 21 | HEROINE | Drugs leading lady
HEROIN (=drug) + E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) |
| 22 | CAGIEST | Most wary actors in play concealing gripes, oddly
G<r>I<p>E<s> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) in CAST (=actors in play) |
| 24 | RESTY | Unwilling to go forward and put pig in new home?
To re-sty could be “to put (a) pig in new home”; resty means sluggish, restive, hence “unwilling to go forward” |
| 26 | SNARL | Growl // “Get knotted!”
Double definition: to growl is to snarl, of an animal AND to tangle, hence “get knotted” |
| 27 | INGE | German woman helping entertaining hosts
Hidden (“hosts”) in “helpING Entertaining” |
| 30 | ION | One’s charged celebrity to have head shaved
<l>ION (=celebrity, hero; “to have head shaved” means first letter is dropped); an ion is a charged particle |
The waste pipe ‘offs’ the refuse, in the sense of getting rid of it.
GAS-LIQUOR
Local is Boston (American English indicator)
WASTE PIPE
Agree with Rog@1
LEGITIMACY, RESTY and PESTILENCE were a couple of faves.
Good puzzle and good blog.
Thanks Eccles and RR.
[typo 22a CONSOLE – no S.] — Last 1 in (appropriately): 1d LAST. Had to think: “Cobblers!” 😉.
More wonderful stuff from Eccles, some of which took quite a bit of teasing out.
Full marks to him for the clever double indication of the two Americanisms appearing in 11a, but a mild slap on the wrist for the unindicated Americanism in 31a. The UK word for a pay increase is “rise”. Collins says “in BRIT, use rise”, and quite right too!
As usual, I had ticks galore with ITEMS, LOOSENER and LEGITIMACY my top picks.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
I had CON instead of ION for a while–a con has been charged with a crime, with the celebrity being an icon. Fits the clue nearly as well, but disagrees with the word it’s supposed to cross.
Hadn’t previously come across the required distillation but the Boston creep certainly amused. Hadn’t heard of RESTY either, probably not used in common parlance? Another excellent compilation from this brilliant setter and I think my top entry was CRIMEAN WAR with a big smile for the concise CONSOLE.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review.
Thanks both. I was pleased to remember Sadat’s first name in CRIMEAN WAR. INGE doesn’t feel as strong as the rest – I am not a fan of answers being foreign real names, and my understanding is it’s not necessarily female, and not necessarily German; apart from that, it’s fine!
Thanks for the various reactions – much appreciated!
FrankieG @3: typo now corrected
Rog @1: that was my reading of the clue too, as you no doubt read
KVa @2: Chambers doesn’t mention that gas-liquor is an Americanism, so the need for an indication of this seemed unnecessary, but I see that Collins does.
I quite like a bit of bawdy, and have alluded before to rude phonic jokes involving liquor, but I bunged in gas-liquor innocently oblivious of what the Bostonian was doing to someone’s ass. The reversed [r]eport too went unparsed, and resty was a nho, so a couple of shrugs. Otherwise pretty smooth thanks Eccles, and thanks RR.
CRIMEAN WAR was a gem.
Thanks Eccles for a well-crafted crossword. Aside from missing the Spoonerism (not my favourite device) I enjoyed this with my top picks being MAMMOTH, ALIGN, CIVILIAN (liked the Roman cardinals), LOOSENER, and HEROINE. I was a bit surprised to see ‘agent’ in the 4d clue & the same exact word as part of the answer; generally I don’t see 5 out of 7 letters so easily given away. Thanks RR for the blog.
Very late to comment but just noting that I enjoyed this as always and would agree that CRIMEAN WAR deserves special praise..
Thanks both
Sorry RatkojaRiku: I hadn’t read your parsing of 28 when I commented, only your initial remark about the definition. I should have read further.