Wednesday and Eccles is a pairing to look forward to.
As ever, there were smooth surfaces in many clues, but the ones I liked particularly were those for POINT-TO-POINT, CRISIS and INTERNET CAFE
The enumeration for POINT-TO-POINT may have made the solution fairly obvious, but the deconstruction of Eton as E TO N was excellent.
The construction of TITLE ROLE at 3 down was quite complex with two separate containment indicators.
The anagram for INTERNET CAFE was very appropriate.
I’m not sure that I have ever seen a glass STEIN (22 down). I’ve always assumed they were earthenware or metal. However, looking at products on Amazon, I’ve obviously led a sheltered life as there are many examples of glass STEINs there.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Horse race in Eton broken up (5-2-5) |
POINT TO POINT (Eton can be broken up to form E [East, a POINT of the compass) + TO + N [North, another POINT of the compass]) POINT TO POINT |
POINT-TO-POINT (type of cross-country horse race) |
| 9 | Investment fund not suitable when France lost confidence (4,5) |
UN UNIT TRUST |
UNIT TRUST (type of investment fund in which given amounts of different securities form a unit) |
| 10 | Stuff found in canyon (5) |
GORGE (feed gluttonously; stuff) GORGE |
GORGE (canyon) double definition |
| 11 | Trouble results when ex-PM meets Queen about Spain (6) |
MAY (reference Theresa MAY [born 1956], former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) + (HM [Her Majesty Queen] containing [about] E [International Vehicle Registration for Spain]) MAY H (E) M |
MAYHEM (havoc; trouble) |
| 12 | Essential nit-picking (8) |
CRITICAL (vital;essential) CRITICAL |
CRITICAL (disparaging; fault-finding; nit-picking) double definition |
| 13 | Rock band in Glastonbury, perhaps, creating quiver of excitement (6) |
REM (R.E.M, an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980) contained in (in) TOR (reference Glastonbury TOR, a hill near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael’s Tower) The band has played at the Glastonbury festival. T (REM) OR |
TREMOR (thrill; quiver of excitement) |
| 15 | In Calais, I start to arouse terrible envy (8) |
JE (French [Calais] for I) + A (first letter of [start to] AROUSE) + LOUSY (inferior; terrible) JE A LOUSY |
JEALOUSY (envy) |
| 18 | Game that’s nice to play wearing crown (8) |
Anagram of (to play) NICE contained in (wearing) PATE (crown of the head) PAT (IENC*) E |
PATIENCE (card game) |
| 19 | Escort and milliner removing clothes getting naked on vacation (6) |
HATTER (milliner) excluding the outer letters (removing clothes) H and R to form ATTE + ND (letters remaining in the word NAKED when the central letters AKE are removed [on vacation]) ATTE ND |
ATTEND (escort) |
| 21 | A nastier criminal? Well sort of (8) |
A + an anagram of (criminal) NASTIER A RTESIAN* |
ARTESIAN (denoting a type of well in which water rises in a borehole by hydrostatic pressure from a basin-shaped aquifer whose outcrop is at a higher level) |
| 23 | Councillor is repeatedly in big trouble (6) |
CR (councillor) + IS + IS CR IS IS |
CRISIS (time of difficulty or distress; big trouble) |
| 26 | Spotted in audition for drama (5) |
SCENE (sounds like [in audition] SEEN [observed; spotted]) SCENE |
SCENE (dramatic or stagy incident; drama) |
| 27 | American stars swim in large extremely picturesque, river (3,6) |
DIP (swim) contained in (in) (BIG [large] + PE [outside letters of {extremely} PICTURESQUE]) + R (river) BIG (DIP) PE R |
BIG DIPPER (American term for the star constellation Ursa Major, [often referred to as The Plough in the UK]) |
| 28 | Refit canteen, transforming it into this? (8,4) |
Anagram of (transforming it into) REFIT CANTEEN INTERNET CAFE* |
INTERNET CAFE (how a canteen might look after a refit) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Professor on board with Eccles beginning to take plunge (7) |
PLUM (reference Professor PLUM, a character in the board gane Cluedo; Professor on board) + ME (Eccles, the setter of the puzzle) + T (first letter of [beginning to] TAKE) PLUM ME T |
PLUMMET (plunge headlong) |
| 2 | Island ousts leader in a hostile manner (5) |
ICILY |
ICILY (in a hostile manner) |
| 3 | Lead miner finally found in dilapidated toilet clutching two pieces of lead (5,4) |
R (last letter of [finally] MINER) contained in (found in) (an anagram of (dilapidated) TOILET containing (clutching) LE (first two letters of [two pieces of] LEAD) TIT [LE] (R) OLE*] |
TITLE ROLE (lead [part in a play of the same name]) |
| 4 | Responsibility of working American (4) |
ON (working) + US (United States; American) ON US |
ONUS (responsibility) |
| 5 | Protests, of course, with it being ridiculous (8) |
Anagram of (being ridiculous) COURSE and IT OUTCRIES* |
OUTCRIES (protests) |
| 6 | Time to get hot drink on retirement for the evening? (5) |
(T [time] + H [hot] + GIN [alcoholic drink]) all reversed (on retirement) (NIG H T)< |
NIGHT (evening|) |
| 7 | Rule out piece of music containing bathetic ending (8) |
PRELUDE (piece of music) containing (containing) C (last letter of [ending] BATHETIC) PRE (C) LUDE |
PRECLUDE (rule out) |
| 8 | Very concerning associate (6) |
RE (concerning) + ALLY (associate) RE ALLY |
REALLY (very) |
| 14 | Authorises things, having left for Italy (8) |
ENTIT ENTITLES |
ENTITLES (authorises) |
| 16 | Directory includes interminably boring compiler of religious scripts (9) |
LIST (directory) containing (includes) TURGI LI (TURGI) ST |
LITURGIST (an authority on rites and the scripts for them; probably also a compiler of such scripts)) |
| 17 | Make unintelligible order to take off (8) |
SCRAMBLE (make unintelligible) SCRAMBLE |
SCRAMBLE ([of a military aircraft or its crew] to take off immediately, as in an emergency) double definition |
| 18 | Worship Trump, in the end, to get pay increase (6) |
P (last letter of [in the end] TRUMP) + RAISE (pay increase) P RAISE |
PRAISE (worship) |
| 20 | Not well versed about essential part of procedure, shows warrant (7) |
Anagram of (not well) VERSED containing (about) E (middle letter of [essential part of] PROCEDURE DES (E) RVE* |
DESERVE (warrant) |
| 22 | Setter regularly getting cool glass of beer? (5) |
STE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regularly] of SETTER) + IN (trendy; cool) STE IN |
STEIN (large beer mug, most likely to be earthenware, but could be made of glass) |
| 24 | Tapes damaged membranes (5) |
Anagram of (damaged) TAPES SEPTA* |
SEPTA (dividing partitions or membranes between two cavities in a mechanical device) |
| 25 | Opposed to carrying on with no restrictions (4) |
AGIN |
AGIN (against) |
Thanks for parsing 1a. Didn’t know the horse race but guessed the answer. “Eton broken up” was very clever. Great clue. The anagram for INTERNET CAFE was another nice find. All good!
Thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
I like Eccles Wednesdays (and as crosswording Wednesdays go, this is a good one with Eccles, Shed, Julius, not to mention Jay and Micawber (morph) in the DT)
Too many great clues in this one to pick favourites although saying that I did like 1d and the internet cafe in 28a
Thanks very much Eccles for the excellent crossword and to Duncan for the equally excellent blog
Simply wonderful.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Exactly what crypticsue said.
Many thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
Hear hear to all the above. Very clever clues yet not too taxing. Artesian and Plummet were my favourites. Thanks Eccles and Duncan.
Fun puzzle, which was just right for a quality daily cryptic. Like our blogger, I thought INTERNET CAFE was a very cleverly constructed clue.
Thanks to S&B.
Hovis @1 a point-to-point is just another name for a steeplechase i.e. literally racing between two (or more) churches but fitted well to make a great clue here.
I found this fairly straightforward and managed it in one sitting (appropriate given where I do the crossword!).
My own favourite was Artesian but once again it was day for lots of smiles so many thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
Most enjoyable offering from Eccles which got off to a good start with the horse race. Personal favourites were SCRAMBLE and INTERNET CAFE.
Thanks to Eccles and also to Duncan for his usual clear review.
Immaculate clues
Good enjoyable solve. 21 and 28A stood out but only just.
Many thanks to Eccles and Duncan.
Thanks to duncanshiell and Eccles
Always good
28a is a good example of a clue type I’ve not seen classified:
fodder (refit canteen) anagrind (transforming (it into)?) = entry (this) (for a hint as to the nature of “this” please refer to the fodder)
Does it have a name or is it just double duty in fancy trousers?
Many thanks for the usual comprehensive blog, Duncan, and to everyone else for all the comments.
@Dansar I’d say 28a is kind of an &lit where the wordplay is the whole clue and the surface reading overall describes the answer (slightly cryptically or obliquely rather than literally in this case).
Great highly satisfying puzzle, Eccles. Thanks for the blog, Duncan