I always look forward to blogging an Eccles crossword.
Eccles clues are frequently written so smoothly that it takes a little while to separate the definition from the wordplay. Good examples of this today were the clues for HOBBY at 1 down, EPISCOPAL at 8 down and MOOSE at 24 down
When parsing ARCHITECT at 14 down, I clung to ARCH as ‘bow’ for too long before realising that it was just ARC that was required.
I was a bit unsure of the use of ‘mantle’ in the clue at 16 across, as I have hardly ever watched the TV programme Casualty. However, whilst writing the blog I realised that Clive Mantle played a major role in the series.
One of my last ones in was TYPESCRIPT where it took me a long time to come up with CRYPT as the cellar for which we needed a homophone. I hadn’t helped myself by deciding there must have been an artist named HOBBS for 1 down.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Use a tool and slice hot bananas (6) |
Anagram of (bananas) H (hot) and SLICE CHISEL* |
CHISEL (use a specific tool) |
| 5 | Believe in legal position, constrained by gutless coroner (8) |
ONSIDE (a position approved by the law, e.g. in football) contained in (constrained by) CR (letters remaining in C C (ONSIDE) R |
CONSIDER (believe) |
| 9 | Notice absorbing card game gets curtailed (8) |
AD (advertisement; notice) containing (absorbing) BRIDGE (card game) A (BRIDGE) D |
ABRIDGED (curtailed) |
| 10 | Smoking not good for diver (6) |
PUFFIN PUFFIN |
PUFFIN (diving bird) |
| 11 | Sorts cellar by phone or text (10) |
TYPES (sorts) + CRIPT (sounds like [by phone] CRYPT [cellar]) TYPES CRIPT |
TYPESCRIPT (text) |
| 12 | Scrap lorry that doesn’t start (4) |
RUCK |
RUCK (fight; scrap) |
| 13 | Assistant nonetheless gets energy lozenge (8) |
PA (Personal Assistant) + STILL (yet; nonetheless) + E (energy) PA STILL E |
PASTILLE (small [often medicated] sweet; lozenge) |
| 16 | Mantle is able to work before Casualty’s termination (6) |
CAN (is able to) + OP (opus; work) + Y (last letter of [termination] CASUALTY) CAN OP Y |
CANOPY (a covering or mantle) |
| 17 | I like dunce’s cap to be of remarkable quality (6) |
I + CONIC (shaped like a dunce’s cap) I CONIC |
ICONIC (anything venerated or uncritically admired; of remarkable quality) |
| 19 | French bridge player to refuse to accept deal ultimately, without warning (8) |
SUD (French for South; French bridge player) + (DENY [refuse] containing [to accept] L [last letter of {ultimately} DEAL]) SUD DEN (L) Y |
SUDDENLY (without warning) |
| 21 | Ariadne regularly provides help (4) |
AIDE (letters 1,3, 5 and 7 [regularly] of ARIADNE) AIDE |
AIDE (someone who provides assistance; a help) |
| 22 | Jiffy found with body fluid in caravan? (6,4) |
MO (moment; jiffy) + BILE (bodily fluid) + HOME (at HOME; in) MO BILE HOME |
MOBILE HOME (caravan) |
| 25 | Iron crease for Tom, perhaps (6) |
FE (chemical symbol for iron) + LINE (crease) FE LINE |
FELINE (a TOM cat is one example of a FELINE) |
| 26 | Senselessness of outside broadcast; 6 eaten by 25 (8) |
OB (outside broadcast) + (VI [Roman numerals for six] contained in [eaten by] LION [example of a FELINE [25 across]) OB LI (VI) ON |
OBLIVION (state of being unconscious; senselessness) |
| 27 | Partly persuade the realists to become spiritual (8) |
ETHEREAL (hidden word in [partly] PERSUADE THE REALISTS) ETHEREAL |
ETHEREAL (spirit-like) |
| 28 | Remove coat in boring task to catch insect (6) |
HOR NET |
HORNET (an insect) |
| Down | |||
| 2 | One could be painting things like the top of an oven? (5) |
HOBBY (like a HOB; like the top of an oven) HOBBY |
HOBBY (some people take up painting as a HOBBY) |
| 3 | Capture 16 in Mont-Saint-Michel (5) |
SEIZE (capture) SEIZE |
SEIZE (French [Mont-Saint-Michel] word for 16) double definition |
| 4 | Most of spirit in pub is reasonable (7) |
GI LO (GI) CAL |
LOGICAL (reasoning correctly; reasonable) |
| 5 | Overheard one of two church administrators possibly supplying opiate (7) |
CODEINE (sounds like [overheard] CO DEAN [one of two church administrators]) CODEINE |
CODEINE (an alkaloid, derived from morphine, used as an analgesic and antitussive; opiate) |
| 6 | Conservative and independent to write about showing favouritism (7) |
(C [Conservative] + I [independent] + TO + PEN [write]) all reversed (about) (NEP OT I C)< |
NEPOTIC (showing undue favouritism to one’s relations and close friends) |
| 7 | Queen punches popular trader in Reading (9) |
ER (Elizabeth Regina [Queen]) contained in (punches) (IN [popular] + FENCE [trader in stolen goods]) IN F (ER) ENCE |
INFERENCE (interpretation; deduction; reading) |
| 8 | Doctor copies friend of bishops (9) |
Anagram of (doctor) COPIES + PAL (friend) EPISCO* PAL |
EPISCOPAL (belonging to or vested in bishops) |
| 14 | Designer of bow affected by shocking treatment (9) |
ARC (bow) + HIT (affected by, an illness for example) + ECT (elecroconvulsive therapy) ARC HIT ECT |
ARCHITECT (designer of buildings) |
| 15 | I resented being forced to beat meat (9) |
Anagram of (being forced to) I RESENTED TENDERISE* |
TENDERISE (to break down the connective tissue of (meat) so as to make it tender, either by pounding or by applying a chemical or marinade) |
| 18 | He introduces politician before going after commanding officer (7) |
CO (Commanding Officer) + MP (Member of Parliament; politician) + ERE (before) CO MP ERE |
COMPÈRE (host; he introduces) |
| 19 | Replaces fossil fuel that is found just below the surface (7) |
SUBS (substitutes; replaces) + OIL (a fossil fuel) SUB S OIL |
SUBSOIL (a layer of broken or partly weathered rock underlying the surface soil) |
| 20 | Old temptress called up to lure in lascivious leader (7) |
HAILED (called) reversed (up; down clue) containing (to lure in) L (first letter of [leader] LASCIVIOUS) DELI (L) AH< |
DELILAH (the Philistine woman who tricked Samson [Bible, Judges 16]; old temptress) |
| 23 | Fly from Hungary with collection of deliveries (5) |
H (International Vehicle Registration for Hungary) + OVER (a collection of deliveries by a bowler in cricket) H OVER |
HOVER (fly) |
| 24 | Deer and cow noises echo (5) |
MOOS (cow noises) + E (echo is the international radio communication code word for the letter E) MOOS E |
MOOSE (the American elk [deer]) |
Lovely stuff, as always from Eccles. He does have the knack for writing clues that seem easy on hindsight but can take some time in parsing. The ones that held me up most today were the ‘simple’ SEIZE & CODEINE.
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
I couldn’t parse Architect so thanks for the explanation. There was a Canadian painter called William J. Hobbs (1927-2012), but the BS would be a problem. Much enjoyed, what Hovis said. Many thanks Eccles and Duncan.
I always look forward to solving an Eccles crossword. This one was as enjoyable as ever
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan
Classic Eccles. Super smooth and a lot of fun. SEIZE was my favourite.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
I too liked SEIZE. A bunch of very neat clues adding up to an enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Eccles and Duncan
What crypticsue said - I loved SEIZE particularly.
Took me a while to sort out ‘affected by’ in ARCHITECT and I wasn’t very taken with HOBBY but otherwise an enjoyable solve if one ignored the double-entendres!
Thanks to Eccles and to Duncan for the usual very clear review.
We also had ‘Hobbs’ initially for 2dn, as the name of a painter is often used to refer to a painting as, for example, in ‘a Rembrandt’; so it wasn’t till we were stuck on 11ac that we realised the correct answer. We tend to forget the setter’s trick of adding Y to a word to indicate ‘like’. And we couldn’t parse 14dn properly either.
All good stuff, though. Favourites were PUFFIN, SEIZE and CODEINE.
Thanks, Eccled and Duncan.
We enjoyed the challenge – a bit tougher than usual we thought. We also had HOBBS which meant that PASTILLE wouldn’t work and it took a while to realise what was wrong.
Thank Eccles – always good to see you on Wednesdays.
Thanks Duncan – we hadn’t appreciated the significance of MANTLE.
Not sure if I’ve solved an Eccles before. Knut mentioned it this afternoon, so here I am. Did it online on my phone. Failed to parse 14d, also treating ARCH for BOW.
Whenever I see CANOPY, I recall a notice on the door of a new bar in Benidorm a few years ago. Grand Opening, Free Drinks and Canopies.
My best Eccles ever, only missed 3d (of course I was trying to work the 16a CANOPY into the clue) and a slim-ish majority fully parsed. I’ll add myself to the list for Hobbs, and felt uncomfortable with the assumed snobbery of trying to decide if the Canadian artist was sufficiently prominent. Favourite was 5d CODEINE. Thanks Duncan and Eccles.
Cheers for the usual fine blog, and to all commenters. It’s always nice to see new people here.