Eccles is back in his ‘regular ‘ Wednesday slot this week
Another well-crafted puzzle from our Wednesday setter.
As usual, there is a good variety of clue types and smooth surfaces.
We learnt two new words at 12ac and 19d and a new phrase at 3d, so thanks Eccles for the education!
A sort of clue-as-definition: a ‘group of rocks going downhill’ could be described as ROLLING STONES
B (bishop) LAG (arrest) – we had to check this slang word for ‘arrest’
INERT (still) WINE (‘Champagne, say’) round T (last letter or ‘back’ of restaurant)
A POLLO (Spanish for chicken)
A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of MEETS (‘has an encounter’) in DEE (river)
PERT (lively) US (American) SIS (‘relative’) – apparently the medical term for whooping cough
D (first letter or ‘beginning’ of document) I’VE (‘setter’s’)
A homophone (‘broadcast’) of BLUE (down)
A GIN (drink) COURT (date)
GO (attempt) A LP (record) mOST missing the first letter (‘initially ignored’)
A homophone (‘picked up’) of MY NEWT (‘amphibian belonging to me’)
An anagram (‘dicky’) of LEARNT DUET
Hidden (‘kept by’) in loCAL Man
An anagram (‘pants’) of USES HANDMAID’S
A reversal (‘returning’) of PALER (‘more ashen’) + S E (first letters or ‘starts’ of suffer extremes)
LEG (stage) wALk (ramble) missing the first and last letters (‘naked’)
IN (popular) IRONS (Jeremy Irons – ‘English actor’) – a new phrase for us
T (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of decongestant) ITCH (long) after GATHERINGS (parties)
TURN TwO (‘second shot’) missing (‘abandoning’) ‘w’ (wife)
An anagram (‘fancy’) of OX MINCE WE
SINCE (following) RE (on)
An anagram (‘mistakenly’) of ENTER DELI
IOM (Isle of Man) in (‘stocked by’) BASS (fish)
Double definition
R (Republican) ITALIaN (‘from Rome, possibly’) missing (‘ignoring’) ‘A’ (American)
COR (‘Blimey!’) aRsEnAl (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) – we had to check this Australian plant – it’s not in chambers!
H (hearts) in (‘blocking’) NICE (French football club)
Likewise, did not know IN IRONS (so needed the crossers), CORREA (which was very clearly clued but unhelpfully not in Chambers which is my first port of call) or PERTUSSIS (which beat me as I could not find the appropriate synonym for ‘lively’ to get the first syllable. So, once again, one to the setter. I have not seen that particular treatment of ROLLING STONES and rather enjoyed it but BIOMASS is my COTD for the neat use of IOM.
Thanks both.