I usually blog an Eccles puzzle once a month and today is the day for November.
There are many excellent clues in puzzles by Eccles such that it is often difficult to pick a favourite. In some clues it is the surface that impresses me, while in others it is the wordplay and there are occasions where the penny drop moment generates a smile or a surprise.
Today, I liked the clues for SENNA PODS, PERHAPS. MOONSHINE, MACRON and SHUT UP SHOP, but the one that stood out for me was the clue for AT A PINCH which, if I have parsed it right, is based on the translation of TAP in all the different languages spoken in Switzerland.
There was a comment yesterday from a solver asking about the definition of an &Lit clue. I must admit that even after quite a few blogs, I’m still not sure. I wondered today whether the clue for MEANIE was an &Lit, but decided it wasn’t because the use of ‘Euros’ seemed too specific. I think MEANIEs can be miserly or ungenerous in different ways.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
End of constipation – one mostly passed liquid thanks to these (5,4) SENNA PODS (laxative drug obtained from the dried leaflets and fruits of any tropical shrub of the genus Cassia; drug said to put an end to constipation) Anagram of (liquid) N (last letter of [end of] CONSTIPATION and ONE excluding the final letter (mostly) E and PASSED SENNA PODS* |
| 8 |
Investigation moving quickly to snare Stone at last (7) HEARING (judicial investigation) HARING (moving quickly) containing (to snare) E (final letter of [at last] STONE) H (E) ARING |
| 10 |
Speechless with anger when duke denied offence (7) UMBRAGE (offence) DUMB (without the power of speech; speechless) excluding (denied) D (duke) + RAGE (anger) UMB RAGE |
| 11 |
Ate modern cooking in place of worship (5,4) NOTRE DAME (Cathedral in Paris; place of worship) Anagram of (cooking) ATE MODERN NOTRE DAME* |
| 12 |
Sign backing top mathematician (6) EUCLID (ancient Greek mathematician thought to have lived around 300BC) CUE (signal; sign) reversed (backing) + LID (top, of a jar for instance) EUC* LID |
| 15 |
Photographers capturing her bum, possibly (7) PERHAPS (possibly) PAPS (paparazzi [photographers who specializes in spying on or harassing famous people in order to obtain photographs of them in unguarded moments]) containing (capturing) an anagram of (bum) HER P (ERH*) APS |
| 16 |
Press X to get medal (4,5) IRON CROSS (Prussian war medal instituted in 1813, revived in 1870 and 1914 and reinstated by Hitler as a German war medal in 1939) IRON (press) + CROSS (X is shaped like a CROSS) IRON CROSS |
| 19 |
Liquor that Guy drinks at home following low points (9) MOONSHINE (spirits illicitly distilled or smuggled; liquor) MOO (to low like cattle) + NS (North and South; points) + (HE [man; guy] containing [drinks] IN [at home]) MOO NS H (IN) E |
| 20 |
River that can be seen to be losing volume, which is ludicrous (7) RISIBLE (ludicrous) R (river) + VISIBLE (can be seen) excluding (losing) V (volume) R ISIBLE |
| 22 |
Chap that is squirreling away Euros, primarily? (6) MEANIE (ungenerous person; one who squirrels away money without spending or donating) (MAN + IE [id est]) containing (squirreling away) E (first letter of [primarily] EUROS) M (E) AN IE |
| 23 |
Macron, perhaps, rejected help to get attacker (9) DIACRITIC (a macron is a straight line placed over a vowel to show it is [pronounced] long; example of a DIACRITIC [mark that indicates modified sound]) Nothing to do with President Macron. AID (help) reversed [rejected] + CRITIC (fault-finder; attacker) DIA< CRITIC |
| 25 |
Home of slightly boring headwear (7) HABITAT (home) HAT (headwear) containing (home of) (A BIT [slightly]) H (A BIT) AT |
| 27 |
I don’t laugh a long time after everyone else (7) AGELAST (person who never laughs) AGE (a long time) + LAST (descriptive of the person behind everyone else in a race) AGE LAST |
| 28 |
Model sneered at Cockney (4,5) EAST ENDER (Cockney [person born in London, strictly within hearing of Bow Bells in the East End of the city]) Anagram of (model) SNEERED AT EAST ENDER* |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Reminder one with virus is in a bad way (8) SOUVENIR (item kept as a reminder of a place, occasion, etc) Anagram of (in a bad way) ONE and [with] VIRUS SOUVENIR* |
| 2 |
Essence of cake that’s rising (3) NUB (point or gist; essence of) BUN (cake) reversed (that’s rising; down entry) NUB< |
| 3 |
If absolutely necessary, un robinet, ein Hahn, un rubinetto, or üna spina (2,1,5) AT A PINCH (in a case of necessity or emergency) AT A PINCH can be written as A TAP IN CH or A TAP IN Switzerland. There are four languages used in Switzerland – un robinet is French for A TAP, ein Hahn is German for A TAP, un rubinetto is Italian for A TAP and I think, but can’t confirm 100%, that una spina is Romansh for A TAP AT A PINCH |
| 4 |
Warning of short period without cover (4) OMEN (warning) MOMENT (short period of time) excluding the outer letters (without cover) M and T OMEN |
| 5 |
Can it sell out and cease trading? (4,2,4) SHUT UP SHOP (close a business permanently; cease trading) SHUT UP (stop talking; can it) SHOP (rat on; inform against; sell out) SHUT UP SHOP |
| 6 |
Responsible person conserves energy in race (6) CAREER (rush; race) CARER (responsible person) containing (conserves) E (energy) CAR (E) ER – either E can be the one contained |
| 7 |
A good and upstanding prophet concurs (6) AGREES (concurs) A + G (good) + SEER (prophet) reversed (upstanding; down entry) A G REES< |
| 9 |
Finish on a high, picking up answer, sort of (2,1,7) IN A FASHION (to a certain extent; sort of) Anagram of (high) FINISH ON A containing (picking up) A (answer) IN A F (A) SHION* – either A could be the one contained |
| 13 |
Lucky escape, as Conservative is defeated with experience (5,5) CLOSE SHAVE (lucky escape) C (Conservative) + LOSES (is defeated) + HAVE (to experience) C LOSE S HAVE |
| 14 |
Give running account of one leaving red books at Eton’s entrance (10) COMMENTATE (give running account of) COMMIE (communist; red) excluding (leaving) I (Roman numeral for one) + NT (New Testament; books) + AT + E (first letter of [entrance] ETON) COMME NT AT E |
| 17 |
Make labs seem chaotic (8) ASSEMBLE (put together the parts of; make) Anagram of (chaotic) LABS SEEM ASSEMBLE* |
| 18 |
Sperm densities regularly start to rise in academic session (8) SEMESTER (an academic half-year course or term) SEMESTE (letters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 [regularly] of SPERM DENSITIES + R (first letter of [start to] RISE) SEMESTE R |
| 20 |
It partly inspired rages (3,3) RED RAG (cause of infuriation – something that inspires rages) RED RAG (hidden word in [partly] INSPIRED RAGES) RED RAG |
| 21 |
One offering shot of weapon to stop outlaw (6) BARMAN (one serving a shot of whisky or gin for instance) ARM (weapon) contained in (to stop) BAN (prohibit; outlaw) B (ARM) AN |
| 24 |
King briefly drinks (4) CHAS (teas; drinks) CHAS (short from of Charles [current King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms]) CHAS |
| 26 |
Bit romantic partner on the way up after scratching bottom (3) TAD (small amount; bit) DATE (romantic partner) excluding the final letter (scratching bottom) E and then reversed (on the way up; down entry) TAD< |
Today’s offering from Eccles was definitely at the harder end of his range, but as enjoyable as ever.
AGELAST was a new word for me, and I couldn’t parse 5d having missed the meaning of “can it”.
It took me ages to parse 3d, and that became my favourite when the penny finally dropped.
Many thanks to Eccles for a superb puzzle which was great fun to solve, and to Duncan for the review.
Sublime clueing as always from Eccles. For me 3D AT A PINCH rates as the cleverest clue I’ve ever seen: absolutely brilliant! AGELAST was new to me but easily worked out. I’ve never seen King Chas in print but it won’t be long! Thanks Eccles and Duncan.
I really liked this-“courageous” to include the fourth Swiss language-nice clue
I got stuck with Meanie as I havent heard squirrel used in a derogatory way (I’ve heard it in another context but thats a different story!)
Great puzzle as usual and fine blog from Dunc
I had no idea what was going on with AT A PINCH; way too good for me and one of those clues I was never going to be able to work out, especially with Romanish included. I agree with Tatrasman @2 about how clever it was. SENNA PODS was very good too – despite the subject matter!
Otherwise not too difficult though the unknown and unlikely looking AGELAST went in from wordplay. I parsed MEANIE as an &lit (though I see what you mean about ‘Euros’ making it too specific), otherwise the first part of the clue is both the def and contributes to wordplay.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan, especially for parsing 3d
Yes, I think MEANIE is an &lit. Eccles has put the question mark at the end to signal that the chap squirreling away Euros is just one possible instance of a meanie.
“Chap that is squirrelling away” without the rest is also a pretty weird definition and no more accurate really (he might be very generous, squirrelling away Christmas presents) – and doesn’t have the justifying question mark.
As a slightly mad &lit I like it, though. There were a lot of funny clues today.
Thanks both. Beaten by AGELAST where the clueing was fair but the solution unknown to me and looked unlikely to be a word. Yes AT A PINCH is extremely clever, but I suspect one beyond the parsing of many, given the knowledge required – personally I still struggle with the clues entirely in English
Have to record a dnf here as I didn’t have a clue about AGELAST, what an unlikely word! I’m also another who put in 3d based on the definition and checkers.
Definitely at the harder end of Eccles’ repertoire but nevertheless thanks to him for the puzzle and to Duncan for the review.
Thanks Eccles for another gem. I arrived at a number of answers without full understanding, IN A PINCH, MEANIE, and DIACRITIC among them. I never heard of AGELAST, didn’t know the abbreviation “paps” in 15a, I was unfamiliar with the term RED RAG, and I forgot that “high” could be an anagrind in 9d. I liked this, however, because I learned some things and I thoroughly enjoyed clues like MOONSHINE, EAST ENDER, and SENNA PODS, the latter for its apt surface. Thanks Duncanshiell for explaining it all.
Thanks Eccles and Duncanshiell.
Great puzzle and blog.
Needed parsing for AT A PINCH and also, SENNA PODS. In fact, I had only SENNA ?0?S.
AGELAST is new for me.
Lots to like, but PERHAPS is the top fav.
In my defense, got MEANIE and parsed it correctly, without difficulty.
Thanks both. Interesting and challenging.
My English teacher reckoned ‘commentate’ was not a proper word, just a noun masquerading as a verb. The verb is comment. The commentator comments. So he said anyway.
Great puzzle. We needed a wordfinder, though, for PERHAPS and AGELAST (the latter a new word to us), although the parsing was obvious once we got them. We got as far as 3dn being A TAP in various languages and the whole being AT A PINCH – but it was only a good two or three hours later that the parsing of it suddenly dawned on us. Incidentally, having got AT A PINCH, IN A FASHION and CLOSE SHAVE we wondered briefly if there was going to be a theme of expressions meaning something like ‘not completely’ but it would seem not to be so.
As well as AT A PINCH we liked MOONSHINE and DIACRITIC.
Thanks, Eccles and Duncan.
AT A PINCH was fantastic.
Xcelomac @10: I’m with your English teacher. The verb is comment, and the person who does it should be a commenter. But what’s said is a commentary – so perhaps “commentate” and “commentator” are back-formations from that?
Oh, yes, PERHAPS – love that clue. Eccles at his best.