Eccles has been appearing every Wednesday for the past four weeks rather than the fortnightly sequence he used to follow.
This was a typical Eccles puzzle, free from themes and ninas.
I started badly putting in two answers without checking the parsing properly when I bunged in FOLLOWERS at 1 across and AGA OVEN at 6 down, but I eventually corrected those errors when the crossing down entries didn’t intersect properly.
I liked the clue for OWNERSHIP at 13 down.
SHAMUS as American detective is a new word for me, but the wordplay was very clear.
I am not sure how DIESEL is being clued at 14 down unless ‘vin rouge’ is just being used to describe any RED liquid. However, Google tells me that there is a wine called Pink DIESEL that sells for £18.95 a bottle. I also expect that some wine critics have suggested that a few wines taste like DIESEL. I’m probably missing something obvious in the wordplay.
GENERICAL and LACONISM are words that I am unlikely to use in the future, but they are both in the dictionary.
I doubt if Leo VARADKAR has ever shot an AARDVARK but it is a good anagram.
I was slightly surprised to note that all of the first four across clues involved removing a letter from a component part.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Fans of a departing horse making animal noises (9)
FOLLOWING (body of supporters; fans) FOAL (young horse) excluding (departing) A + LOWING (making cattle [animal] noises) FOL LOWING |
| 6 | Yawn, as fruit recipe lost (4)
GAPE (yawn) GRAPE (fruit) excluding (lost) R ([Latin] recipe) GAPE |
| 8 | Issues about extremely short book (8)
PROVERBS (Book of the Old Testament) PROBS (problems; issues) containing (about) VERY (extremely) excluding the final letter (short) Y PRO (VER) BS |
| 9 | Cherish women about to be thrown out of city (6)
NESTLE (to cherish) NEWCASTLE (city in the North of England) excluding (to be thrown out) (W [women] + CA [circa [about]) NESTLE |
| 10 | Four astute tradesmen’s stocks (6)
TETRAD ([a group of] four) TETRAD (hidden word in [stocks] ASTUTE TRADESMAN) TETRAD |
| 11 | Varadkar shot burrowing mammal (8)
AARDVARK (the antbear, a long-nosed African edentate that feeds on termites, etc; burrowing mammal) Anagram of (shot) VARADKAR [Leo Varadkar is an Irish politician] AARDVARK* |
| 12 | Walk unsteadily in summer? (6)
TOTTER (walk unsteadily) TOTTER (one who adds [TOTs up]; summer) double definition TOTTER |
| 15 | Claims no drunk can display brevity (8)
LACONISM (concise style; brevity) Anagram of (drunk) CLAIMS NO LACONISM* |
| 16 | Geraint and Emily secretly together (2,6)
IN TANDEM (together) IN TANDEM (hidden word in [secretly] GERAINT AND EMILY) IN TANDEM |
| 19 | Superior passport perhaps found in Russian vehicle (2-2- 2)
LA-DI-DA (affectedly elegant or superior, especially in speech or bearing) ID (identification [papers]; e.g. [perhaps] a passport) contained in (found in) LADA (brand of Russian car) LA D (I D) A |
| 21 | Development of chemical process involving carbon migration (8)
CREATION (development) REACTION (chemical process) with the C (chemical symbol for carbon) moving (migration) to the front of the word to form CREATION CREATION |
| 22 | Polish film in trouble (6)
BUFFET (trouble) BUFF (polish) + ET (title of a science-fiction film released in 1982) BUFF ET |
| 24 | Fake American policeman in New York (6)
SHAMUS (old American [New York] slang for a detective [policeman]) SHAM (fake) + US (American) SHAM US |
| 25 | Sane public right to replace leader (8)
RATIONAL (sound in mind; sane) NATIONAL (public) with R (right) replacing (to replace) the N at the beginning [leader] to form RATIONAL RATIONAL |
| 26 | Small sweet potato (4)
SPUD (potato) S (small) + PUD (pudding; dessert; sweet) S PUD |
| 27 | Talks online after repellent creature given protective coat (9)
LAMINATED (given protective coat) ANIMAL (creature) reversed (repellent) + TED (name of a series of on-line talks presented by TED Conferences, an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks for free distribution under the slogan “ideas worth spreading”) LAMINA< TED |
| Down | |
| 1 | Strength of warning about Tesla (5)
FORTE (something at which a person excels; a strength) FORE (shout of warning at golf) containing (about) T (tesla [derived SI unit of magnetic flux density) FOR (T) E |
| 2 | Young runner always allowed outside (7)
LEVERET (young hare; young runner) LET (allowed) containing (outside) EVER (always) L (EVER) ET |
| 3 | Paddled in sea after boat discovered (5)
OARED (rowed; paddled) OA (letters remaining in BOAT when the outer letters B and T are removed [dis-covered]) + RED (reference the RED sea) OA RED |
| 4 | Set up home above stable? (7)
INSTALL (set up) IN (home) + STALL (stable) IN STALL |
| 5 | Applicable to any group that’s playing Carnegie Hall at last (9)
GENERICAL (general, applicable to any of a group or class) Anagram of (playing) CARNEGIE + L (final letter of [at last] HALL) GENERICA* L |
| 6 | When is boring rightwing politician getting new cooker? (3,4)
GAS OVEN (cooker) (AS [when] contained in [boring] GOVE [reference Michael GOVE [born 1967, former Conservative {right-wing} government minister and MP]) + N (new) G (AS) OVE N |
| 7 | Divided and cut up stem on daffodil, primarily (9)
POLARISED (split into opposing camps; divide) LOP (cut) reversed (up) + ARISE (stem [spring up]) + D (first letter of [primarily] DAFFODIL:) POL< ARISE D |
| 13 | Sniper who lost control (9)
OWNERSHIP (possession; control) Anagram of (lost) SNIPER WHO OWNERSHIP* |
| 14 | Vin rouge? It’s not for consumption when driving on public roads (3,6)
RED DIESEL (DIESEL fuel that is intended for use by agricultural vehicles only [also covered golf course maintenance vehicles when I was a Golf Club Treasurer], and is therefore subject to a reduced rate of excise duty and is chemically marked and dyed red to identify it) RED (vin rouge) – as mentioned in the introduction, I struggle with the wordplay here. RED DIESEL |
| 17 | Scared, in dangerous situation for 1920s Chicago Feds (7)
ALARMED (scared) AL (reference AL Capone [1899 – 1947], American gangster active in Chicago in the 1920s) + ARMED (with weapons). It is possible that an ARMED AL Capone could create alarm or scare Federal Agents charged with arresting him) AL ARMED |
| 18 | Employee on public transport repeated phrase in meditation (7)
MANTRAM (sacred text used as an incantation, frequently repeated) MAN (employee) + TRAM (an example of public transport) MAN TRAM |
| 20 | Take out of the freezer food initially stored badly (7)
DEFROST (take out of the freezer and allow to thaw gradually before cooking) Anagram of (badly) (F [first letter of {initially} FOOD] and STORED) DEFROST* |
| 22 | Rod is bachelor, and not stuck up (5)
BATON (rod) BA (Bachelor [of Arts]) + NOT reversed (stuck up; down entry) BA TON< |
| 23 | Antelope seen in country, not Iran (5)
ELAND (South African antelope) IRELAND (country) excluding (not) IR (International Vehicle Registration for Iran) ELAND |
14d Fast and/or Furious actor Vin DIESEL, aka Riddick.
…and Groot, too.
Much appreciated, thank you Eccles and duncan!
I loved “Vin rouge” but can see it might be tricky if you’re not familiar with that fine exponent of the thespian arts, Mr Diesel.
Great fun puzzle, thanks Eccles and Duncan.
Chapeau to Eccles for spotting the Vin Diesel potential – one of the COTD for me. Not that I’m a fan of the actor but what a delightful conceit. Like duncan, I also admire OWNERSHIP which was very well hidden. And, like duncan, I had FOLLOWERS at first though the last bit sat uncomfortably so I was pleased to correct myself when ENSTALL turned out not to be a word leading me to question the initial letter. ALARMED and CREATION were my other faves. I have seen ‘secretly’ used as a hidden indicator before and I get that the solution is secreted within the fodder but I don’t really understand how ‘secretly’ works as an actual instruction.
Thanks Eccles and PeterO
Liked FOLLOWING, CREATION, OARED, OWNERSHIP and RED DIESEL.
Thanks Eccles and duncan.
FrankieG @ 1 and others
Thanks for pointing out the Vin Diesel connection.
Unfortunately, films and film actors are among my many weaknesses although I have vaguely heard of Mr Diesel.
For 16a It must be first Welsh Tour de France winner (2018) Thomas, GeraINT AND…
…EMily Bridges (also born in Wales).
[Quite liked ‘secretly’ as a hidden indicator. Shame there was no ‘cycling’ involved in the wordplay]
Knew 24a could mean a PI from the Burt Reynolds movie SHAMUS (1973).
To me it’s obviously derived from the Irish equivalent of James: Seamus (which the Scots anagram as Seumas), but oed.com isn’t so sure,
‘1925– … Etymology …Of uncertain origin’, dithering between Irish Seamus and Yiddish ‘shamash n
1. 1650– A warden of a synagogue. Also: a court official of a Beth Din…
2. 1895– A ninth candle used for lighting the candles on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah.’
[nho 18d MANTRA with an “M”]
Great fun! 😉 Thanks E&DS
A bit of an unassuming dazzler, this. Thumbs up from me for Vin. Very chucklesome. “Secretly” totally worked for me, too. Fun. OWNERSHIP was nice and ALARMED was pleasingly cheeky. Thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
GENERICAL and LACONISM both sound like fingernails scraping down a blackboard to me, but if they’re in the dictionaries….
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the PROBS in PROVERBS. I couldn’t see where that came from.
Thanks both. Though my LOI CREATION was impressive. Would never have parsed RED DIESEL fully, partly as I thought the actor’s first name was Vim! I didn’t recognise NESTLE as a synonym for cherish, and my feeble dictionary fails also to list it, though it did confirm SHAMUS however suggests the New York element may be superfluous.
[Especially liked 6d GAS OVEN, where “boring” is doing double duty as a containment indicator and as an adjective for Michael Gove or any other rightwing politician. (A ‘retired’ one, in his case. As of last month, he’s the new editor of The Spectator, if anyone’s remotely interested.)]