It’s a while since we blogged an Eccles so we were looking forward to this one.
A few unusual definitions which held us up for a while – BASIL BRUSH who was known for his ‘boom boom‘ and STONEHENGE – but otherwise all fairly straightforward. Favourite clue today was 19d which was solved very quickly but raised a smile.
BASIL (leaves) BRUSH (meeting). We had to check BRUSH = MEETING – Chambers has BRUSH as a ‘fleeting encounter’ which could be a meeting.
Double definition
IRE (anger) in FARM (work) – an interesting definition
tILLEr (tiller without first and last letters or ‘naked’) GAL (girl)
FILTER (strain) around or ‘overwhelming’ I (international) BUS (coach)
bAnGkOk – with the removal or ‘expulsion’ of odd letters
ONE (individual) DrinkinG (first and last letters only or ‘on vacation’) E (last letter or ‘close’ to collapse)
An anagram (‘dancing’) of SEEN around PALE (wooden stake)
Hidden or ‘clothed’ in gusSET FOR THermal
ATLAS (maps) T (first letter or the ‘introduction’ to totalitarianism)
bLAMe (responsibility) without or ‘shedding’ the outside letters. LAM is an American word to describe ‘escape or hurried flight’
An anagram (‘drunk’) of GETS outside or ‘eating’ ONE (whole) HEN (chicken)
hAIRBALL (something that may be brought up by a cat or ‘tom’) without H (Henry)
BRILL (fish) around or ‘protecting’ A (American) + E (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of submarine)
TIN (can) T (first letter or ‘start’ of throw)
An anagram (‘desperate’) of GET DRUG YES
BF (boyfriend) around or ‘admitting’ IF (providing)
SAlINE (salty) with R (river) D (delta) replacing L (lake)
An anagram (‘working’) of GAME PLAN IS NOT
RAM (Random Access Memory – storage facility on a computer) PUP (young seal)
SHIFT (relocate) KEY (pitch)
LUGE (race down hill) around or ‘hiding’ GAG (crack)
An anagram (‘dodgy’) of TABLET around or ‘conserving’ CONE (figure). Chambers has this as a ‘miniature balcony’, but Eccles must be referring to a style of ladies’ underwear
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of HALT VAR REPLAY – a new phrase for us.
CONSTANT (firm) round U (university) L (Lecturer)
L L (lives as found on electrical devices) in an anagram (‘exotic’) of RESORT
TAMARINd (tropical tree) without the last letter or ‘scratching bottom’
Hidden in or ‘cuddled by’ strANGE LOUsianan
L (length) EG (say) BY (attributed to) E (drug)
A homophone (‘over the phone’) of CAIUS (Cambridge College)
Eccles never fails to deliver the goods. His continuing inventiveness particularly with novel definitions is truly impressive.
This was certainly a challenge although only the (clearly indicated!) American meaning of LAM was new for me.
Picking a favourite from such a splendid selection is a tough task but the surface reading for 19d just edges it today.
Many thanks to Eccles for the fun and to B&J.
Plenty of original clues, LARVAL THERAPY – the more GREEDY GUTS the better I suppose – and the unknown BALCONETTE. In my ignorance I’d never heard the pronunciation of “Caius” so I had to finish off by semi-guessing KEYS.
I liked FILIBUSTER (as for LAM, ? mainly an American term), working out STONEHENGE and the misleading SHIFT KEY def.
Thanks to Eccles and to B&J
Several things I needed to verify such as the wound treatment, civil rights activist, Cambridge college and the American usage of LAM but equally plenty to enjoy. My ticks went to AT LAST, BRAILLE & SHIFT KEY.
Thanks to Eccles for the challenge and to B&J for the review.
This was very good and I echo the praise for the way Eccles has with definitions.
Thanks to him and to B&J
At 23A I put LEM (Lunar Escape Module), which sort of fits! Thanks Eccles, Bert and Joyce.
Thanks B&J for the blog, and thanks Eccles for an absolutely super crossword – I wholeheartedly endorse RD’s comments. So much fun, wit and invention on display here.
LAM and TAMARIN were my LOI – both familiar to me but I needed the help of all the crossing letters before I could dig them out of the memory bank.
WordPlodder – there’s a bit in a Stephen Fry novel (I forget which one, long time since I read it) where a character’s claim to be British is verified by his pronunciation of Magdalene and Caius…
We thought this was towards the easier end of Eccles’ spectrum and got most of it quite quickly, with !ac a write-in (BB was popular wih our kids when they were of that age). LARVAL THERAPY had to be checked on Google after we worked it out. The only other obscurity was 23ac where we pencilled in a very tentative ‘hut’ thinking ‘shed’ might be the definition – not that we could parse it – but crossers soon disposed of that idea and Chambers confirmed it was LAM.
There was plenty to like, including SET FORTH, SHIFT KEY, LEG BYE and KEYS.
Thanks, Eccles and B&J.
Late, though I have to show my appreciation of this brilliant piece of work.
24, 26&27a were outstanding as were 2&5d.
Many thanks Eccles and to B&J too.