Eccles is in his customary Wednesday slot this week.
Another excellently crafted puzzle from Eccles – smooth surfaces and concise clues. There are a couple of unusual words (for us) – at 4d and 5d, but the clues are clear enough to enable solving and then checking the answer.
Thanks to Eccles for another good Wednesday work-out.
DEN (study) MARKS (indications) TRAIT (characteristic)
A reversal (‘over’) of BLUB (cry)
GOBS (spits) TOPPER (hat)
An anagram (‘excitedly’) of DRIBBLE round U (upper-class)
Y (first letter of youthful) wORKERs (employees) missing the first and last letters (‘unwrapped’)
SCOTCH (extinguish) FIRe (blaze) missing the last letter (‘most of’) + S (small)
I’S (one’s) A Y (first letter of yes)
gLOSS (brightness) missing the ‘g’ (good)
Hidden (‘suppressed’) in nuDIST ILL AT Ease
An anagram (‘somehow’) of PERSIA
An anagram (‘flies’) of GETS NICE
BE (live) R L (alternate letters – ‘oddly ignored’ – of troll) US (American) CON (convict) I (current)
Hidden (‘portion’) in teA GARden
SAD (unhappy) in DIVAN (bed) + TAG (call) ED (Edward)
20 in Roman numerals is XX – ‘DOUBLE CROSS’
NO proBLEm missing the last letter (‘mostly’) and ‘kicking out’ ‘pro’ (professional)
An anagram (‘for transformation’) of US HEADING
A reversal (‘on reflection’) of I’D (I would) DAB (spot) AK (middle letters or ‘content’ of fake) – we’d never heard of this strange sport which apparently involves the players holding their breath while chanting ‘kabaddi’ and trying to tag a member of the opposing team
T (‘final character’ of breakfast) AT TiffanY (missing the middle letters or ‘eviscerated’)
GILL (‘breathing apparatus’) with AS PER (‘according to’) in front or ‘initiating’
A reversal (‘northern’ in a down clue) of alternate letters (‘from time to time’) in rEsOrT
An anagram (‘works’) of BASIC DENTAL
An anagram (‘developed’) of SITE CELTS – we had never come across this ‘synonym’ before – and it’s not in Chambers!
I (one) in (‘enthralled by’) an anagram (‘exotic’) of INSECT in ST (street)
SIGN (indication) ORA (Rita Ora, singer, actress)
cEASED (stopped) missing the first letter or ‘losing head’
T (last letter or ‘back’ in Belfast) W (with) A N (north) G (German)
bENDy (flexible) missing the first and last letters or ‘naked’
KABADDI has actually appeared on UK TV at times and, yes, it’s an odd version of tag. The reason they chant, I believe, is to prove they are not unfairly holding their breath. I was beaten by the nho ASPERGILL, even with GILL in place as a guess. I could not spot that ‘initiates’ was a positional indicator, unfortunately. SCOTCH FIRS went in with a little hesitation – I have certainly encountered Scots Pine but am not used to seeing it with the Scotch prefix which I think is more common in the US. BERLUSCONI has a topical if grim surface – nice to have TESTICLES to raise a smile.
Thanks both
Sheer excellence from a setter at the top of his game. My only unknown was KABADDI but this was clearly clued.
From a page littered with ticks, BERLUSCONI, DOUBLE-CROSS and ASPERGILL were my top picks.
Many thanks to Eccles and to B&J.
Needed help for the sprinkler. I had AS PER but not GILL. Likes for DOUBLE CROSS, TOE, ‘plums’ for TESTICLES, and ‘bendy’ for flexible. Thanks B&J and Eccles.
BERLUSCONI, KABADDI, DOUBLE-CROSS and GOBSTOPPER were my favourites. Great puzzle.
Thank Evans for Eccles. Witty and fun.
Though, of course, 4(d), “sport that’s not breathtaking”, (7), is obviously, CRICKET.
And I had (M) ENDED, at 21(d), early on, because I’m daft.
Superb puzzle, the dog’s TESTICLES.
Hats off to Eccles and BJ.
15d. The clue is fine and well-constructed but I’m not sure I like the use of the term “boffin”. It perpetuates a stereotype. Perhaps it is fine in the UK. But as Marvin would say, loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it.