Hoskins has been quite prolific of late and has provided this first Wednesday challenge of 2018.
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, less taxing than some of Hoskins’ recent offerings. My last-one-in was 4, where I had convinced myself that the answer had to be “oysters”, with “starters” referring to food. I had trouble with a couple of other parsings, such as the rather devious 23 and briefly with 13, where I at first parsed “booty” as “spoils” in the plural.
My favourite clues today were 1D, 11 and 17, all for surface, even though I did not know the port (=harbour) at 17; and the incredibly ingenious 22, for its misdirection around “Den (Watts)”.
May I take this opportunity to wish our compilers, editors and indeed all fellow solvers and bloggers a happy and crossword-filled new year.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | STEVEDORES | Ever tossed out a pair of Dockers?
*(EVER TOSSED); “out” is anagram indicator; the “dockers” of the definition are dockworkers, not trousers! |
| 06 | LOUT | Leninist leader released? Yahoo
L<enininst> (“leader” means first letter only) + OUT (=released, from prison); the “yahoo” of the definition is not an exclamation but a brutish lout |
| 10 | AMBIENT | A hospital department obstructing Doctor Hoskins going round
[MB (=doctor, i.e. Bachelor of Medicine) + I (=Hoskins, i.e. setter of this puzzle)] in [A + ENT (=hospital department, i.e. ear, nose and throat)] |
| 11 | EROSIVE | Wearing retro Levis or elegant clothes
Reversed (“retro”) and hidden (“clothes”) in “lEVIS OR Elegant” |
| 12 | FARES | Those picked up in Hackney markets, I’m told
Homophone (“I’m told”) of “fairs (=markets)”; the “Hackney” of the definition is a Hackney carriage, taxi |
| 14 | EMOLLIENT | Soothing drug distributed to ill men
E (=drug, i.e. ecstasy) + *(TO ILL MEN); “distributed” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | HEINOUS | Atrocious man popular round America
HE (=man) + IN (=popular) + O (=round, pictorially) + US (=America) |
| 16 | ENDORSE | Back, bottom or side but not centre
END (=bottom, e.g. of list) + OR + <s>ID<e> (“not centre” means all middle letters are dropped); the “back” of the definition is a verb meaning support, approve |
| 18 | ANGELIC | I glance about like one watching over you?
*(I GLANCE); “about” is anagram indicator; your guardian angel watches over you |
| 20 | GIVE OUT | Hoskins has to crack the king’s disease or die
I’VE (=Hoskins has to, i.e. the setter of this puzzle) in GOUT (=king’s disease, i.e. cause by high living) |
| 21 | FOOTPRINT | One following Long John Silver along the beach?
Cryptic definition: as a one-legged pirate, Long John Silver would leave behind a single footprint! |
| 23 | RURAL | Country said to prefer game to duck
O-RAL (=said, spoken); “prefer game (=RU, i.e. rugby union) to duck (=O, i.e. zero score in cricket)” means that letter “o” is replaced by “ru” |
| 25 | RETURNS | Give back small profits
RETURN (=give back) + S (=small) |
| 26 | THRONGS | Fills undies with bit of radish as stuffing
R<adish> (“bit of” means first letter only) in THONGS (=undies) |
| 28 | TORY | Republican’s opening play with May?
R (=Republican) in TOY (=play (with)); the May of the definition is Theresa May |
| 29 | ON ONE’S FEET | Where loafers should really be standing
As casual shoes, loafers should be on a person’s feet! |
| Down | ||
| 01 | STAFF | Rod Stewart’s outside with a couple of females
S<tewar>T (“outside” means first and last letter only) + A + F F (2 x F=female) |
| 02 | EMBARKING | Getting on Hoskins after retirement? Woof, woof!
EM (ME=Hoskins, i.e. setter of this puzzle; “after retirement” indicates reversal) + BARKING (=woof, woof) |
| 03 | EWE | She’s the sort to follow you, I’ve been told
Homophone (“I’ve been told”) of “you” |
| 04 | OUTSETS | What Hoskins does to Serpent for starters?
Rather cheekily, Hoskins seems to be claiming that he compiles better puzzles than, i.e. “out-sets”, Serpent; cryptically, a “starter” could be described as an outset, beginning |
| 05 | EYESORE | Possible description of sty could be stye?
A stye is a sore on the eye; a pigsty, say, is an eyesore, ugly sight |
| 07 | ON ICE | Postponed? Oh, lovely
O (=OH) + NICE (=lively) |
| 08 | TREATMENT | Matter for revision by hospital department?
*(MATTER) + ENT (=hospital department, i.e. ear, nose and throat); “for revision” is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| 09 | BOWLED OVER | Absolutely astounded by peacenik in Derby?
DOVE (=peacenik, as opposed to hawk) in BOWLER (=Derby, i.e. hat) |
| 13 | SPOILSPORT | Booty fun? I’ll put the kibosh on it!
SPOIL (=booty) + SPORT (=fun) |
| 15 | HEADFIRST | Rashly gave food to artist Damien for Spooner
Spoonerism of “fed (=gave food to) Hirst (=artist Damien)” |
| 17 | RIO GRANDE | Drunk ordering a port in a foreign land
*(ORDERING A); “drunk” is anagram indicator; in addition to being a river in the US and Mexico, Rio Grande is a port of southern Brazil |
| 19 | CRIMSON | Lips in blue, perhaps, or another colour
RIMS (=lips, edges) in CON (=blue, perhaps, i.e. conservative) |
| 20 | GET IT ON | Understand I must expend energy to make love
GET IT (=understand) + ON<e> (=I; “must expend energy (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped |
| 22 | OTTER | One likely to make Den more fiery in Walford?
<h>OTTER (=more fiery; “in Walford”, i.e. in the East End of London, means the initial aitch is dropped); otters build dens |
| 24 | LISZT | Lean to drink last of fizz being half-cut in Bow!
<fiz>Z (“last of” means last letter only) in LIST (=lean); (Brahms and) Liszt is Cockney rhyming slang for drunk, pissed, hence “half-cut in Bow”! |
| 27 | RES | Short break in Rome is the thing
RES<t> (=break; “short” means last letter dropped); “res” is the Latin (“in Rome”) word for thing, matter, as in “res publica” or “public matter”, from which the word “republic” is derived |
Thanks RatkojaRiku.
Knowing the proclivities of this setter I would hazard that if 1 across was not submitted to Eimi with ‘off’ not ‘out’ and with no capital ‘D’ on docker, he certainly thought about doing so.
Bit disappointed by there being two identical hospital departments.
Seasonal greetings to all.
A master at work. Like Conrad @1, I thought the repeated use of ENT was a little clumsy but forgivable given the nice surfaces. Also, the use of other setter pseudonyms in clues is a little unfair for newbies – hardly GK – but given the initial capital letter, it’s arguably acceptable. I wonder if Harry okayed this clue with Serpent or is awaiting his reaction. Apart from the clue to FOOTPRINT, which didn’t work for me (he would leave footprints, just all from the same foot), the others were as beautifully constructed as always, with a few needing some working out. Didn’t know RES but probably should have.
Thanks to RR and Hoskins.
Loved it. 4d my LOI, largely in disbelief. Is that a declaration of war? Is Mrs Jalopy attempting Babycham-based appeasement? Are the battle lines drawn!?
(and my thanks to HH and RR of course!)
Thanks, RR.
I loved it, too! – especially EROSIVE, STAFF, BOWLED OVER and the brilliant OTTER.
It is a pity about the two hospital departments but I agree with Hovis about the nice surfaces. I did think to begin with that the clue for 10ac was the wrong way round – I think usually ‘obstructs’ indicates contained rather than container – but I suppose either way makes sense: getting in the way of and surrounding are both ways of obstructing.
Many thanks to Hoskins for the fun.
Large drink for Serpent, Harry!
Conrad@1 – my thoughts exactly about 1ac, but Harry reined himself in for now. Difficulty on a par with the Wednesday Dacs we know and love. Thanks to S&B.
Gave up ticking potential favourites – darned good all round, Harry.
Is it true that Serpent upset Mrs J with comments about the recent court case leading her to flounce off (as much as she is able to given her delicate state of health) without completing her rounds with the trolley?
Many thanks for the puzzle and a very Happy New Year to you (hope we might see you at the end of Jan if the gout has eased up by then?). Likewise, thanks and best wishes for 2018 to RR.
Excellent stuff which had me scratching my head. Didn’t understand 4d until coming here as I’m not familiar with all the setters’ pseudonyms, but got it from definition and crossers. Took me just over 30 minutes so average difficulty for me. Like CRIMSON and HEADFIRST. Also OTTER. Thanks RR and Harry.
I took 4 down to mean that Hoskins sets more puzzles than Serpent (which he definitely does) rather than better ones!
‘Ere, ‘ Arry! Yer’ve only gorn ‘n’ ‘alf-inched me clue, encha?
Didn’t do the puzzle, but came here to admire Harry’s cluing. Great to see we think along the same lines (assuming there’s nothing in the above allegation, really).
I had the same doubts as Eileen about “obstructing” in 10a (AMBIENT) and was also disappointed to see two ENT depts. Also, what’s “pair” doing in 1a (STEVEDORES), other than helping the surface?
Re 24d, Brahms and Liszt is rhyming slang for “pissed”, sure, but when rhyming slang is abbreviated, it’s usually the non-rhyming part that gets used, isn’t it? Personally, I’ve only ever heard it used entire.
Btw, “Yahoo” was a word coined by Swift who put it in the mouths of the highly cultured, horse-like Houyhnhnms to refer to the humans who co-existed with them, in Gulliver’s Travels (fourth journey).
Plenty to admire here notwithstanding the nitpicks. Especially liked 23a and 1d. ‘Appy new year all.
Our main problem today was creating a dead tree version – we could not get the website to generate a print version. Did anyone else have this problem? We were reduced to creating a printable grid and typing out the clues by hand! Fortunately we had a bit of time on our hands today but even so we weren’t able to start solving till this evening. But to the puzzle itself …
Yes, we were surprised by the same hospital department being used twice – it’s the sort of thing that newbie setters get picked up on in Rookie Corner on another website. And we know Harry doesn’t agree, but we still think referring to other setters as setters (i.e. in this case Serpent as a setter, although using ‘Serpent’ to indicate a snake or maybe the old musical instrument would be quite OK) is unfair to beginners. and mention of a serpent as an instrument remings me of this Hoffnung cartoon. Our only other quibble is with the enumeration of 15dn – we think it should be (4-5).
But quibbles apart this was an enjoyable solve. EYESORE was great for a succinct clue and EMBARKING produced a groan followed by a laugh. Others we liked were FARES and LISZT.
Thanks, Harry and RR
Many thanks to RR for a great blog and to all who solved and especially those who commented.
I stand by all me cluing in this puzzle and would like to assure Tony @11 that it was written in August 2017 and subbed in Sep 2017.
As for ‘off/out’ and ‘Serpent’ – well now, I couldn’t possibly comment …
Anyhoo, ’nuff ramble from me so it just remains to say Mrs Jalopy has opened up the fabled Fifteen Squared drinks trolley and Babychams are being dispensed for free to those who form a disorderly queue.
Thanks to all who visited today, I’ll be back on Sunday the 14th with an easyish puzzle that’s jalfrezi in spice levels, but don’t wait till then to solve another Indy as The Big Tease continues our week tomorrow in his usually tease-tasic style.
Cheers and chin-chin to all. 🙂
Ps – forgot to say to Jane @8 that I very much hope to go to Big Dave’s bash, but have to do some penny counting first to see whether it is viable after a very expensive Xmas. 🙂
Harry,
“would like to assure Tony @11 that it was written in August 2017 and subbed in Sep 2017”
I can only say, “great minds think alike!” (Think your version had a bit more chilli in it though?)
Allan_C,
You didn’t quite pin down the cartoon with your link. One of the problems with “no preview”, unfortunately.