Hoskins has given us a puzzle today that I took a while to solve
With hindsight I’m not sure why I took so long to solve this as the parsing is usually very clear. I’m not sure though how GRENADIER at 6 down is constructed from the word play.
NITHSDALE at 17 down was obviously an anagram but you don’t get THSD as consecutive letters in a word very often. The river NITH flows less than 50 miles away from where I write my blogs but it is not an area of Scotland I visit very often.
GOALPOSTS 18 across) and MERCILESS (4 down) took me far longer to solve than they should.
I like the surface of the clue for SHAKE A LEG particularly the use of ‘barrelled beer’ for the KE A LEG bit.
A good workout – thanks to Hoskins
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
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1
|
Body part problem the drink regularly feeds (7)
|
TERN (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [regularly] of THE DRINK) contained in (feeds) SUM (problem) S (TERN) UM |
STERNUM (breastbone in humans; body part)
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5
|
A jet payload sending soldiers wheeling to the right (7)
|
FREIGHT (cargo / payload) with RE (Royal Engineers) moved to the end (to the right) and reversed (wheeling) FIGHT ER< |
FIGHTER (example of a jet aircraft)
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9
|
Emit gas, but not loudly – that’s cunning (3)
|
FART (break wind; emit gas) excluding (but not) F (forte; loudly) ART |
ART (cunning)
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10
|
Highly value punching backside-gyrating dope about (2,7,2)
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RESPECT (esteem value highly) contained in (punching) INFO (information; dope) with the last two letters (backside) FO reversed (gyrating) IN RESPECT OF< |
IN RESPECT OF (about)
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11
|
In Beccles, I aroused the congregation of a church (8)
|
ECCLESIA (hidden word in [in] BECCLES I AROUSED) ECCLESIA |
ECCLESIA (popular assembly, especially of ancient Athens, where the people exercised full sovereignty and every male citizen above twenty years could vote; applied by the Septuagint commentators to the Jewish commonwealth, and from them to the Christian Church; congregation of a church). I think congregation is part of the definition as it doesn’t play any part in the wordplay |
|
12
|
Jack has trouble punching small men (6)
|
AIL (trouble) contained in (punching) (S [small] + OR [other ranks; men]) S (AIL) OR |
SAILOR (Jack [Tar] is a term often applied to a SAILOR)
|
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13
|
Big floater seen in canal? Turning bow to left (5)
|
BARGE (boat [floater] frequently seen in a canal) with the first letter (bow) B changed to (turned to) L (left) L ARGE |
LARGE (big)
|
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15
|
Eastern Lorraine hit by a quake an hour back? (7,2)
|
E (Eastern) + an anagram of (hit by a quake) LORRAINE E ARLIER ON* |
EARLIER ON (a little time before, e.g. an hour back)
|
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18
|
Top old glass up for couple propping up the bar? (9)
|
Anagram of (up) TOP and O (old) and GLASS GOALPOSTS* |
GOALPOSTS (GOALPOSTS prop up the cross bar)
|
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20
|
Prove to be mistaken about American behind contracts (5)
|
RE (with reference to; about) + BUTT (American term for the buttocks / bottom [behind]) excluding the final letter (contracts) T REBUT |
REBUT (disprove)
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22
|
A poor excuse to pucker up briefly in bed (3-3)
|
POUT (pucker up) excluding the final letter (briefly) T contained in (in) COT (bed) CO (P-OU) T |
COP-OUT (avoid or evade responsibility; poor excuse)
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23
|
Drinks can lead to spewing (8)
|
SLAMMER (prison; can is a slang term for prison) + S (first letter of [lead to]) SPEWING SLAMMER S |
SLAMMERS (fizzy cocktails, usually made with tequila, imbibed in a single swift motion shortly after the glass has been slammed against a table or similar surface)
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26
|
German bidet put out in a limited edition? (11)
|
Anagram of (put out) GERMAN BIDET ABRIDGEMENT* |
ABRIDGEMENT (shortened [limited) version of a book, for instance)
|
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27
|
Woman one would pay to dismiss case (3)
|
I’D (one would) + A (letter remaining when the letters P and Y forming the case of PAY are excluded [dismissed]) ID A |
IDA (woman’s name)
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28
|
One spreading crap about football team one away from the bottom (7) |
MAN U (term used to refer to Manchester United football team) + REAR (bottom) excluding (away from) A (one) MANURER |
MANURER (one who spreads dung, material used for fertiliser. Could also be termed crap)
|
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29
|
Fancy that yours truly’s put on weight (5,2)
|
STONE (unit of weight) + ME (your’s truly) STONE ME |
STONE ME (an expression of astonishment like ‘fancy that!’)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Get cracking half of shandy with barrelled beer? (5,1,3)
|
SHA (first three letters of six [half] in SHANDY) + (ALE [beer] contained in (barrelled) KEG (small barrel for keeping beer under gas pressure) ‘barrelled’ seems to be doing double duty here SHA KE (A LE) G |
SHAKE A LEG (hurry up; get cracking)
|
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2
|
Upset about quote to bring new siren? (7)
|
(RE [with reference to; about] + [CITE {quote} containing {to bring} N {new}]) all reversed (upset; down clue) (E (N) TIC ER)< |
ENTICER (a siren)
|
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3
|
Note balance lacking in Head racket (5)
|
N (note) + POISE (balance) excluding the first letter (lacking in head) P Head is a brand of tennis racket. N OISE |
NOISE (racket)
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4
|
Cruel way to cut down on politeness in Paris?
|
MERCI (French for ‘thank you’; a polite term in France [Paris]) + LESS (not so much; cut down) MERCI LESS |
MERCILESS (cruel)
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5
|
During one, corpulent nurses start to shrink (4)
|
FAT (corpulent) containing (nurses) S (first letter of [start to] SHRINK) FA (S) T |
FAST (abstain from food thereby reducing weight and starting to shrink)
|
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6
|
One with pineapple on top of rifle? (9)
|
I am not sure of how the word play works but it is based on a combination of GRENADE (pineapple is a slang term for a GRENADE) and I [one] + R (first letter of [top of] RIFLE) GRENADIER |
GRENADIER (a soldier trained in the use of GRENADEs [pineapples])
|
|
7
|
Times breaking story on royal gossip (7)
|
([T {time} + T {time} giving times] contained in [breaking] TALE [story]) + R (royal; a standalone R is given as an abbreviation for Royal in Collins, but not in Chambers) TA (T T) LE R |
TATTLER (a gossip)
|
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8
|
Pass on spliff, having dropped second pill (5)
|
REEFER (cigarette containing marijuana; spliff) excluding (having dropped) the second E [ecstasy; drug; pill) REFER |
REFER (hand over; pass on)
|
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14
|
I explain stuff in detail for former UKIP member? (9)
|
EX (former) + POUNDER (I take this to a supporter of UK retaining the £ sterling, a policy that would likely be strongly supported by a UKIP member) EX POUNDER |
EXPOUNDER (one who explains in a detailed way)
|
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16
|
They sort out problems concerning the lot of you (9)
|
RE (with reference to; concerning) + SOLVERS (us; people who SOLVE crosswords) RE SOLVERS |
RESOLVERS (people who sort out problems)
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17
|
Item of old riding wear Shetland Island reproduced (9)
|
Anagram of (reproduced) SHETLAND and I (island) NITHSDALE* |
NITHSDALE (an 18th century [old] woman’s riding hood) The river NITH flows through the town of Dumfries in South West Scotland.
|
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19
|
No good in yearning for help for a broken heart? (7)
|
ASPIRING (yearning) excluding (no) G (good) ASPIRIN |
ASPIRIN ( a drug often used as an anti coagulant in treatment of heart disease)
|
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21
|
The Queen’s residence in High Barnet? (7)
|
BEEHIVE (a dome shaped [high] hairstyle [barnet]) BEEHIVE |
BEEHIVE (home of a Queen bee)
|
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22
|
Cast a magic spell on church member (5)
|
CH (church) + ARM (limb; member) CH ARM |
CHARM (enchant; cast a magic spell)
|
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24
|
Saw cats going head to head, one of them Manx (5)
|
TOM (male cat) reversed (one way) + TOM (male cat) going forward (another way) such that the two Ts go together (head to head) excluding the final letter (tailless like a Manx cat) MOT< TO |
MOTTO (short sentence or phrase adopted as representative of a person, family, etc, or accompanying a coat of arms; saying; proverb; saw)
|
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25
|
Love that can be pricey to purchase? (4)
|
DEAR (affectionate term for the one you love) DEAR |
DEAR (expensive; pricey) double definition
|
Lots of Hoskins humour as usual. Guessed NITHSDALE but couldn’t find any reference to riding gear, so thanks to Duncanshiell for the explanation. Lots of tough clues I thought but got them all in the end. For 6d I took ON as in ‘put your coat on’ to work as an inclusion indicator. Thanks to Hoskins for the workout.
Plenty of trademark, smirk-worthy vulgarity from Hoskins this morning. SHAKE A LEG was on the other hand very elegant and BEEHIVE a neat couple of jokes.
Highly enjoyable. Thanks to both.
I’ve been quite a fan of Hoskins of late but I have to say I have a couple of reservations here.
But first I’d like to say the “Shake a leg” and “Merciless” are great.
But the second pill didnt work for me-would have preferred “having dropped another pill” or “dropped an e”.Second pill sounds like “i” to me at least.
I also thought in 15a, “maybe an hour back/ago”. Otherwise “hour” seems specific.
But maybe I was in a critical mood because Paul’s Graun puzzle was so precise.
I only got Nithsdale with an anagram solver-thought it very obscure.
And maybe “grenadier” is a tad imprecise.
But I dont want to be a grump-I mainly come to praise Hoskins and hopefully contribute constructive criticism.
Yes, good fun with the surface of FAST being my favourite, followed not far behind by MERCILESS and BEEHIVE. I think GRENADIER might be an &lit, as some grenades were fitted to the end of a rifle to give them a longer range – look up ‘rifle grenade’ in Wikipedia for more info.
Thanks to Duncan and Hoskins
Nice stuff as always from the H-Man, and good to have something a little trickier from him. GOALPOSTS and SLAMMERS were particularly good, and REFER very nicely done. No issue with the second pill for me.
But yeah, I cheated on NITHSDALE to polish it off.
Thanks to The Hosk and Duncan
This one took a bit of putting to bed. Some good clues, certainly – I too liked SHAKE A LEG (I don’t think ‘barrelled’ is doing double duty, though – surely it’s just SHA plus ALE in KEG – the ale is ‘barrelled’.)
Still don’t understand GRENADIER (I get the grenade = pineapple bit,, but after that …) I see that NITHSDALE is in my SOED, but it’s an obscurity imho for a daily cryptic.
Good, if slightly more tricky, stuff from Hoskins. Thank you to him and to Duncan for the blog.
Coming back…
I really liked Hovis’s suggestion @1 that GRENAD[I]ER is ‘I’ with a coat of GRENADE (‘pineapple’) ‘on’ + etc. A novelty, I fancy, but if so a clever and welcome one.
Also, re NITHSDALE, since no one else is saying it – and it’s a lovely thing, one of the reasons we do crosswords for – it seems that the word entered the language because Lady Nithsdale smuggled her husband out of theTower of London in an all-encompassing lady’s riding cloak. We’d all like to see a film of that.
Many thanks Hoskins for a mega-entertaining puzzle – an excellent way to keep my mind of the election for a while.
I had no problems with the grenadier &lit but I did have to search for and look up Nithsdale
Many thanks duncanshiell
I’m afraid I do struggle with what Grant described as the ‘vulgarity’ but accept that it’s probably down to my age and sex!
Sorry, Hoskins – you’re a great guy and a good setter.
Top clue for me was 1d.
Thanks to Harry and to Duncan for the blog.
I think GRENADIER is supposed to be &lit, but because GRENADE is the literal, I’m not too sure about it. It also sounds like a CD, but then all &lits do, don’t they. The good ones, I mean.
Plenty of trademark, smirk-worthy vulgarity from Hoskins this morning – Grant @2.
Really (apart from 9ac)?
Hoskins already flagged it up, a while ago, this puzzle would be harder than his usual output.
Perhaps, that’s why it’s Thursday today.
A day that can be even more one to remember if the exit polls are right.
It’s just what jane says @9:
you’re a great guy [which may be important to some] and a good setter [which is what is important to us].
Splendid puzzle.
Copmus @3, the deletion indicator works for me. “Dropped an e” is probably a little too on the nose by now, and I don’t think “second pill” could really be construed as ‘i’, or would pass muster if it were ever used in that way.
Yet another here who didn’t know NITHSDALE, although I was reasonably confident it was an anagram – God bless Chambers Word Wizard.
MERCILESS was superb, and I also enjoyed FAST and SLAMMERS (so straightforwardly vulgar, yet clever and original) amongst others. Liked “hit by a quake” as an anagram indicator, and “a limited edition” and “help for a broken heart” were my favourite deceptive definitions.
Thank you Duncan and Hoskins, with a bonus high-five to the setter because I’ve just won a posh pen from the Sunday Times bran tub for his most recent puzzle! 😀
Many thanks to DS for the usual excellent blog and to all who solved and especially those who commented when there was something else much more important going on today (and I don’t mean Paul in the Graun).
This puzzle was written and subbed in 2015 and I’m not sure I would let Nithsdale near an Indy grid of mine nowadays unless there was a reason such as theme, very funny/good clues around it which gave no other crossing letters or I incorrectly thought it better known than it was.
On the other side of the coin, as Grant kindly mentioned there is a rollicking good story behind the word which I thought might have been of some interest, my anagram solver checks worked and the crossers don’t give too many options and it is a Thursday. Either or anyways, it was kind of you all not to spank me too much for its inclusion (but perhaps you were all just cleverly denying me what I really wanted, of course).
My intended reading of the grenadier at 6d has pretty much been explained in the comments, but here is how I intended it.
One = I
with = first part of container indicator
pineapple – GRENADE
on – second part of container indicator
top of rifle = R
I in GRENADE, R[ifle] &lit
This can be read more easily as: one with grenade on = one wearing grenade. It can be read more easily still by substituting grenade for an item of clothing to make it more clear: one with coat on = one wearing coat.
6d is for me a full &lit and defined in the manner WP @4 suggests. To answer FST @10 with regard to ‘pineapple’ literally meaning ‘grenade’ I offer the following.
For me – other setters, editors and solvers will no doubt have their own opinions – full &lits come in different varieties and levels of niceness and I list the main ones for me below (1 being the best in my small and booze-addled mind).
1 – Total surface deception that defines the answer when read in the right way. Wordplay words in the surface used in a different context and of a different root from that they are defining in the answer. This type will basically read to the solver like a CD with wordplay and is the topper-most-of-the-popper-most in my opinion.
2 – Not deceptive, though not necessarily immediately apparent, surface reading that defines the answer. Wordplay words in the surface used in a different context and of a different root from that they are defining in answer.
3 – Those such as 6d where the surface defines the answer word, but uses the same or some of the same root words but those root words have a different sense in the surface. So in the case of 6d ‘pineapple’, although literally being a term for a grenade, will on first look conjure a slightly deceptive image of the fruit rather than a grenade.
4 – Not deceptive surface with root words used and no different sense at all. I think I have done a couple of these, but try not to unless there is some humour or another reason for doing it (like my being generally rubbish).
As I said, others will differ but thems be the views of this particular reporter.
Copmus @3 – glad you like my stuff and please feel free to be as grumpy as you like. I’m happy to hear how people read the puzzles and I and others will either agree or disagree with it – in this case I disagree with your quibbles save for Nithsdale being obscure. I also think differing views are very good for getting conversation going on the Indy threads, drawing more people to check out what is being said about a puzzle, and hopefully getting them to give the Indy a try too.
Jane @9 – ach! Sorry to hear about the vulgarity putting you off and perhaps The Right-Honourable Kitty of Kat could give you the heads-up on my ‘Telegraph safe’ puzzles in future to save any potential blushes or yucks? Anyhoo, always good to see you in the Indy’s corner of the web and many thanks for giving my puzzle a run up the flagpole. I very much hope my cruder stuff doesn’t put you off other Indy puzzles as there are plenty of setters here, all of them good and all of them more clean-cut and sensible than I.
Sil @11 – cheers, mate – I always appreciate your kind words, though I think your Royal Dutchness might have missed the English meaning ‘floater’ in the form I intended. 🙂
Michael @12 – great to hear you won the fabled ST pen – well done! I must declare The Indy is currently prizeless, but there is, of course, the fabled drinks trolley (if Mrs Jalopy can shift it) on the way with a special Pina Colada (umbrella, sparkler and all) just for you on it.
Right, as per usual I seemed to have rambled. I can only imagine poor Gaufrid’s expression come the morrow as he has to wade through my nonsense when all he want to do is have a relaxing cup of tea and a hob-nob so I think it best I away …
… at least I think that, but this being a Hoskins puzzle and the only venue where I chat freely it would be remiss of me not to mention the continued adventures of Mrs Jalopy of the fabled Fifteen Squared drinks trolley. As it happens, there has been a bit of an upheaval regards the trolley itself. Of late, Mrs Jalopy had been complaining that a certain setter who starts with H and ends in oskins has been requesting so much booze as to make the trolley almost immovable (A giant Pina Colada was the starw that broke the Jalopyian back).
There are only two answers to this potential problem: the first is that we all chip in and soup-up (and I don’t mean in the Campbell’s variety) the trolley with a jet powered engines so as to take the strain off the poor Jalopyian back; and the second is that we all grab a glass or three and lighten her load right now.
I’ve already started on the latter option and I invite you to join me – plenty to go round and the Babycham tastes just grand, but should you choose the former please send cheques and loose change care of Hoskins of The Indy. I assure you the mail will get through and the monies will be passed on and not be put in the special ‘Hoskins drinking fund’ piggybank which I bought today for a completely unrelated reasons (honest).
And with that said, I’m off to watch a bit of telly and see what state the country might be in tomorrow.
Look forward to seeing you all next time around which should be on the Monday the 19th of June with an easyish puzzle with, IMO, a lot more larks and laughs and naughties – though more likely it’ll be tomorrow when there’s the usual nice Phi puzzle to take us into the weekend.
Cheers and chin chin to all. 🙂
Wa-hey! Free pina colada! Coincidentally, I also just got caught in the rain and am into champagne…
That’s an interesting breakdown of &lits, thanks. Never really considered there were different types before.
By the way, I forgot to mention reading the clue and solution to 29a in Tony Hancock’s voice. Some crosswords will do that to you. 🙂
Thanks for the earworm, Michael – I shall now always relate election 2017 to the Pina Colada song (and, funnily enough, also to Nick Cave’s majestic and seriously NSFW 15 minute masterpiece ‘O’Malley’s Bar’ after seeing the Pina Colada songs has the very same bar in its lyrics).
As I mentioned, the full &lit stuff is just my opinion and if you aksed another setter you’d likely get another opinion – hell, get me on another night and you’d prolly get another opinion, too. I was going to provide example clues as well but could only think of a couple off the top of me head. Maybe others might fill in the gaps.
Think it right-on that you read 29a in Hancock’s voice – not that I intended it that way, but I think clues have a cadence and a life of their own that’s very much a combination of how they are written and how they are taken by the solver – I love a bit of reader-response theory and reckon that crosswords are a perfect example of how a text doesn’t really exist/come to life until its intended audience engages with it and as such creates it anew.
Having said that, I do have a specific vocal delivery for many of my clues so as to squeeze out more humour. Dunno if other setters do it too, but when I read the clue out loud to see if it makes me old dad laugh, I usually deliver it in faux-news, excitable and overly-stern ITN headline news-voice stylee. Not so many of that type of clue in this puzzle as it’s an old one, but you might be able to spot it in my more recent stuff.
Hope you’re enjoying the Pina Colada. Took a lot of persuading to get the Indy to spring for it and even more for Mry Jalopy to make it (though I guess a gallon of the stuff is a tricky thing to make in one glass). 🙂
Great stuff which I solved in Ourense before leaving for Vigo. I’m not kidding.
NITHSDALE? That’s going to cost you..
Meant to comment on this one yesterday, all very entertaining but pretty tricky in places. Guessed NITHSDALE – the place was familiar even if the riding gear wasn’t
Thanks to Hoskins (especially for the entertaining “essay”) and Duncan
Baerchen @16 – you’ll defo have to send Vigo a postcard from Vigo for sure.
Beery @17 – good to see you around these parts (you gotta feel for my uni professors back in the day, eh?)
@16 &17 both – Nithsdale … *shakes and hangs head in shame*.