Eccles takes his regular Wednesday slot this week.
The joy of Eccles puzzles is that it is his clues that take the lead. There is rarely, if ever, a theme or a message in the grid.
As usual, there were some splendid clues today. In the acrosses, I liked the one for HEDGEROW with its pastoral and ecological references, the one for GRADIENT for the surface and the one for KRAKATOA for its geographical misdirection. In the downs, the standout clue for me was the one for AXING, especially as Ange Postecoglou has had a few sackings himself in recent months. I also liked the definition of ‘serving ace’ for BARISTA.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Bit of dried fruit is marked with spots (6)
DAPPLE (marked with spots) D (first letter of [bit of] Dried + APPLE (a fruit) D APPLE |
| 5 | Man would develop ultimate in quince jams, a key part of sustainable farming (8)
HEDGEROW (an important element of sustainable farming allowing essential wildlife to thrive) HE (man) + ‘D (would) + (E [final letter of {ultimate in} quincE] contained in [jams] GROW [develop]) HE D G (E) ROW |
| 9 | Women in German city more frosty? (8)
WINTRIER (more frost) W (women) + IN + TRIER (city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany) W IN TRIER |
| 10 | Murphy‘s successful shot at snooker, essentially (6)
POTATO (murphy is a term for a potato) POT (successful shot at snooker) + AT + O (middle letter of [essentially] snoOker) – the English player. Shaun Murphy (born 1982), was World Snooker Champion in 2005 POT AT O |
| 11 | Upset clean young man trying to help (5,5)
AGONY UNCLE (a person who gives advice in a newspaper or magazine) Anagram of (upset) CLEAN YOUNG AGONY UNCLE* |
| 12 | Beseech other guards to reflect (4)
ECHO (reflect) ECHO (hidden word in [guards] beseECH Others) ECHO |
| 13 | Allow nurses to depart it could be a slippery slope? (8)
GRADIENT (a slope with the potential to be slippery) GRANT (allow) containing (nurses) DIE (depart) GRA (DIE) NT |
| 16 | Broadcaster assuming setter had died is treacherous (6)
SKIDDY (slippery; treacherous) SKY( name of a broadcasting company) containing (assuming) (I’D [the setter had] + D [died]) SK (ID D) Y |
| 17 | Challenge naughty child with fake gun (6)
IMPUGN (challenge or attack as false) IMP (naughty child) + an anagram of (fake) GUN IMP UGN* |
| 19 | Nasty smell next to trap overwhelming a Czech (8)
BOHEMIAN (someone from an area of the Western Czech Republic) BO (body odour; nasty smell) + (HEM IN [surround closely; trap] containing [overwhelming] A) BO HEM I (A) N |
| 21 | Yearn for unmarried woman (4)
MISS (yearn for) MISS (an unmarried woman) double definition MISS |
| 22 | Emphasises time to take temperature for cardiological examination (6,4)
STRESS TEST (a test of cardiovascular capacity made by monitoring the heart rate during a period of increasingly strenuous exercise) (STRESSES [emphasises] + T [time]) containing (to take) T (temperature) STRESS (T) ES T |
| 25 | I dream about respect (6)
ADMIRE (respect) Anagram of (about) I DREAM ADMIRE* |
| 26 | Something to avoid when driving in backward regions with bores (4,4)
SAND TRAP (American term for a bunker [something that drivers on the golf course try to avoid when playing off the tee]) AND (with) contained in (bores) PARTS (regions) reversed (backward) S (AND) TRAP< |
| 27 | Reportedly fracture part of foot next to American volcano (8)
KRAKATOA (active volcano in Indonesia, famed for its eruption in 1883, which killed over 36,000 people) KRAK (sounds like [reportedly] CRACK [fracture) + A TO (sounds like [reportedly] A TOE [part of foot]) + A (American) KRAK A TO A |
| 28 | Help someone intolerant of idiots? (6)
ASSIST (help) ASS–IST (possible word for someone intolerant of ASSES [idiots]) –IST is one of those suffixes that can have opposite meanings. In some cases –IST relates to a person in favour of or who advocates something. In other cases, such as this clue, –IST relates to a person who is prejudiced on the basis specified, such as sexist, ageist, ASS-IST) ASS IST |
| Down | |
| 2 | Sacking Postecoglou shortly to protect team (5)
AXING (sacking) ANG (reference the forename [shortly] of ANGe Postecoglou [born 1965], football manager) excluding the final letter E (shortly) containing (to protect) XI (Roman numerals for eleven, the number of players in many sports teams) A (XI) NG |
| 3 | Don and Vladimir, say, having nothing for India (3,2)
PUT ON (don) PUTiN (reference Vladimir Putin [born 1952], current President of Russia) with an O (character representing zero or nothing) replacing (for) I (India is the international radio communication codeword for the letter I) PUT ON |
| 4 | Gourmet‘s impressive main course in North Yorkshire (7)
EPICURE (gourmet) EPIC (impressive) + URE (river in North Yorkshire that flows into the Ouse and then into the sea [main], therefore being a main source) EPIC URE |
| 5 | Bean Charlie’s dropped in carriage (7)
HARICOT (a variety of French bean) CHARIOT (carriage) with the C (Charlie) dropping down the entry to form HARICOT HARICOT |
| 6 | Humble hairdresser pedantically lifting covers (7)
DEPRESS (to humble) DEPRESS reversed (lifting; down entry) (hidden word in [covers] hairdreSSER PEDantically) DEPRESS< |
| 7 | Zealotry of old, mostly negligent, male accepting Trump’s overture (9)
EXTREMISM (zealotry) ([EX {former; of old} + REMISs {negligent} excluding the final letter S {mostly}] + M [male]) containing (accepting) T (first letter of [overture] Trump) EX (T) REMIS M |
| 8 | Figures in old place of worship briefly lowering top of altar (9)
OCTAHEDRA (figures) O (old) + CATHEDRAl (place of worship) excluding the final letter L (briefly) with the first A [(initial letter of [top of] Altar) moving further down the entry to form OCTAHEDRA – it has to be the first A as the second A cannot fall any further in this down entry O CTAHEDRA |
| 14 | Memo to take a rest (9)
REMAINDER ([the[ rest) REMINDER (memorandum [memo]) containing (to take) A REM (A) INDER |
| 15 | Short leg struck midoff! (9)
DRUMSTICK (the lower joint of the leg of a cooked fowl; short leg) Anagram of (-off) STRUCK MID DRUMSTICK* |
| 18 | You’re welcome to a news broadcast (2,5)
NO SWEAT (An expression suggesting that something can be done without problems or difficulty) Anagram of (broadcast) TO A NEWS NO SWEAT* |
| 19 | Serving ace to exclude the possibility of one returning at speed, primarily (7)
BARISTA (an expert [ace] in serving coffee) BAR (exclude the possibility of) + I (Roman numeral for one) (AT + S [first letter of {primarily} Speed]) reversed (returning) BAR I (S TA)< |
| 20 | Hotel beginning to offer small Pavlova, praise the Lord (7)
HOSANNA (an exclamation of praise, especially to God; praise the Lord) H (hotel is the international radio communication codeword for the letter H) + O (first letter of [beginning to] Offer) + S (small) + ANNA (reference ANNA Pavlova [1881 – 1931], Russian prima ballerina) H O S ANNA |
| 23 | Drinks around Spain? Absolutely (5)
TOTES (slang for totally, completely, absolutely) TOTS (drinks) containing (around) E (international vehicle registration for Spain) TOT (E) S |
| 24 | Persian leaders from the north and from the south (5)
SHAHS (former Middle Eastern rulers, leaders, especially in Persia [Iran])) SHAHS is a palindrome that gives an identical word if read down(from the North) or read up (from the South) in this down entry SHAHS |
I enjoyed this a lot with POTATO my favourite of many ticked clues.
I made a bad start by writing in RAISIN for 1a without sufficient thought but fortunately 3d was obvious enough to make me realise my mistake.
I got TOTES from the wordplay and checkers but had no idea at all about the slang definition. Thanks for the explanation, Duncan.
Surely SAND TRAP is an Americanism. R&A rules refer only to bunkers.
Many thanks to Eccles for the fun and to Duncan for the review.
The wordplays are wonderful, including 8(d), OCTAHEDRA, which baffled me for a long time.
I did wonder whether 1(ac) should be DAPPLED, but I suspect it works without the final D?
It’s simply a super puzzle, thumbs up, Eccles & duncan
Also no idea about TOTES although I can see how it would work in the UK. I had TOPES thinking Tops for ‘absolutely’ which held me up for SAND TRAP. Very pleased to see Eccles on Wednesday, one of the definitive Indy setters for me. KRAKATOA my number one. Droll. Thanks duncan and Eccles.
I too wondered about DAPPLE but I see it can be a noun referring to a dappled animal. I won’t lose any more of a beautiful morning (SE UK) wondering why DEPRESS = humble – verb, noun or otherwise.
I enjoyed this, rattled through most but the last four or five held me up for quite a while, nothing wrong with that!
Thank you Eccles and Duncan
ASSIST made me smile. AXING had a pleasantly appropriate surface and HEDGEROW was nicely constructed. Thanks, both.
RD @1: I made the same mistake on RAISIN (“is” covered by spots of rain), and 2d seemed to confirm it before 3d told me otherwise.
15d is superb in all respects: amusing surface, crafty wordplay, quirky definition.