I was under the impression that Hoskins always gets me as the blogger, but a Search on fifteensquared shows that this is not the case at all: he is a remarkably prolific setter and seems to have been blogged by an assortment of people. In any case, it is always a pleasure to be faced with one of his, because all the clues are sound, some are very good, and one is never left with a feeling that something is missing. My only criticism is of the slight overuse of exclams (as in 28ac and 2dn) but this is really just a matter of taste; however, I would suggest that he looks at what Ximenes had to say on the subject in his book, although no doubt he already knows and I’m missing something.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. I’ve introduced something someone now does in blogging The Times: putting anagram indicators in bold italic. Actually I haven’t, because the font is such that it appears rather large, so I’ve omitted the bold bit.
As usual, nothing to report on the Nina front.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EIGHT BALL | Blithe gal, oddly, is the last to go in pool (5,4) |
| (blithe gal)* — I am rather vague about the details of pool, but no doubt the last ball that is potted in eight-ball snooker is either the eighth or the one that scores 8 | ||
| 6 | SADDO | Blue party’s Michael Gove to his critics? (5) |
| sad [= blue] do [= party] — why does Hoskins pick on poor gentle Mr Gove for this clue? | ||
| 9 | IN ARREARS | At home, a Right Reverend mixed up ‘arse’ and ‘behind‘ (2,7) |
| in a RR (arse)* | ||
| 10 | RIGHT | Clever to ignore Britain’s leader? Correct! (5) |
| {B}right | ||
| 11 | THEME | Time to have laugh with Hoskins – that’s the main idea (5) |
| t. he me — I wasn’t sure where the laugh came in: tee-hee, or he-he or something like that? | ||
| 12 | MAIDSTONE | Graduate I’d chuck rocks at in town (9) |
| MA I’d stone | ||
| 13 | SEDATED | Son had an online affair, then chilled with drugs (7) |
| s e-dated — is there really a word e-dated? If not then surely there needs to be a question mark somewhere, ideally after ‘affair’, but it would have to be at the end of the sentence, making it ambiguous what the question mark qualifies; if it was ‘Chilled with drugs, son had an online affair?’ it would be all right. | ||
| 15 | GAMBLER | One walks slowly after essential bit of surgery, I bet (7) |
| {sur}g{ery} ambler — the I is the person referred to in the clue answer | ||
| 17 | IMMORAL | Hoskins is male and said to be wicked (7) |
| I’m M oral | ||
| 19 | MINARET | Time to return, then breach undamaged tower (7) |
| min(are)t, the are being (era)rev. — ‘breach’ indicating the insertion | ||
| 20 | TOAST RACK | Where soldiers might be held up before their division? (5,4) |
| CD referring to the toast before it is made into strips to act as soldiers | ||
| 22 | AD HOC | Bill gets endless German wine for this purpose only (2,3) |
| ad hoc{k} | ||
| 25 | GRIPE | Beef‘s good and ready for eating (5) |
| g ripe | ||
| 26 | SNOWDROPS | Extract from Sexus: “now drop silky bloomers” (9) |
| Hidden in SexuS NOW DROP Silky |
||
| 27 | TUNIS | Lover heading west with one’s capital abroad (5) |
| (nut)rev. 1’s | ||
| 28 | NOTRE DAME | After getting excited, tread on me holy place! (5,4) |
| (tread on me)* — This is a perfectly good clue but I can’t understand why there is an exclam here — apparently there are two reasons for an exclam: a) because the general punctuation demands it (shoo! or psst!) or b) because the setter is doing something a little odd, something that demands lateral thinking on the part of the solver. But if it’s because the setter has made a little joke and is drawing attention to it this is highly risky, because the solver may not think the joke is particularly funny. And I’m not being dim and failing to see that Hoskins is referring to some part of his body as a holy place. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXIST | Live in the past? I’d settle Thebes at first (5) |
| ex I{‘d} s{ettle} T{hebes} | ||
| 2 | GO APE | Look astonished about nothing and explode! (2,3) |
| g(0)ape — the same remark as was made two clues ago about exclams applies here, although perhaps one could argue that it is (just) a case of a), the general punctuation | ||
| 3 | TORMENTOR | Go off contrary life coach who bullies one? (9) |
| (rot)rev. mentor — this was tricky for me because I was fixated on turn = go off | ||
| 4 | ALARMED | City rising up with weapons can make one thus (7) |
| (LA)rev. armed — with &littish qualities | ||
| 5 | LASHING | Like husband to get into fish (and whipping) (7) |
| l(as H)ing | ||
| 6 | SORTS | In Mayday message, disheartened recruit types … (5) |
| SO(r{ecrui}t)S | ||
| 7 | DOG COLLAR | … call God or possibly a band of vicars! (3,6) |
| (call God or)* — nice definition, which moves the exclam into the lateral thinking category | ||
| 8 | ON THE TROT | Hot tenor getting angry and tense in a row (2,3,4) |
| (hot tenor)* t | ||
| 13 | SKINTIGHT | Small family: close and very clingy? (9) |
| s kin tight [= close] | ||
| 14 | DAMNATION | Flipping angry with people, dagnabbit! (9) |
| (mad)rev. nation — I had never heard the word ‘dagnabbit’ but evidently it is appropriate here | ||
| 16 | MANHANDLE | Knock about a possible nickname for John Thomas! (9) |
| How rude of Hoskins. I’d never have thought it of him. Once you are familiar with the term ‘John Thomas‘, and with Jilly Cooper’s novels, you’re away. | ||
| 18 | LEADS ON | Principal male child takes for a ride (5,2) |
| lead [= principal] son [= male child] | ||
| 19 | MAKE OUT | Do really well to have a bit of a snog (4,3) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 21 | TREES | Revolutionary group locks up soldiers in boxes? (5) |
| t(RE)es, the tes being set(rev.) — the box tree | ||
| 23 | HOO-HA | Mounting cries of pleasure can create commotion (3-2) |
| (ooh)rev. (ah)rev. | ||
| 24 | CASTE | Class of actors heard on the radio (5) |
| “cast” | ||
*anagram
Harry’s working hard to pay his Christmas bills. Apart from SNOWDROPS sticking out like…… this was very nice.
Thanks John and Hoskins,
If last Wednesday was ‘the easiest Hoskins ever’ (see Hoskins’ comment on IoS 1450) then this must be running it a close second. Not that we’re complaining, being a bit short of time. So not much time for comment either, just that we were held up on 3 as well thinking of ‘turn’, and our favourite was TOAST RACK for the smile it brought.
Thanks, Hoskins and John.
Very much enjoyed this. Definitely korma- solved in 28min without resort to assistance. Probably my fastest ever solve. Loi 21d. I think I’m starting to be able to read Harry’s charades which helps.
Big fan of Hoskins here. Blog seemed a tad critical- I quite expect plenty of exclamation from him; he certainly has bags of character as a setter! In any case, I always thought that the rule was: ‘all punctuation aims to mislead’
Surface of 11a sums it up for me. 5d, 7d, 12a all got a giggle. Now just curious about beverage trolley.
Thanks to Harry and John!
Indeed I think John got out of the wrong side of bed today. Not as quick as last time but still about a half pint on the flash scale. Toast rack was a real head on table moment. Thanks H and John.
Enjoyed this one so much and then came here only to have my balloon well and truly burst. Christmas spirit getting too much for you, John?
16&23d – typical vintage Hoskins, 20a & 7d just rollicking good fun – 17a my absolute favourite.
Thank you, Harry – some of us loved it (and love using !!! regardless of Ximenes’ opinions).
Sort of thanks to John as well – think you missed one of Harry’s drug references in 1a!
another very well-written puzzle by H. On the easy side mebbe, no less enjoyable for that.
I can’t, personally, see why on earth John is copping flak for his intro to this blog which seems extremely positive overall regarding Hoskins generally and this puzzle in particular.
Some setters would die for notices like this one.
Rum.
Thanks to Harry and John
Back now, with a bit more time. John, the 8-ball is one of the balls in the game of pool, where all the balls are numbered (1 to 15 plus the cue ball): one player attempts to pot balls 1-7, the other 9-15; a player who has potted all of a set must then pot the 8-ball in order to win, hence the 8-ball is the last one potted (even if there are other balls still on the table). For more details click here
And just to add that DOG COLLAR ran TOAST RACK a close seconf for favourite.
Many thanks to John for the super blog and to all who solved and especially thought who commented.
I must say I didn’t think John’s blog was harsh – yes, he didn’t quite use the phrase ‘the best puzzle I’ve ever done in all me puff’, but we can’t have everything and I wouldn’t want everything anyway as it sounds as if it might put one over their luggage allowance.
With regard Ximenes and his book, yup – I read it (twice) and I agree and disagree with stuff in it. Exclamation marks are one of the disagreements – folk can think I’m pleased with meself with a clue when I use one, but that isn’t the case and, for me, folk who think it is are thinking of Xim and not my clue.
Anyhoo, ’nuff ramble from me so it just remains for me to wish a very happy Xmas and merry New Year to all from my badself and Mrs Jalopy – the fabled Fifteen Squared drinks trolly has been stocked with some very festive Babycham and so I do hope you can join me in raising a glass or twenty-three to another great year in the Indy.
No worries if you canna raise a glass with us now though for I shall be back with an Xmas toughie on Boxing Day – or, of course, you can sink a few Xmas bevvies tommorrow with Filbert who continues our Indy week with a second Indy outing after a well-received debut.
Cheers and chin chin to all (with Xmas Bells on). 🙂
Another good job doen, Harry!
I also do not think that John was too harsh. Quoting Ximenes’ work, however, doesn’t impress me much, with Hoskins exactly making the point that I would make [for me, folk who think it is are thinking of Xim and not my clue]. I have learned a lot about crosswords by carefully looking at what setters do, asking them questions if necessary (here and in private) and, above all, using my intuition (whilst not being too stubborn).
As to today’s puzzle, it was quite easy but what surprised me most was that, when halfway through the solve, there wasn’t the usual amount of SD&R&R. Fortunately (?), it was amply compensated by 16d alone!
2d: why does Hoskins pick on poor gentle Mr Gove for this clue? Don’t get me started. Saddo is a rather mild expression for someone with, no doubt, a lot of brains but ….
Ah well. The Archbishop of Canterbury calls for ‘truce’, rightly so. Let’s start with not buying or even reading The Daily Mail till the end of year.
Looking forward to the Boxing Day toughie and Filbert, well, he will surely provide a real challenge.
We were so pleased that it was a quick solve as we started this very late.
20ac and 16d raised a laugh but 20ac was our favourite. All good fun. It’s amazing how much delight there is in rereading a Hoskins clue. At first glance you look for clues in the wordplay without necessarily reading the whole clue. When you solve with someone else you can sometimes miss the best clues too.
Thanks Harry and John.
I wonder. my wife looks at a clue, she can’t solve crosswords but laughs at Harry’s rudeness and anyone’s jokes. Do you think solvers go though that stage, miss the surface and the setters huge work is largely in vain bar the folks here?
flashing@11: You may be right. For many years now (and I must have first started doing cryptics at school nearly 50 years ago) when I first read a clue I immediately look for the constituent parts to work out what type of clue it is, which part is the definition, etc. and see the surface as a distraction that I have learned to ignore.
I’m sorry everyone, I’m a fully-paid-up member of the Society for The Abolition of Needless Exclams (Both in Prose Generally and also in Crosswords). They distress me: my first instinct is to disapprove, and only then do I try to justify them. I referred to Ximenes as support and I don’t think that’s a particularly bad thing: all right some of his edicts may seem a bit out-of-date but he spoke much wisdom and I know who is worth support in an argument between X and those who pooh-pooh him, sometimes without even bothering to read him. He laid down a whole mass of ‘rules’ which are still followed by the vast majority of setters.
But thanks to various people for supporting me. Thanks to Hoskins for his very reasonable reaction to the blog. Poor chap, he’s got me again on Boxing Day and I anticipate trouble: not with the exclams but with the difficulty.
I did make a load of erudite comments just after flashling@4, but having been plagued by browser issues recently after Windows and Chrome/Firefox updates, I found that when I did the sum 9 – ? = 4, it rejected my answer of 5 and wiped out my input too. Being somewhat frazzled by that point I didn’t try to remember it and retype it. Suffice to say that I enjoyed the puzzle and solved it in just under 30 minutes. I did have some trepidation as to how 16d would turn out, and it took me ages to switch into French for 28a. Thanks Harry and John and a Happy Christmas to all. (just going to do a <ctrl> C before I submit)
John Dunleavy @14
Apologies for your experience with the Captcha plugin. This issue has occurred from time to time and I am investigating an alternative plugin, which is currently under test in my sandbox. Due to a similar occurrence a couple of days ago I did some checks and found that, when returning to a post after the error message, the comment content was still there when using IE11 or Chrome but it was lost when using Edge or Firefox.
Gaufrid @15
Ah, that explains it. Thanks for the info. I’m using Firefox.