Independent 9687 by Hoskins

by

Well it’s Monday and Hoskins, much needed relief after a weekend in York. The Indy web site gremlins seem to have struck again but the puzzle is now up.
Well if you expecting sex, drugs and rock and roll then sorry there’s not much rock n roll.

Cheers Harry

Across

1 I’m not one to think he will pass gas, Bill (7)
AIRHEAD
AIR – gas & HE & AD – bill, poster

5 Party without tinnies? It’s not possible! (2,3,2)
NO CAN DO
A party with no cans – tinnies would be a no-can do

9 The champ getting scalped is something to aim for in archery (5)
INNER
A  scalped (w)INNER

10 Drug reactions presented differently (9)
NARCOTISE
To drug rather than a drug, REACTIONS* differently

11 Narrow raised lines on black crosses (7)
BRIDGES
B(lack) & RIDGES

12 In Kent, I caught the Queen astride knight, honest (7)
SINCERE
I & (k)N(ight) & C(aught) & E.R. – the queen – all in SE for the Kent area, Harry seems to like to have Her Maj – in his crosswords at least.

13 Aim to strangle yours truly? Correct (5)
EMEND
ME, yours truly inside END – aim

14 Town back embarrassed City with strike on goal (9)
ALDERSHOT
RED – embarrassed & L.A. – city all reversed & a SHOT on goal

17 Artistic set cheat badly, taking one in (9)
AESTHETIC
i in [SET CHEAT]* badly

19 Fish or an unsmoked bit of joint (5)
ROACH
Double definition, more drugs from Harry

21 Secret: I redden around the middle in bed (7)
RETIRED
Hidden answer in secRET I REDden

24 Thought to drink first third of claret with a six pack? (7)
MUSCLED
a third of CL(aret) inside MUSED – thought

25 It’s a bent to get drunk around first of November, taking part in Go Sober for October? (9)
ABSTINENT
N(ovember) in a drunken [ITS A BENT]*. Little abstinence was seen over the weekend in York…

26 Manage to visit contrary old boy, Frank? (5)
BRUNO
RUN – manage inside a contrary – reversed O(ld) B(oy)

27 A place where residents can drop off letters? (4,3)
EAST END
Cryptic def refering to cockney H’s

28 One feeding puts off those trying not to! (7)
DIETERS
1 being fed to DETERS, extended def

Down

1 Is Hoskins gifted with a friendly demeanour? (7)
AMIABLE
AM I – is Hoskins? & ABLE – gifted

2 Desire to have Congress send Iran new spades (9)
RANDINESS
[SEND IRAN]* newly & S(pades). Sex in a Hoskins puzzle, wow, didn’t see that coming.

3 Furious English editor taking on national paper (7)
ENRAGED
E(nglish)& N(ational) & RAG – paper & ED(itor) [Thanks for the correction folks]

4 Fellow’s bitter about Tory leader? Give over! (4,5)
DONT START
DON – fellow & ‘S with T(ory) inserted & TART (bitter). I suspect earlier drafts of the clue had a different synomym for TART

5 Celtic hooligans cuddling right geeky types (5)
NERDS
R(ight) inside NEDS – scottish for hooligans

6 Medical examiner promoting first Queen, then Crosby? (7)
CROONER
As in Bing, the first R for queen moving up in CORONER

7 What you’ll get from one piercing hooter? (5)
NOISE
I in NOSE, &lit  ish

8 Done up fronts of terraces awfully, eh? Stuff yourself! (7)
OVEREAT
OVER – done & reversed –up leading letters of E(h) A(wfully) T(erraces)

15 Diced meat supply reduced very heavily (9)
DECIMATED
[DICED MEAT]* supply

16 Bug in locks of Spooner’s radiation-proof dwelling? (4,5)
HEAD LOUSE
A spoonerism for LEAD HOUSE

17 Wasted friar admitted to A&E: cost of getting high? (7)
AIRFARE
A wasted friar* inside A&E

18 A brave woman taking an opiate orally (7)
HEROINE
Sounds like HEROIN

19 Russia’s premier able to be seen topless? Ludicrous! (7)
RISIBLE
The premier letter of R(ussia) & a topless (v)ISIBLE

20 Ghastly skin? Common sense to not show face? (7)
HIDEOUS
HIDE – skin & a faceless (n)OUS

22 Time to question the leadership of Steve Jobs? (5)
TASKS
T(ime) & ASK & the leading bit of S(teve)

23 Fear no more, the last of beer’s brought aboard (5)
DREAD
Last of (bee)R inside DEAD for no more, sounds like a cue for Mrs Jalopy

18 comments on “Independent 9687 by Hoskins”

  1. Thanks for a great blog, flashling – really, you’re as bad as each other. 😉

    Lots to admire and to laugh at here – too many to list – and a Spoonerism that makes sense as a bonus.

    Many thanks for the fun, Hoskins. [I wanted to enter CORRECT at 1dn.]

  3. Agreed – great puzzle, great blog. Something tells me that this is going to be a very strong week in the Indy.

    Thanks to Harry and The Flash.

  4. Great fun. Lots of laughs. For 3d, I parsed as E for English with N for national.
    So many favourites, but I’ll plump for SINCERE as top. One day Hoskins is going to get locked up in the Tower of London. Thanks all.

  5. Nice gentle start to the week with some amusing surfaces like the party (in Oz presumably and difficult to imagine) without tinnies. EAST END was good, too: the clue immediately suggested (and rejected) ‘post box’ but then we wondered if ‘drop off’ indicated some sort of bed; it was a while before the penny dropped.

    Thanks, Hoskins and flashling.

  6. Agree with @4Hovis that the parsing of 3D is n(national) + rag(paper) in E(English) and ed (editor).

    Enjoyed NO CAN DO and TASKS, both rather ingenious.

    Thanks to Hoskins & flashling.

  7. Thanks Phil and Harry.

    Glad to see Harry getting as much work as he does. Especially since he is a mere child from my aged perspective. Hope for the future then.

    The lad in question can be as scabrous as Paul, but has something of the wit and flair of Orlando. No higher praise in my book.

  8. All pretty straightforward but very pleasant and entertaining. The NW corner was blank for longest but in retrospect it is hard to see why those held out.

    Thanks to Hoskins and flashling

  10. Worth the wait for more of Harry’s fun and games with added bonus at 14ac of my local division 5 superstars/rabble (delete as applicable). I assume ‘Town’ as the definition referred to the football team….. No, maybe not. Got held up thinking that the Steve Jobs clue had to start with I. Otherwise smooth progress. Thanks to S&B

  11. Thanks for the blog, flashling.

    I too have taken to Hoskins’ puzzles. What Conrad said indeed: it’s good to have young setters being introduced and the Indy has been at the forefront of that. Gives the puzzles a more contemporary feel, both with subject matter and with language usage.

    So well done to Harry for this one. DIETERS was very cleverly put together. Just shows that the setter can produce good clues without reference to sex, alcohol, hard drugs and bodily functions. Is that a hint? That’s for the compiler (and editor, perhaps) to decide. Finbarr Saunders is still around if I start to get withdrawal symptoms.

  13. Many thanks to The Flash for a great blog and to all who solved and especially those who commented.

    I’m still in York so will have to go on longer than usual due to time pressure and say I’m pleased as always that the puzzle went down well and to have such lovely comments. To KD @11: my puzzles on sub are, I think, well spread in naughtiness with half being lightly spiced and half having more of a kick – I hope this will keep all happy by allowing a decent, and occasionally mildly indecent, variation.

    And now, the sad news that the keeper of the trolley, Mrs Jalopy, was spotted out with Jeffrey Bernard last night and so is unwell today. Obviously no dispatch from her because of that so it only remains for me to say thanks to all for visiting and I hope to see you next time around on the 12th of November with an easyish, korma puzzle, though more likely it’ll be on the morrow where there’s the usual nice Wiglaf puzzle to continue our Indy week.

    Cheers and chin chin to all. 🙂

  14. Very nice (and honest) appreciative comment from the editor @9.
    Like Paul is more or less the ‘setter in residence’ for The Guardian, Hoskins will perhaps at some point become The Independent’s equivalent.
    I always like his crosswords but like him most when the smut is not taking over.
    Taking over from what?
    From the (technical) soundness of his clueing, which is actually one of Hoskins’s strongest points.
    I’ve said it before, he’s a natural.
    I wouldn’t mind if we’d see him more frequent than, say, every two or three weeks.

    So much as to flattery.
    This crossword?
    Rubbish!
    🙂

    Thanks Phil – hope you managed to get home ‘on time’ yesterday …..

  15. Hi Sil, no it took 7 hours to get from York back home. Deeply unimpressed. Even ended up in Norwich of all places.

  16. flashling @ 15

    Your experience seems even worse than mine, bit I’m seriously considering stopping over till Monday next year.

  17. It’s all been said but we still wanted to say thanks to everyone – including the Indy as Kathryn’s Dad has pointed out for encouraging younger setters.

    Good to see folks on Saturday – sorry it took you so long to get home flashling.

    Great to see you and your Ma and Pa too Hoskins!

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