Independent 9646 / Hoskins

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A Hoskins puzzle today in the style we expect from this setter

 

 

 

There were a few words that are not in my everyday vocabulary but nothing particularly un usual.  I haven’t come across a STRING TIE for a long time but it brings back a few memories.  For me, I think the most obscure was MIDDY BLOUSE but BLOUSE was fairly clear from the crossing letters and MIDDY looked like the only way the remaining letters could be combined.

There were a couple of definitions I wasn’t quite sure about – hood for BONNET but I’ve come up with a what I think is a plausible connection, and TRAIN which I think is just a cryptic definition.  I had to check the definition of OWN for private in the dictionary or thesaurus, but it’s there.

I didn’t spot the theme initially, but a suggestion that there was one and a quick look at the entries revealed a great deal of commonality in the down entries. They are all items of clothing or items that can be worn in some way.

I enjoyed this and a number of the clues raised a smile.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Collar head of Yard easily remembered? (6)

 

CATCH (collar) + Y (first letter of [head of] YARD

CATCH Y

CATCHY (descriptive of a tune that is easily remembered)

 

4

 

Ciphers broken by males with no things to go on (8)

 

CODES (ciphers) containing (broken by) (M [male] + M [males] to give males + O [nothing; not any; no])

CO (M M O) DES

COMMODES (chairs containing chamber pots; things to go on)

 

10

 

In one action, anatomist gutted a butterfly? (2,1,6)

 

AT (letters remaining in ANATOMIST when the central letter NATOMIS are removed [gutted]) + A + STROKE (butterfly is an example of a swimming stroke)

AT A STROKE

AT A STROKE (in one action)

 

11

 

Clamour over detaining German dog (5)

 

(DIN [clamour] + O [over in cricket notation]) containing (detaining) G (German)

DIN (G) O

DINGO (Australian wild dog)

 

12

 

Nuns see racy jiggling more than is called for (11)

 

Anagram of (jiggling) NUNS SEE RACY

UNNECESSARY*

UNNECESSARY (more than is called for)

 

14

 

Do behave (3)

 

ACT (do)

ACT

ACT (behave)  double definition

 

15

 

Yob going round tree to spend a penny or two? (4,3)

LOUT (yob) containing (going round) ASH (example of a tree)

L (ASH) OUT

LASH OUT (spend extravagantly; spend a penny or two)

 

17

 

I lie lazily about learner luxury cars clipped (6)

 

L (learner) + (ROLLERS [Rolls Royces {luxury cars}] excluding the outside letters [clipped] R and S)

L OLLER

LOLLER (someone who lies lazily about)

 

19

 

You mostly called America another world (6)

 

U (text speak for you) + RANG (called) excluding the final letter (mostly) G + US (United States; American)

U RAN US

URANUS (planet; another world)

 

21

 

Advice on clues in need of a new approach (7)

 

Anagram of (in need of a new approach ON CLUES

COUNSEL*

COUNSEL (advice)

 

23

 

Private parts essential to wow and awe one (3)

 

OWN (middle letters [parts essential] of each of WOW, AWE and ONE)

OWN

OWN (personal; individual; private)

 

24

 

Bacon for one table, in haze, gets mixed up (11)

 

Anagram of (gets mixed up) TABLE IN HAZE

ELIZABETHAN*

ELIZABETHAN (reference Sir Francis Bacon [1561 – 1626], an Elizabethan philosopher, statesman and scientist)

 

26

 

Some beer tins spun round can be explosive stuff (5)

 

NITRE (hidden word [some] reversed [spun round] in BEER TINS)

NITRE<

NITRE (a chemical that is used in explosives)

 

27

 

Board in pursuit of proposal fit for cultivation (9)

 

PLAN (proposal) + TABLE (board)

PLAN TABLE

PLANTABLE (fit for cultivation)

 

29

 

Step away from date? Certainly, darling (8)

 

TREAD [step] excluding [away from] D [date] + SURE (certainly)

TREA SURE

TREASURE (term of endearment; darling)

 

30

 

Hoskins is involved in groups backing strikes (6)

 

(I’M (Hoskins is the crossword setter) contained in [is involved] SETS [groups]) all reversed (backing)

(S (M’I) TES)<

SMITES (strikes)

 
Down

1

 

Bash clue about something a priest gets into? (8)

 

Anagram of (about) BASH CLUE

CHASUBLE*

CHASUBLE (sleeveless vestment worn over the alb by the priest while celebrating Mass)

 

2

 

Labour’s leader unseated in this? (5)

 

TRAIN – I think this is a reference to a reported incident last year when the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn was unable to get a seat on a Virgin East Coast TRAIN and was photographed sitting on the floor.

TRAIN

TRAIN

 

3

 

A particular role that requires no top (3)

 

THAT excluding (no) the first letter (top; down entry) T

HAT

HAT (reference the phrase ‘wear several HATs’ describing someone undertaking different roles within the one project)

 

5

 

Altogether done with a vacuous liberal (7)

 

OVER (done) + A + LL (the letters remaining in LIBERAL when the central letters IBERA are removed [vacuous])

OVER A LL

OVERALL (altogether)

 

6

 

Top boys I muddle up (5,6)

 

Anagram of (up) BOYS I MUDDLE

MIDDY BLOUSE*

MIDDY BLOUSE (a loose BLOUSE [top] worn, especially  formerly, by women and especially children, having a collar with a broad flap at the back in the style of a sailor’s uniform)

 

7

 

Some clobber crap a soothsayer put about (9)

 

DUNG (excrement, crap) + A + SEER (soothsayer) reversed (put about)

DUNG A REES<

DUNGAREES (work overalls; clothes; some clobber)

 

8

 

Spirits crack without topside of roast (and seconds) (6)

 

SHOTS (cracks) containing (outside; without) R (first letter of [topside of] ROAST)

SHO (R) TS

SHORTS (small glasses of spirits)

 

9

 

Restriction regarding cuddling Soprano in bed (6)

 

(RE [regarding] containing S [soprano]) all contained in (in) COT (bed)

CO (R (S) E) T

CORSET (restrictive garment; also controls imposed by the Bank of England to restrict banks’ capacity to lend)

 

13

 

Something one prizes most? Meat and two veg! (5,6)

 

CROWN JEWELS (male genitalia,also defined by ‘meat and two veg’)

CROWN JEWELS

CROWN JEWELS (something that one prizes most) double definition

 

16

 

An accessory of criminal in stir gets brief (6,3)

 

Anagram of (criminal) IN STIR and GETS excluding the final letter [brief] S

STRING TIE*

STRING TIE (clothing accessory)

 

18

 

Tart needles on and off, but also flatters (8)

 

FLAN (tart) + NELS (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [on and off] of NEEDLESS)

FLAN NELS

FLANNELS (flatters)

 

20

 

Fielder that’s a victim of icy conditions? (7)

 

SLIPPER (one who may be a victim of icy conditions)

SLIPPER

SLIPPER (cricket fielder)

 

21

 

Bend over barrel for a potential strangler! (6)

 

ARC (bend) reversed (over) + VAT (barrel)

CRA< VAT

CRAVAT (formal neckerchief often worn by men as an alternative to a tie.  Also often sued in murder stories as an item to strangle the victim)

 

22

 

Baron working to ensnare Hood in Nottingham (6)

 

B (baron) + ON (working) + NET (catch; ensnare)

BONNET

BONNET – I’m not entirely sure what is going on here.  Obviously Robin Hood is associated with Nottingham and a bonnet and a hood are examples of headgear but I can’t see them as being the same kind of headgear.

The other alternative is that a car BONNET is referred to as a ‘hood’ in America and there are several small towns called Nottingham in America.

25

 

Heroin, unlimited tabs and sex can form one (5)

 

H (heroin) + AB (TABS without the outer or limiting letters [unlimited] T and S) + IT (sex)

H AB IT

HABIT (taking unlimited heroin tablets [tabs] can be HABIT forming)

 

28

 

Hero of Robert Burns? ‘Twas me on occasion! (3)

 

TAM (letters 1, 3 and 5 of ‘TWAS ME)

TAM

TAM (reference TAM O’Shanter hero of Robert Burns’ poem of the same name)

 

 

20 comments on “Independent 9646 / Hoskins”

  1. Thanks for blogging, Duncan.

    Good fun from Hoskins. The clothing theme passed me by, but no matter. Thanks for parsing HAT; couldn’t quite see the definition in that one. AT A STROKE tickled me this morning.

    For BONNET, I had the same thoughts as you, but I don’t think we need US versions of the Queen of the Midlands. A ‘hood’ in Nottingham, England would be a BONNET. At least I think that’s what the setter was getting at. Thanks to him too.

  2. Entertaining as ever, but Commodes up front @4ac sent me a bit too deep into Hoskins mindset mode, briefly wondering what arcane solitary practice involving bacon an Elizabethan might be. Fairly restrained after all, even when given the chance with Uranus.
    Hadn’t come across Middy Blouse either, but then I’ve lived dahn Sarf most of the time.
    Thanks to Harry and Duncan.
    Lovely stuff. Thanks to Harry and Duncan

  3. I enjoyed this and twigged the vestments theme early on but I couldn’t for the life of me get CATCHY at 1a and thus completely failed on the very funny politics GK question at 2d with TRAIN. Thud.
    Nice one Hoskins and thanks to DuncanS

  4. I missed the clobber theme and that stymied me on BONNET.A somewhat different cluing style to Arachne! Thanks to duncansheil and Harry.

  5. In 2dn the wordplay is [s]TRAIN (strain = labour) so the whole clue is both definition and wordplay – excellent!

    In 20dn I parsed it as SLIP (fielder) + PER (= a, as in ‘£5 a/per head’) and thought “that’s” to be unnecessary and a bit misleading – the clue would work perfectly well as ‘Fielder a victim of icy conditions?’

    Missed the theme, but what’s new? And a bit of help needed today.

    Thanks, though, to Hoskins and Duncan

  6. Spotting the theme helped to solve SHORTS, but I didn’t know the TRAIN incident (and missed allan_c @5’s clever parsing) as well as the parsing of HAT. I don’t have any problems with ‘bonnet’ for ‘hood’, in the sense of a car engine cover – ‘hood’ in US and ‘bonnet’ in UK – rather than headgear, and like Kathryn’s Dad @1 I think that the ‘Nottingham’ reference just means that what is known as a car ‘hood’ in the US, is known as a car BONNET in Nottingham, UK. Clear as mud.

    Maybe obvious, but I liked the slightly naughty ones at 9d and 13d.

    Thank you to Hoskins and Duncan.

  7. All good fun, didn’t quite parse STRAIN, didn’t worry about BONNET/HOOD until I came here, just thinking of them both as headgear; and – didn’t notice the theme. Amazing how one can miss something that is afterwards so obvious.

    I think the parsing of SHORTS is SHO(R)T + S ({and}seconds).

    Thanks to Hoskins and Duncanshiell.

  8. All the fun I expected. Did need a bit of assistance today, but then am sub par. I forgot to look for a theme, so naturally didn’t notice one. I can’t quite decide which clues I’d prize most …

    Thanks to Harry and Duncan.

  9. Thanks to S&B.

    Fine puzzle, but it was a bit sneaky putting a J and Z so close together in the grid. I spent ages looking out for a Q until I finally gave up on the pangram.

  10. Another cracker from the lad. Did wonder about an Oscar Wilde theme seeing chasuble but came to nought. Thought TRAIN was an absolute gem. Bring on the trolley…

  11. Thanks Hoskins – another fun puzzle but we missed the theme completely. Too many miles walked today to be thinking straight – that’s our excuse anyway.

    Thanks Duncan.

  12. Many thanks to the D of S for the blog and to all who solved and especially those who commented.

    For anyone who missed the theme – let me rephrase that – for everyone except for baerchen and WP, I wouldn’t feel too bad about missing it as although it were all the down clues it was, as with pretty much all my themed puzzles in the Indy, a ghost theme so everything was deffed as something else for the most part. Further to that it was a standard grid, I think I stayed away from uncommon words and the like which usually give the game away, and finally it had, being wearables, quite a wide scope thematically.

    With regard to specifics clue points: KD @1 has my intended intention for the English indicator for ‘bonnet’ and Mr C @5 is spot on with his parse for 2d (BTW, for anyone let down by Corbyn and the seat stuff – there has recently been an exposé on that showing that the carriage’s that looked empty from the published photos were actually full, but you just couldn’t see the folks slouching, or the kids to small to be seen, in the seats … but I digress.

    With regard to a more restrained outing as mentioned by the honourable Paul A @2, yup – this one was a korma in spice levels and so I avoided (for the time being) the ‘Uranus’ clue that was begging to be written. I try to do a variety of difficulties, naughties and more straight puzzles so as to give the boss the maximum amount of puzzle-picking choice and also to try and keep things interesting and different for the solver.

    Well, I think that is almost all the today’s business taken care of – save for letting Kitty @8 know that her favourite clue honours were shared between 12a and 13d – so we can now move on to more important things such as the continuing adventures of Mrs Jalopy and The Fable Fifteen Squared Drinks trolley …

    … or can we? It just so happens that, due to my having elventy-five cans of beer that need drinking as they go out of date tomorrow, I haven’t the time to tell you in full the absolutely fantastical series of events that befell out Mrs Jalopy these past weeks. So, in the style of a ‘choose yer own adventure’ book, I shall just outline the various events and let your own imaginative minds fill in the gaps as follows.

    Events:

    Mrs Jalopy finds love with …
    The Drinks Trolley runs out of control after…
    Mrs Jalopy moonlights at a summit between Trump and Kim Jong-Un

    Players:

    Alchemi
    Kim Jong-Un
    Nitsy
    Mrs Jalopy
    Donald Trump
    Jambazi
    Silvanus
    Mrs Jalopy’s prodigal daughter
    Henry Copperneck, the 86 year-old night watchwoman for the Indy offices

    Quotes:

    ‘That’s not the urn’s tap, you damn fool!’
    ‘You mean to say the peyote in the Babycham didn’t go well?’
    ‘There’s a time and a place for a Tory government, and that’s the distant past!’
    ‘I don’t think Hoskins will notice, after all, last time I saw him he was deep in conversation with the aspidistra in foyer.’
    ‘There are three ways to save the day, but none of them involve you wearing yer pants on the outside of yer pants and looking for phone boxes to exit dramatically’
    ‘This is the red button, sir …’
    ‘Blarrrgh!’

    Outcome:

    Kim Jong Il ends up snogging Donald Trump
    World peace
    World War
    Serious drunkenness for all
    Serious world Babycham shortage
    Jambazi, Silvanus, Nitsy and Alchemi form a world government

    Right – hope that’s enough story fodder for you to put together your own tales. As for me, I’m off to neck some beers (plenty to go round if you fancy joining me) so it only remains for me to say thanks to all for visiting and I’ll look forward to seeing you next time around.

    Next time should be on the first of October with an easy jalfrezi puzzle with lots of high times in it, though more likely it’ll be tomorrow where there’s some lovely stuff by our Tees to continue the Indy week in style.

    Cheers and chin chin to all. 🙂

  13. Harry, when I read these long posts of yours, I always think ‘there will surely be a life after setting crosswords’.
    It’s almost literature.
    Keep them somewhere.
    Or – at some point – write a book about the Wonderful Life & Further Adventures of Mrs Jalopy!
    [apparently no nukes involved, otherwise there would be no new ‘world government’]

    Oh, BTW, good crossword.
    Not too hard, nicely pitched.
    And, hurrah, I saw the theme [but then it’s Tuesday].
    Not that it was of any help but that’s what a ghost theme should be all about, shouldn’t it?

  14. Will do Sil @13 – actually, before I came to crosswords I was attempting and failing to be a writer. I was okay (though that’s not evidenced by the stuff I write here) but I found there were a lotta words in even the shortest of stories and with so much wordage to go wrong crossies seemed more manageable.

    Anyhoo, I do have plans to give writing another crack – but that’s a few years down the line yet as I need to tighten me chops, natch (BTW, I had started tightening me chops several years ago but everyone said it looked like I’d had some cheeky botox so I stopped immediately).

    Glad you liked the crossie and clocked the theme and yes – Themetic Tuesday in the Indy it is. Though I think by the time I pretend to go over this post in my patented sun-way-over-the-yard-arm proof-read it might be Teesday already!

  15. Tees?
    That’s the bloke of which ‘they’ always say ‘it was easier than usual’.
    An amusing contradictio in terminis.

  16. They do say that, or so I heard – but I think it depends on the day, how the solver finds them, and most importantly how Tees intends them to be.

    Tomorrow’s – or today’s – Tees is a good one, I thought, with plenty to get you going, laughs and nice surfaces and some smart stuff to boot.

    Of course, I canna recall if it was easier, or indeed Teesier, than his last one wot with being fifty four cans into the evening so I’ll look forward to seeing what everyone thought upon the morrow.

  17. *oops – missed yer point, Sil. Yup, easier than usual would eventually mean we could solve it before it was even written! Either or anyways, if it’s Tees you know you’re gonna have some fun regardless. 🙂

  19. I got it now, Sil. I’d thought obviously you meant that if he always got easier then he’d be ridiculously easy etc … Anyhoo, now we’ve got that cleared up I’ve gotta go watch a film or i’ll never get to Bedfordshire tonight and so, with the usual apologies to Gaufrid for chat on, around, and above cryptic crosswords, I’ll take me leave and wish you and everyone else a safe and sound night’s slumbers. 🙂

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