Another fortnight goes by, so not surprisingly, we find another puzzle from Eccles.
Please accept my apologies for this blog appearing for an hour yesterday morning before I read the comments that it had gone up a day early.
Eccles likes to include the odd obscure word in his grids. Today’s lead candidate is probably ENANTIOMER, although, for me, GAMELAN and ELLAGIC were equally unusual. I wonder whether Eccles chooses these words to put in the grid, or whether he is forced to use them by the crossing letters in the incomplete grid he has already created? I knew LEMMA from my days as a mathematics student back in the mists of time.
The homophone ISLE OF DOGS / I LOVE DOGS works for me if I say it quickly and pronounce OF as UV.
I feel I am missing something in the parsing of SET TO MUSIC. The clue just looks like a cryptic definition. I will be interested to see if other solvers read more into the parsing.
A knowledge of UK geography is helpful today with entries such as GEORDIE, WILTS, ISLE OF DOGS and GREAT OUSE, plus references to Barnsley and Battersea in the clues.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Flatulence of cricket team beginning to subside around November (9)
WINDINESS (flatulence) (WINDIES [a word used to reference the West Indies cricket team] + S [first letter of {beginning to} Subside) containing (around) N (November is the international radio communication code for the letter N) WINDI (N) ES S |
| 6 | Premise of large book set in Highbury (5)
LEMMA (a mathematical term for a premise taken for granted) L (large) + EMMA (the novel EMMA by Jane Austen [1775 – 1817] was set in the fictional Surrey village of Highbury) L EMMA |
| 9 | Allowed actor initially to enter stage left (5)
LEGAL (allowed) A (first letter of [initially] Actor) contained in (to enter) (LEG [stage] + L [left]) LEG (A) L |
| 10 | A game point for champion (9)
APOLOGIST (advocate; champion) A + POLO (a game like hockey played on horseback using long-handled mallets and a ball) + GIST (main point of a matter) A POLO GIST |
| 11 | Noted work? (3,2,5)
SET TO MUSIC (provide music for a poem or other text to be sung, therefore creating a ‘noted’ or musical work) SET TO MUSIC – I think this is just a cryptic definition based on the word ‘noted’ referencing musical notes SET TO MUSIC |
| 12 | Starting late, foreigners bypassing one French city (4)
LENS (city in northern France) aLiENS (foreigners) excluding the first letter (starting late) A and also excluding (bypassing) the I (Roman numeral for one) LENS |
| 14 | Perhaps Declan Donnelly content to scavenge or diet (7)
GEORDIE (person who comes from the Tyneside area of England) Declan Donnelly [born 1975], one half of the duo Ant & Dec, was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, making him a GEORDIE) GEORDIE |
| 15 | Match tactics having quietly ignored SE Asian players (7)
GAMELAN (an orchestra of South East Asia consisting of percussion [chiefly] wind instruments and stringed instruments; SE Asian player) GAME pLAN (match tactics) excluding (having … ignored) P (piano; quietly) GAME LAN |
| 17 | Relating to acid derived from gall nuts put into melting ice (7)
ELLAGIC (relating to gallnuts, applied to an acid) Anagram of (nuts) GALL contained in (put into) an anagram of (melting) ICE E (LLAG*) IC* |
| 19 | Army officer is common (7)
GENERAL (widespread; common) GENERAL (Army officer) double definition GENERAL |
| 20 | Pull close to station in Barnsley? (4)
TOWN (Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire) TOW (pull) + N (last letter of [close to] statioN) TOW N |
| 22 | Awkwardly mention ear it’s one of a pair, the mirror image of the other (10)
ENANTIOMER (a shape or object, such as a crystal or molecule, exactly the same as another except that right and left are interchanged, each being a mirror image of the other) Anagram of (awkwardly) MENTION EAR ENANTIOMER* |
| 25 | Weaken female leaving to provide finance for fur (9)
UNDERMINE (weaken) fUND (provide finance for) excluding (leaving) F (female) + ERMINE (fur of the stoat) UND ERMINE |
| 26 | So far, simple to cycle in front of Tesla (2,3)
AS YET (so far) EASY (simple), cycled one letter to the left with first letter going to the, to form ASYE + T (tesla; derived SI unit of magnetic flux) AS YE T |
| 27 | Made a mistake about western wine (5)
ERRED (made a mistake) RE (about) reversed (western) + RED (a wine) ER< RED |
| 28 | Nursing officer welcoming revolutionary English microwave source (9)
MAGNETRON (a two-electrode valve in which the flow of electrons from a large central cathode to a cylindrical anode is controlled by crossed electric and magnetic fields, used to give high-powered microwave radiation) MATRON (nursing officer) containing (welcoming) ENG (English) reversed (revolutionary) MA (GNE<) TRON |
| Down | |
| 1 | County flags (5)
WILTS (Wiltshire, an English County) WILTS (flags) double definition WILTS |
| 2 | Things struggling with fossil fuel waste (5,4)
NIGHT SOIL (the contents of outside lavatories, cesspools, etc generally carried away at night and sometimes used for fertiliser; waste) Anagram of (struggling) THINGS + OIL (fuel) NIGHTS* OIL |
| 3 | Reportedly, I adore residents of Battersea, part of London (4,2,4)
ISLE OF DOGS (; part of London) ISLE OF DOGS (sounds like [reportedly] I LOVE DOGS – DOGS is a reference to Battersea DOGS Home, a rescue centre, now officially titled Battersea Dogs & Cats Home or possibly just Battersea; I adore residents of Battersea) ISLE OF DOGS |
| 4 | Times regularly queried showing synth-pop duo (7)
ERASURE (an English synth-pop duo formed in 1985 who last toured in 2025) ERAS (times) + URE (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of qUeRiEd) ERAS URE |
| 5 | Family stopping small cat doing unhealthy activity (7)
SMOKING (an unhealthy activity) KIN (family) contained in (stopping) (S [small] + MOG [slang term for a cat]) S MO (KIN) G |
| 6 | Accumulate boomerangs in circle (4)
LOOP (circle) POOL (accumulate) reversed (comes back; boomerangs) LOOP< |
| 7 | Crop cloth covering snooker table, with money to replace balls, at first (5)
MAIZE (a crop) BAIZE (a snooker table cover) with M (money) for (replacing) B (initial letter of [at first] Balls) to form MAIZE MAIZE |
| 8 | Negative critique of creative work regarding skilled worker (9)
ARTISANAL (of or regarding a skilled worker [ARTISAN]) ART [creative work) + IS ANAL (an example of a negative critique) ART IS ANAL |
| 13 | European chap worried about withdrawn photo’s release (10)
EMANCIPATE (set free from legal, social or political restraint or bondage; release) E (European) + ([MAN {chap} + ATE {worried}] containing [about] PIC [photo] reversed [withdrawn]) E MAN (CIP<) ATE |
| 14 | Have to stop game in river (5,4)
GREAT OUSE (river in England) EAT (consume; have) contained in (to stop) GROUSE (game bird; game) GR (EAT) OUSE |
| 16 | Royal dorm upset Dick Whittington? (4,5)
LORD MAYOR (Richard [Dick] Whittington [1354 – 1423] was a four-times Mayor of London. He is said to be the inspiration for the folk tale Dick Whittington and his Cat) Anagram of (upset) ROYAL DORM LORD MAYOR* |
| 18 | Prove bit of negligence in two companies (7)
CONFIRM (prove) N (first letter of [bit of] Negligence) contained in (in) (CO [company] + FIRM [business house or partnership; company] giving two companies) CO (N) FIRM |
| 19 | Scrambled eggs in back of van can be restorative (7)
GINSENG (a root of a plant of the araliaceous genus Panax, cultivated especially in the Far East believed to have important restorative and curative properties) Anagram of (scrambled) EGGS IN and N (last letter of [back of] vaN) GINSENG* |
| 21 | Shorebird is nameless stray (5)
WADER (any shorebird is a WADER) WAnDER (stray) excluding (-less) N (name) WADER |
| 23 | Helping to release one in desert (3,2)
RAT ON (desert) RATiON (portion; helping) excluding (to release) I (Roman numeral for one) RAT ON |
| 24 | Lament almost lying about network (4)
GRID (network) DIRGe (a lament) excluding the final letter (almost) E then reversed (lying about) GRID< |
Enjoyed this one. A little tricky. Satisfying to solve. For 22a, my loi, I didn’t want to use a word search so I googled ‘anentiomer’ and it asked if I meant ENANTIOMER, and of course I did. I agree with the blog re 11a. Thanks duncan and Eccles.
All the usual fun from this setter with several new words to find in 15a, 17a & 22a.
Many thanks to Eccles and to Duncan.
Small error in blog for 27a. Should say RE (about) reversed (western).
Hovis@3
Thanks – I’ve amended the blog
As always from Eccles a solid effort with a few unusual answers – for me these were ELLAGIC, ENANTIOMER and NIGHT SOIL. LEMMA and GAMELAN could also fit into the unusual category for some people but I have a vague memory of the former and I know about the latter as I learnt about it in primary school
I’m annoyed with myself that I didn’t get WILTS – I had W_L_S and put in WALES thinking that ‘county’ and ‘country’ were synonymous or that there’d been a typo and the R had been missed from ‘country’, and that there was an obscure word I’d not heard of for ‘flags’, but I was wrong. I thought of several county abbreviations but not the right one. If I’d have thought about it for a minute or two more I may have gotten it but I have a habit of giving up too quickly
Lastly, I ought to show ‘A Little Respect’ to ERASURE. I’m mainly a rock/indie fan but I do love a bit of 80s synth-pop (Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Yazoo, etc)
Thanks Eccles and Duncan
Remember chirality, cis and trans, from Organic Chem, but enantiomer is a total nho. Wonder whether anyone has ho it, and how.
I usually enjoy Eccles JORUM experiences and ELLAGIC was satisfyingly clear. I got hung up on ENANTIOMER though as I was convinced it would start with “anti”. I liked CONFIRM and WADER.
[Gif@6 Since you ask, I learned all about them from episode 5 (section fr. 14m24s). IIRC, Eccles has a background in chemistry (as well as a connection to episode 6), so it would probably be a familiar word to him. ]
Favourites 1a, 15, 19. Thanks to Duncan & Eccles.
Thanks both. The parsing of ARTISANAL was lost on me, but it does lack precision, and ENANTIOMER gives me the opportunity to continue my campaign for obscure words not to be clued as anagrams – not if you want solvers to have a fair chance that is.
Pedants corner but I knew about enantiomers from molecular biology where you learn about the L and D forms of amino acids, which are enantiomers. You learn right at the beginning that most of the proteins in living things are made of the L forms, but the D forms turn up in odd places like bacterial cell walls. I enjoyed the crossword. Thanks Eccles and DS
TFO @9. And I’ll continue to hold the same view.
Thanks Eccles for a challenging, well-crafted crossword. I got very little on my first pass but gradually everything came to light except ENANTIOMER which required a word finder. Favourites included ERRED, ERASURE, EMANCIPATE, GREAT OUSE, and RAT ON. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.