As seems only fitting, Eccles has set the last mid-week crossword in the Indy series as we currently know it.
No surprises today: Eccles’ crosswords always offer a combination of mainly accessible clues but with a handful of tougher ones that require some head-scratching.
In the end, I struggled with the interlocking 5D, 7 and 10, all of which are fair clues to not that common words, and my last one in was 18, which is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking of major conurbations!
As has been quite typical of Indy crosswords over the years, there is a sprinkling of references to current affairs, at 14, 26, 27, etc, which has always kept it quite uniquely fresh. Perhaps for that very reason, my favourite clues today are 14 and 26; not forgetting 13 and 24, for their brilliantly smooth surfaces. However, I am not sure of my parsing of 3, where I may be missing a trick – any thoughts?
Consulting the archive, I have been blogging crosswords in this series for almost 16 years, with the first of my 823 Indy blogs having been of a puzzle by Dac on 15 December 2010. Although reconciling blog-writing with unpredictable professional commitments has not always been easy, I have thoroughly enjoyed tackling and making sense of the work of a amazing set of compilers, whose puzzles have always been teeming with flair and originality. I also hope that my parsing has proved useful to fellow solvers along the way.
Whatever the future holds for this series (if anything), I truly hope that there will be (other) outlets for the work of these setters, and for the occasional blog by yours truly.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are underlined; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | COTERIE |
Erotic frolicking with European friends with specific interests in common (7)
|
| *(EROTIC) + E (=European); “frolicking” is anagram indicator | ||
| 5 | DEAD ARM |
Minor injury from bit of egg in pop gun? (4,3)
|
| [E<gg> (“bit of” means first letter only) in DAD (=pop, father)] + ARM (=gun) | ||
| 9 | IRKED |
Annoyed, avoided work away from sunshine, essentially (5)
|
| <sh>IRKED (=avoided work); “away from sunshine essentially (=middle letters)” means letters “sh” are dropped | ||
| 10 | ARSENATES |
Salts found in pair of buttocks (9)
|
| ARSE (=buttocks) + NATES (=buttocks); arsenates are salts of arsenic acid | ||
| 11 | BURDENSOME |
Taxing dumber ones works (10)
|
| *(DUMBER ONES); “works” is anagram indicator; as an adjective, taxing is onerous, burdensome | ||
| 12 | LIDO |
Hole on cover for pool (4)
|
| LID (=cover, top) + O (=hole, pictorially) | ||
| 14 | RIGHT-WINGER |
Rectify victory by German AfD candidate? (5-6)
|
| RIGHT (=rectify, correct) + WIN (=victory) + GER (=German); an AfD political candidate in Germany is definitely a right-winger | ||
| 18 | KRASNOYARSK |
Returned kiss on vacation with Ray on Channel Island’s major conurbation (11)
|
| KS (K<is>S; “on vacation” means middle letters are emptied out) + RAY + ON + SARK (=Channel Island); “returned” indicates full reversal; Krasnoyarsk is a major conurbation in Siberia | ||
| 21 | PAIR |
Mate in tree, reportedly (4)
|
| Homophone (“reportedly”) of “(to) pair (=mate, couple)” | ||
| 22 | CARBON DATE |
Work out the age of bubbly when daughter moves west (6-4)
|
| CARBONATED (=bubbly, aerated, of drink); “when daughter (=D) moves west” means letter “d” moves further to the left in the word | ||
| 25 | ADULATION |
Made dull patios, one without any walls getting very high praise (9)
|
| <m>AD<e> <d>UL<l> <p>ATIO<s> <o>N<e>; “without any walls” means first and last letters of each word are dropped | ||
| 26 | EXILE |
English cricket team left watering-hole, ultimately getting banishment (5)
|
| E (=English) + XI (=cricket team, i.e. eleven) + L (=left) + <watering-hol>E (“ultimately’ means last letter only) | ||
| 27 | EPSTEIN |
Records money sealing introduction to Eric Trump’s close associate (7)
|
| EPs (=records, i.e. extended plays) + [E<ric> (“introduction to” means first letter only) in TIN (=money, colloquially)]; the reference is to disgraced financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019) | ||
| 28 | HIDEOUT |
Enormous uncertainty picked up in retreat (7)
|
| Homophone (“picked up”) in “high (=enormous) doubt (=uncertainty)” | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 1 | CLIMBS |
Increases in Conservative branches (6)
|
| C (=Conservative) + LIMBS (=branches, of trees) | ||
| 2 | TAKERS |
People accepting offers from sailors around centre of Liskeard (6)
|
| <lis>KE<ard> (“centre of” means middle letters only) in TARS (=sailors, salts) | ||
| 3 | RED HERRING |
For example, the capitalisation in revolutionAry fIsh? (3,7)
|
| RED (=revolutionary) + HERRING (=fish); cryptic definition, in which the capitalisation is indeed a red herring! | ||
| 4 | EXAMS |
Maxes out in tests (5)
|
| *(MAXES); “out” is anagram indicator | ||
| 5 | DOSIMETER |
It measures radiation from reflective paste to frighten guards (9)
|
| OSIM (MISO=paste, in Japanese cuisine; “reflective” indicates reversal) in DETER (=to frighten (off), scare (off)) | ||
| 6 | ANNE |
Queen forbidden to take clothes off (4)
|
| <b>ANNE<d> (=forbidden; “to take clothes off” means first and last letters are dropped); the reference is to Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch of England from 1702-14 | ||
| 7 | ASTRINGE |
Train A&E nurse to bind together (8)
|
| STRING (=(a) train, series (of)) in [A + E]; to astringe is to bind, draw together | ||
| 8 | MISSOURI |
Disregard our current state (8)
|
| MISS (=disregard, leave out) + OUR + I (=current, in electricity) | ||
| 13 | BIRKENHEAD |
Break-in he’d orchestrated in part of Merseyside (10)
|
| *(BREAK-IN HE’D); “orchestrated”, engineered, is anagram indicator | ||
| 15 | GAYCATION |
Holiday in Georgia ending in debauchery – that’s a positive thing? (9)
|
| GA (=Georgia, i.e. US state) + <debaucher>Y (“ending in” means last letter only) + CATION (=a positive thing, i.e. a positively charged ion); a gaycation is a holiday specifically planned for LGBTQ+ individuals | ||
| 16 | SKIPLANE |
Overlook route for aircraft (8)
|
| SKIP (=overlook, omit) + LANE (=route, path); a skiplane has skis attached to its undercarriage to enable it to take off from and land on snow and ice | ||
| 17 | FATIGUES |
Overweight visitor briefly hiding one’s military overalls (8)
|
| I (=one) in [FAT (=overweight) + GUES<t> (=visitor; “briefly” means last letter is dropped)] | ||
| 19 | PACINO |
Mostly walking over Hollywood star (6)
|
| PACIN<g> (=walking; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard); the reference is to American Hollywood star Al Pacino (1940-) | ||
| 20 | SELECT |
Choose some Chinese lectures (6)
|
| Hidden (“some”) in “chineSE LECTures” | ||
| 23 | BUNCH |
Group eats in mid-morning to avoid Republican (5)
|
| B<r>UNCH (=eats in mid-morning, as noun; “to avoid Republican (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped) | ||
| 24 | BARE |
Exposed shoulder in audition (4)
|
| Homophone (“in audition”) of “(to) bear (=shoulder, support)” |
The last Eccles and the first appearance of KRASNOYARSK in a mainstream cryptic. As one door closes, another opens …
Thanks for another excellent puzzle and best wishes to both setter and blogger.
Solving this I had the same experience I’ve had for a lot of Indy puzzles lately: a lot of enjoyment tainted by knowing that it’s all coming to an end. My favourites were ARSENATES, PACINO, BARE and CARBON DATE. I eventually enjoyed the penny drop of RED HERRING but still wondered if there was something else going on. Thanks to Eccles for a fine swansong and RR for the blog.
As RR says, a typical Eccles puzzle to sign off with – a few unknowns and a very enjoyable solve.
I will definitely miss his regular Wednesday offerings.
Many thanks to Eccles and to RR.
KRASNOYARSK is a great clue to sign off with. Should ARSENATES not be two pairs of buttocks?
In 7d should “nurse” be “nurses” for the clue to work?
Chrism@5 If you think of A and E as two letters then it works ok.
Petert@6 thanks, I can see it now
Beaten by 7d as I got hung up on trying to work in triage as the A&E nurse.
Splendid sign off, if that’s the case, trying to leave the Indy embroiled in a lawsuit with the orange lunatic at 27a.
Thanks to Eccles and RR and hope to see your efforts again somewhere soon.
Well, it looks like that’s it, unless the protests have a late effect. It seems that if you make it difficult to find your puzzles and use a poor interface then you get fewer people doing the puzzle. When puzzles are doing so well in other places (NYT, Minute Cryptic etc) it seems an odd decision.
Well done and thanks to Mike who has done a fantastic job over the last twenty years introducing so many new setters while keeping the quality of the puzzles as high as anywhere, and thanks to everyone involved with these blogs.
There are some setters for whom the Indy is the only paid outlet, hopefully they will find alternative homes. I am in The Times and Guardian (Dangle/Anonymous and Budmo) so I will not disappear.
Thanks to RR for this fine blog, too. Congratulations on 823 blogs, hopefully you will find something to fill the gap.
I think I just about reached 250 Indy puzzles, not sure of exact number, but I am chuffed with that. Not sure who else reached that figure, Phi, Dac, Quixote, Tees? I guess Filbert must be close, and there were presumably some from years ago (Icarus?).
Cheers to all who have done the puzzles, and those who have commented. It was always appreciated.
And thanks, of course, to all the bloggers over the years. There are remarkably few, given the number of puzzles.
Late as usual to the Independent; it’s lunch hour in the Windy City.
Thanks to Eccles for the always fine puzzle, and also for the valedictory comments. My last one in was KRASNOYARSK, which was characteristically well-constructed.
I am gay, and have even been on vacation to one or two gay resorts, but this is the first time I’ve ever encountered the portmanteau GAYCATION. Not sure I’m a fan…but I’m also not surprised it’s a word. [Also not a fan of the thing itself–as I married my husband back in 2014 shortly after that became legal here, I have no real use for the Scene anymore. So gay resorts are fun for maybe a day, and then it’s time to go someplace substantive.]
Seemed tougher than usual for an Eccles or maybe I was just a little off form today.
Sad to see this is the last of Eccles in the Indy. Sad as he set the first “proper” cryptic that I ever solved.
RED HERRING gave me a chuckle after wasting my time overthinking it.
Thanks Eccles and RR
Many thanks to Eccles and RR. Very much hope this isn’t the last we see of you.
(I didn’t realise that Budmo in Guardian is Eccles. It’s not listed on the Fifteensquared setter list.)