Hoskins brings us the last IoS crossword of the year. I have been a fan of this setter and his style since he came on the scene a few years ago, but I couldn’t summon up much enthusiasm for this one.
Mainly that’s because his repetitious use of sex and drugs references, and employment of words you wouldn’t use in front of your granny, is starting to wear a bit with me. In this offering alone, we have pint/beer to get drunk; you can snort a line of coke; shoot up/inject your choice of crack/drugs/horse/ecstasy to get strung out; and you’ll meet hookers, jerks and tossers. I don’t have a problem with the words or thematic references per se, but when they crop up in every single crossword the novelty and amusement value start to wear thin. For me, anyway – you may not be bothered by their overuse. Harry is clearly a very inventive and entertaining setter. I’m certain he could continue to bring a smile to our faces with a wider range of reference material, so I sincerely hope it isn’t ADIOS AMIGO, HOSKINS.
Nuff said. On with the explanations (apart from two …)
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Just starting another nice pint – drunk? I must be!
INCIPIENT
An insertion of I in (NICE PINT)* The anagrind is ‘another’ and you have to read the instructions such that ‘I’ must be ‘drunk’, or imbibed into, the rearranged fodder.
6 See you are demure interviewing odious Soviet leaders
ADIOS
The first letters of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh words of the clue.
9 In an inoffensive way, Earl breaks up crazy gathering
NEUTRALLY
An insertion of E in NUT RALLY. You have to read ‘crazy gathering’ together, I think, since NUT on its own doesn’t mean ‘crazy’. Or not in my world.
10 Love’s great – The End
OMEGA
A charade of O and MEGA.
11 Wife and son drinking beer in country
WALES
An insertion of ALE in W and S.
12 Lazy way to cut down on changing gear?
SHIFTLESS
A dd cum cd. ‘Shift’ for gearchange is more American than British English, I think, but the clue is fine by me.
13 Me and my flipping family must tuck into seconds
HOSKINS
The setter giving himself a namecheck: it’s OH! reversed followed by KIN inserted into two letter Ss.
15 No problem to go around 18 ton transports
ECSTASY
An insertion of CS and T for ‘ton’ in EASY. CS is referring to the answer to 18ac – TEAR GAS is also referred to as CS gas. How ECSTASY is equivalent to ‘transports’, I’m not sure. Perhaps I’ll have to take a few more drugs myself to understand.
18 Bit of gyration when on ladder? It’s eye-watering stuff
TEAR GAS
A charade of TEAR for a synonym of ‘ladder’ in the sense of what happens to tights, G for the first letter of ‘gyration’, and AS for ‘when’.
20 Republican involved in Times Corporation gaffe
ERRATUM
An insertion of R in ERA followed by TUM in its fatty sense. ‘Gaffe’ for ERRATUM is a pretty stretched synonym, I think.
21 Violent offender that court banged up
CUT-THROAT
(THAT COURT)* with ‘banged up’ as the anagrind. Great surface.
23 Banana a fiver? That has saved canteen!
NAAFI
Hidden in banaNA A FIver. The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes, almost always referred to as NAAFI, have run recreational and catering establishments for the forces since 1921.
25 Pop singer with Limp Bizkit prefers Britain to Germany
BURST
Give me a break. How the chuff am I supposed to know that the lead singer with the less than famous American band Limp Bizkit is called John Fred Durst? During my quest to find information to help me parse this clue for you, dear reader, I discovered that Durst chose the name for the band after considering other options including Split Dickslit, Bitch Piglet, and Blood Fart. Fascinating. It’s DURST with B replacing the D.
26 Libretto I rewrote for one in rock
TRILOBITE
(LIBRETTO I)*
27 Right bit of trouble with northern element
RADON
A charade of R, ADO and N gives you the noble gas with periodic number 86.
28 Silicon found in concoctions for spots
POSITIONS
More elements: SI for ‘silicon’ inserted into POTIONS.
Down
1 How about this island? Grand present, eh!
I KNOW WHAT
A clever, creative surface reading with clear instructions to get to the solution: a charade of I, K for a thousand or ‘grand’, NOW for ‘present’ and WHAT? for ‘eh?’
2 Regret punching Conservative and Liberal, causing pain
CRUEL
An insertion (‘punching’) of RUE in C and L.
3 Dying of cold
PERISHING
A dd.
4 Silent revolutionary holding small signs up
ENLISTS
An insertion of S in (SILENT)* The anagrind is ‘revolutionary’ and the insertion indicator is ‘holding’.
5 Where hookers head to score crack and bit of coke
TRY LINE
No, not those sort of hookers … a charade of TRY for ‘crack’ and LINE for ‘bit of coke’. If you don’t know the drugs slang, then you’re going to struggle.
6 A boxing match round
ABOUT
A charade of A and BOUT.
7 Clumsy jerk: GET IN LANE!
INELEGANT
(GET IN LANE)* with ‘jerk’ as the anagrind.
8 Break with first of snooker shots
SNAPS
A charade of SNAP and S for the first letter of ‘snooker’. As in photographic shots.
14 Tired and broken
SHATTERED
A dd.
16 Quiet as a spent campanologist on drugs
STRUNG OUT
I don’t get this, I’m afraid. STRUNG OUT (I learned today) is ‘on drugs’. The RUNG OUT bit for ‘spent campanologist’ I see, but the ST for ‘quiet’ I don’t see. Anyone?
17 My menu is fantastic, full of this ultimately
YUMMINESS
An insertion of S for the last letter of ‘this’ in (MY MENU IS)* The anagrind is ‘fantastic’ and the insertion indicator is ‘full of’. Could be considered a cad; it’s certainly caddish.
19 Maybe inject horse and very old ram outside hospital
SHOOT UP
More knowledge of druggie terms required: the fact that ‘horse’ is heroin and that injecting it is to ‘shoot up’. Just saying. An insertion of H for ‘hospital’ in SO for ‘very’, O and TUP.
20 Those who might guard doors won’t open doors
ENTRIES
[S]ENTRIES
21 Something of a tosser?
CABER
Well, a CABER gets tossed, doesn’t it?
22 Strike ball heading for net or try a pass?
HIT ON
A charade of HIT for ‘strike’, O for ‘ball’ (on the basis that the letter is round) and N for the first letter of ‘net’. The ‘pass’ in the surface is as in ‘make a pass at’, and HIT ON is a modern variant of the phrase.
23 Is the setter beginning to get old, mate?
AMIGO
A charade of AM I? for ‘is the setter?’, G for the first letter of ‘get’ and O.
Many thanks to Harry for the puzzle. All best wishes to him and to all fifteensquared folk for 2019.
Well I enjoyed this a lot and have no issues whatsoever with Hoskins’ style. No different from Cyclops say.
I learned ST as an alternative interjection for SH back when I used to play scrabble.
Didn’t know DURST but thought the clue was pretty straightforward. Of course I am not the blogger so didn’t feel any need to check this.
Thanks to Hoskins and Pierre.
Fred Durst, shurely…?
Happy New Year to Hoskins, Pierre and indeed everybody else
I agree with Pierre on this one. A good puzzle spoilt by poor taste.
I also didn’t know ST in 16d.
Thanks to Hoskins and Pierre.
Well said that Pierre – I gave up even printing off any of this setter’s crosswords (both here and in the ST) a long time ago for the reasons outlined above
Really bored now.
Like Pierre and others, I’ve always been a fan of this setter. It’s not that some of the content pushes the boundaries, but the exuberant style and sense of fun that has always shone through. Other puzzles include similar material, but Hoskins can be relied upon not to compromise accurate clueing or good surfaces in the process, all delivered with a light touch and plenty of humour.
Was this my favouritest Hoskins puzzle ever? Weeeell … if I’m honest (and I’m very tempted not to be after some of the comments above), no, but they can’t all be. At the time of solving, I just put it down to being jaded after too much seasonal “joy” and I still think that might well be the case. It’s been a hard year for many, including the setter, and I remain a firm fan.
ST for quiet nearly STumped me, but just as I was reaching for the dictionary it, well, rang a bell. I thought BURST was gettable from crossers and definition; unfortunately I failed to get it, so blinded was I by “pop singer.” I also failed on another, the details of which I can’t bear to share, so dense was I being. Not really with it today, clearly.
My only question mark is that I can’t find a function for “another” in the cryptic reading of INCIPIENT.
With many thanks to Harry for the puzzle and Pierre for the blog, and very best New Year’s wishes to them, and to all the lovely setters, bloggers, commenters and lurkers on fifteensquared. Here’s hoping that 2019 gives plenty of reason for that aforementioned exuberance to BURST forth again.
Shurely shome mistake by the blogger, baerchen. Thank you – now corrected.
P.S. forgot to name favourites.
I liked TEAR GAS and its use in indicating CS gas.
TRY LINE might have earned grumbles about taste, but how smoothly is it done?
SHATTERED is what many people will be at this time.
I would answer the question posed by AMIGO with “no!”
My stand-out favourite, though, which really made me smile is OMEGA. The end.
As to ‘bad taste’, I am somewhere in the middle.
In defence of Hoskins, there were ‘only’ 5 (or 6) clues out of 32 that dealt with drinks & drugs.
But, apparently, it felt like there were more.
In 15ac I see ‘transports’ as a plural noun meaning ‘an overwhelming strong emotion, e.g. joy’ and so ECSTASY seems perfectly all right to me. No drugs involved.
I failed on 5d [mainly because I don’t know anything about rugby] and 12ac.
I needed your blog, Pierre, to understand what happened in 1ac (INCIPIENT) – very unusual.
Hoskins could have said “I must be drunk!” to have the same effect. However, in that case ‘drunk’ could also be seen as an anagram indicator (making ‘another’ superfluous).
As Kitty said, Hoskins may show surfaces that are not to everyone’s taste, he won’t compromise on accurate clueing.
However, I was somewhat surprised to see ‘rewrote’ as the anagram indicator in 26ac. That is surely not right and no doubt Hoskins will agree.
Apart from that and despite possible objections against some of the surfaces, this was another good crossword – well, that’s what I think.
Many thanks to Pierre & Hoskins.
Think I was a little surprised by our blogger’s reaction to this one. We all know what we’re in for with a Hoskins puzzle and his clues are almost invariably sufficiently clever and jocular for the subject matter to be forgiven. I can only think of two occasions when I felt he’d strayed too far and I made no bones about telling him so!
Plenty of ticks on my sheet today – NEUTRALLY, SHIFTLESS & I KNOW WHAT topped my leader-board.
Thanks to Harry and to Pierre – a very happy New Year to you both.
Having been out and applied some exercise and fresh air to the cobwebbed catbrain, I see that somehow I’d managed to both read and not read Pierre’s perfectly clear explanation of INCIPIENT. Apologies are due!
Ok, that really is it from me. 🙂
We totally agree with Pierre’s preamble to the blog. That being said, though, we thought this one was a bit less in-your-face than Hoskins’ last offering. As to the puzzle itself we just about completed it, defeated only by BURST, never having heard of the reportedly soggy cookie let alone the singer.
But we liked HOSKINS, ECSTASY, TEAR GAS and POSITIONS.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
A nice misdirection for TRY LINE but I thought the surface was a little grim for Crosswordland. That said, the Indy is traditionally where few holds are barred, and Hoskins himself has said here that he deliberately gives himself more latitude in Indy puzzles, and hopes that others enjoy the occasional impudence. I can understand some not liking any of it, but (crypticsue @4) his ST, FT and (obviously) TLS puzzles are different. His Church Times puzzles are disgusting, mind. 😉
I agree with Sil @9 that ‘rewrote’ in LIBRETTO doesn’t seem right, unless there’s something else going on. Why not eg ‘composed’?
Favourite clues, CUT-THROAT, INELEGANT, YUMMINESS. Thank you Hoskins and Pierre.
I always smile when I see Hoskins because I know I’m in for a fun solve. As for the subject matter, to me his puzzles are a great lesson in the way that words can have such wildly different meanings depending on context. Hoskins uses context brilliantly. Of course, his humor is not for everyone; I respect that some like crypticsue@4 choose to opt out.
I’ve always been a Hoskins fan and today’s puzzle has done nothing to change that. I thought the blogger’s remarks were a little harsh, and they seem to degenerate into a general moan as the blog progressed. But hey ho, a chacun son gout. Not that gout is very pleasant. The rewrote is however a valid criticism, well spotted Sil. Most unlike Hoskins, but a gaffe or erratum is only human
Many thanks Hoskins, and thanks Pierre.