Eccles has provided our mid-week entertainment today.
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, just right for the time I have available to solve and blog on a Wednesday. That said, I found the wordplay to be quite taxing in places, not least at 4 and 21.
I think that I have parsed everything satisfactorily, although I would appreciate confirmation at 26, since I haven’t come across “s” as an abbreviation for “satisfactory” before.
My favourite clues today are 10 and 24, both for making me smile; and 1, for its unexpected definition.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | FITTER | More attractive // installation engineer?
Double definition: colloquially, a fitter man is more attractive, sexier AND e.g. a gas fitter is an installation engineer |
| 04 | SHOVED | Pushed brief to reject rather terse legal interpretation, initially
SHO<rtli>VED (=brief, not long-lasting); “to reject R<ather> T<erse> L<egal> I<nterpretation> initially (=first letters only)” means letters “rtli” are dropped |
| 09 | CLUE | This learner’s stopping signal
L (=learner, of driver) in CUE (=signal, prompt); 9AC here is a clue, of course! |
| 10 | QUEENSLAND | Prince Andrew, perhaps, probed by northern state
N (=northern) in QUEEN’S LAD (=Prince Andrew, perhaps, referring to Queen Elizabeth II!) |
| 11 | SAFARI | A Persian son advances in hunting expedition
A FARSI (=a Persian); “son (=S) advances” means that letter “s” moves forward in the word |
| 12 | ROULETTE | Allow to block path to goal in ball game
LET (=allow) in ROUTE (=path to goal, i.e. destination) |
| 13 | METAVERSE | With vegetarian tendencies, American abandoned virtual world
ME<a>T AVERSE (=with vegetarian tendencies); “American (=A) abandoned” means letter “a” is dropped |
| 15 | BASK | Orphan language overheard in lounge
Homophone (“overheard”) of “Basque (=orphan language)”; to lounge is to bask, laze, relax |
| 16 | SOLE | Only // fish // in bottom of oven
Triple definition: the sole survivor if the only one AND the sole is a flat fish AND the bottom of an oven or furnace |
| 17 | BREAK EVEN | Avoid losing money in multiple pots, all square
BREAK (=multiple pots in e.g. snooker) + EVEN (=all square) |
| 21 | FLORENCE | Key lost in blooming Italian city
FLOR<esc>ENCE (=blooming); “key (=ESC, on keyboard) lost” means letters “esc” are dropped |
| 22 | GROUSE | Greek river bird
GR (=Greek) + OUSE (=river, in UK) |
| 24 | UNDERPANTS | Departs with nun, frolicking in Y-fronts?
*(DEPARTS + NUN); “frolicking” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | IDLE | Panel discussion about imprisoning unemployed
Reversed (“about”) and hidden (“imprisoning”) in “panEL DIscussion” |
| 26 | ENSURE | Make certain last date becomes satisfactory
EN<d>URE (=last, withstand); “date (=D) becomes satisfactory (=S)” means letter “d” becomes “s” |
| 27 | CAIMAN | Eve’s son claiming mother is fabricating reptile
MA (=mother) in CAIN (=Eve’s son, in OT); caiman is an alternative spelling of the alligator-like cayman |
| Down | ||
| 01 | FOLIAGE | Leaves fuddy-duddy briefly to suppress trouble that’s returning
LIA (AIL=trouble; “that’s returning” indicates reversal) in FOGE<y> (=fuddy-duddy; “briefly” means last letter is dropped) |
| 02 | THETA | Letter of thanks following article
THE (=article, in grammar) + TA (=thanks, colloquially) |
| 03 | ESQUIRE | Gentleman’s unusual queries
*(QUERIES); “unusual” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | HANG UP | End call for // display
You hang up when ending a phone call AND to hang up a painting is to display it |
| 06 | VOLTE-FACE | Oscar felt terrible supporting very professional U-turn
V (=very) + O (=Oscar, in radio telecommunications) + *(FELT) + ACE (=professional, expert); “terrible” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | DONETSK | Neighbouring Oblast is ready to support Kharkiv, primarily
DONE (=ready, finished) + T<o> S<upport> K<harkiv> (“primarily” means first letters only); Kharkiv and Donetsk are neighbouring oblasts in Ukraine |
| 08 | NEUROSURGEONS | Poles receiving money in Germany to encourage nervous workers?
[EUROS (=money in Germany) + URGE ON (=to encourage)] in N S (=Poles, i.e. North and South) |
| 14 | ALLERGENS | In Poitiers, go to get information on special substances that provoke reaction …
ALLER (=in Poitiers, go, i.e. the French verb to go) + GEN (=information) + S (=special) |
| 16 | SILENCE | … because taking drug after bit of lovemaking results in calm
[L<ovemaking> (“bit of”’ means first letter only) + E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy)] in SINCE (=because) |
| 18 | AUGUSTA | Imposing area in Georgian city
AUGUST (=imposing, impressive) + A (=area); Augusta is a city in the American state of Georgia |
| 19 | EPSILON | Musk overwhelming Greek character – and another
PSI (=Greek character) in ELON (=Musk, i.e. US business magnate) |
| 20 | SNIPER | One shoots wading bird and rook
SNIPE (=wading bird) + R (=rook, in chess) |
| 23 | ODIUM | Loathing of element (not sulphur)
<s>ODIUM (=element, from periodic table); “not sulphur (=S)” means letter “s” is dropped |
I think 26a is END (last) with D[ate] replaced by SURE.
I parsed 26a as in blog. I think Andrew’s interpretation also works.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Eccles.
A detailed and thorough blog (I have seen ‘s for satisfactory’ before). Thanks, RR.
The surfaces in almost all clues are brilliant.
Loved QUEENSLAND, METAVERSE, BREAK EVEN, FLORENCE, CAIMAN, DONETSK and ODIUM.
PS:
The definitions haven’t been marked for METAVERSE (virtual world) and BREAK EVEN (avoid losing money).
Had the same problems as our blogger with 4&21a but the appearance of some checkers helped enormously.
Very clever puzzle as we have come to expect from this setter and think my favourite was BREAK EVEN.
Thanks to Eccles and to RR for the review and the parsing assistance.
I couldn’t parse SHOVED or FLORENCE but I can now thanks to the blog. Interesting device used in both clues that I haven’t run into before (my crossword experience is limited). Kudos to Eccles. I agree with the blog’s parsing of ENSURE. I liked METAVERSE for the clue but I don’t really think it’s much of a virtual world and the BASK/Basque homophone. Poor orphan language. Highbrow-ish Eccles today and much appreciated as always.
Another Eccles with some tricky wordplay as pointed out by RR; I couldn’t parse SHOVED, FLORENCE or ENSURE. METAVERSE also took a bit of working out as my last in, especially as I’d barely heard of the word and couldn’t have said what it meant.
Maybe not an example of Eccles at his most “high-browish”, but I liked the image brought to mind by the surface for UNDERPANTS, which was my favourite today.
Thanks to Eccles and RR
A brilliant puzzle as we always get from this consistently excellent setter.
Sadly I was DNF today as I was completely flummoxed by 15a. Having checked the review, I can safely say I would never have solved that in a month of Sundays as, for me, it is as far from a homophone as it is possible to get. Given that a significant number of people will pronounce “bask” the way I do, I think that the clue needed to have covered this by “… overheard by some in lounge”.
I can’t pick a favourite from such a good selection, so I’ll just say anything but 15a.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
Thanks both. I knew DONETSK initially through football, although it is newsworthy now for unwanted reasons, and CAIMAN as we saw one on a recent trip along the Black River in Jamaica. I was unconvinced about HANG UP for ‘display’ – it just seems very narrow, although I can’t dispute you do hang (‘up’ optional/superfluous) a picture with the intention of it being on display
I thought I was going to have to apologise for being late to the plate today but see I’m not actually that far behind other posters. However, the extra time worked wonders and I was delighted to parse them all with the sneaky ESC deletion being the last to fall. I rather liked the METAVERSE deletion though it’s a horrible word and I only got SHOVED by backparsing because there had to be a reason for that ‘initially which was indicating a bunch of letters not in the solution. And I am lucky in that the BASK homophone worked absolutely fine for me.
As others have said, typically tightly crafted; I have no particular antipathy to the ‘first of, last of, at the end’ signalling of individual letters – it’s a valid technique, it can be done brilliantly and I sure as heck use it myself (albeit not brilliantly!) – but it is nice to see it used so sparingly. A testament to the creativity with which these clues were put together. SHOVED, QUEENSLAND, ROULETTE, UNDERPANTS and the linked ALLERGENS and SILENCE are my faves today.
Thanks Eccles and RR
I’m surprised nobody praised EPSILON which, maybe as I’m an IT guy, made me chuckle at any rate. ?
Hmm, itchy fingers at the end of that post.
Rabbit Dave @7 presumably you pronounce bask as if it had an R before the S.
I personally don’t go for the ‘long A’ but as I’m more than aware of it would happily accept it in a homophone clue.
After all if setters have to allow for all of the various pronunciations in the UK then there’d be no true homophones at all surely?
Tricky in places but we got it all in the end, although there was frequently a delay between solving and parsing. We liked the amusing surface of 24ac.
Thanks, Eccles and RR.
As one who lives in a ‘meat-averse’ environment (though I am a voracious carnivore) I appreciated the wit underlying METAVERSE although that word was new to me. Hadn’t time to chew this delicacy completely but I was much entertained nonetheless by the likes of… well I’m spoiled for choice: BREAK EVEN, UNDERPANTS, NEUROSURGEONS (for the definition alone). I could go on.
Thanks both
Thanks Eccles for a brilliant crossword. Despite a few failings I liked this a lot. I find Eccles just tricky enough to satisfy but hardly ever impenetrable. A few of my many favourites include SHOVED, FOLIAGE, EPSILON, UNDERPANTS, and SNIPER. Thanks RR for the blog.