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Eccles has provided this Wednesday’s cruciverbal stimulation.
As is often the case, I find that I get off to a relatively quick start to puzzles by Eccles, but then really struggle to finish and to parse the clues to my full satisfaction. Today’s crossword was no exception.
I found that there was quite a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary for me in this puzzle – at 12, 13, 15, 17, 21A, the latter not being in my edition of Chambers with this spelling. I also didn’t know this particular spelling of the entry at 23. And to cap it all, I can’t fully parse the wordplay at 6, despite repeated attempts and combing the dictionary – please enlighten me! Sorted, blog amended – thanks!
My favourite clues today were 3 and 23, both for flair; 18 and 25, both for smoothness of surface; and 26, for making me smirk.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | GRAPEFRUIT | Figure prat out, one for some drug-users to avoid
*(FIGURE PRAT); “out” is anagram indicator; grapefruit is to be avoided by patients to whom certain medicines have been prescribed |
| 07 | FIAT | Able to steal a car
A in FIT (=able, capable) |
| 09 | LIFEBUOY | Rescuer left one month you returned
L (=left) + I (=one) + FEB (=month, i.e. February) + UOY (YOU; “returned” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | SINNER | Tennis star, one with vices
Double definition: Jannik Sinner (2001) is an Italian tennis star AND a sinner is a person committing sins, hence “one with vices” |
| 11 | STIFLE | Suppress outbursts about half-cut lech
STIF (=outbursts; “about” indicates reversal) + LE<ch> (“half-cut” means 2 of 4 letters only are used) |
| 12 | STARNOSE | Mole caught: celebrity is aware
Homophone (“caught”) of “star (=celebrity) knows (is aware)”; the N American starnose is a mole with a star-shaped nose! |
| 14 | GENRE-BUSTING | New ginger nuts extremely brittle, with an indefinable quality
*(GINGER NUTS + B<rittl>E); “extremely” means first and last letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “new”; e.g. a genre-busting novel is one that is hard to classify in a generally accepted genre |
| 17 | INFOTAINMENT | Mention fat in complex educational programme?
*(MENTION FAT IN); “complex” is anagram indicator; infotainment is the presentation of serious subjects as entertainment, by e.g. BuzzFeed |
| 20 | DISABLER | Detective Inspector Black beginning to restrain someone who stops things working
DI (=Detective Inspector) + SABLE (=black) + R<estrain> (“beginning to” means first letter only) |
| 21 | CASHOO | Panic, as hoodlum drinks resin
Hidden (“drinks”) in “paniC AS HOOdlum”; cashoo (or catechu) is a water-soluble astringent resinous substance obtained from certain tropical plants |
| 22 | DARING | Brave group of American lawyers?
DA (=district attorney) + RING (=group) could be described as a “group of American lawyers”! |
| 23 | WHODUNIT | Mystery wide brick?
W (=wide, in cricket) + HOD UNIT (=brick?; cryptically, if a hod is a brick-carrier, then a brick could be described as a “hod unit”!) |
| 25 | TERN | Bird starts to tend eggs right now
T<end> E<ggs> R<ight> N<ow>; “starts to” means first letters only |
| 26 | BONKBUSTER | Almost crazy to describe boobs in salacious novel
BUST (=boobs, chest) in BONKER<s> (=crazy; “almost” means last letter is dropped) |
| Down | ||
| 02 | RAIN TREE | South American plant close to spectacular horse racing venue
<spectacula>R (“close to” means last letter only) + AINTREE (=horse-racing venue, where Grand National is held) |
| 03 | PIE | Two irrational figures making food, in case
PI (=irrational figure, in maths) + E (=irrational figure, in maths); a pie is food in a (pastry) case! |
| 04 | FLUKE | Parasite following follower of Mark
F (=following) + LUKE (=follower of Mark, in order of Gospels in NT); a liver fluke, say, is a type of parasite |
| 05 | ULYSSES | Less worried, taking year to probe American epic hero
[Y (=year) in *(LESS)] in US (=American); “worried” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | TOSCANINI | Conductor of musical work now popular after upturn
TOSCA (=musical work, i.e. opera by Puccini) + NI (=now, fashionable, as in That style is very now; “after upturn” indicates vertical reversal) + NI (IN=popular, trendy; “after upturn” indicates vertical reversal); the reference is to Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) |
| 07 | FUN AND GAMES | Is furious about grandma getting regularly barged around in horseplay
[NAN (=grandma) + DGA (“regularly” means alternate letters of <b>A<r>G<e>D only; “around” indicates reversal) in FUMES (=is furious) |
| 08 | AT EASE | A flirt relaxed
A + TEASE (=flirt, i.e. flirtatious person) |
| 12 | FORMICATION | Creepy sensation on skin in establishment infested with lice, essentially
<l>IC<e> (“essentially” means middle letters only are used) in FORMATION (=establishment, creation); formication is the sensation of having ants crawling over one’s skin |
| 15 | BAFFLEGAB | Claim mischievous child has marvellous revolutionary jargon
BAG (=claim (for oneself), appropriate) + ELF (=mischievous child) + FAB (=marvellous); “revolutionary” indicates reversal; bafflegab is professional logorrhoea, often intended to confuse or obfuscate |
| 16 | IN NO TIME | Local occasionally outbid me very quickly
INN (=local, tavern) + O<u>T<b>I<d> (“occasionally” means alternate letters only) + ME |
| 18 | THROW-IN | Restart argument, overcome by slight
ROW (=argument) in THIN (=slight, fine); a throw-in is a restart in a game of e.g. football |
| 19 | ZIDANE | Unknown Scandinavian tackles international footballing legend
I (=international, as in e.g. IMF) in [Z (=unknown, in algebra) + DANE (=Scandinavian)]; the reference is to French footballer Zinédine Zidane (1972-) |
| 21 | COOMB | Nothing stops search in ravine
O (=nothing, pictorially) in COMB (=search (for), scour); a coomb is a short deep valley, hence “ravine” |
| 24 | UPS | They deliver // emotional highs
Double definition: UPS is a parcel delivery company AND ups are emotional highs, cf. uppers |
Now and popular both mean ‘in’ – so it’s two INs upturned to make NINI
Same here as RR. For me I spent ages trying to fit imp into 15d, foundation into 12d, trying to make something of the one and only footballing legend Pele in 19d (ZZ legendary – really?) and trying to work out if the colon in 12a was of any relevance.
Can’t say I’ve had any interest in tennis for years, but the Beeb website sport pages mention him often enough to stick in my memory. Just.
Got there in the end but a bit of a tussle.
Thanks both.
Things I didn’t know included the footballing legend, the creepy sensation and the required jargon – thank goodness I knew the STAR-NOSED MOLE! Didn’t spot the ‘unit’ in 23a so thought Eccles had made a rare slip-up but I should have known better. Personal top three were the afore-mentioned STAR-NOSE, THROW-IN & UPS.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review, particularly the parsing of 23a.
Liked GENRE-BUSTING, DARING, WHODUNIT and BAFFLEGAB.
Thanks RR and Eccles.
As with our blogger, I struggled with the last few entries–bafflegab, bonkbuster, coomb, formication, and genre-busting in my case.
Pete @2: Jannik Sinner is the current world no. 1 and reigning Wimbledon champ; he and Carlos Alcaraz have between them won each of the past seven majors. (He’s from the South Tyrol–the bit of Italy that was taken from Austria as spoils of war in 1919–which is how a German-speaking redhead winds up playing under the Italian flag.)
It’s always good to avoid fornication for a creeping sensation. WHODUNIT was my favourite. Is now = in meant as in “These trousers are very now”?
Thanks both. Not exactly FUN AND GAMES…. I quite welcome occasional new words in puzzles, whether in the wordplay or the answers – I just don’t enjoy encountering a whole heap of them in one place.
Held up at the end by BAFFLEGAB and BONKBUSTER, both new words for me. Not sure I can slip them into everyday conversation. Loved both clues though.
Thanks RR and Eccles
Coo, thanks RR And the Eccles, mostly really easy and then some gits. Interestingly to me in Making money by Terry prstchett he talks about fornication as being the arches in a vaulted ceiling. He rarely joked about words like that but I’ve never found any corrobation for it
flashling @ 9
From the OED
FORNICATION def 2: (archaic) An arching or vaulting. From the Latin fornix = arch, vault > fornicatus = vaulted. First citation 1703, then 1810.
hth!
Ta Simon, not exactly what that word usually implies 🙂
Thanks to Amoeba @1 for the explanation of 6. I have never come across this before.