Independent 10,699 / Eccles

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Eccles has provided a delightful puzzle to entertain us this Wednesday.

This has been my favourite puzzle of 2021 so far in terms of entertainment value, for which my thanks go to Eccles. I actually found this to be harder than the average Eccles, but it was well worth persevering with.

I found that the bottom half of the grid revealed itself to me more quickly than the top, with the NW quadrant proving particularly stubborn. 9 was my last-one-in, as I finally realised the function of “nurses” in the wordplay.

My favourite clues today were 9, for overall construction; 15 and 21, both for surface reading; and 4, 16 and 25, all for putting a smile on my face.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 HIT A RAW NERVE I start to help war veteran to swim, and provoke an emotional response

*(I + H<elp> + WAR VETERAN); “start to” means first letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “to swim”
     
09 RAPID-FIRE Isolated nurses returning, provided preparation to prevent infestation carried out quickly

PIDFI (IF=provided + DIP=preparation to prevent infestation, i.e. sheep-dip; “returning” indicates reversal) in RARE (=isolated, of e.g. occurrence)
     
10 RAILS Complains bitterly as Republican is sick

R (=Republican) + AILS (=is sick)
     
11 ZURICH Essentially gazump wealthy financial centre

<ga>ZU<mp> (“essentially” means middle two letters only) + RICH (=wealthy)
     
12 STEELIER More determined European takes husband’s place in Elizabeth Castle’s Jersey Shore home

ST HELIER (=Elizabeth Castle’s Jersey Shore home, i.e. in the Channel Islands); “European (=E) takes husband (=H)’s place” means letter “h” is replaced by “e”
     
13 NOGGIN Head kissing has no boundaries

<s>NOGGIN<g> (=kissing); “has no boundaries” means first and last letters are dropped
     
15 RUTABAGA Swede’s routine appropriate for adoption by wannabe teetotallers

RUT (=routine) + [BAG (=appropriate, claim for oneself) in AA (=wannabe teetotallers, i.e. Alcoholics Anonymous)]
     
18 SPOON-FED In a little while, policeman will accept Penny not thinking for herself

P (=penny, as in 1P) in [SOON (=in a little while) + FED. (=policeman, i.e. FBI agent)]
     
19 UPKEEP Excited to furtively look over maintenance expenses

UP (=excited, in revolt) + KEEP (PEEK=to look furtively; “over” indicates reversal)
     
21 BASEMENT Man beset with problems in a low place

*(MAN BESET); “with problems” is anagram indicator
     
23 UNFAIR Head away from carnival? Just the opposite

<f>UNFAIR (=carnival); “head away” means first letter is dropped; “just (is) the opposite of unfair”
     
26 APRON Adult liable to finish early, overall

A (=adult) + PRON<e> (=liable; “to finish early” means last letter is dropped); an apron is a protective garment, an overall
     
27 ENCLOSURE Curse lone working in yard

*(CURSE LONE); “working” is anagram indicator
     
28 SCAREMONGERS People spreading worrying rumours 50% of American Congress is corrupt

*(AMER<ican> + CONGRESS); “50%” means 4 of 8 letters are used in anagram, indicated by “is corrupt”
     
Down    
     
01 HORIZON TV programme about flying sausage shown before noon

<c>HORIZO (=sausage; “about (=c.) flying” means letter “c” is dropped) + N (=noon); Horizon is a BBC documentary programme, launched in 1964
     
02 TAPER Spill valve discovered in this place

TAP (=valve, spigot) + <h>ER<e> (=in this place; “dis-covered” means first and last letters are dropped); a taper is a long thin waxed wick, a spill
     
03 REDACTION New version of left-wing coup?

Cryptically, “left-wing action” could be described as “red action”
     
04 WHIP Wife in thong

W (=wife) + HIP (=in, trendy)
     
05 ELECTRUM Choose dodgy gold alloy

ELECT (=choose) + RUM (=dodgy, dubious); electrum is a natural alloy of gold and silver, used in ancient times
     
06 VERSE 5 Gaelic lines of poetry

V (=five, in Roman numerals) + ERSE (=Gaelic)
     
07 SILICATE Foolish duchess picked up mineral

Homophone (“picked up”) of “silly (=foolish) + Kate (=duchess, of Cambridge)”
     
08 ISTRIA Both sides dismissed in void court case in Balkan region

<m>ISTRIA<l> (=void court case); “both sides dismissed” means first and last letters are dropped; Istria is a peninsula shared by Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, hence “Balkan region”
     
14 GLOSSARY Lineker accepts defeat describing list of technical terms

LOSS (=defeat) in GARY (=Lineker, i.e. footballer and commentator)
     
16 ALPENHORN Instrument panel damaged by bit of butter

*(PANEL) + HORN (=bit of “butter”, i.e. of ram); “damaged” is anagram indicator
     
17 REINDEER Dancer, possibly, almost certainly stops concerning Rambert’s principal

INDEE<d> (=certainly; “almost” means last letter is dropped) in [RE: (=concerning, regarding) + R<ambert> (“principal” means first letter only)]
     
18 SABBAT Small group of married couples with time for midnight rendezvous

S (=small) + ABBA (=group of married couples, i.e. the Swedish pop group) + T (=time); a sabbat is a witches’ midnight meeting
     
20 PERSEUS Son of God is intrinsically American

PER SE (=intrinsically) + US (=American); in Greek mythology, Perseus was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Danaë
     
22 MANIC Wild fellow in charge

MAN (=fellow) + I/C (=in charge)
     
24 ACUTE Critical to take steps about university strike finally

[U (=university) in ACT (=to take steps)] + <strik>E (“finally” is last letter only)
     
25 SCAM Fiddle about during kinky sex

CA (=about, i.e. circa) in SM (=kinky sex, i.e. sadomasochism)
     

 

14 comments on “Independent 10,699 / Eccles”

  1. Great fun, as you say RR.

    We particularly liked the “group of married couples” in 18dn, and we were completely taken in by 12ac, never having heard of Elizabeth Castle, so there was a definite “a-ha” moment when we realised “she” was actually a castle in Jersey (or on Jersey??).

    Thanks to Eccles and RatkojaRiku

  2. Phew! I think that was the toughest Eccles puzzle I have ever solved with some very complex wordplay, but it was a lot of fun and certainly well worth the struggle.

    The policeman in 16a is most definitely American and 8d is a new word for me. I am puzzled by the capitalisation of Shore in 12a.

    It’s too difficult to pick even a short list of goodies from such a fine selection, but those listed by RR are all worth a mention.

    Many thanks to Eccles for the fun and to RR for the review.

  4. A lovely Eccles Wednesday treat although it was the hardest one yet. My favourite was 8d purely because I’ve been there

    RD: I’d say the capitalisation of Shore was to make you think the solution had something to do with the place in America, but then, for you, that would be two unindicated Americanisms, and we can’t have that!

    Thanks to Eccles and BD

  6. Like Rabbit Dave, I thought this was the toughest Eccles I’ve encountered, and ran out of time on the SE corner so DNF. The spelling Sabbat was new to me. Thanks anyway to Eccles and RatkojaRiku.

  7. Agree that it was harder than usual, which made it very satisfying to finish.

    I have nine ticks (and there could have been more), which is too many to list but I did particularly like the flying sausage, the bit of butter, the corrupt half of American Congress and the dancer, perhaps.

    Many thanks, once again, to Eccles and to RR for a great blog.

  10. Quite a tough one from Eccles with a couple of answers I had to check on.
    20d made me laugh once the penny dropped and I also particularly liked 4,6&25d.

    Thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review.

  11. Some misleading surfaces and GK on the obscure side made this a bit of a struggle and we had to resort to a wordfinder for PERSEUS, our LOI (although we then saw the parsing at once). There were some asier ones, though to lighten the load. We liked RUTABAGA, SPOON-FED and HORIZON among others.
    Thanks, Eccles and RatkojaRiku.

  12. The clue for HORIZON was the best of the year so far, for me. The whole thing took a while, but well worth it.

  13. Very late to the party today, having been occupied elsewhere, but wanted to pass on my thanks to Eccles for an absolute splendour of a puzzle as well as to RR for the blog. Overall, lovely surfaces, succinct accurate clueing and some delightful devices/constructions. I share several favourite moments with Eileen – the sausage and the bit of butter and with allan_c – RUTABAGA and SPOON-FED. On my own I enjoyed RAPID-FIRE, SILICATE and the device used in both ISTRIA and NOGGIN. I would also nominate WHIP though I think I may have seen it before.

    Interestingly (I discovered) there is a taper valve which, I assumed, was part of the parse for 2d so I shrugged and entered.

    Tatrasman @6: I wonder whether Sabbat was originally a separate word from Sabbath. It always seemed a little odd that the name of the Lord’s Day would be used for a witches’ gathering. I am not pretending any inside knowledge or any extensive research on this occasion but I do see from the obvious source that the term Sabbath wasn’t used much in English prior to the late 1800’s. Earlier German and French references use sabbat without an ‘h’ at the end. I wonder if it was one of those lazy/mistaken translations that then stuck?

  14. Many thanks for the blog and kind comments. I would have considered Fed American, too, but Collins explicitly lists it as British slang for a police officer (although usually in plural). I was actually asked if I was a Fed, rather bizarrely, when I was walking home from work a few weeks ago. I am not sure why.

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