Eccles has provided our first regular puzzle following the Christmas bank holiday with its cornucopia of festive crosswords. And if you have somewhat lost your bearings over the last few days owing to a little too much Christmas cheer, then reading around the perimeter of today’s completed grid should get us all back on course ?
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, which I made steady progress through, although I needed a second stab at it to complete the NW quadrant. I used Chambers to confirm 6A and Google to verify 13.
I would appreciate confirmation of my parsing at 1, 6D and 14. My favourite clues were 10 for smoothness of surface; and 25, for the misdirection around cricket.
And now back to all those Christmas crosswords …
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 06 | SPOON | The results of surgeons striking, on reflection: a stroke
NO OPs (=the results of surgeons striking); “on reflection” indicates reversal; a spoon is a stroke with an old-fashioned, wooden-headed golf club |
| 07 | EVIDENT | Short film in English not lacking love, it’s plain
VIDE<o> (=film; “short” means last letter is dropped) in [E (=English) + N<o>T (“lacking love (=O, i.e. zero score in tennis) means letter “o” is dropped) |
| 09 | WRIT | Summons comedian to entertain Reading, perhaps
R (=Reading, perhaps, as in the three R’s) in WIT (=comedian) |
| 10 | IN THE FRAME | Hitmen fear somehow being under suspicion
*(HITMEN FEAR); “somehow” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | ETHEREAL | Fine and rebuke the reality shows
Hidden (“shows”) in “rebukE THE REALity”; ethereal is fine, delicate |
| 12 | ANGOLA | America with new goal; to bomb African country
A (=America) + N (=new, as in NT=New Testament) + *(GOAL); “to bomb (=fail, flop)” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | HONEST | Frank is in US brothel?
Cryptically, a ho (=whore, in US English) nest could be a “US brothel” |
| 16 | UPKEEP | Maintenance of leading medieval tower
UP (=leading (by), as in They were three goals up) + KEEP (=medieval tower) |
| 19 | SCARCE | Unusual European jokes about ousting king
E (=European) + CRAC<k>S (=jokes; “ousting king (=K, in cards)” means letter “k” is dropped); “about” indicates reversal |
| 21 | ASBESTOS | Answer request for help to acquire highest quality insulating material
BEST (=highest quality) in [A (=answer, as in Q&A) + SOS (=request for help)] |
| 23 | TASKMASTER | TV programme’s preview including question mark
[ASK (=question, inquire) + M (=mark, i.e. former currency)] in TASTER (=preview, foretaste); Taskmaster is a British game show, with panels composed mainly of comedians |
| 25 | BEET | Caught batter Root
Homophone (“caught”) of “beat (=batter, hit); sugar beet is a kind of root |
| 26 | MESSINA | Article recalled following footballer in Italian city
MESSI (=footballer, i.e. the Argentine Lionel Messi) + NA (AN=article, in grammar; “recalled” indicates reversal); Messina is a city in Sicily |
| 27 | FISHY | Female is extremely happy, which is suspicious
F (=female) + IS + H<app>Y (“extremely” means first and last letters only) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | NORTHERNER | Perhaps Alan Bennett upset her, not having some characters reappear
*(HER NOT) + RNER (“some letters reappear”, i.e. repetition of some of the earlier letters); the reference is to the Leeds-born playwright Alan Bennett (1934-) |
| 02 | ON FIRE | Joke about tree burning
FIR (=tree) in ONE (=joke, as in Have you heard the one about …?) |
| 03 | RESTYLE | Relax, and see uplifting fashion change
REST (=relax) + YLE (ELY=see, i.e. diocese in Cambridgeshire; “uplifting” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 04 | TIME WARP | Primate with unusual dance
*(PRIMATE + W (=with)); “unusual” is anagram indicator; the Time Warp is a song and dance from the 1973 musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show |
| 05 | HEAR | That woman takes a catch
A in HER (=that woman) |
| 06 | STRETCH | Push // or pull?
Double definition: to push is to stretch (one’s abilities), to challenge AND to pull is to stretch, tighten |
| 08 | TAMIL | Millions in shadow of Sri Lankans?
M (=millions) in TAIL (=shadow, follow, e.g. a criminal) |
| 13 | GREASEBUSH | Former American president supports Greek to calm oil producer
GR (=Greek) + EASE (=calm, relieve) + BUSH (=former American president, i.e. George Bush or George W Bush); greasebushes are a genus of plants native to the US and Mexico |
| 15 | SCENARIO | I censor a complex movie’s plot
*(I CENSOR A); “complex” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | PTOLEMY | Please turn page before my nursing lecture, with no content for star theorist
L<ectur>E (“with no content” means all but first and letters are dropped) in [PTO (=please turn page, i.e. please turn over) + MY]; the reference is to the Alexandrian mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy, who lived from circa 100-170AD |
| 18 | MANTEAU | Cloak left out of travelling bag
<port>MANTEAU (=travelling bag; “left (=port, at sea) out of” means letters “port” are dropped) |
| 20 | CHARM | Spell // ‘magnetism’
Double definition: a charm is a spell, as in to put a spell/charm on AND charm is magnetism, attractiveness |
| 22 | BEREFT | Deprived live news source describing religious teaching
RE (=religious teaching, i.e. Religious Education) in [BE (=live, exist) + FT (=news source, i.e. Financial Times)] |
| 24 | KISS | Runners cycling to get snog
S-KIS (=runners, on snow); “cycling” means first letter moves to end of word |
I found this relatively light for an Eccles puzzle with just a handful of teasers to sort out, particularly the parsing of SPOON and NORTHERNER. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a construction like the latter before and am not sure how valid it is, especially when one of the characters needs to reappear twice! I think that RR’s interpretation must be the correct one, and I also agree with his parsing of HONEST and STRETCH.
It was, of course, great fun as ever, although I think that 13d is rather unfair despite the clarity of the wordplay. It is not listed in Chambers or Collins (even as an Americanism).
Even I managed to spot the Nina.
My top picks were IN THE FRAME, BEET and CHARM.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
Thanks both.
I must still be disoriented as I missed the Nina.
Enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks both. Very approachable and entertaining in the main. I saw the Nina only right at the end, but it assisted with MANTEAU. If I were promoting cryptic crosswords to the aliens, I might struggle with NORTHERNER given its vagueness of clue and niche definition, and SPOON eluded me in the complete parsing, as I know it only as a now obsolete golf club, not a stroke, but I will let players of the game of a certain vintage comment further
For once, I spotted the Nina – cause for great celebration! Took me a while to get to grips with the ‘push or pull’ and I sought help with the oil producer but Alan Bennett was obvious even if he did need to be reverse parsed.
Biggest laughs from HONEST & FISHY.
Many thanks to Eccles – hope to see more from you in the New Year – and to RR for the review.
I only got GREASEBUSH with some online research, it obviously had to be grease-something. Stupidly failed at 25A so DNF and was in too much of a hurry to look for the Nina, which was a shame as Eccles doesn’t often do them. Great fun anyway so thanks Eccles and RatkojaRiku.
[typo “Ptolemy … 100-170AD”]
Liked the inventive NORTHERNER: TIME WARP for celebrating a golden anniversary; BEET for the obligatory cricket reference.
Even ELY< got a look in. Lovely stuff.
Thanks E&RR
[I’m a fan of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster_(TV_series) which ‘… proved a success on British television, spawning international versions in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Canada (Quebec), Sweden, Spain and the United States.’
I’ve seen the US version – it didn’t really work and was cancelled after one season. The OZ version premiered this year. NZ has already had 4 seasons.]
Wonderful puzzle, including a letter bank anagram! Is this a first for the Indy? I hope we see more.
Thanks to Eccles and RR.
A highly entertaining and enjoyable puzzle, as ever from Eccles.
I had lots of ticks, with PTOLEMY being perhaps top of the list.
Many thanks to Eccles for the fun and RR for the blog.
Sorry to be so late; I have been otherwise engaged today. An interesting Eccles puzzle and I’m pleased to have spotted the perimeter in time for it to help with LOI, MANTEAU. I’d agree with Eileen – PTOLEMY is very smart and a tricky word to clue. However, I would not agree with Alliacol on this occasion; I’m not a fan of the letter bank device which I’ve encountered a few times, normally from US based/influenced setters. I welcome innovation but there is something about this device I find unsatisfying. But that does not in any way mar the puzzle; as it happens, I had enough crossers to get the solution and then spot what Eccles was up to.
Thanks Eccles and RR
Thanks Eccles – we have just said goodbye to the second lot of visitors and solved this over a glass of wine and scrambled eggs and bacon on toast!
With our addled brains, we were glad that we spotted the NINA early on.
Lots to enjoy.
Thanks to RR for the blog.
Thank you RR and all. The letterbank type clue is reasonably well know in American cryptics, but I haven’t seen it here. It does have an element of indirectness about it so the fairness is debatable and I thought at least I should indicate it as clearly as possible here (and i was struggling to clue it otherwise!). It will be interesting to see if other examples appear, and how they are received if so.
I’ve seen a number of letterbank clues over at the DIYCOW clue-writing contest but that’s the first I recall encountering in the wild. Very clearly indicated, though – so no complaints on that front. Lovely puzzle. Thanks Eccles and RR.
Hadn’t heard of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_bank – Thanks Alliacol@8