In the independent cryptic crossword world, Eccles is to Wednesday as Phi is to Friday.
I struggled a bit with the definitions or wordplay in a few of the clues today, particularly 2, 3 and 4 down. I expect I have missed something, but i couldn’t make a clear link between O NET O and 0-0 in 2 down, or clearly identify the definition in 3 down or find a reference book that directly linked ‘news’ and BEARINGS in 4 down.
Collins and Chambers give different definitions for ‘in general’ at 16 down. Chambers favours the entry AS A WHOLE, but Collins favours ON THE WHOLE as a definition. The Oxford English Dictionary lists ‘in general’ as a definition for both AS A WHOLE and ON THE WHOLE.
The artist ESCHER appeared as part of the wordplay in a crossword I blogged last week. Today, he appears as an entry.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Test bank book (8)
PROVERBS (book of the Old Testament) PROVE (test) + RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland, now part of the Nat West Group, but still badged RBS in Scotland, although like most banks it is becoming increasingly difficult to find one on a ‘High Street’) PROVE RBS |
| 5 | Clean house again (6)
HOOVER (clean [with a vacuum cleaner]) HO (house) + OVER (again) HO OVER |
| 9 | Swede meets girl, one’s controlling mentor (8)
SVENGALI (person who exerts total mental control over another, usually for evil ends; controlling mentor) SVEN (Swedish forename) + GAL (girl) + I (Roman numeral for one) SVEN GAL I |
| 10 | Conservative doesn’t win in quiet residential roads (6)
CLOSES (quiet residential roads) C (Conservative) + LOSES (doesn’t win or tie) C LOSES |
| 12 | Idiot welcomes Oscar, namely (2,3)
TO WIT (that is to say; namely) TWIT (idiot) containing (welcomes) O (Oscar is the international radio communication code for the letter O) T (O) WIT |
| 13 | Dictator’s propagated way to produce prairie turnip (9)
BREADROOT (prairie turnip, a North American papilionaceous plant with an edible root) BREADROOT (sounds like [dictator’s] BRED [propagated] + ROUTE [way]) BREADROOT |
| 14 | Exotic vacation axed in scheme to save money (3,9)
TAX AVOIDANCE (steps taken within the law to minimize one’s taxable income; scheme to save money) Anagram of (exotic) VACATION AXED TAX AVOIDANCE* |
| 18 | Period of time with Truss mixing gin is enthralling (12)
SPELLBINDING (enthralling) SPELL (period of time) + BIND (tie up; lace up; truss) + an anagram of (mixing) GIN SPELL BIND ING* |
| 21 | Go with Man Friday after supper? (9)
WEEKNIGHT (evenings to midnight Monday to Friday) WEE (go to the toilet to urinate) + KNIGHT (a piece or man in a game of chess) WEE KNIGHT |
| 23 | Precise demand (5)
EXACT (precise) EXACT (practise extortion; demand) double definition EXACT |
| 24 | Iris or Declan or Tim? (6)
ORRICE (alternative spelling [in Collins dictionary] of ORRIS [the Florentine or other iris]) OR + RICE (reference Declan RICE [born 1999], Arsenal footballer , or Tim RICE [born 1944], English songwriter) OR RICE |
| 25 | “Scattered community essentially hard work” stated revolutionary (8)
DIASPORA (a dispersion or migration of peoples or communities; scattered community) (AR [central letters of; essentially] hARd) + OP [opus; work] + SAID [stated]) all reversed (revolutionary) (DIAS PO RA)< |
| 26 | Artist reaches out after Australian expelled (6)
ESCHER (reference M C ESCHER [1898 – 1972], Dutch graphic artist. Many of his works were inspired by mathematics) Anagram of (out) REaCHES excluding (expelled) A (Australian) ESCHER* |
| 27 | Undated Daily Record follows leading collection of fabulous animals (8)
BESTIARY (book of a type popular in the Middle Ages, describing animals, both real and fabled, allegorized for moral teaching purposes.; collection of fabulous animals) BEST (leading) + dIARY (daily record) excluding the letter D (date) [undated]) BEST IARY |
| Down | |
| 1 | Damaged pot contains remains of Afghan people (6)
PASHTO (of or relating to the language or people of Afghanistan. PASHTO is also spoken in parts of Pakistan) Anagram of (dancing) POT containing (contains) ASH (remains) P (ASH) TO* |
| 2 | 0-0 score with boring exchange of passes (3-3)
ONE-TWO (term describing an exchange of passes in sport, especially football) I am not sure of the parsing here, but suggest W (with) contained in (boring) (O NET O suggesting 0-0 [nil-nil score]?) O NE T (W) O |
| 3 | Lethal big waves in pool (9)
EIGHTBALL (in the game of pool, the EIGHTBALL is the black ball marked with the number 8, but I don’t see a clear definition. I sit ‘in pool’ indicating that an EIGHTBALL is found in pool?) There might also be some allusion to the phrase ‘behind the EIGHTBALL‘ meaning ‘being in a difficult position) Anagram of (waves) LETHAL BIG EIGHTBALL* |
| 4 | SLUG NEWS? They can reduce friction (4,8)
BALL BEARINGS (devices for lessening friction by making a revolving part turn on loose steel balls) BALL (ammunition known as a slug is shaped like a BALL) + BEARINGS (I can’t find a dictionary or Thesaurus that directly links BEARINGS and news. I think this may relate to the phrase ‘I come BEARING tidings of great joy’, but that is BEARING being defined in the sense of bringing news, not as news itself) It may well be that I am parsing this all wrong as I don’t understand why SLUG NEWS is printed in capital letters. BALL BEARINGS |
| 6 | Was in front after own goal, and gave dirty look (5)
OGLED (looked lecherously; gave a dirty look) OG (own goal) + LED (was in front) OG LED |
| 7 | Victor rejects taking clothes off for nobleman (8)
VISCOUNT (British title of nobility next below an earl) V (Victor is the international radio communication codeword for the letter V) + dISCOUNTs (rejects) excluding the first and last letters (taking clothes off) D and S V ISCOUNT |
| 8 | Old compilers run to the front to get loopy prizes (8)
ROSETTES (knots of radiating loops of ribbon or the like in concentric arrangement, especially worn as a badge showing affiliation, or awarded as a prize; loopy prizes) (O [old] + SETTERS [crossword compilers]) with the R going to the beginning [moving to the front] to form R O SETTES R O SETTES |
| 11 | Very brief protest against pay, perhaps to do with response to nuclear attack (6-6)
SECOND-STRIKE (a counter-attack, in nuclear warfare, following an initial attack by an enemy) SECOND (very brief period of time) + STRIKE (withdrawal of labour [protest] usually related to unhappiness with pay offers) SECOND-STRIKE |
| 15 | What wrongdoer owes to Spooner: crockery? (6,3)
DINNER SET (complete set of plates and dishes for a company at dinner; crockery) Reverend Spooner would pronounce DINNER SET as SINNER (wrongdoer) DEBT (what is owed) DINNER SET |
| 16 | American spotted problem, in general (2,1,5)
AS A WHOLE (in general) – Chambers gives ‘AS A WHOLE‘ as a definition for ‘in general’, but Collins suggests that ON THE WHOLE is a more likely definition of ‘in general’ A (American) + SAW (spotted) + HOLE (difficult situation; problem) A S A W HOLE |
| 17 | Very quick writer held up by erotic dancing (8)
METEORIC (like a METEOR in terms of speed; very quick) ME (the writer) + an anagram of (dancing) EROTIC. This being a down entry, the letters ME are ‘held up’ by the letters TEORIC ME TEORIC* |
| 19 | Cushion eggs in Italian city (6)
PADOVA (city in Italian, known in English as Padua) PAD (cushion) + OVA (eggs) PAD OVA |
| 20 | Raunchy and extremely sexy nursing group (6)
STEAMY (raunchy) SY (outer letters of [extremely] SexY) containing (nursing) TEAM (group) S (TEAM) Y |
| 22 | Husband in lovely position (5)
NICHE (A position particularly suitable for the person occupying it) H (husband) contained in (in) NICE (delightful; lovely) NIC (H) E |
In 2d, could ‘net’ = ‘score’. NEWS are the point of the compass, so ‘bearings’. I think ‘eightball’ is another word for ‘pool’.
I agree with Hovis ref the three parsing queries. I wonder if the ‘perhaps’ in SECOND-STRIKE (which I had to reveal) is suggesting that a ‘second strike’ might be a brief protest: otherwise, ‘very brief’ – an adjective – is defining SECOND – a noun? Once revealed, that allowed me to take a guess at the nho BREAD ROOT as LOI. DNK ORRICE or recall the footballer but crossers and Tim came to the rescue. A very neat anagram spot for TAX AVOIDANCE.
Thanks Eccles and duncan
The usual fun challenge on a Wednesday.
As mentioned by Hovis, I took “net” in 2d to mean “score” (a goal), and I agree with him about NEWS being compass points, although like Duncan, I am at a loss to explain why SLUG NEWS is capitalised. A thumbs down from me for 3d which is an unindicated American reference.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
EIGHTBALL is generally the game that’s played in pubs, etc. One player pots balls 1-7 and his opponent puts 9-15. First to pot the black (8 ball) legitimately is the winner
As opposed to NINEBALL where the balls 1-9 are arranged in a diamond shape and balls have to be potted in numerical order.
There’s a bit more to it but that’s essentially the rules
Another great puzzle from Eccles. There has been research into the uses of slug mucus, which could be headlined SLUG NEWS. Mainly for wound repair rather than friction reduction though.
Another challenging crossword from our setter and I now know rather more about the game of pool! Thought that ONE TWO involved a bit of stretching but no complaints overall. My favourite today was TO WIT.
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the review.
I think the capitalisation of SLUG NEWS is mainly to make the ‘bearings’ bit work. News headlines can be capitalised, so not too far-fetched.
NEWS had to be in capitals to mean the points of the compass, and slug = bullet = ball?
I’m with everybody here NET is ‘score’, NEWS is capitalised as they are the cardinal points, and SECOND STRIKE I took to be a very brief (lasting a second) protest against pay, perhaps (strike).
Really good, this. Eccles is maybe the best setter at choosing varied and interesting words to fill the grid in the first place. I might slightly quibble over PADOVA since the town has an English name that it’s more usually known by in England. Would Munchen or Wien be allowable answers?
Thanks both. Started late, and got there following a delay with the intersecting BREADROOT and SECOND STRIKE – for the latter I didn’t know the expression, though I feel I ought to, and might argue the concept only truly works as a ‘1 second strike’ which off course defeats the object. I’d have to say the complete parsing of BALL BEARINGS remains a mystery, as I can find nothing to justify slug = ball.
TFO Slug and ball are both bullets.