An Eccles puzzle on a Wednesday, so no surprise for Independent solvers this week
As usual, Eccles includes one or two slightyly obscure entries in his grid. Today, for me, we have ACTINIDE SERIES and DIAMAGNET. I have come across TETRA in crosswords before, so TETRACT came to mind fairly quickly.
I only learnt about Bluesky as a social media site fairly recently, but I discover it was launched in 2019.
There were some intricate constructions in the wordplay this week, with TAHITIANS and ACTINIDE SERIES each having five component parts.
I liked the clue for LOW SEASON with its use of the anagram ‘SALES NOW poor’
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Everyone is taken aback, missing one left in Spanish city (7)
SEVILLA (city in Spain) ALL lIVES (everyone) excluding (missing) L (left) and then reversed (taken aback) (SEVI LLA) – I have chosen to exclude the L in LIVES, but any of the three L scould be the one missing. |
| 5 | Does Henry call for topic on Bluesky? (7)
HASHTAG (hashtags are used to indicate topics on the social media site Bluesky) HAS (does) + H (henry [unit of inductance]) + TAG (name or call someone something) HAS H TAG |
| 9 | Fashionable movement prohibited, reportedly, with past close to forgotten (9)
BANDWAGON (a movement that seems to be assured of success; a fashionable movement) BAND (sounds like [reportedly] BANNED [prohibited]) + W (with) + AGO (past) + N (last letter of [close to] forgotteN) BAND W AGO N |
| 10 | Opening passage part of fortnightly retrospective (5)
INTRO (INTROduction; opening passage) INTRO (reversed [retrospective] word in fORTNIghtly) INTRO< |
| 11 | Setter’s mature public front (5)
IMAGE (something designed to represent the character or attributes of a person, institution or business presented as a public front) I’M (I am; setter is; setter’s) + AGE (mature) IM AGE |
| 12 | Whip round touched one American meeting Pacific islanders (9)
TAHITIANS (Pacific islanders) (TAN [beat; flog; whip] containing [round] [HIT {affected; touched} + I {Roman numeral for one} + A {American}]) + S (South) TA (HIT I A) N S |
| 14 | Quiz show host in Times Square not working (8,6)
QUESTION MASTER (quiz show host) Anagram of (working) TIMES SQUARE NOT QUESTION MASTER* |
| 17 | Perform in regularly broadcast shows about one extremely destructive heavy metal group (8,6)
ACTINIDE SERIES (a group of radioactive metallic elements from atomic number 89 [actinium] to 103 [lawrencium], all of which are considered to be heavy metals) (ACT [perform] + IN + SERIES [regularly broadcast shows]) containing (about) (I [Roman numeral for one] + DE [outer letters of {extremely} DestructivE]) ACI IN (I DE) SERIES |
| 21 | Number at school help to turn over slightly repellent material (9)
DIAMAGNET (a substance that, if suspended as a rod between the poles of a magnet, arranges itself across the lines of force; a slightly repellent material) (TEN [a number] + GAM [school of whales] + AID [help]) all reversed (to turn over) (DIA MAG NET)< |
| 23 | Most of standard opera (5)
NORMA (opera by Vincenzo Bellini [1805 – 1835]) NORMAl (standard) excluding the final letter (most of) L NORMA |
| 24 | Got an unusual letter from NATO? (5)
TANGO (TANGO is the codeword for the letter T in the NATO alphabet; letter from NATO) Anagram of (unusual) GOT AN TANGO* |
| 25 | Records 24 hours for Spooner in Arctic transport (3,6)
DOG SLEIGH (a form of Arctic transport) Reverend Spooner might pronounce DOG SLEIGH as LOGS [records] + DAY (24 hours) DOG SLEIGH |
| 26 | That place holds a patient, ultimately? (7)
THEATRE (a place where a patient might eventually be operated on in a hospital) THERE (that place) containing (holds) (A + T [final letter of [ultimately] patienT) THE (A T) RE |
| 27 | Finished with young lady in part of Ireland (7)
DONEGAL (County in the Republic of Ireland) DONE (finished with) + GAL (girl; young lady) DONE GAL |
| Down | |
| 1 | Cry and join up? Amen (2,2,2)
SO BE IT (phrase used to express agreement; amen [to express strong approval for]) SOB (cry) + TIE (join) reversed (up; down entry) SO B E IT< |
| 2 | Periodically, Kuwait University providing support for vehicle in a state (7)
VANUATU (Pacific State) VAN (vehicle) + UAT (letters 2, 4 and 6 [periodically] of kUwAiT) + U (University) – as this is a down entry, the letters UATU ‘support’ the letters VAN VAN UAT U |
| 3 | Sales now poor; nothing taken? (3-6)
LOW SEASON (a period of the year when sales are reduced and little or no money is taken in) Anagram of (poor) SALES NOW containing (taken) O (character representing zero or nothing) LOW SEAS (O) N* – either O could be the one contained |
| 4 | Troubled trading ends badly (5-6)
ANGST-RIDDEN (characterised by a feeling of dread or anxiety; troubled) Anagram of (badly) TRADING ENDS ANGST-RIDDEN* |
| 5 | Chinese repeated words without restriction (3)
HAN (Chinese people) cHANt (a slogan spoken or sung in a repetitious or rhythmic manner; repeated words) excluding the outer letters C and T (without restriction) HAN |
| 6 | Hide Tesla, having no cash (5)
SKINT (having no cash) SKIN (hide) + T (tesla, the derived SI unit of magnetic flux) SKIN T |
| 7 | On large area, cleared out tree with four branches (7)
TETRACT (composed of four branches) TE (letters remaining in TreE when the central letters RE are removed [cleared out]) + TRACT (large area of land) TE TRACT |
| 8 | Cargo with gold beginning to trouble likeable individual (4,4)
GOOD SORT (a likeable individual) GOODS (cargo) + OR (gold tincture) + T (first letter of [beginning to] Trouble) GOOD S OR T |
| 13 | Completely develops setter, perhaps too much, on reflection (6-2-3)
HONEST-TO-GOD (completely authentic; totally genuine; completely) HONES (sharpens; polishes; develops) + (DOG [a setter is a breed of DOG] + OTT [over the top; perhaps too much]) reversed (on reflection) HONES (T-TO–GOD)< |
| 15 | A doctor on track for return home that makes the heart beat faster (9)
ADRENALIN (a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands that causes constriction of the arteries, so increasing blood pressure and stimulating the heart muscle; that makes the heart beat faster) A + DR (doctor) + LANE (track) reversed (for return) + IN (home) A DR ENAL< IN |
| 16 | Dart hit a crook working intently (4,2,2)
HARD AT IT (working intently) Anagram of (crook) DART HIT A HARD AT IT* |
| 18 | Racecourse giving treasurer a boost, a novice (7)
TRAINEE (a novice) AINTREE (racecourse near Liverpool) with TR (treasurer) raised up the entry [giving … a boost] to form TRAINEE TRAINEE |
| 19 | Being paid is getting closer with namedropping (7)
EARNING (being paid) NEARING (getting closer) with N (name) dropping in this down entry [namedropping] to form EARNING EARNING |
| 20 | Fight largely virtuous artist (6)
WARHOL (reference the American artist Andy WARHOL [1928 – 1987]) WAR (fight) + HOLy (virtuous) excluding the final letter (largely) Y WAR HOL |
| 22 | Roughly arrest Unionist for manslaughter, at last (5)
ABOUT (roughly) ABOrT (stop; arrest) with U (Unionist) replacing (for) R (final letter of [at last] manslaughteR) ABOUT |
| 25 | Outstanding couple from Rome (3)
DUE (due) DUE (Italian [Rome] word for ‘two’) double definition DUE |
Nice puzzle. Super blog.
Thanks Eccles and duncan.
Liked SEVILLA, LOW SEASON and ABOUT.
HONEST-TO-GOD
Took ‘setter, perhaps’ as DOG and ‘too much’ as OTT
Although it took me a while to unravel 21a which was a new word for me and my last one in, this was very enjoyable.
LOW SEASON was my favourite.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
KVa@1 : agreed on HONEST-TO-GOD.
But to be honest, I had lost interest by that stage.
Too many obscurities, for which, the wordplays didn’t compensate.
It’s probably sour grapes, because I fell at the final fence, by parsing LANE as LINE for track, in 15(d).
Thus, misspelling a down solution, which is not unusual for me.
18(d), it’s not the done thing to mention AINTREE during the Cheltenham Festival ! ( I’m kidding )
It’s a very challenging solve, with a lot to admire, but just not my bag of pigeons.
Diff’rent strokes for different folks.
Super blog. Thanks, Ecc & Dunc