Eccles is back in his Wednesday slot this week.
Another great puzzle from Eccles – smooth surfaces and a good mix of clue-types – one or two write-ins but plenty to stir up the old grey matter.
It took us much longer that it should have to parse 27ac, and we almost convinced ourselves that there was a misprint in the clue for 25d enabling us to take ‘y’ (‘yen’ – not ‘ten’) away from STUDY, until Bert saw the light!
Thanks Eccles for the fun.
In cricket there are six ‘deliveries’ BOWLed in an OVER
SPIED (noticed) round or ‘hosting’ C (first letter or ‘beginning’ to cook)
LIST (lean) P (last or ‘final’ letter of rump) RICE (side dish)
CARS (vehicles) after or ‘on’ S (first letter of style)
COusIN (relative) missing or ‘wasting’ US (American)
TRIAL (experiment) ON (running) round or ‘over’ THe missing the last letter or ‘most of’
An anagram (‘destroyed’) of ALLEGES SON
A reversal (‘knocking back’) of IT (sex appeal) SA (sex appeal)
O (over) O (love) PS (‘note at end of e-mail, perhaps’)
Hidden (‘content’) in pasS EMILE THALidomide
An anagram (‘dancing’) of NURSES OUT
G (German) in or ‘boarding’ BUS (aircraft – apparently a term of affection or slang)
A reversal (‘rejected’) of A HAM O (first or ‘initial’ letter of omelette)
inSOLENT (‘fresh’) with THE (article) replacing or ‘covering’ ‘in’ (popular)
IS in (‘welcomed by’) THEM (those people)
DEED (‘one achievement’) round or ‘inspiring’ FEAT (another achievement)
Double definition – we had to check the first
WEST (bridge player) ON (working) SUPERMARkEt (large shop) missing the last letter or ‘mostly’ and missing or ‘wanting’ ‘k’ (kip). This was almost a write-in from the definition and enumeration. Bert taught Joyce to drive on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare back in the 1960s. Thankfully his mother did not complain about us using the car!
An anagram (‘up’) of POP+ NT (New Testament – ‘books’) round ONE (united)
VI (six in roman numerals) in E (English) CT (court)
PA (father) + an anagram (‘crook’) of SHOT
An anagram (‘parties’) of LET HER GATE-CRASH
An anagram (‘strangely’) of IN SETTLE after a reversal (turned up’) of I’D
RIB (joke) in or ‘bottled by’ BEER + I (one)
B (bishop) LOO (can – toilet) D (first letter or ‘start’ of disregard) + R (rule) in SPOT (place)
EH (what) round or ‘keeping’ YET (still) and a reversal (‘withdrawn’) of TOO (extremely)
A reversal (‘boosted’) of MEP (‘politician in Europe’) + BROKE (with no money)
A homophone (‘in audition’) of NEEDS (desires)
A reversal (‘back’) IS + EG (‘for one’) E (last letter or ‘bit’ of private) – a new meaning for us
STUDio (workplace) with ’10’ (ten) missing or ‘leaving’
Had to slap myself once I saw the parsing for THE SOLENT. How did I miss that?
Couldn’t see k = “kip” in 2d. I assume this is in relation to the monetary unit of Laos. Vaguely remember seeing this before.
Hovis@1 you can slap me too, I guessed THE SOLENT, but just couldn’t work out why. Quite clever, and thanks BJ.
I think Kip=K, may be a science thing. A unit of force!? The currency is K, but with a crossbar.
Whichever, it’s desperation setting.
In fact, I found that many wordplays were too contrived for my liking…they only seem “clever” after solving the definition.
SIEGE, 23(ac), is beyond me.
Thanks B & J
Both the kilopound and the Laotian currency were new to me, but I have come across that meaning of “invest” before. I was another who tried and failed to make y=10 for STUD before the penny dropped.
Investment is a military term for siege.
Keith@4, thanks. I know that “siege” is a corruption of “to sit”, so armies “sit outside” an enemy’s camp or city. Ex Latin.
I just don’t get how this becomes “investment”!
I suppose that it might be, “to invest ” is “to put something in”. So, to hold siege, might be the act of “keeping something in” ….INVESTMENT. ?
It doesn’t work, for me, whatever the dictionaries may say. A bum clue, and a bum solution.
I disagree with E.N.Boll& on INVESTMENT. Siege is the original meaning of the word. It comes from the latin for ‘surround’ or ‘clothe’. The usual meaning has somewhat deviated, as language often does, but I think Eccles is perfectly correct to remind some of us of this original sense. I’ve seen it a few times in cryptics, so no problem for me.
I would have rather done without the thalidomide but I enjoyed this a lot. Eccles is a fave. OOPS was a great example of an easy clue that is a great clue nonetheless.
One of our occasional forays into Indy territory these days, but a pleasant and worthwhile one, with no real problems. A couple of minor points in enumeration – 9dn should be (4-4) as given in Chambers, and we think 22ac should be (4-6) but neither Chambers nor Collins have the word (which suggests to us that it should be hyphenated).
Thanks, Eccles and B&J.
Made it almost all the way to the end before needing to reveal a letter to get THE SOLENT, whose parsing still eluded me until I came here.
Yes, it is the Laotian kip that is intended.
I knew I would come here and see some confusion over siege=investment, since this meaning of the latter is the sort of thing you only encounter if you read military history. And who reads military history? (I forget exactly why, but I read more of it than was good for me at one stage many years ago; I now find it tedious. How one’s tastes can change.) And yes, as Hovis says, from Latin investire: to surround, enclothe, cf. vestments.