Once again Eccles stirs the old grey matter this Wednesday.
Another great puzzle from our regular Wednesday setter. Smooth surfaces as usual and a good variety of clue types.
We needed to do a bit of research to sort out the parsing of 1ac, and we had to check the singer/songwriter at 20d – obviously just showing our age!
A reversal (‘recalled’) of NO LIMES (‘problem for English sailors’ – a reference to the use of lime juice on British ships to prevent scurvy) round or ‘inhaling’ CO (carbon monoxide – ‘toxic gas’)
chAMBER (room) with ‘ch’ (child’) leaving
ANNULS (abolishes) round or ‘bored by’ A (America)
MARS (damages) round XI (eleven in Roman numerals) + M (million)
A reversal (‘backing’) of IF (providing) + R (Republican)
An anagram (‘shockingly’) of GRIM PERSONA – very appropriate!
EMPtY (futile) with the ‘t’ (Tesla) replaced by LO (look)
An anagram (‘damaged’) of IN CRATES
EX (old) C (Conservative) + a reversal (‘returning’) of DETER (put off)
H (hard) EARTH (ground)
HOME (in) ST (street) RETCH (cat)
Triple definition
vIcAr (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) in or ‘cutting’ an anagram (‘supply’ – in a supple manner) of BLOOD
E (last letter or ‘back’ of store) bARRING (unless) missing the ‘b’ (book)
WAsTER (good-for-nothing) missing or ‘throwing away’ the ‘s’ (son)
FLY (smart) in or ‘filling’ N (nitrogen) OZONE (gas)
A reversal (‘placed the wrong way’) of FATS (Fats Domino, American singer songwriter) + F (female)
A reversal (‘about’) of PART (share) NAMe (authority) missing the last letter or ‘mostly’
cAMPION (‘bloomer’ – flower) missing the first letter or ‘losing head’ in CHESS (tactical game)
Someone who makes an inventory or ‘list’ might be referred to as a LISTER
A (last letter or ‘close’ of arena) in or ‘blocking’ NEMESIS (unbeatable rival)
bAIRn (Scottish child) missing the first and last letters or ‘boundless’
BRIDGE (game – of cards) T (time) – a reference to ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’
Middle letters (‘stems’) of fROM ANARCHy
HARD (difficult) in or ‘wearing’ O (old) LIVERY (‘valet uniform’)
E (last letter of change) YES (absolutely) HAD (fooled) O (old) W (woman)
BEARD (Vandyke is a type of beard) OWN (confess)
CO (company – ‘firm’) iMPACT (collision) missing or ‘ignoring’ the I
ROD (‘staff’ – 1d) RIG (set up) O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) – we had to check Olivia Rodrigo – she’s an American singer, songwriter and actress
An anagram (‘out’) of IS LEFT
BUnGLE (make a mess of) missing or ‘unloading’ the ‘n’ (new)
hOt AiR (alternate letters ‘periodically hidden’)
The usual excellence from this setter. This was very challenging as expected but great fun from start to finish.
Many thanks to Eccles and to B&J.
Usual Wednesday comment: another good puzzle from Eccles. I smiled at the sailors’ problem, the damage done by political theory, the blood stopping vicar and the messily unloaded instrument. What a splendid hidden find for ROMAN ARCH.
Thanks both
In case it isn’t obvious to everybody, 1a is the reason British sailors are sometimes (disparagingly) referred to as ‘limies’.
Female champions will always be called ‘champions’ by me. I find 3d quite an ugly word.
Excellent as usual from Eccles. My mental stock of Olivias stops at de Havilland and Newton-John, but there were only a few alternatives from the wordplay. Mark for semicolon defeated me earlier this week, so I was alert enough to spot the NO LIMES, making it my favourite clue.
I gave up after an hour with the top-left quadrant being unsolved (and also I learned for the first time that “cat” is a verb), but I can still say I love 21D because the wordplay takes up very little space.
As usual a challenging offering from Eccles. I began to doubt my solving ability at one stage, but gradually built up a few crossers and revisited the many gaps. I got moving in the bottom half and worked by way back, finishing with the devious ROMAN NOSE after finally filling the NW.
Eccles beat me this week, not for the first time, I might add! Had the penny dropped over 1a, I might have got there but ’twas not to be. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and good old BRIDGET made me laugh. Favourite was probably BEAR DOWN.
Thanks to Eccles and to B&J for the much-needed review.
Thanks both. Very much agree about the high standard, and the feeling of being lost before the strength of the clues permeated. The intersecting MANTRAP and SEMICOLON went in late, and without complete confidence – ‘name’ for ‘authority’ feels obscure, plus I didn’t know the interesting relevance of limes, and have commented before that cluing a form of punctuation simply as a ‘mark’ is a low-calorie diet.
John D @6: ROMAN NOSE is so devious, it’s disguised itself as a different answer 😉
Thanks Eccles and B&J. I had a somewhat different take on 8, where I took “stems” in its verbal sense of “stops the flow of”. SEMICOLON my favourite today.
Thanks Eccles and B&J I too wondered about Roman nose for quite a while until a head desk moment. Well played Eccles.
PostMark @9 Ah yes, very careless of me. I blame it on my brain overheating in this weather!