It’s Tuesday and the puzzle is set by Eccles.. Tuesdays and Eccles don’t normally go to together.
Further, Tuesday is theme day in the Independent series and Eccles doesn’t normally do themes. However, we definitely have a puzzle by Eccles, on a Tuesday, with a theme.
The theme was clearly signposted by the 8 occurrences of 19A/11 in the clues. 19A solved as SMALL and 11 solved as TREE. The thematic entries all began with an S (small) and the remaining letters in each case formed the name of a type of TREE.
The first thematic answer I solved was SLIME, after I had solved 19A. but before I had looked at the clue for 11. Everything became clear after I solved TREE, such that I felt confident to put an S in the all the remaining cells beginning thematic entries.
For me, there were a couple of obscure definitions or entries – ‘gig’ for SPEAR at 10 across and the entry SAPPLE at 30 across. I have lived in Scotland for just under half my years, but have never come across the word SAPPLE.
I think the constituent word in the wordplay at 1 down is FLAKE, but it could be FLAKY.
I smiled at the Teletubby clue and at Elon Musk’s possible next project at 14 down. It seems that a Tesla E-VAN hasn’t yet been launched, but there a few internet articles indicating that one is not far away, even though Tesla won’t be the first manufacturer to produce one.
Thanks to Eccles for venturing into Tuesday this week.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| Across | 7 Scottish leader in 19A/11 (7)
SALMOND (reference Alex SALMOND [born 1954], Scottish politician who was First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. Currently, he is the leader of the Alba Party) S (SMALL [entry at 19 across]) + ALMOND (type of TREE [entry at 11 across]) S ALMOND |
| 8 | Pineapple is fruit, but not British (6)
ANANAS (the pineapple) BANANAS (type of fruit) excluding (but not) B (British) ANANAS |
| 9 | Water from 19A/11 (4)
SOAK (to drench; to water) S (SMALL [19 across] ) + OAK (type of TREE [11 across]) S OAK |
| 10 | Gig, perhaps, in 19A/11 (5)
SPEAR (a gig is a pronged spear for fishing) S (SMALL [19 across]) + PEAR (type of TREE [11 across]) S PEAR |
| 11 | Turgenev regularly leaves on this (4)
TREE (large leaf-bearing plant with a single branched woody trunk; leaves on this) TREE (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [regularly] of TURGENEV) TREE |
| 12 | A child with autism exhibits initially different aspects of their character (8)
PERSONAE (expressions of one’s personality, masking one’s inner thoughts and feelings, etc; social facades or public image; different aspects of one’s character) PER (each; a) + SON (child) + AE (first letters of [initially] each of AUTISM and EXHIBITS) PER SON AE |
| 15 | Try and stretch short message of Christ (6)
GOSPEL (teaching [message] of Christ) GO (attempt; try) + SPELL (a stretch of time) excluding the final letter (short) L GO SPEL |
| 17 | Wine, when it is from the east (4)
ASTI (Italian white wine made round about a town and region of the same name in the Monferrato hills in Piedmont) AS (when) + IT reversed (from the east) AS TI< |
| 19 | Diminutive beasts of burden are wanting to turn back (5)
SMALL (diminutive) LLAMAS (transport animals native to South America; beasts of burden) excluding (wanting) A (are; a metric unit of land equal to 100 sq metres) reversed (to turn back) SMALL< |
| 20 | Cycling saddle corrodes (4)
EATS (corrodes) SEAT (saddle) with the letters moved one place to the left and the original first letter going to the end (cycling,) to form EATS EATS |
| 21 | Asian and European getting into religious work (6)
KOREAN (an Asian person) E (European) contained in (getting into) KORAN (Muslim Scriptures; religious work) KOR (E) AN |
| 22 | People looking intently to catch king naked (8)
STARKERS (naked) STARERS (people who look at something intently) containing (to catch) K (king) STAR (K) ERS |
| 25 | Scarf from 19A/11 (4)
SASH (band or scarf worn round the waist or over the shoulder) S (SMALL [19 across]) + ASH (type of TREE [11 across]) S ASH |
| 27 | Goo produced in 19A/11 (5)
SLIME (slippery, or gluey mud-like substance, especially when considered unpleasant; goo) S (SMALL [19 across]) + LIME [type of TREE [11 across]) S LIME |
| 29 | Take care of brain (4)
MIND (look after; take care of) MIND (colloquial term for the brain) double definition MIND |
| 30 | Scotsman’s handwash in 19A/11 (6)
SAPPLE (Scottish [Scotsman’s] term meaning to wash clothes by hand in soapy water; handwash) S (SMALL [19 across] + APPLE [type of TREE [11 across]) S APPLE |
| 31 | Drunken shag in University leads to distress (7)
ANGUISH (distress) Anagram of (drunken) SHAG IN and U (university) ANGUISH* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Stick of chocolate with end bitten off (4)
FLAK (criticism; stick) FLAKE (name of a specific type of bar of chocolate – eg Cadbury’s FLAKE) excluding the final letter (with end bitten off) E (Note it might also be FLAKY [descriptive of some chocolate] excluding the final letter Y FLAK |
| 2 | Corrupt announcement when Teletubby appears? (6)
POISON (to corrupt) PO (name of a Teletubby) + IS ON (appears [IS ON stage]), spoken together we have an announcement that PO appears. PO IS ON |
| 3 | Needing work welding elevated brackets (4)
IDLE (not occupied; needing work) IDLE (reversed [elevated; down entry] hidden word in [brackets] WELDING) IDLE< |
| 4 | Song largely composed next to city lake (8)
MADRIGAL (an unaccompanied song in several parts in counterpoint) MADE (composed) excluding the final letter (mostly) E + RIGA (capital city of Latvia) + L (lake) MAD RIGA L |
| 5 | Temptation gripped adult being cuddled (4)
BAIT (temptation) A (adult) contained in (being cuddled) BIT (gripped) B (A) IT |
| 6 | Bachelor-cum-escort finally displays nether region at home (8)
BASEMENT (the storey of a house beneath the ground floor; nether region at home) BA (Bachelor [of Arts]) + SEMEN (‘cum’ is vulgar slang [definition in Collins] for SEMEN) + T (last letter of [finally] ESCORT) BA SEMEN T |
| 7 | Bag 20 (5)
SCORE (achieve; get; bag) SCORE (a term for 20 items of something) double definition SCORE |
| 13 | Mental toughness shown in 19A/11 (5)
SPINE (firmness of character; mental toughness) S (SMALL [entry at 19 across]) + PINE (type of TREE [11 across]) S PINE |
| 14 | Tesla’s possible commercial project for Welshman? (5)
EVANS (common surname of a Welsh person) E (electric) + VANS (commercial vehicle) Tesla is known for making electric cars so E-VANS could well be a new commercial project for the company, if they are not already making them. E VANS |
| 16 | Meat from 19A/11 (5)
STEAK (meat) S (SMALL [entry at 19 across]) + TEAK (type of TREE [11 across]) S TEAK |
| 18 | It hurts American with boring visit to travel covertly (4,4)
STOW AWAY (travel covertly) (OW [expression of pain; it hurts] + A [American] + W [with]) contained in (boring) STAY (visit) ST (OW A W) AY |
| 19 | Evil nun bounds in (8)
SINISTER (evil) SISTER (a nun) containing (bounds) IN S (IN) ISTER |
| 23 | Pay back mean knight for running away, primarily (6)
AVENGE (take vengeance on some on account of; repay; pay back) AVERAGE (mean value) with N (night) replacing (for) RA (initial letters [primarily] of each of RUNNING and AWAY) AVE N GE |
| 24 | Bawdiness not for everyone in farm with livestock (5)
RANCH (a farm with livestock) RAUNCH (bawdiness) excluding (not) U (cinematic classification meaning that a film is suitable for viewing by everyone) RANCH |
| 26 | Promote mushy peas to nurse (4)
HYPE (promote, usually excessively) HYPE (hidden word in [to nurse] MUSHY PEAS) HYPE |
| 28 | I led country (4)
IRAN (a country in West Asia) I + RAN (managed; controlled; led) I RAN |
| 29 | Servant won on the radio (4)
MAID (servant) MAID (sounds like [on the radio] MADE [achieved; won]) MAID |
Same two unknowns as our blogger in SAPPLE and SPEAR but the dictionary check confirmed. Gig is an interesting word – such a range of meanings for just three letters – performance, carriage, boat, computer storage, fishing spear … A nicely handled theme which, as duncan says, once revealed gave some footholds. Also some very succinct cluing, particularly of the theme words. STARKERS and ANGUISH both made me laugh
duncan, I think 2d is POISON rather than POISIN – it’s when Po is on the TV, I believe. (And I’m not sure POISIN is a word?)
Thanks Eccles and duncan
I had PO IS ON for corrupt
Excellent puzzle. Thanks Eccles!
Super blog! Thanks duncanshiell!
Liked PERSONAE, EATS, IDLE and RANCH.
PostMark @ 1
Yes, thanks, I can’t find POISIN as a word either – blog corrected now.
Found this very chewy, having to look up “Gig” (16 entries at oed.com, but they haven’t heard of gigabytes yet!) and SAPPLE (also a noun, but only in the plural).
[Possible at 7d: SLOTE ‘3. 1853– A trapdoor in a theatre stage; LOTE ‘2. ?1518– The nettle tree Celtis australis‘ – Too hard?]
Loi BASEMENT.
Thanks E&DS
DNF as failed at the crossing 12A/14D, though now I know I wonder why! I was diverted at 4D by trying to work Madrid into it. Great to see Eccles with a theme so thanks and also to Duncan.
Fantastic puzzle. I did it on an iPad, couldn’t see the setter and didn’t expect it to be Eccles in yet another persona. Theme was entertaining and helpful. Top 3 Indy setter IMO. Favourite maybe STARKERS and all the trees. Thanks duncan and Eccles.
Thanks both. Entertaining and very approachable in the main, wherein I had the same two unknowns as others – why after all would we know relatively obscure Scottish words, although our next-door-neighbour has spent 27 years trying to educate me. POISON went in later than perhaps it should, as ‘announcement’ had convinced me to expect a homophone, yet of the tubby four, Po was the only candidate
Another Scot here who has never heard of SAPPLE 🙂
Good fun otherwise, briefly held up trying to think of small trees. Silly me.
POISON was favourite. Never understood why but the grandkids enjoy the teletubbies, so I know them all.
Thanks both.
Thanks Eccles for a nicely crafted themed crossword. My top picks were ASTI, KOREAN, MIND, and AVENGE. I revealed SALMOND (nho), PERSONAE, and EVANS; I couldn’t parse POISON as I don’t know (or care about) teletubbies. (I wonder if it’s worth my while to learn their names for solving purposes; cricket terms, Spice Girls, and Harry Potter seem to fit in that same category for me.) Thanks duncanshiell
Very late to have a go at this but, once the 19a/11 revealed itself, I thought this might be our setter walking us down easy street. Stupid girl, Eccles would never be that forgiving! A considerable amount of time later and with several visits to the dictionary, a completed grid finally hove into view. Rosettes awarded to ANANAS, ANGUISH. FLAK & EVANS with a definite thumbs down for the wordplay in basement.
Thanks to Eccles for an excellent theme and to Duncan for the help where needed.
Isn’t it annoying when you think you’ve complete a puzzle and then come here and realise you’ve missed a clue? (5dn in this case.)
It took me ages to work out how the theme worked.
Eccles on a Tuesday? That was a surprise.
Lovely puzzle though so please set another one. Too many great clues and surfaces to list them all.
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan.