Good stuff from Hoskins once again. This was a solve of two halves for me, starting briskly and then requiring some headscratching for the last 10 or so to fall in.
27 across in particular was quite fun, I thought. Last one in was 3 down, which for some reason I didn’t spot from the checking letters, and which I suspect is relatively rare to find as a noun.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FLUSHED | Bug that woman had sent down the khazi? (7) |
| FLU + SHE‘D. | ||
| 5 | IMPASSE | There’s no way past it, Hoskins is old-hat (7) |
| I‘M + PASSÉ. | ||
| 9 | GO FORWARD | Attack and charge to do this? (2,7) |
| GO FOR + WARD. It tooks me a while to spot the wordplay, but it’s nicely done. | ||
| 10 | CHINA | Country friend of rhymers in East End (5) |
| Two definitions: the obvious one, and then cockney rhyming slang for “mate”, derived from “china plate”. | ||
| 11 | ENDING | Don’t start broadcasting a film’s finale? (6) |
| [s]ENDING. | ||
| 12 | CLEANS UP | Without any smut, son at uni makes pots (6,2) |
| CLEAN + S + UP. | ||
| 14 | FLATULENCE | Uncle left woozy, having inhaled a gas (10) |
| Anagram of (UNCLE LEFT). | ||
| 16 | BABE | Ruth was one good-looking young lady (4) |
| Two definitions, including a reference to BABE Ruth of old-timey baseball fame. | ||
| 18 | DAMP | Attorney getting politician slightly wet (4) |
| DA + MP. | ||
| 19 | PRETTINESS | Rubbing it presents an appealing quality (10) |
| Anagram of (IT PRESENTS)*. | ||
| 22 | ASSISTER | One helping a sibling on the radio (8) |
| Sounds like “a sister”. | ||
| 23 | ADHERE | Stick to a Dutch starter at this place (6) |
| A + D + HERE. | ||
| 26 | SHIVA | God initially seems hateful in various areas (5) |
| Initial letters of S[eems] H[ateful] I[n] V[arious] A[reas]. | ||
| 27 | EMBELLISH | Dress up retiring setter rather like Big Ben? (9) |
| ME< + BELLISH, as in “like a bell”. | ||
| 28 | RENTERS | Letters right to go into capital for sorting (7) |
| R + ENTER + S[orting]. | ||
| 29 | TROTTED | Quiffed lad tailing communist moved briskly (7) |
| TROT + TED. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FIG LEAF | A bit of foliage affording privates cover? (3,4) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 2 | UNFED | A French agent abroad with a hunger in the belly? (5) |
| UN + FED, as in Federal Agent. | ||
| 3 | HARANGUE | Angry speech tore into former Tory leader (8) |
| RAN in The HAGUE. I didn’t help myself by being convinced “tore” would give us RENT. | ||
| 4 | DRAG | Doctor with silver clothes fit for a queen? (4) |
| DR + Ag. | ||
| 5 | INDELICATE | Slightly rude flash enthrals the Spanish (10) |
| EL in INDICATE. | ||
| 6 | PAC-MAN | Some up in Vietnam captioning a video game (3-3) |
| Hidden backwards in [viet]NAM CAP[tioning]. | ||
| 7 | SHIPSHAPE | Orderly messing around with hash pipes (9) |
| Anagram of (HASH PIPES). | ||
| 8 | EXAMPLE | Old flame sat on large and accommodating model (7) |
| EX + AMPLE. | ||
| 13 | DEBRIEFERS | Those pumping men with beers and fried bananas (10) |
| Anagram of (BEERS + FRIED). | ||
| 15 | ADMISSION | Cost of getting in a brief for Saatchi and Saatchi? (9) |
| AD MISSION, Saatchi and Saatchi being some sort of advertising company from the 80s. | ||
| 17 | VINDALOO | Stir old vino over a ring burner! (8) |
| (OLD VINO)* + O. | ||
| 18 | DEAR SIR | Teacher carrying expensive letter opener? (4,3) |
| DEAR + SIR. | ||
| 20 | SEETHED | Top tournament player admits article was mad (7) |
| THE in SEED. | ||
| 21 | ESTATE | Government overlooked by summit in exotic land (6) |
| E[xotic] + LAND. | ||
| 24 | EXIST | Be first to support king, but not queen (5) |
| [r]EX supported by IST. It’s very easy to miss a definition like that, even if you’ve seen it many times before! | ||
| 25 | OBIT | Old boy having sex might lead to one! (4) |
| OB + IT. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
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