Independent 9358 / Hoskins

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A crossword today from Hoskins with a couple of names or geographical locations as well as some slightly unusual words among the entries.

 

 

 

The appearance of names and unusual words is usually indicative or a message or theme and today was no exception.  The outer columns spell out LOUDON WAINWRIGHT, [full name  LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III}, American singer songwriter who is a member of the McGarrigle, WAINWRIGHT dynasty.

The titles of a few of WAINWRIGHTs albums are in the grid.  Ones I found were UNREQUITED, T-SHIRT, THERAPY and HISTORY.  I suspect the word LOVE in the unchecked letters in row 2 is also related to the theme.

Although there is a theme, it is not necessary to spot it to solved the puzzle.

OVERHANG as a word meaning ‘beetle’ was new to me, but the wordplay left no alternative. I liked the clues for DAY OUT and AGASSI even though I am not usually a fan of cryptic definitions.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

European paper with story about Corbyn? (6)

 

(E [European] + FT [Financial Times; paper]) contained in (with … about) LIE (story)

L (E FT) IE

LEFTIE (reference Jeremy Corbyn, left wing politician)

 

5

 

One after bananas or giant pasta shapes (8)

 

Anagram of (bananas) OR GIANT + I (one)

RIGATON* I

RIGATONI (pasta in the form of large, fluted tubes)

 

9

 

Done with husband, a half-cut dung beetle (8)

 

OVER (done with) + H (husband) + A + NG (letters remaining when half the letters, DU, of DUNG are excluded [cut])

 

OVERHANG (BEETLE is an intransitive verb meaning ‘to overhang’, usage first found in Shakespeare)

 

10

 

Conductor‘s leg broken by vicar (6)

 

PIN (leg) containing (broken by) REV (reverend; vicar)

P (REV) IN

PREVIN (reference the musical conductor and pianist Andre PREVIN [1929 – date])

 

11

 

One accepting about query not being answered (10)

 

UNITED (one) containing (accepting) (RE [with reference to; about] + QU [question; query])

UN (RE QU) ITED

UNREQUITED (not reciprocated or returned; not being answered)

 

12

 

Bar and bench losing their heads once again (4)

 

BAN (bar) excluding the first letter (losing its head) B, + PEW (bench) excluding the first letter (losing its head) P – i.e. both BAR and BENCH losing their heads

 

ANEW (once again)

 

13

 

Perhaps a jolly solver entertained by short escort (3,3)

YOU (solver) contained in (entertained by) DATE (someone you got out with; escort) excluding the final letter (short) E

DA (Y OU) T

DAY OUT ( a trip; a jolly)

 

15

 

Learn, say, about Freud? (8)

 

Anagram of (about) LEARN SAY

ANALYSER*

ANALYSER (reference Sigmund FREUD [1856 – 1929] founder of psychoANALYSis

 

17

 

Sharp tenor dressed in fabulous net hood (2,3,3)

 

T (tenor) contained in (dressed in) an anagram of (fabulous) NET HOOD

ON (T) HE DOT*

ON THE DOT (exactly, at a given time; sharp)

 

20

 

Small current on a chat server from the 90s? (6)

 

A + GAS (chat) + S (small) + I (symbol in physics for electric current)

 

AGASSI (reference Andre AGASSI [1970 – date], American tennis player [server] who was at the height of his form in the 1990s)

 

22

 

Little drinks making turn fall over (4)

 

SPIN (turn) reversed (fall over)

SPIN<

NIPS (small drinks, usually of spirits)

 

23

 

Scuppering sailor takes bit of oomph in organising (10)

(AB [Able Seaman; sailor] + O [first letter of {bit of} OOMPH]) contained in (in) STAGING (organising)

S (AB O) TAGING

SABOTAGING (scuppering)

 

25

 

Jam-makers’ parties filled with Welsh dowagers? (6)

 

WI (Women’s Institute; jam-makers) + (DOS [parties] containing [filled with] W [Welsh])

WI DO (W) S

WIDOWS (a dowager is a WIDOW with a dower or jointure)

 

26

 

Old beater driving hitcher around Britain (3,5)

 

Anagram of (driving) HITCHER containing (around) B (Britain)

THE (B) IRCH*

THE BIRCH (rod for punishment in earlier times, consisting of a BIRCH twig or twigs)

 

27

 

Idiot Scotsman biting your tongue? (8)

 

(ASS [idiot] + IAN [Gaelic {Scottish} form of John]) containing (biting) YR (your)

ASS (YR) IAN

ASSYRIAN (the Semitic language [tongue] of ancient Assyria; a modern form of an Aramaic dialect still spoken, Syriac)

 

28

 

Top soprano moving west in desire for drink (1-5)

 

THIRST (desire for drink) with the S (soprano) moving left [west] towards the front of the word)

T–SHIRT

T-SHIRT (top)

 
Down

2

 

Third member dropped from team of Brownies? (5)

 

ELEVEN (team) excluding (dropped) the third letter (member) E

 

ELVEN (mischevious like a brownie [a benevolent creature who may secretly help with domestic work])

 

3

 

Fish sandwich you can get in America (7)

 

TORPEDO (a member of the genus TORPEDO of cartilaginous fishes, related to the skates and rays)

 

TORPEDO (A submarine sandwich, also known as a sub, wedge, hoagie, hero, grinder is a type of sandwich that consists of a length of bread or roll split lengthwise and filled with a variety of meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments) I don’t think you can only get them in America.  Submarine rolls are freely available in British supermarkets and I expect many sandwich bars, such as Subway, will sell you a TORPEDO)  double definition

 

4

 

Assessed a valet due to be reassigned (9)

 

Anagram of (to be reassigned) A VALET DUE

EVALUATED*

EVALUATED (assessed)

 

5

 

Ciabatta German packs up for sports meet (7)

 

REGATTA (reversed [up; down clue] hidden word [packs] CIABATTA GERMAN)

REGATTA<

REGATTA (yacht or boat race meeting; sports meet)

 

6

 

 Looked stupidly good, like Batman without a top? (5)

G (good) + CAPED (descriptive of Batman) excluding (without) the first letter (top) C

 

 GAPED (stared with open mouth; looked stupidly)

7

 

People in authority taking charge in treatment (7)

 

THEY (people in authority) containing (taking) RAP (criminal charge)

THE (RAP) Y

THERAPY (treatment)

 

8

 

Without a hooter to squeeze one might be thus (9)

 

NOSELESS (without a nose [hooter]) containing (squeezing) I (one)

NO (I) SELESS

NOISELESS (If you don’t have a hooter you may not be able to make a NOISE)

 

14

 

Investments in iTunes Anonymous disrupted (9)

 

Anagram of (disrupted) IN ITUNES and A [anonymous)

ANNUITIES*

ANNUITIES (guaranteed payments [generally of uniform amount] falling due in each year during a given term [such as a period of years or the life of an individual], usually purchased from an insurance company by payment of a lump sum which is not returnable)

 

16

 

A pad fit to house cunning people (9)

 

APT (fit) containing (to house) (ART [cunning] + MEN [people])

AP (ART MEN) T

APARTMENT (home; pad)

 

18

 

Hard right-winger supporting one’s record (7)

 

 H (hard, as in description of pencil lead) + IS (ones) + TORY (Right winger in political terms).  Because this is a down entry, the word TORY is supporting the letters IS

HISTORY (record)

19

 

Time article about international view of Lhasa? (7)

 

(T [time] + AN [indefinite article]) containing (about (I [international] + BET [opinion; view])

T (I BET) AN

TIBETAN (descriptive of Lhasa, capital city of TIBET)

 

21

 

Terrible pain suing a terrible hospital (7)

 

Anagram of (terrible) SUING A + H (hospital)

ANGUIS* H

ANGUISH (excessive suffering; terrible pain)

 

23

 

Note describing American hot dish (5)

 

SI (seventh note of the scale) containing (describing) (US [United States; American] + H [hot])

S (US H) I

SUSHI (Japanese dish of small cakes of cold rice and egg, fish, vegetables, etc, and a vinegar sauce)

 

24

 

More pleasant runs south of French resort (5)

 

 wn

NICE (French resort city) + R (runs, in cricket scoring notation)  Being a down clue, R is written south of NICE

 

NICER (more pleasant)

 

9 comments on “Independent 9358 / Hoskins”

  1. I really enjoyed this puzzle despite not knowing that much about LW III (I had seen the right column first and briefly wondered if Ian Wright might be the theme). The clue for OVERHANG was my favourite; I remember Bernard Ingham was always described as being “beetle-browed”.
    Many thanks to Hoskins and duncanshiell

  2. Very enjoyable puzzle though the theme was wasted on me sadly.

    Particularly liked ANEW and NOISELESS.

    Thanks to Hoskins and Duncan.

  3. Nice puzzle from Hoskins, probably his first on a Tuesday? As @1baerchen notes, very thick, or overhanging, eyebrows sometimes described as beetling.

    Has anybody else ever heard of the seventh note of the scale being called “si” rather than “ti”? Yes, I have Googled and found it is allegedly so.

    Liked AGASSI, DAY OUT, WIDOWS.

    Thanks to Hoskins and duncanshiell.

  4. No knowledge of the theme required to complete this, although spotting the nina helped me get my last three in, NIPS, ANNUITIES and AGASSI. Actually I had thought of NIPS for 22ac but left it out as I couldn’t quite see how to parse it (thinking you might fall over if you were in a spin but ‘fall over’ isn’t synonymous with ‘spin’) so a facepalm moment when I saw the parsing.

    Some very nice clues – too many to nominate a CoD but I liked RIGATONI, PREVIN and AGASSI among others.

    Thanks to Hoskins and Duncan

    Btw did anyone else have problems getting a printout of the puzzle today? In place of the grid there was just an arrangement of numbers and indications of where the black squares should be. The clues were OK apart from being partly obscured by the said arrangement. Have “they” (as in the clue to 7dn) messed up the Indy site again? Although it could just be my problem; I somehow managed to lose some of the useful cookies on my computer yesterday – I wish the same would happen to the ones I don’t want!

  5. Many thanks to DS for the fine blog and to those who took time to solve and comment.

    “Love” in the 2nd row was unintentional, but nice as I do love a bit of Loudon’s music. If you’ve not heard the man himself, then I include links below to three great tunes spanning his career:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ht1Hihjis

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKOwwjouRd8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V0PEMCiRYA

    If you like ’em and you live near Cambridge, why not see if you can get tickets for his gig at the Corn Exchange tomorrow night? I’ll be there, too (watching, not playing, of course) – but don’t let that put you off.

    Cheers to all and …

    … where’s that drinks trolley 🙂

  6. Nice puzzle with – unexpectedly – some rather giveaways like ELEVEN (2d), EVALUATED (4d) and NICER (24d).

    How on earth did I not see the blatant Nina along the sides of the grid.
    The album titles are wasted on me but I know who Loudon Wainwright III is.
    Yes, he’s in my city tomorrow night but, unfortunately, I am not a big fan.
    Not of the man himself nor of his, in my opnion, somewhat overrated offspring (Rufus [Not That One] and Martha).

    That said, in the early seventies I had a 45 called ‘Dead skunk’ which I rather liked.
    For me, it actually sounded like Lindisfarne and that’s probably why.

    Thanks Hoskins for the puzzle.
    And I hope you’ll enjoy the show tomorrow!

  7. Behind as usual with my Indy solving this week, but just wanted to pop in to say that I enjoyed this one from Hoskins. The nina for the singer-songwriter passed me by, natch, but there were some lovely clues in here.

    Never heard SI for TI, but we learn stuff, don’t we?

    Thanks to the S and the B.

  9. Show was great, thanks – well worth the admission price and then some (even for a crossword setter of my meagre means).

    There was also an added bonus of having Chaim Tannenbaum supporting him, they did some numbers together and when their harmonies hit the spot they were golden. Also, as you’d expect from a couple of deft wordsmiths, the banter (in both the under and overstated stylee) was top notch. In addition to all that, there was also some amusing, poignant and well-delivered spoken word stuff where LW read from several pieces his father did as a regular columnist for Life magazine.

    All in all, a damn good and varied gig and well worth checking out if anyone is in the vicinity of any of the further UK dates. However, if you are too lazy/skint for that or just want to see LW in the comfort of your own home, he was on BBC2’s Later … earlier this week and is, I believe, on Later … later again this week.

    Thanks for the linky to the Songwriters circle gig – I saw it went it went out, but was good to watch it again (RT’s Vincent Black Lightning is a corker and SV is always worthwhile).

    P.s – It’s Harry, Sil – only my silver-haired mother and crossword editors not of The Independent persuasion call me by my given name. 🙂

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