Independent 9,597 by Hoskins

15 comments on “Independent 9,597 by Hoskins”

1. Most enjoyable. I took a while to see the very good top corner pair of GOOD and DUCK’S ARSE and SHOOT held me up a bit, too.
   Nice one Hoskins, and thanks @flashling for the bloggage

2. A game of two halves for me. The LHS went in rapidly but the RHS had a few head scratchers. Got there in the end. I do like anagrams that lead to nice surfaces and 1a and 17d are excellent examples of these. Liked MOORING and the nicely deceptive BLOWOUT. STANDARD was my LOI. Thanks to Harry for another enjoyable romp and to flashling for the blog

3. 25 across is r (rocks briefly) in “in shot”. Good albeit very brief fun. Thanks s&b

4. Agree that this was easy-ish. We completed it without help, although we parsed one or two (correct) answers wrongly/differently. In GOOD we had OD as overdraw(n) – taking too much out of one’s account, and in DUCK’S ARSE we had ‘do’ as the anagrind (broken or ruined as in “that’s done it”) and thought ‘dicky’ might be an alternative name for a DA (not that we’d ever heard of it).

   But we went with the double definition for 25ac, taking ‘rocks’ to mean ‘ice’ as in ‘Scotch on the rocks’ – although jmac’s parsing seems equally valid.

   Plenty to like, ISLANDERS, ROADSHOWS and ENSUE among them.

   Thanks, Hoskins and flashling.

5. Nice and easy puzzle to start the week with.

   While I thought 27ac (DEER) was quite lovely, Liverpool fans may be offended.
   It’s that club whose nickname is ‘The Reds’, Man United are ‘The Red Devils’.

   When I solved the crossword, something caught my eye.
   There are no less than five plural answers (islanders, adventists, roadshows, tattles, kangaroos).
   I once heard a setter say that she would avoid that at any cost.
   It’s not wrong though.

   Thanks, flashling & Hoskins.

6. baerchen @1 – those were my last two too. All very entertaining.

   Thanks to Hoskins and flashling

7. Agree with what’s gone before, a quick and entertaining solve, and a lovely mental image in 25ac of a solemn bunch bouncing up and down in a bed showroom.
   Thanks to S&B

8. I did get around to this today after all and appreciated the fluffy difficulty level, perfectly matched to my solving needs. As was the entertainment level – I enjoyed it tremendously, though wasn’t error-free as like allan_c I got the DA the wrong way round. Not like me to make an A of myself, is it? …

   Anyway, I appreciated the good clues but they’ve already been highlighted so I’ve no need to add more. Other than my thanks to setter and blogger.

9. Another good Monday puzzle from Harry. I’d still say that the ed is generally giving us reasonably straightforward ones to start the week, so this one fitted the bill nicely.

   NANKING and MOORING were funny, but good stuff elsewhere too.

   Well done to Hoskins and thanks to flashling for the blog.

10. Much cleverness, all good fun and wry smiles a go-go. Unlike flashling, I didn’t notice the shortage of hanky-panky, what with some booze and three drug clues being typical.
    DUCK’S ARSE eluded me to the end. Annoying because I’m pretty sure Hoskins or maybe Anax used that inconspicuous definition for a hairstyle in a Sunday Times not that long ago.

    Thanks to flashling and Hoskins.

11. Aha – do I detect signs that Harry is finally growing up?!! I do hope so because, as flashling rightly says, this outing proves that you have no need to rely on the ‘blue stuff’ to construct an enjoyable puzzle. Now then – if you can just quit on the drugs and be a little less provocative about her majesty……..

    Really enjoyed this one – 13&14a taking top honours.
    Thanks to Hoskins and to flashling for the blog.

12. It’s all been said but we wanted to add our thanks for a good puzzle to start the week.

    Lots of lovely surfaces which is what we like and a few that raised a smile. What more can you ask?

    Thanks to Hoskins and flashling.

13. Many thanks to The Flash for the usual entertaining blog and to all that solved and especially those who commented.

    Sil @5 – Yup, for the most part I agree with the she as, after reading either Azed or Greer (can’t remember which), I subscribed to the 3 max rule as well as others things. However, I think it okay to mix it up every now and again in the same way that whilst I’d only usually have 6 full anagrams – evenly spread between across and down clues – and only one hidden and all the other standard stuff, occasionally accident or design changes things and that’s alright by me (and I hope y’all, too).

    Michael @10 – According to me records, I’ve done, er, ‘do’ twice in the ST in April and May of 2016 and with: Do in revolutionary dictator? Fantastic! (4) and Avoid irritating sort hosting society do (5,4). Whether Anax has done it or not I know, er, not.

    Jane @11 – Oooh, I hope I’m not growing up for I reckons that only ends in one thing. I have tried to quit the drugs but they are very moreish, you know. Glad you liked the puzzle (and hope you had a nice time away). I think me next two Indy’s are both korma in spice levels so should fit the bill for consumption by all … in surface, at least.

    Very glad this crossie hit the easy Monday spot on the hooter and raised a few smiles along the way. That’s job done for me today and, quite naturally and in no way forced, raises the question of what an Independent setter’s meant to do once the job is done of an evening …

    … that’s right folks, it’s time for setters, solvers and bloggers alike to hit the Fabled FifteenSquared drinks trolley for an après set/solve/blog bevvie or two – though I can tell you it might be a bit of effort as, in an unusual turn of events, I have some news to relate to you.

    Long-time readers will know that Mrs Jalopy – the keeper of the drinks trolley – recently installed a pump on her urn of Babycham so as to deliver refreshment from a distance at minimal effort to all but her son (who had to operate the hand pump).

    Well, since then things have got a bit more involved after Mrs Jalopy bought, and then highly modified, several hundred Hornby train sets using the jet engine of a model aircraft for extra whizz.

    After laying track around the Indy offices for the last two weeks, all she has to do now is listen for the call of ‘drinkies’ and press a button that sends the not-so-fabled FifteenSquared Six-Five Special and its load of a canister of Babycham whizzing round the office.

    All a thirsty setter, solver or blogger has then to do is grab said canister from the speeding train and, bingo, it’s refreshments for all! Of course, this is not as easy as it sounds and only yesterday a very dry-mouthed Hypnos got more than he bargained for when reaching for the canister.

    With some sadness I must inform you that our Hypnos caught the cuff of his shirt (a delightfully coloured check-pattern number) on the locomotive of the Six-Five Special and, with nary a by-yer-leave, the jet-powered Jalopyian loco whisked him off on a tour of the office that last several hours and was only stopped by the accidental intervention of Serpent who stumbled elegantly into the office and derailed both the poor and bespun Hypnos and the Fabled Six-Five Special.

    Anyhoo – you’ll be glad to hear Hypnos is now on the perpendicular and quite unspun and the Six-Five Special is back on track so drinks, if you dare, will be arriving every two minutes. Please mind the gap and dig in to your heart’s content.

    Phew – once again (I really don’t know how I do it to be honest) I seem to have managed to avoid any kind of prolix or ramblage and so it only remains for me to say I look forward to seeing you all next time around …

    … that should be on the 1st of August with a non-naughty and tougher crossword in the Indy’s thematic Tuesday spot, but more likely it’ll be on the morrow where there is a really nice Radian themer with plenty of clues to get you going to continue our Indy week.

    Cheers and chin chin to all. 🙂

14. Thanks for the info on your “do” clues. I may have had the second one for Duck’s Arse one in mind, rather than Afro, but then again perhaps I’m conflating it with one where DA was used as part of the wordplay. Any road up, I should have spotted it earlier instead of having my memory jogged after the event.

    Glad Hypnos is okay and decent enough not to take legal action. I hope I’m not overreacting when I suggest that a fully-staffed guard’s van on the back of the trolley would avoid a similar incident in future, although I realise not everyone would want a man in the caboose.

15. Pleasure Michael @14 – I reckons a DA/Duck’sArse/Attorney misdirective def would prolly be Anax as its far too clever for the likes of me. In fact, I wonder if it’s something the Aussie setter David Astle has done at some point on account of his initials?

    Hypnos did consider legal action, though fortunately for Mrs Jalopy not only is he a very decent chap, but there is a ‘no suing in relation to drinks based injuries’ clause written in her Indy contract and, though once contested by Quixote after he order a presto gin and tonic and lost a toenail as the drinks trolley came at him apace, it seems to have stood the test of time and the Indy accidents board reads ‘well, no really serious injuries since 1989’ – and, before you ask, we don’t talk about what happened in 1989.

    I’m liking the idea of a guard for the Six-Five Special – especially if they had a pair of scissors and a fast snipping hand to avoid any future cuff-based Hypnotic problematics. I’d suggest getting one of the workers from the annual Indy fair (coming up on the 14th of August, folks!) who work on the waltzer for candidates as they should be able to deal with the dizziness and the idea of ‘fast ride, riders, fast ride’ echoing around the Indy office might prove amusing for a while.

    As for a chap in the caboose, well, I’d say it’s worth trying anything twice and it’s much better than a caboose in the chap (dependant on the scale of the Hornby model, of course). And with that, I fancy it is time for the standard apology to Gaufrid for waffle beyond the call of crosswords and a speedy withdrawal to Bedfordshire. 🙂

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