Independent on Sunday 1416 Hoskins

This was, I thought, trickier than the usual IoS puzzle.  It wouldn’t be out of place as a weekday, or perhaps even a Saturday (when the Indie used to give out prizes) Indie puzzle. Thanks to Hoskins. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

There’s a clever theme here (which I discovered only while doing the blog) around this classic (a favourite of mine):

If I had discovered it while solving, I might not have written my opening sentence above.

Across

1 Useless types avoid filling meals at sea (4,5)

LAME DUCKS : DUCK(to avoid by lowering your head or body) contained in(filling) anagram of(… at sea) MEALS.

6 Song about love lost cut by Queen (5)

CAROL : [ CA(abbrev. for “circa”, about;approximately when refering to dates) + O(letter signifying 0, “love” in tennis scores)  + L(abbrev. for “lost”, in football league tables, say) ] containing(cut by) R(abbrev. for “Regina”;Queen).

Together with 26 down, the director of the movie (right below):

9 30 minute noir shot in middle of dock (7)

MORONIC : M(abbrev. for “minute” in time notation) + [ anagram of(… shot) NOIR contained in(in) the middle 2 letters of(middle of) “dock” ].

Defn: Answer to 30 across.

The movie was of the film noir genre.

10 Expert artist keeping a model-type in proportion (3,4)

PRO RATA : PRO(short for “professional”, an expert in a certain field) + RA(abbrev. for Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy of Arts;an artist) containing(keeping) [A + T(model-type of an early Ford motorcar).

11 Exit on hearing Spooner’s awful quartet (4,4)

FIRE DOOR : Spoonerism of(hearing Spooner’s) “dire four”(an awful quartet).

12 Where one goes to pick up the last of 26 NYC taxis? (5)

KHAZI : Homophone of(to pick up) “Car Z”(the last of the 26 taxis, maybe, in the series Car A, Car B,….,Car Z) with Zed (in English) pronounced as Zee, by a native American in New York City (NYC).

Defn: …, as in “I have to go urgently or I shall be wetting my pants”.

Answer: Slang for a toilet. Originally Cockney, but now commonly used in Liverpool, as in “down the khazi”.

14 Probably have this after striptease class (6)

LESSON : LESS ON(having fewer, probably, or no,most likely, items of clothing on after a striptease).

Perhaps a reference to the movie dialogue:

Crabbin: [inviting Holly Martins to give a lecture at the local Cultural Reeducation Society] We do a little show each week. Last week we had “Hamlet.” The week before we had… something.

Sgt. Paine: The striptease, sir.

Crabbin: Yes, the Hindu dancers. Thank you, sergeant.

15 Angel mixed up with gay Broadway flop? (3,2,3)

LAY AN EGG : Anagram of(… mixed up …) [ ANGEL plus(with) GAY].

Defn: To be spectacularly unsuccessful, especially in front of an audience, as found in a Broadway theatre.

18 A line at the end of Polish sort of dictionary (8)

GLOSSARY : [A + RY(abbrev. for “railway line”) ]placed after(at the end of) GLOSS(the polish;shine on a smooth surface).

20 French wine not available outside of English capital (6)

VIENNA : [ VIN(French for “wine”) + NA(abbrev. for “not available”) ] containing(outside of) E(abbrev. of “English“).

Defn: … city.

The setting of the movie:

23 At concert’s end, long for a little soul? (5)

TITCH : The last letter of(…’s end) “concert’s” plus(At …) ITCH(to long for;to have a yen for).

Defn: …;a small person.

25 Type of COBRA meeting interrupted by head of police (8)

SPITTING : SITTING(a meeting of, say, a committee) containing(interrupted by) the 1st letter of(head of) “police“. And COBRA is the acronym for the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, used by a UK government crisis response committee, probably also involving the head of police. 

27 When nurses survey the head of off-colour hot lads (7)

APOLLOS : AS(when, as in “as you leave the room, please …”) containing(nurses) [ POLL(a survey of people’s views on specific issues taken from a sample group) + the 1st letter of(the head of) “off-colour” ].

Defn: Handsome and attractive;hot young men;lads.

28 Emergency contact link in hotel abroad (7)

HOTLINE : Anagram of(… abroad) IN HOTEL.

29 Nag a hard flipping copper to leave Madras? (5)

HARRY : Reversal of(… flipping) [A + H(abbrev. for “hard”) ] + “curry”(Indian dish of which the Madras is a variety) minus(… to leave) “Cu”(symbol for the element, copper).

Defn: To bother.

Together with 1 down, the titular character in the movie played by Orson Welles:

30 Heard idea about having the brain removed? (9)

AIRHEADED : Anagram of(… about) HEARD IDEA.

Defn: Cryptic. Brainless, figuratively, or had brain removed, literally.

Down

1 Green sailor scrubbing yacht’s bow (4)

LIME : “limey”(or lime-juicer, slang for a British sailor, from the fact that he would have to drink lime-juice to ward off scurvy) minus(scrubbing) the 1st letter of(…’s bow) “yacht“.

Defn: A greenish yellow colour. 

2 Can sports spoil small wingers? (7)

MARTINS : TIN(a metal can) contained in(sports;wears) [ MAR(to spoil;to damage) + S(abbrev. for “small”) ].

3 Risky to put out cut around skinless sausages (9)

DANGEROUS : “douse”(to put out;extinguish, say, a flame) minus its last letter(cut) containing(around) “bangers”(British slang for “sausages”) minus its 1st and last letters(skinless …;without its outer covering).

4 Silly sort returning textbook cucumber sandwiches (6)

CUCKOO : Reversal of(returning) and hidden in(… sandwiches) “textbook cucumber“.

Together with 6 down, part of the movie dialogue:

HARRY:
Don’t be so gloomy…After all, it’s not that awful. Remember what the fellow said…in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo – Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance…In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?…The cuckoo clock.
So long, Holly.

Spoken in a compartment on the Ferris wheel:

5 Only 1p for meal with boyfriend in Kent? (8)

SUPERMAN : “p”(only 1p) replacing(for) “pp” in “supper”(a light evening meal) plus(with) MAN(a boyfriend).

Defn: Fictional character from the planet, Krypton, whose alter ego was Clark Kent.

6 Time Liberal tucked in famously early riser? (5)

CLOCK : L(abbrev. for a member of the political Liberal Party) contained in(tucked in) COCK(a rooster;the early riser that famously crows at dawn).

Defn: …, as a verb.

7 Drink about a litre and a half of pale (4,3)

REAL ALE : RE(about;with reference to) + A + L(abbrev. for “litre”, the volumetric unit) plus(and) A + the last 2 letter of(half of) “pale“.

8 Article in support of badly maligned male star (7,3)

LEADING MAN : AN(an article in grammar) placed below(in support of, in a down clue) anagram of(badly) MALIGNED.

13 Fine way to eat not very heavy rocket course (6,4)

FLIGHT PATH : [ F(abbrev. for “fine”) + PATH(a way;a route) ] containing(to eat) LIGHT(not very heavy).

Defn: …, but not the salad dish during a meal.

16 Books bound by neo-realist philosopher (9)

ARISTOTLE : OT(abbrev. for the Old Testament, the collection of books in the Bible) contained in(bound by) anagram of(neo-;prefix indicating a new form of) REALIST.

17 Waters one teacher brought up with hot main (5,3)

IRISH SEA : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + reversal of(… brought up) SIR(a polite term of address for a male schoolteacher) plus(with) H(abbrev. for “hot”) + SEA(the poetic term for which is “the main”).

Perhaps a reference to the movie dialogue:

Martins: Listen, Callahan!

Calloway: Calloway. I’m English, not Irish.

19 Best men fond of being amongst nature? (7)

OUTDOOR : OUTDO(to best;to do better than) + OR(abbrev. for “Other Ranks”, non-commissioned men in the military).

Answer: As in “the outdoor type”.

21 Pampered orphan adopted by northern duke (7)

NANNIED : ANNIE(Little Orphan, the main character in the American comic strip of the same name) contained in(adopted by) [ N(abbrev. for “northern”) + D(abbrev. for “duke”) ].

22 Spot belonging to female music producer (6)

ZITHER : ZIT(slang for a spot on the skin, especially a pimple or a blackhead) + HER(belonging to that female, as in “her beauty”).

Instrument played by Anton Karas for the movie’s haunting theme song:

24 Large-hearted religious woman (5)

HOLLY : L(abbrev. for “large”) as the middle letter of(-hearted) HOLY(religious).

Together with 2 down, the character played by Joseph Cotton in the movie:

26 Plant study that you must listen to (4)

REED : Homophone of(… that you must listen to) “read”(to study, as in “what are you reading at university?”).

Defn: … of any of various tall grasses.