Independent 12,054 by Eccles

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Eccles now appears to have a permanent booking in the Independent‘s Wednesday slot, although he’s occasionally seen on a Thursday instead.

Another enjoyable puzzle from one of the experts; a few slightly obscure entries, but with clear wordplay to make them guessable. I liked the anagram in 26a, and the image in 2d of a diner suffering the effects of over-eating, but my favourite was the very simple 5d. Thanks Eccles for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CHAMPIONSHIP
Contest German head of Nando’s leaving mushrooms in (12)
CHAMPI[gn]ONS (French-derived word for mushrooms), without the G (abbreviation for German) and the N which is the first letter (head) of N[andos], then HIP (in = slang for fashionable).
8 HARMONY
Hurt leg and backside in machinery, leading to sympathy (7)
HARM (hurt) + ON (in cricket terminology = leg = the side of the wicket where the batter stands) + last letter (backside) of [machiner]Y.

A slightly awkward definition, but to be in harmony / sympathy with someone = to share their opinions or aims.
9 COBBLED
Made Charlie shake less with drugs, primarily (7)
C (Charlie in the radio alphabet) + [w]OBBLE (shake) after removing the W (abbreviation for with) = “less with”, then the first letter (primarily) of D[rugs].

Cobble, as a verb = to make [shoes], or to put something together in a clumsy or makeshift way (more usually “cobble together”).
11 PANDORA
The first woman to criticise young explorer (7)
PAN (as a verb = to criticise harshly) + DORA (young title character of the animated TV series Dora the Explorer).

According to Greek mythology, the first human woman created by the gods.
12 ERINYES
US city flooded by great lake beginning to suspect goddesses of vengeance (7)
NY (abbreviation for New York = US city), contained in (flooded by) ERIE (one of the Great Lakes in North America) + first letter (beginning) of S[uspect].

More Greek mythology.
13 ESSAY
Outspoken characters representing South American writing (5)
ESS and AY are a representation of the spoken sounds of the characters SA (abbreviation for South American).
14 TO A DEGREE
Amphibian, for example, on back of crocodile for a bit (2,1,6)
TOAD (an amphibian) + EG (abbreviation for Latin exempli gratia = for example) + RE (on = on the subject of) + last letter (back) of [crocodil]E.

A bit = to a degree = partly, not completely.
16 DRAGSTRIP
Pulls on holiday in racing facility (9)
DRAGS (pulls) + TRIP (holiday).

Venue for drag racing (sprint racing for motor vehicles).
19 CLEAR
Patent Uncle Arthur’s masks (5)
Hidden answer (. . . masks, as a verb = covers) in [un]CLE AR[thur].

Patent = obvious..
21 PUTREFY
Corrupt official in place, ending in tyranny (7)
REF (short for referee = sports official), between PUT (place, as a verb) + end letter of [tyrann]Y.
23 ASTRIDE
With legs either side of Scandinavian woman, start to empathise (7)
ASTRID (a female given name in Scandinavian countries) + starting letter of E[mpathise].
24 EDENTAL
Study plugs and other things with no teeth (7)
DEN (study = a private room) inserted into (plugging) ET AL (abbreviation for Latin et alii = and others).
25 SEASIDE
Extremely snide comment under the breath in coastal area (7)
End letters (extremes) of S[nid]E + ASIDE (in theatre, a line spoken “under the breath” and supposedly not heard by other characters).
26 UP ONE’S SLEEVE
Use envelopes unexpectedly prepared in advance (2,4,6)
Anagram (unexpectedly) of USE ENVELOPES.

Concealed for later use – as in stage conjuring, or cheating at card games by concealing an extra card.
DOWN
1 CORONIS
Symbol like an apostrophe from Cornwall, mostly over breaks (7)
CORNIS[h] (from Cornwall) without the last letter (mostly), with O (abbreviation for over, in cricket scoring) breaking into it.

A symbol used in Greek writing where two vowels in adjacent words have been merged into one.
2 APOLOGY
Third piece of meat with mint gravy, but no stuffing, brings expression of regret (7)
Third letter of [me]A[t] + POLO (brand name of a mint = peppermint-flavoured sweet) + G[rav]Y without the inner letters (stuffing).
3 PAYMASTER
Month with clergyman for Spooner’s financial officer (9)
As the Reverend Spooner might have pronounced MAY (a month) + PASTOR (clergyman).
4 ON CUE
Where chalk may be found when needed (2,3)
Double definition. In snooker, chalk is placed on the end of the cue to improve contact with the ball; or “just at the right moment”, as a stage actor’s entrance timed to coincide with a particular line of dialogue (cue).
5 SUBLIME
Replacement fruit is majestic (7)
SUB (short for substitute = a replacement, especially a player brought into a sports team during a match) + LIME (fruit).
6 IPLAYER
Extremely cheap film service provided by the BBC? (7)
1P (one penny = extremely cheap) + LAYER (film = a thin layer on a surface).

The BBC’s video player service.
7 SHEPHERD’S PIE
Girl power? Girl’s daughter’s power? That is making traditional British dish (9,3)
SHE (a girl) + P (abbreviation for power) + HER (belonging to her = a girl’s) + D’S (d = abbreviation for daughter) + IE (abbreviation for Latin id est = that is).

A traditional British dish of minced meat cooked with a topping of mashed potato. Some people insist that shepherd’s pie is made with lamb (traditionally the left-over meat and gravy from a roast dinner – a link with 2d here perhaps?), and cottage pie is the equivalent made with minced beef; others use the two terms interchangeably.
10 DISHEARTENED
Hell on earth having husband promoted? Need to change, being crestfallen (12)
DIS (a Roman name for the underworld = Hell), then EARTH with the H (abbreviation for husband) moved to the start (promoted), then an anagram (to change) of NEED.
15 APPRAISAL
Outrage about break-ins oddly ignored in assessment (9)
APPAL (outrage, as a verb = to shock), around [b]R[e]A[k-]I[n]S with the odd-numbered letters ignored.
17 ANTWERP
An idiot making port in Belgium (7)
AN + TWERP (idiot).
18 SWEETEN
Make more agreeable number after second number one (7)
TEN (a number), after S (abbreviation for second) + WEE (number one = slang for an act of urination).
19 CUT-RATE
American discounted appealing to cop traitor (3-4)
CUTE (appealing), containing (to cop = to grasp) RAT (traitor).

Mainly US term for discounted; “cut-price” is more common in British English.
20 EDIFICE
Building completed if I certified walls (7)
Hidden answer (. . . walls, as a verb = surrounds) in [complet]ED IF I CE[rtified].
22 YELLS
Calls island on Shetland, to begin with (5)
YELL (island, one of the North Isles in Shetland, off the northern coast of Scotland) + beginning letter of S[hetland]. I don’t think Shetland is doing double duty because “island” is enough to define Yell. “On Shetland” is a little odd because Shetland isn’t a single island but an archipelago; “in Shetland” would be more natural.

8 comments on “Independent 12,054 by Eccles”

  1. Liked COBBLED, ESSAY, UP ONE’S SLEEVE, ON CUE, DISHEARTENED and EDIFICE.
    Great puzzle. Excellent blog.

    Thanks Eccles and Quirister.

  2. It’s Wednesday. It’s Eccles. It’s wonderful!

    My long list of top picks is PANDORA, ESSAY, TO A DEGREE, ASTRIDE, SEASIDE and IPLAYER.

    CORONIS was new to me.

    Many thanks to Eccles and Quirister.

  3. Classics gk very patchy, yes for Pandora, so no need for the TV character, but Erinyes needed the wordplay. Coronis ditto, nho but obvious wp.
    [Funny that Astrid should turn up — it was she who (unnamed) featured in my G post].
    All part of the fun, ta EnQ.

  5. Always look forward to this setter’s puzzles despite knowing that there’ll be previously unknown words to investigate.
    Tops for me today were TO A DEGREE, ON CUE, SUBLIME & DISHEARTENED.

    Many thanks to Eccles and also to Quirister for the review.

  6. Thanks both. IPLAYER very clever, too much so for me as I sought guidance as it crossed the unyielding ERINYES and I do feel overfull whenever Greek mythology makes an unwelcome appearance. Perhaps I was partly foxed by the numeration for IPLAYER as I see it as an example of a modern word which doesn’t really have one definitively.

  7. I needed the blog for the IP element of I-PLAYER, thinking that ‘extremely cheap’ was somehow giving me the P. Faves inc UP ONES SLEEVE, CORONIS, SUBLIME and EDIFICE but, as always, much to like in a smoothly crafted puzzle.

    Thanks Eccles and Quirister

  8. Thanks Eccles for the usual top notch stuff. My picks were PANDORA, TO A DEGREE, SUBLIME, and APPRAISAL. PAYMASTER’s a Sponnerism I think actually works; I usually find this device fairly lame. I missed the nho CORONIS and IPLAYER but that didn’t ruin my day in the least. Thanks Quirister for the blog.

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