Apologies to Eccles as we are back blogging your puzzle again. We are definitely not complaining – this was an absolute delight.
We rattled through the top third quite quickly and then came to a sudden halt. In the end this was good as we had longer to enjoy the lovely surfaces that we so enjoy when solving an Eccles crossword – 1ac and 9ac were excellent and really put us in the right mood.
Thanks Eccles – keep them coming.
Across
1 In mood to be entertained by attractive buttocks as a seasonal treat (3,5,4)
HOT CROSS BUNS
CROSS (in mood) inside or ‘entertained by’ HOT (attractive) BUNS (buttocks)
9 Washes Usain Bolt’s pants (9)
ABLUTIONS
Anagram of USAIN BOLT – anagrind is ‘pants’
10 It bores doctor, getting unwell (5)
DRILL
DR (doctor) ILL (unwell)
11 Unpleasant smell emerging from street girl with cut (6)
STENCH
ST (street) wENCH (girl) ‘cutting’ W (with)
12 Laments hiding the day fighting stopped in conflicts (8)
DIVERGES
DIRGES (laments) around or ‘hiding’ VE (the day fighting stopped)
13 Close to gun range, maybe: area for prayer (6)
NOVENA
N – last letter or ‘close’ to gun – OVEN (range maybe) A (area)
15 Nice bird left for Henry (8)
PLEASANT
PhEASANT (bird) with L (left) replacing h (Henry)
18 Single exclamation after onset of back pain (8)
BACHELOR
LOR (exclamation) after B (first letter or ‘onset’ to back) ACHE (pain)
19 He invented reason for team conceding match retrospectively (6)
EDISON
A play on the reversal or ‘retrospective’ NO SIDE (reason for team conceding match)
21 Quiet reprimand by leading member of Stealers Wheel (8)
SPROCKET
P (quiet) ROCKET (reprimand) after or ‘by’ S (first letter or ‘leading member’ of Stealers)
23 Are pool players, perhaps, short of energy and judgement? (6)
ACUMEN
A (are) CUe MEN (pool players, perhaps) without or ‘short of’ e (energy)
26 Interested in music from the east, but half-heartedly (5)
EAGER
REGgAE (music) reversed or ‘from the east’ missing G, one of the middle letters or ‘half-heartedly)
27 Hurt? One is distraught in match (9)
HARMONISE
HARM (hurt) and an anagram of ONE IS – anagrind is ‘distraught’
28 Deep thinker tweeting isn’t unusual (12)
WITTGENSTEIN
An anagram of TWEETING ISN’T – anagrid is ‘unusual’
Down
1 Mourinho: ‘Arsenal’s defending to get rougher‘ (7)
HOARSEN
Hidden in the clue MourinHO ARSENal’s
2 Large edit required to change written mark (5)
TILDE
An anagram of L (large) and EDIT – anagrind is ‘required to change’
3 Reserve methamphetamine to stop recent shaking (9)
RETICENCE
ICE (methamphetamine) inside or ‘stopping’ an anagram of RECENT – anagrind is ‘shaking’
4 Second dance in store (4)
SHOP
S (second) HOP (dance)
5 Is ballet dancing the focus for revolutionary anger? (8)
BASTILLE
An anagram of IS BALLET – anagrind is ‘dancing’
6 Persuade German to get naked outside (5)
NUDGE
G (German) with NUDE (naked) outside
7 Pictorial representations reported to raise pulse included (8)
DIAGRAMS
SAID (reported) reversed or ‘raised’ around or ‘including’ GRAM (pulse)
8 Secret intimate time (6)
CLOSET
CLOSE (intimate) T (time)
14 Patsy, not Tim, having a tantrum in religious home (8)
VICARAGE
VICtim (patsy) missing TIM and A RAGE (tantrum)
16 Rude sound overshadows a bit of claptrap by American (9)
AUDACIOUS
AUDIO (sound) around or ‘overshadowing’ A C (first letter or a ‘bit’ of ‘claptrap’) + US (American)
17 Pretty mate who’s extravagant (8)
SOMEWHAT
An anagram of MATE WHO’S – anagrind is ‘extravagent’
18 Container put into punt (6)
BASKET
ASK (put) inside BET (punt)
20 Fabric made by grandmother, 26? (7)
NANKEEN
NAN (grandmother) KEEN (eager – 26ac)
22 Dig rockery up to bury pet (5)
CORGI
Hidden (buried) and reversed or ‘up’ in the clue dIG ROCkery
24 Departing prime minister’s on the phone to procure staple food (5)
MAIZE
Sounds like or ‘on the phone’ MAY’S (departing Prime Minister’s)
25 Naked, runs further up bank (4)
BRAE
BARE (naked) with R (runs) moved ‘further up’
Great fun. As you say, 1a and 9a provide a wonderful start. Despite the sad surface, I also liked CORGI. Nowhere near as unpleasant a surface as STENCH mind you.
In case there are any newbie solvers who haven’t seen A for “are” before (23a), it refers to the unit of area (100 sq m). The more familiar hectare is 100 times bigger.
Thanks to Eccles and Bertandjoyce.
Thanks to Eccles for the fun and B&J for the blog
A lovely puzzle with great, clever, funny surfaces as usual. I just couldn’t see DIAGRAMS, annoyingly, so a DNF.
Many thanks to Eccles and B&J
@baerchen #3 – DIAGRAMS was my LOI; took me forever to see it but needed to come here to figure out the parsing.
Learnt a couple of new things in the abbreviation used in 23a and the pulse in 7d. 28a didn’t exactly trip off the tongue!
Thanks to Eccles for the puzzle and to B&J for the review.
I found this quite tough but great fun. What impeccable timing for 24d!
13a was a new word for me but arrived at by simply following the instructions in the wordplay.
My page is littered with ticks – far too many to mention.
Many thanks to Eccles and B&J.
A great start with 1, 9, 10 and 11 across going straight in (although we momentarily wondered if 1ac could be ‘ice cream soda’ in view of the current heatwave – in the UK at least). Then a screech of brakes as we hit 12ac, which with 7dn, was one of our last two in. And several trees were wrongly barked up on the way to finishing, notably in 13 and 18 across and 14down. But we parsed it all except for the A in 23ac – old hands need reminding sometimes, Hovis, just as much as newbies need explanations, so thanks for that. One minor grumble about an otherwise excellent puzzle – the use of ‘naked’ twice in the clues (6 and 25 dn) – but it’s offset by the highly topical 24 dn!
Thanks, Eccles and B&J.
Many thanks B&J and all commenters. It looks like the Times Championship won’t clash with the Oxton village bonfire this year, so I should be able to visit both – maybe see you at one or the other.
Very nice puzzle (as always from Eccles).
I hesitated to enter BASKET at 18d because I couldn’t (fully) see ‘ask’=’put’.
Actually, I still don’t see it and I would really appreciate it if someone could enlighten me
(even now, at the eleventh hour).
I didn’t spot DIAGRAMS (7d), instead entered DINGBATS ….
With no justification other than its definition ‘pictorial representations’.
Many belated thanks to Bertandjoyce & Eccles.
Sil @9
From Collins thesaurus:
Ask
(verb) in the sense of put
I wasn’t the only one asking questions.
Synonyms: put, propose, pose
Thanks, Gaufrid, I already thought it might be that.
[I have a Collins Thesaurus here lying next to my pc and what you say is indeed literally in it]