Today’s slot is occupied by Hoskins, whose work I am becoming increasingly familiar with.
Of the crosswords set by Hoskins that I have solved to date, I would place this in the middle of the difficulty spectrum. I finished it unaided but needed to google the philosopher at 11, the plant at 28; the drug at 3; and the word for “frank” at 21D; that said, all 4 entries could be satisfactorily arrived at from the wordplay.
As a grid with only 5-, 7- and 9-letter lights, this might have made for a dull solve from a vocabulary point of view. However, in reality there was plenty of fun to be had along the way, with lots of smooth surfaces – at 1A, 3, 10, 26, … – and several laugh-out-loud moments – at 2, 5 …. Overall, my favourite clue today, for sheer originality, would have to be 12.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TARRAGONA | City area cased by arrogant criminal
A (=area) in *(ARROGANT); “criminal” is anagram indicator; Tarragona is a city in Catalonia |
| 06 | CAGES | Time to be hugged by Lewis, Nicolas and John?
AGE (=time, era) in C. S. (=Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia); the reference is to US actor Nicolas Cage (1964-) and to US composer John Cage (1912-92) |
| 09 | ALLIGATOR | One likely to snap gal tailor restyled
*(GAL TAILOR); “restyled” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | UTTER | Club transferring out foremost of players, say
<p>UTTER (=club, i.e. in golf); “transferring out foremost of players“, means first letter”, i.e. “P” is dropped |
| 11 | SOREL | Philosopher angry with Leviathan’s preface
SORE (=angry) + L<eviathan> (“preface” means first letter only); the reference is to French philosopher Georges Sorel (1847-92) |
| 12 | A BAD PATCH | Temporary troubles? No shock there with learner having failed!
A BA<l>D PATCH (=no shock, i.e. hair, there); “with learner (=L) having failed” means letter “l” is dropped; cf. to be going through a bad patch |
| 13 | ACCOUNT | A noble-sounding story
Homophone (“-sounding”) of “a + count (=noble)” |
| 15 | TROUBLE | Tense foreign capital could be a problem
T (=tense) + ROUBLE (=foreign capital, i.e. Russian currency) |
| 18 | NONSTOP | Continuously stumped by work? Not any point starting it!
NO (=not any) + N (=point, of compass) + ST (=stumped, on cricket scorecard) + OP (=work, i.e. opus) |
| 20 | ANTWERP | A bit of an idiot drinking new port
N (=new) in [A + TWERP (=bit of an idiot)] |
| 21 | BREAKNECK | Super-quick snog, but stop working first
BREAK (=stop working, of machine) + NECK (=snog, kiss); cf. at breakneck speed |
| 23 | ENNUI | Nurse with one foreign article about boredom
EN (=nurse, i.e. Enrolled Nurse) + NUI (I (=one) + UN (=foreign article, i.e. a French word for a); “about” indicates reversal) |
| 25 | UNION | Sex // club
Double definition: union can be intercourse, sex AND an association, club |
| 26 | SENTIENCE | Feeling life, perhaps, is full of grief essentially
<gr>I<ef> (“essentially” means middle letter only) in SENTENCE (=life, i.e. in prison) |
| 27 | FALDO | Nick the swinger following party around a lake
[A + L (=lake)] in [F (=following) + DO (=party)]; the reference is to British golfer Nick Faldo (1957-) |
| 28 | DEERGRASS | Plant highly-priced informer reported
Homophone (“reported”) of “dear (=highly-priced) + grass (=informer)”; deergrass is a type of sedge that grows in bogs |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TEARSTAIN | Evidence of previous leakage from a duct?
Cryptic definition: the reference is to crying and tear ducts |
| 02 | RULER | Might one regret snorting line with Her Maj?
L (=line) in RUER (=might one regret, i.e. a made-up agent noun from to rue) |
| 03 | ANGEL DUST | Possibly dealt guns and class A drug
*(DEALT GUNS); angel dust is phencyclidine, a hallucinogen |
| 04 | OUTLAST | Survive exile having left for northern tip of Corsica
OUT<c>AST (=(an) exile); “left (=L) for northern tip of Corsica (=C)” means letter “c” is replaced by “l” |
| 05 | ABREAST | One of two jugs, perhaps, next to each other
A BREAST (=one of two jugs, perhaps, i.e. in slang) |
| 06 | CHUMP | Fool that Richard III had topped by criminal leader
C<riminal> (“leader” means first letter only) + HUMP (=that Richard III, i.e. on his back) |
| 07 | GET-AT-ABLE | What one might do on making a reservation accessible
GET A TABLE (=what one might do on making a (restaurant) reservation) |
| 08 | SYRAH | Country deporting one on heroin and wine
SYR<i>A (=country; “deporting one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped) + H (=heroin); a Syrah is a red wine made from a grape that supposedly originated in the Persian city of Shiraz |
| 14 | CONGENIAL | Friendly prisoner of the privates lost just past Midway
CON (=prisoner) + GENI<t>AL (=of the privates, i.e. private parts; “lost just after midway” means a letter early in the second half of the word is dropped) |
| 16 | ON THE WING | Where one might see feathers flying
One might see feathers on the wing of a bird |
| 17 | EMPTINESS | Pint seems to dissolve hollow feeling
*(PINT SEEMS); “to dissolve” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | PRESSED | Short-of-time priest put on clothes, forgetting top
P (=priest) + <d>RESSED (=put on clothes; “forgetting top” means first letter is dropped) |
| 20 | ASKANCE | Question church about article full of doubt?
AN (=article, in grammar) in [ASK (=question, as verb) + CE (=church, i.e. Church of England)]; cf. to look askance at someone |
| 21 | BLUFF | Frank lover describes bit of lovemaking
L<ovemaking> (“bit of” means first letter only) in BUFF (=lover, as in computer buff); bluff means outspoken, frank |
| 22 | KENDO | Understand and then perform Japanese martial art
KEN (=understand, know) + DO (=perform) |
| 24 | NINJA | In part, carcinogen in jam is a silent killer
Hidden (“in part”) in “carcinogeN IN JAm”; in feudal Japan, a ninja was a trained assassin who would sneak up on his victims, hence “a silent killer” |
Excellent block! Nice fun puzzle, too. Good start to the day.
I meant “blog”!
Thanks for the blog, RR and Harry for a most enjoyable puzzle.
12ac was my favourite clue, too, along with the clever 6ac and I also liked CHUMP – and several more …
Great fun from start to finish. Not sure why Her Majesty is abbreviated in 2d?
I’ll go along with the consensus and pick 12a as my favourite.
Thanks to Hoskins and RR.
Glad that I wasn’t the only one who needed help from Google. For me it was to check on the unknown city and find both the philosopher and the plant.
Top two here were 7&16d.
Thanks to Harry and to RR for the blog.
12a is indeed a thing of joy, but the clues that stood out for this solver were those for NONSTOP, SENTIENCE and EMPTINESS. This puzzle was for me better than a pint of the good stuff, and undeniably better for the liver.
Humungous thanks to Hoskins and RatkojaRiku.
A bit of head-scratching needed but we got there. LOI was ABREAST which suddenly occurred to us when we were on the point of using a wordfinder; we’d been thinking of jugs meaning ears (as in jug handles) – should have known better with Hoskins! And GET-AT-ABLE took a while to see as we’d just been making a hotel reservation so were thinking of rooms rather than tables. For 6ac we thought of C S Lewis at first but couldn’t work out the rest until we got 7dn; btw Lewis is known for more than Narnia – his oeuvre includes Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters and a science fiction trilogy.
But back to the puzzle: we thought 9ac and 2dn were a bit contrived and obvious, not quite up to Hoskins’ usual standard. But otoh we really liked A BAD PATCH, ANTWERP, OUTLAST and ON THE WING.
Thanks, Hoskins and RatkojaRiku.
A fun puzzle to be sure. It had a nice flow to it.
Thanks Harry and RR.
Thanks RatkojaRiku . Harry is back in town. Super fun, washed down with a truly humungous Glenmorangie. Deep joy.
Great entertainment as ever from Hoskins, who somehow always manages to make top-class clue-writing look so easy. I like the rather unusual definition in 6a; 14d is another favourite.
Thanks to both setter and blogger.
(Btw I know Hoskins sometimes contributes here, so if I may be permitted to post a question for him: Are there any plans to update the published puzzles at the Hoskins Crosswords website to include 2018?)
#9
I hope Gaufrid won’t mind me going off message, but I know he is also a Glenmorangie fan, as I have been since an Aberdonian named Polly Davidson introduced me to the prince of malts in the Tufnell Park Tavern back in the 1980s. Fair to say it’s the recommended tipple to accompany an Indy crossword.
Made my day, escaped for an hour to the pub to do this while the family are buying stuff we need for the two puppies that come tomorrow.
I really liked 17d EMPTINESS and 26a SENTIENCE, dunno, just my kind of clues – Hoskins will get that. I’m happy kitty highlighted the same. And 18a, NONSTOP. I also thought feathers flying was clever.
Solid Hoskins stuff, thanks Harry, and thanks RR (for explaining 1d, which I missed)
Thanks Hoskins, RR
On the northern tip of Corsica is Seneca’s tower, supposedly where he spent eight years in exile from Rome (though the tower itself is 16/17C). A worth seeing, though not going to see sort of place.