Independent 10837 / Eccles

by

Eccles makes his regularly two-weekly appearance this Wednesday

 

 

 

There were a couple of entries which were words I don’t think I have ever used – AFFRICATE (1 across) and INCONNUE (3 down).  The wordplay for each was fairly clear although I wonder what some solvers will make of the use of incontinent to mean put one element of the wordplay into a continent such as Asia, AFRICA, America etc.?

Homophones often generate debate amongst solvers.  My own pronunciation wouldn’t equate AMMETERS and AMATEURS at 1 down.    I emphasise the second syllable of AMMETERS and rhyme it with MEET and my third syllable of AMATEURS would rhyme with URS rather than ERS, but no doubt many will be happy with the homophone.

Eccles continues to produce very smooth clues that makes you think hard about the definition, even though you know it will be at the beginning or end of the clue.  I liked the clues for NEOLOGISE, ELEMENTAL and SOUL MATE

No Detail
Across  
1

Loudly incontinent and tense European produces complex sound (9) 

AFFRICATE (a consonant sound beginning as a plosive and passing into the corresponding fricative)

(F [forte; loudly] contained in [in] AFRICA[continent]) + T (tense) + E (European)

A (F) FRICA T E
8

Compound found in plant by insect. Clue: Not thymine (7) 

XANTHIN (name given to the insoluble yellow colouring matter found in various flowers)

X (times; by) + ANT (insect) + HINT (clue) excluding (not) T (thymine – the abbreviation is given in Collins dictionary)

X ANT HIN
10

Threatened to get better boxing champion (7) 

MENACED (threatened)

MEND (get better) containing (boxing) ACE (champion)

MEN (ACE) D
11

More sex, I’d suspect, leads to cells preventing fluid loss (9) 

EXODERMIS (the outer cortex layer of a root; cells preventing fluid loss)

Anagram of (suspect) MORE SEX I’D

EXODERMIS*
12

Mob bit of rough wearing G-string (6)

THRONG (crowd; mob)

R (first letter of [bit of] ROUGH) contained in (wearing) THONG (G-string)

TH (R) ONG
15

Awaiting chains to restrain guards (2,5) 

IN STORE (ready to happen; awaiting)

IN STORE (hidden word in [guards] CHAINS TO RESTRAIN)

IN STORE
16

Curse dodgy merchant regularly displaying neglected pet (6,3) 

RESCUE CAT (A cat that has been placed in a new home after being abused, neglected or abandoned by its previous owner)

Anagram of (dodgy) CURSE and ECAT (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly displaying] of MERCHANT)

RESCU* E CAT
19

After dumping fellow somehow life goes on, to coin a phrase (9) 

NEOLOGISE (to introduce new words or phrases)

Anagram of (somehow) LIFE GOES ON excluding (after dumping) F (fellow)

NEOLOGISE*
20

Delayed charging almost all editors (7)

STALLED (delayed)

STALLED (hidden word in [charging] ALMOST ALL EDITORS)

STALLED
22

Tool providers wanting drink (6)

PLIERS (tool)

SUPPLIERS (providers) excluding (wanting) SUP (drink)

PLIERS
23

Lion-tamer with enormous bird of prey sleeps only occasionally (9) 

ANDROCLES (the main character of a common folktale about a man befriending a lion)

AND (with) + ROC (legendary enormous bird of prey) + LES (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of SLEEPS)

AND ROC LES
25

Drop requirement for live music gig? (7) 

ABANDON (give up all claims to)

A BAND ON (you need [requirement] A BAND ON at a live music gig, although I suppose you could have a solo singer without a backing group)

A BAND ON
27

Wonderful being involved in prisoners’ chats (7) 

CONFABS (chats)

FAB (FABulous; wonderful) contained in (being involved in) CONS (prisoners)

CON (FAB) S
28

Basic mistake, at first, to leave cheese around the French (9) 

ELEMENTAL (basic)

(EMMENTAL [type of cheese] excluding [to leave] M [initial letter of {at first} MISTAKE]) containing (around) LE (one of the French forms of ‘the’)

E (LE) MENTAL
Down  
1

They show current dilettantes to an audience (8) 

AMMETERS (instruments for measuring electric current)

AMMETERS (sounds like [to an audience] AMATEURS [dilettantes])

AMMETERS
2

Ward Duke off in marshland (3) 

FEN (marshland)

FEND (ward [off]) excluding (off) D (duke)

FEN
3

Popular Conservative finally admitted deserting naked woman, identity unknown (8) 

INCONNUE (an unknown person, female form of the word)

IN (popular) + CON (Conservative) + NUDE (naked) excluding (deserted) D (last letter of [finally] ADMITTED)

IN CON NUE
4

Support opera having key change at the end (4) 

AIDE (confidential assistant; a person who supports)

AIDA (opera by Verdi with the final A changed to E, both A and E being notes of the scale or musical keys)

AIDE
5

Detailed account of where one was? (10) 

EXPOSITION (explanation; detailed account)

EX (previous; was) + POSITION (location; where) together ‘where one was’

EX POSITION
6

Prophets accepting nationalist’s contemptuous remarks (6) 

SNEERS (contemptuous remarks)

SEERS (prophets) containing (accepting) N (nationalist)

S (N) EERS
7

On best diet for stripping off full-body suit (6) 

ONESIE (one piece full-body garment)

ON + BEST excluding the outer letters BT (stripping off) + DIET also excluding the outer letters DT (stripping off)

ON ES IE
9

Ministry put female in igloo? (4,6) 

HOME OFFICE (Government ministry)

F (female) contained in (in) HOME OF ICE (descriptive of an igloo)

HOME OF (F) ICE
13

One regards fantastic bushes here? (4,6) 

ROSE GARDEN (a place where you will find bushes)

Anagram of (fantastic) ONE REGARDS

ROSE GARDEN*
14

Shock! Artist stops to look around Scunthorpe on vacation (10) 

SCANDALISE (shock)

DALI (reference Salvador DALI [1904 – 1989], Spanish artist) contained in (stops) (SCAN [look around] + SE [letters remaining in SCUNTHORPE when the central letters CUNTHORP are removed {on vacation}])

SCAN (DALI) SE
17

"The One and Only" broadcast; millions scoffed (4,4) 

SOUL MATE (person to whom one is deeply emotionally or spiritually attached; the most important one in your life)  The definition could also be ‘the one and only’

SOUL (sounds like [broadcast] SOLE [only]) + M (millions) + ATE (scoffed)

SOUL M ATE
18

Private planes or trains (8) 

PERSONAL (private)

Anagram of (trains) PLANES OR

PERSONAL*
20

Position bronze in southern church (6) 

STANCE (posture; attitude; position)

TAN (bronze) contained in (in) (S [southern] + CE [Church {of England}])

S (TAN) CE
21

It can be found in bathroom, note (6) 

LOOFAH (the fibrous network of the fruit of a tropical plant of the gourd family, used as a hard, rough sponge.  Often found in the bathroom)

LOO (toilet) + FAH (a note of the tonic sol-fa scale)  Here bathroom is definitely part of the definition and the wordplay

LOO FAH
24

Auction of small beer (4) 

SALE (auction, for example)

S (small) + ALE (beer)

S ALE
26

Party time for stud (3)

DOT (to scatter of intersperse; to stud can be defined in a similar manner)

DO (party) + T (time)

DO T

 

20 comments on “Independent 10837 / Eccles”

  1. It’s been said that Eccles’ crosswords have been harder of late and I found this tough but very enjoyable, especially since I finished without aids other than checking AFFRICATE & INCONNUE were words. Think it must be the masochist in me (now, where did I leave that flagellum?). Mind you, the ear worm of Chesney Hawkes from 17d was perhaps a step too far 🙂

  2. I too have found Eccles harder of late. I soon twigged the relevance of ‘incontinent’ at 1A – very clever (of Eccles not me!). At 8A there’s also a ‘xanthan’ but that doesn’t work. And at 22A I wondered whether ‘plyers’ would be acceptable but it’s not in any dictionaries that I have. Thanks Eccles and Duncan.

  3. Yes, Eccles continuing in tough vein but highly enjoyable as ever with great surfaces and brilliant cluing.

    The homophone at 1d is terrible, but it is so bad that it made me roar with laughter so it gets a big tick from me.

    “Incontinent” in 1a is called a “lift and separate” device where the word needs to be split for the parsing of the answer. Some editors require an indicator when using this (e.g. “separately incontinent”), some don’t. Personally I think it’s fine without – and presumably so does Eimi.

    Most of the clues would be in the mix when choosing a favourite, but I’ll settle for a short list of NEOLOGISE, HOME OFFICE & SOUL MATE.

    Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.

  4. Thanks to Eccles for another enjoyable workout of the cryptic grey matter. Thanks also to Duncan for the blog

  6. I’m glad that more experienced solvers found this tough too – some new words for me and new endings which distracted me (NEOLOGISE, INCONNUE) also CONFABS without an L in it was a learning experience

    The Lion-Tamer annoyed me as I knew where we were going but couldn’t remember it and built it backward from OCLES and the crossers

    Absolutely loved HOMEOFFICE (the corkscrew mind of the setter is a wonderous thing) and the neatness of EXPOSITION

    Also I enjoy a lose homophone but I realise others don’t!

    Thanks a lot to Eccles who made a crossword that was a lot of fun and easy to get into but tough to complete (too tough for me but that’s every day!) and thanks as ever to Duncan for making it make sense

  7. I agree with those who find that Eccles’ crosswords have become harder of late.
    However, funnily enough, I found this particular crossword one of the easiest ever from this setter.
    Maybe, I was just lucky.
    The Guardianistas here will be familiar with (and delighted by) what happens in 1ac.
    I don’t think I’ve come across this ‘device’ in The Independent thus far.
    I always thought that it was one step too far for eimi.
    Perhaps, he let it through as a one-off thing. Perhaps, he changed his mind.
    And I am also surprised to see it being used by this particular setter, who we usually find on the Ximenean side of the spectrum.
    Personally, I can have it (although, as ever, I refuse to call this ‘lift-and-separate’ because, for me, it isn’t).
    Many thanks to Duncan for the blog & Eccles for the good stuff.

  8. I saw the “lift and separate” for 1a, but bunged in the answer with next to no expectation it would be correct; sometimes you crack it lucky. However, having looked up AFFRICATE post solve, I’m still no closer to knowing what it means. Can anyone explain it or give an example?

    A few other uncommon but not quite so obscure words such as INCONNUE and EXODERMIS added to the enjoyment and satisfaction of eventually completing the grid.

    Thanks to Eccles and Duncan

  9. Became very apparent from the first two across clues that Eccles had his hard hat on today – always slightly worrying for me.
    Favourite today was the humorous HOME OFFICE and, unlike Hovis, I’m quite happy to spend the day with the 17d earworm!

    Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review and particularly the help with parsing 8a.

  10. Wordplodder@8: According to Wikipedia the English pronunciation of ‘ch’ (i.e. as in ‘chair’) and ‘j’ are affricates.

  11. I had to use a wordfinder to get AFFRICATE and then misparsed the loudly incontinent bit as a homophone of Africa, but now I see the light, it seems fair enough to me. As for others HOME OFFICE was my favourite. Would a less popular setter get more criticism for “bathroom” doing double duty in 21d? Personally, I don’t think it’s a problem, especially after toying with THRONE as the solution. (All the letters are in bathroom note.0

  12. Thanks, allan_c @10. I can see what you’re (Wikipedia) getting at though would probably make a fool of myself if I tried to drop AFFRICATE into casual conversation!

  13. I love it when I manage to solve and parse an answer without ever having known there was such a word. Makes me feel terribly clever. Affricate and xanthin were two such, with ammeters just at the edges of my knowledge. Very enjoyable, though a bit of a tussle at times. Favourites were Home Office, exposition and the lion tamer. Thanks to Eccles and Duncanshiell

  14. Petert@11 – There is no double duty in 21d. The clue is a semi&lit (a standard crossworld device) and broken down as below:

    It can be found in … bathroom … note

    The answer can be found in … LOO … FAH

    The whole surface of clue tells the solver that they are looking for something found in the bathroom. 🙂

  16. I, too, found this easier than of late and completed it without aids (although I had to check AFFRICATE and XANTHIN were words). And I thought 9dn was brilliant.

  18. No worries, Petert@17 – it can certainly look like double duty is involved on first look. 🙂

  19. Thanks to Duncan and all who commented. I still think ‘homophone’ is a terrible name for clues such as 1d, as it suggests the words should sound exactly the same!
    I tend to try to stick to correct grammar but occasionally have things like 1a sneak through. I’ll try not to make a habit of it, though.

  20. AMMETERS the worst homophone of all time, but how good was HOME OFFICE?

    Lots of other great clues so thanks to Eccles and to duncanshiell for the blog.

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