An enjoyable trademark Hoskins puzzle. Thanks to Hoskins. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 The royal couple have loads of affairs (9)
PHILANDER : [PHIL AND ER](the British royal couple, Prince Philip and Elizabeth Regina).
6 I’m in Lourdes, but I ain’t seen The Lord! (5)
JESUS : “je suis”(“I’m;I am” in the local language in Lourdes, France) minus(but … ain’t seen) “I“.
Defn: … amongst Christians.
A tongue-in-cheek surface!
9 Submit landlord should be relieved of capital (5)
ENTER : “renter”(a landlord;one who rents out property) minus its 1st letter(should be relieved of capital).
Defn: To present something for approval, consideration, inclusion , etc.
10 Tiddler? Get yours operated on around November (9)
YOUNGSTER : Anagram of(… operated on) GET YOURS containing(around) N(letter represented by “November” in the phonetic alphabet).
11 What I think Hoskins-haters might do? Good grief! (5,2)
STONE ME : Double defn: 1st: Literally, what those who hate “me”, this setter self-referentially, might do; and 2nd: An exclamation of shock.
(Or Hoskins perhaps meant an invitation to make one get high.)
12 Body part beset by some indecent rumblings (7)
CENTRUM : Hidden in(beset by some) “indecent rumblings“.
13 All beer needs to be reordered? Call again! (7)
RELABEL : Anagram of(… needs to be reordered) ALL BEER.
15 Jamaican criminal that’s tailing detectives (6)
YARDIE : IE(abbrev. for “id est”;that is) placed after(tailing) YARD(short for Scotland Yard, home of the London police force).
18 Commercial area by deserted green in Paris (6)
ADVERT : A(abbrev. for “area”) plus(by) D(abbrev. for “deserted”) + VERT(“green” in the local language in Paris).
Defn: Short for “advertisement”.
20 View posterior of old boy – that’s indecent (7)
OBSCENE : SCENE(a view) placed after(posterior of;at the back of) OB(abbrev. for “old boy” of a school or college).
22 Superior needs bit of acid on head? I’ll help! (7)
ABETTER : BETTER(superior;of higher quality) placed after(needs … on head) 1st letter of(bit of) “acid“.
Defn: …, usually in a wrongdoing.
24 Youngster? Bit short to be a bit of a climber (7)
TENDRIL : TEN(how old a youngster might be?) + “drill”(a tool for, well, drilling holes, whose business end is the bit) minus its last letter(short).
26 She wore me out (in an unnamed spot) (9)
SOMEWHERE : Anagram of(… out) SHE WORE ME.
I’m sure there’s nothing sexual about the surface?
27 Dukes right to pull out of top degrees (5)
FISTS : “Firsts”(short for First Class degrees;top degrees from universities) minus(… to pull out of) “r”(abbrev. for “right”).
28 Belt up and do loads of drugs? (but not E) (3,2)
CAN IT : “cane it”(to consume;do drugs in large quantities;in loads) minus(but not) “E”(abbrev. for for the drug, Ecstasy).
Defn: Be quiet!
29 One living under bridge regarded as very drunk (9)
TROLLEYED : TROLL(creature living under a bridge featured in “Three Billy Goats Gruff”, a Norwegian folk tale that introduced such creatures to the English-speaking world) + EYED(regarded;gazed at steadily).
Down
1 Request certain to give sexual gratification (8)
PLEASURE : PLEA(a request;an appeal) + SURE(certain;no question about it).
Answer: … as a verb.
2 Opening Republican’s interested in securing (5)
INTRO : R(abbrev. for a member of the Republican Party) contained in(… securing) INTO(interested in;a fan of).
Defn: … section of a piece of music, say.
3 A good beer and ale drunk could be thus (9)
AGREEABLE : Anagram of(… drunk) [ A + G(abbrev. for “good” + BEER plus(and) ALE ].
Defn: I’ll drink to that! A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
4 Run lewdly about, but I won’t emit any gas! (3,4)
DRY WELL : Anagram of(… about) [ R(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores) + LEWDLY ].
Defn: …, natural gas that is, (nor any crude oil) from the ground.
5 Queen pot-bellied on removing top? Sexy! (7)
RAUNCHY : R(abbrev. for “Regina”, Latin for queen) + “paunchy”(pot-bellied;with a protruding abdomen) minus its 1st letter(on removing top, in a down clue).
6 What one might say to jerk that’s tipsy? (3,2)
JOG ON : Homophone of(What one might say) [ JOG(to move in a jerking motion, as in “the passengers jogged about as the car jerked over the bumpy road”) + “gone”(tipsy;slightly intoxicated;ineffectual after consuming alcohol) ].
Answer: Get lost! As one might say to a tipsy person who’s is being a jerk;troublesome. A WIWD clue.
7 Gloomy function opened by a performer (9)
SATURNINE : SINE(a mathematical function) containing(opened by) [A + TURN(a performer who gives a short performance) ].
8 Half-pint of small prawns by the looks of them? (6)
SHRIMP : Double defn: 1st: A very short person.
I’m not sure why the phrase “by the looks of them?” is there. The clue is short and sweet without it.
14 City passes on board member? He’s a Lothario (6,3)
LADIES’ MAN : LA(abbrev. for Los Angeles, US city) + DIES(or, euphemistically, “passes on”) + MAN(general term for any of the pieces on a chess board, a board member, cryptically).
16 Vacuous Etonian tucking into relaxing bitter (9)
RESENTFUL : “Etonian” minus all its inner letters(Vacuous …) contained in(tucking into) RESTFUL(relaxing;soothing).
17 Fulfilled a large desire after some fiddling (8)
REALISED : Anagram of(… after some fiddling) [A + L(abbrev. for “large”) + DESIRE].
19 Constant barrage? Time enlisted men split (7)
TORRENT : T(abbrev. for “time”) + OR(abbrev. for “other ranks”, enlisted non-commissioned men in the military) + RENT(split;torn).
20 Very busy earl wears old thong in error (2,3,2)
ON THE GO : E(abbrev. for “earl”) contained in(wears) [ O(abbrev. for “old”) + anagram of(… in error) THONG ].
21 Distance unit is behind charging policeman (6)
PARSEC : ARSE(one’s behind;buttocks) contained in(charging) PC(abbrev. for “police constable”).
Defn: … used in astronomy.
23 Viz character who’s foolish about love (2,3)
TO WIT : TWIT(a character who’s foolish) containing(about) O(letter signifying 0;love in tennis scores).
Defn: …, which is the abbreviation for the Latin “videlicet”;namely;in other words.
Nothing to do with the British comic magazine, the one with vulgar language, toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and generally sexual or violent storylines. Though, on second thought ….
25 Dangerous to be high-spirited? F*** off! (5)
RISKY : “frisky”(to be high-spirited;playful) minus(… off) “f”(abbrev. for “f***”).
Too many great surfaces to list. I got stuck in the NE corner because I kept trying to use ‘tug’ for ‘jerk’ in 6d, and wanted ‘actorsine’ to be a word (7d). Those missteps prevented me from seeing the brilliance of 6a.
I got SHRIMP, but like scchua, don’t quite get it. The clue seems longer than necessary.
Thanks Hoskins and scchua.
A gentle start to Sunday. Stupidly put SCAMPI at 8D but soon realised error. I suggest ‘by the looks of them’ is there to indicate that they’re different but superficially similar species. Loved 1A and 29A.
I agree with Tatrasman@2. A prawn is shrimp-like, so looks like a shrimp. In 6d, ON can mean ‘tipsy’ (as, I seem to remember, Hoskins has used before) so I’m not sure Harry was indicating a homonym. That’s not to say your parsing doesn’t work – just a possible alternative ( a WIWD I guess).
One of Harry’s A-listers, I thought. Don’t think I knew the Jamaican criminal but the wordplay was clear enough.
Looks as though 1&29a are in for the accolades today and I wouldn’t disagree. 14d made me smile as well although experience tells me that the ‘city’ put many of them on the board!
Thanks to Hoskins and to scchua for the blog.
I’d hope that not even the most hatery of haters would do what the setter thinks at 11a. (How could anyone possibly be a Hoskins hater anyway?)
Still, our naughtiest setter might be sailing rather close to the wind, what with the parse of PARSEC and the RISKY surface … perhaps is <i>is</i> dangerous to be so high-spirited.
Difficulty-wise, this didn’t cause me to mutter too many OBSCENE words but for quite a while I had only the YOUNGSTER in the NE … then I saw the lord JESUS who helped guide me to the end.
I failed to parse at the time but now think that the youngster in TENDRIL refers to the entry at TEN across.
Not sure I’d have remembered YARDIE without the help of the wordplay.
Regarding JOG ON, I feel that Hovis’s interpretation is likely to be the intended one, but like scchua’s alternative, which did not occur to me. Also agree about the SHRIMPS.
It’ll be pointless to choose favourites as usual and I’ve already rambled enough so will CAN IT.
Thanks Hoskins and scchua.
Kitty@5. I reckon you are right about the TEN in TENDRIL. I got tendril before getting youngster and didn’t spot the link at the time. Didn’t care much for TEN as an age. Even toyed with TEEN DRILL both shortened, but liked that even less. D’oh, as they say.
Hovis@6 – I quite liked TEN as an age – the year I was a big fish in a little pond prior to being a little fish in a big pond when I became eleven and went to ‘big school’!4
An enjoyable solve with just enough of Hoskins’ trademark clues but not overdone. Wondered if 6ac might be a reject from one of the setter’s Church Times crosswords. And we got 24ac before 10ac so thought of 10 as a youngster’s age until the aha moment when we got 10ac.
Thanks, Hoskins and scchua
I thought 6a JESUS was great, and particularly clever for utilising “ain’t” for the surface and as an auxiliary in the wordplay, where “haven’t” obviously wouldn’t work.
Amused by STONE ME as well. Impossible to see that phrase without thinking of Hancock.