Hoskins has given us a puzzle to sink our teeth into this Thursday, the first of his puzzles that it has fallen to me to blog in a long time.
I actually found this a very tough solve, more so than previous offerings by Hoskins that I have tackled. I think that one of things that slowed me down was my inability to solve either of the 15-letter entries, which in the case of 1A would have given me a generous crop of first letters.
I think that I have got there in the end and that I have parsed all the clues to my satisfaction bar 23, where I cannot see where “polish/Polish” fits in at all – I am relying on fellow solvers to enlighten me – thank you for the enlightenment! I am still somewhat perplexed as to why it took me such a long time to finish, since the clues seem fair and most of the vocabulary familiar. I suspect that not being able to make inroads into the top-left quadrant for a very long time was partly to blame, since when a solved one of the clues, the others followed fairly quickly.
My clues of the day were 1A, 6 and 27, all for their smooth surfaces and/or devious definitions, even though I didn’t know the term at 1A. 20 raised a smile, of course. I didn’t know until today that there was an “official” term for the gesture at 13D!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | FLAMING SAMBUCAS | FBI class let loose with a Magnum? Shots fired!
*(FBI CLASS + A MAGNUM); flaming sambucas are alcoholic beverages (“shots”) which are lit (“fired”) for effect prior to consumption |
| 09 | RADIANT | Joyful shout after flipping benefit comes in
DIA (AID=benefit; “after flipping” indicates reversal) in RANT (=shout) |
| 10 | I HAVE IT | Eureka is what a sexually-active person might say
Cryptically, a sexually-actively person might say “I have it (=sex)” |
| 11 | TOOLCHEST | Shift clothes to store for Dolly?
*(CLOTHES TO); “shift” is anagram indicator; as a tool for holding the head of a rivet, a dolly could be stored in a toolchest or toolbox |
| 12 | SHRED | Scrap that woman had with royal at its centre
R (=royal) in SHE’D (=that woman had) |
| 13 | FLEECES | Soaks run dry, after knocking it back
FLEE (=run) + CES (SEC=dry; “after knocking it back” indicates reversal); colloquially, to soak is to overcharge, fleece |
| 15 | SERVICE | Mostly break back with police unit or the army?
SER (RES<t>=break; “mostly” means last letter is dropped; “back” indicates reversal) + VICE (=police unit) |
| 17 | SCANNED | Had a quick look at can’s end drunkenly
*(CAN’S END); “drunkenly” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | STEPPES | Using sound waves, measures treeless flatlands
Homophone (“using sound waves”) of “steps (=measures, actions)” |
| 20 | BIDET | Can cleaner offer earl foremost of treatments?
BID (=offer) + E (=earl) + T<reatments> (“foremost of” means first letter only); the “can” of the definition is a toilet! |
| 22 | WINDSTORM | Prolonged blasts of flatus repelled male degenerates
WIND (=flatus, flatulence) + STORM (M=male + ROTS=degenerates, decays; “repelled” indicates reversal) |
| 25 | MUSTANG | Government problem about limiting smack and horse
TAN (=smack, beat) in MUSG (G=government + SUM (=problem, in maths; “about” indicates reversal) |
| 26 | TRAPPED | Caught short? Leader must go!
<s>TRAPPED (=short, i.e. of cash) |
| 27 | SAN ANDREAS FAULT | Crack surgeon’s first ‘safe and natural’ boobs
S<urgeon> (“first” means first letter only) + *(SAFE AND NATURAL); “boobs” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | FOR IT | Instead of sex, likely to get a spanking?
FOR (=instead of, on behalf of) + IT (=sex, as in to do it) |
| 02 | ANDROMEDA | Group of stars with City head for Derby’s area
AND (=with) + ROME (=City) + D<erby> (“head for” means first letter only) + A (=area) |
| 03 | ISAAC | Sacrifice one’s motoring organisation company, but not love
I’S (=one’s) + AA (=motoring organisation, i.e. Automobile Association) + C<o> (=company; “not love (=O, i.e. zero score)” means letter “o” is dropped); the reference is to the Book of Genesis, in which Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac to prove his loyalty to God |
| 04 | GUTLESS | Cowardly way to cut down on fish preparation?
If you “gut less”, you cut down on fish preparation |
| 05 | ARISTOS | I will get involved in playing Ross at Lords?
I in *(ROSS AT); “playing” is anagram indicator; lords could be described as aristos, i.e. aristocrats |
| 06 | BRASSERIE | Eatery chain closes early after bars let out
*(BARS) + SERIE<s> (=chain; “closes early” means last letter is dropped); “let out” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | CLEAR | See-through top from Chanel put on king
C<hanel> (“top from” means first letter only) + LEAR (=king, from Shakespeare) |
| 08 | SATEDNESS | Stones finale ends set with a rocky Satisfaction
*(<stone>S + ENDS SET + A); “finale” means least letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “rocky” |
| 13 | FIST BUMPS | Celebration moves female with first signs of pregnancy?
F (=female) + IST (=first) + BUMPS (=signs of pregnancy); a fist bump is a gesture in which two people bump their fists together to celebrate e.g. an achievement in sport |
| 14 | CONSTRAIN | Compel May’s lot to prepare for a future fight?
CONS (=May’s lot, i.e. conservatives) + TRAIN (=to prepare for a future fight) |
| 16 | IMPROMPTU | Hoskins is on time? You will be unprepared!
I’M (=Hoskins is, i.e. the setter of this puzzle) + PROMPT (=on time) + U (=you, in texting shorthand) |
| 18 | DOWAGER | Comic supporting act: the Queen and the Queen Mum?
DO (=act, perform) + WAG (=comic, comedian) + ER (=the Queen) |
| 19 | SINATRA | Old singer‘s lust for one with a knack for gyration
SIN (=lust for one, i.e. one of the seven deadly sins) + A + TRA (ART=knack, ability; “for gyration” indicates reversal); the reference is to US singer and actor Frank Sinatra (1915-98) |
| 21 | DYSON | Academic cut by heartless yobs is a sucker!
Y<ob>S (“heartless” means middle letters are dropped) in DON (=academic); the “sucker” of the definition is a Dyson vacuum cleaner |
| 23 | STAFF | Workers that could be described as Polish!
Cryptically, a staff in the sense of rod or pole could be described as being “polish” (with a lower-case “p”), i.e. like a pole! |
| 24 | MIDST | Middle digits dimwits partly raised
Reversed (“raised”) and hidden (“partly”) in “digiTS DIMwits” |
staff = Pole = Polish
Rather
staff – pole = Pole = Polish
Harry promised us Jalfrezi today and that’s what we got!
Really enjoyed this one which is more than I can say for the taste of 1a’s. I doubt that Mrs J would allow them anywhere near her wobbly trolley.
Plenty of Harry’s trademark innuendo in evidence and many that tickled my fancy. Tops for me were 4&16d with an irreverent nod to 18d.
Many thanks to HH and to Crucible for the blog. I think 23d refers to a staff being rather like a pole.
Cracking clue for FLAMING SAMBUCAS and lots of other goodies. Thanks H+ RR
Quite a challenge. We couldn’t parse STAFF, either, but it was so obvious once we saw Rishi’s explanation – Doh! The long anagrams took some cracking, and FIST BUMPS was new to us (although we know ‘high fives’). Favourites were ANDROMEDA (which occurred in Another Place, though differently clued, yesterday) and IMPROMPTU.
Thanks, Hoskins and RatkojaRiku
Harry at his higher spice level difficulty-wise and the usual chilli rating otherwise. Lots of very clever and very amusing stuff – a spanking puzzle.
Unlike our reviewer it was being unable to make inroads into the south for ages that held me up; then it was actually the Polish one which eventually unblocked things. I am so bad at unravelling long anagrams – the first and the last across answers did not come easily.
Thanks to HH and RR.
Apologies for getting discombobulated over who to thank for today’s blog, RR!
Obviously having an ‘off’ day……..
I’m not sure if the apostrophised S works with the ‘boobs’ indicator, and the ‘Polish’ idea seems indirect to me, but still an enjoyable solve. ‘Shots fired’ is very good.
Got the flaming sambuccas straight off from the definition and quick check of the anagram and thereafter this was a slow crawl, with STAFF being entered from definition and parsing only coming later after filling in the grid with a silent curse at Harry. Pole-ish indeed. Thanks HH & RR
This was a toughish challenge which kept me busy for over 40 enjoyable minutes. The Hot Shots didn’t go in until about half way through and the earthquake risk was my antipenultimate entry after finally getting STAFF. I struggled to get BIDET, as I’d assumed 13d was going to be one of Harry’s specialities and had put in FIST PUMPS, which are actually more of a celebration, whereas FIST BUMPS I would class as more of a greeting, although I agree they can also be used in celebration. Some devious stuff here. Good work Harry:-)
“Why am I struggling with this today?” I wondered, before remembering Harry’s jalfrezi warning. Lots of fun. Loved the anagrams and 10a had me laughing – very Hoskins clue. There was audible cursing when the penny finally dropped for 23d.
Many thanks to RR and HH. Any news on whether the 1as led to 13ds and 8ds, or will we be relying on something from the 11a to fix the trolley?
Apologies, forgot to thank RatkojaRiku for the blog…….
Many thanks to RR for a fine blog and to all who solved and especially those who commented.
Just got in from being out so have to be a little brief again tonight (win for many is that!) and so will say glad the puzzle went down okay.
With regard the apostrophe for NHS @8, I would say that the first letter is separate from the fodder – sure, one could put punctuation in everything, but I think one is allowed a natural break in my style of Xim-leaning setting (and maybe even in Xim setting itself …)
Right, with that briefly said, it only remains for me to say the drinks are on the trolley and all should dig in at will!
Thanks to all who visited today and I hope to see you next time around which should be December 10th with a puzzle korma in spice levels and easyish (though I do wonder whether it’ll be harder than that) in difficulty. However, more likely it’ll be tomorrow where his royal Phi-ness completes this Indy working week in his usual nice style.
Cheers and chin chin to all (and Mrs Jalopy says hullo and see y’all next time around to all, too)