Monday morning fun from Hoskins, with a fair bit of his trademark smutty humour (you have been warned).
I found this mostly straightforward, with some neat anagrams and quite a lot of the usual abbreviations.
There’s quite a lot of 11a and generally 5d behaviour here, particularly in the surfaces. And the usual scattering of drink and drugs references in wordplay resonates with a theme that I didn’t notice at first, until the combination of 1a and 20d triggered something in the depths of my memory. The film Withnail & I (you need to put 6a and 29a together for the title), featuring the actor Richard E GRANT, includes characters called MONTY and DANNY, along with a CAMBERWELL CARROT (an over-sized marijuana cigarette) and a demand for “the FINEST WINES available to humanity”, among improbable quantities of other drink and drugs. Oh, and a monologue from HAMLET too. Thanks Hoskins as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CAMBERWELL |
Coke and resin oil supplier in London area (10)
|
| C (coke = slang abbreviations for cocaine) + AMBER (fossilised tree resin) + WELL (oil supplier).
District in south London. |
||
| 6 | WITH |
Using bit of weed, lovemaking gets hard (4)
|
| First letter (a bit) of W[eed] + IT (lovemaking) + H (hard). | ||
| 10 | ADDER |
Ginger tough’s hairdo repelled Serpent (5)
|
| RED (ginger, as a hair colour) + DA (slicked-back hairstyle once popular with rebellious young men = tough’s hairdo), all reversed (repelled). For those who don’t know the derivation of the name DA, a slightly more polite version of the name is “ducktail”. | ||
| 11 | EROTICISM |
Amorous desire involving moist rice? (9)
|
| Anagram (involving) of MOIST RICE. | ||
| 12 | INCENSE |
Material that causes stink if burnt in anger (7)
|
| Double definition. Material burned to create a scent, though calling it a “stink” is a matter of opinion; or anger, as a verb = make [someone] angry = incense. | ||
| 13 | ELECTEE |
Around city, the Spanish support incumbent (7)
|
| EL (“the” in Spanish) + TEE (support, for a golf ball), around EC (postcode of the business district in central London known as “the City”).
Electee = someone who has been elected to a position, though I think the word suggests a recent appointment (as opposed to incumbent, someone already established in the post). It’s a logically plausible word but I can’t see myself ever wanting to use it. |
||
| 14 | MONTY |
Man’s name cut into elm on Tyneside (5)
|
| Hidden answer (cut into . . .) in [el]M ON TY[neside]. | ||
| 15 | OUTSTRIP |
Better blooming get your kit off! (8)
|
| OUT (describing a flowering plant = blooming) + STRIP (get your kit off).
Better, as a verb = outstrip = do better than. |
||
| 19 | SLACKEST |
Let’s sack drunk that’s negligent beyond compare (8)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of LETS SACK. | ||
| 21 | DANNY |
Childminder removing top for duke? Boy! (5)
|
| [n]ANNY (childminder), with the first letter (top) replaced by D (duke).
Diminutive of the male name Daniel, so perhaps suggesting a boy rather than a man. |
||
| 23 | DISHRAG |
Sexy type mostly teases one helping wash up (7)
|
| DISH (an attractive person = sexy type), then RAG[s] (as a verb = teases) without the last letter (mostly).
Another name for dishcloth = something used to wash up crockery. |
||
| 26 | AUSTRIA |
Country song American tenor breaks into (7)
|
| ARIA (a solo song in a larger choral work or opera), with US (American) + T (tenor) breaking into it. | ||
| 27 | SYNCOPATE |
Remove the middle of pasty once cooked (9)
|
| Anagram (cooked) of PASTY ONCE.
Not the musical sense of offbeat rhythms, but a linguistic term meaning to remove sounds or letters from the middle of a word. |
||
| 28 | WINES |
Triumph bike McGuinness finally hocks? (5)
|
| WIN (triumph) + last letters (finally) of [bik]E [mcguinnes]S. The surface suggests the professional motorcycle racer John McGuinness, though he’s not known for riding Triumph bikes.
Definition by example, as indicated by the question mark: hock is a generic term for German white wine. |
||
| 29 | NAIL |
One I might bang in new, unopened prison (4)
|
| N (new) + [j]AIL (prison) without its first letter (unopened). | ||
| 30 | STRESSLESS |
Son that’s bald, but without any worries? (10)
|
| S (abbreviation for son) + TRESSLESS (without hair = bald). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CHARISMA |
It is seen in Daily Mail half-censored (8)
|
| IS inserted into (seen in) CHAR (daily = old-fashioned terms for a woman who cleans houses) + MA[il] (with the second half removed = half-censored).
It = charisma = charm or style. |
||
| 2 | MEDICINAL |
A nice mild drunk could be thus (9)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of A NICE MILD.
Extended definition: “mild” is a type of beer, which some may claim to drink for medicinal reasons. |
||
| 3 | ERRANCY |
Sinful bent Her Maj managed around end of July (7)
|
| ER (Elizabeth Regina = Her Majesty the Queen) + RAN (managed) + C (short for Latin circa = about = around) + last letter of [jul]Y. | ||
| 4 | WOEBEGONE |
Sad-looking whore regularly ignored? Get away! (9)
|
| W[h]O[r]E with alternate letters dropped (regularly ignored), then BE GONE (get away). | ||
| 5 | LOOSE |
Promiscuous gents possibly used to get naked (5)
|
| LOO (possibly the “gents” = men’s toilet facilities) + [u]SE[d] without its outer letters (naked). | ||
| 7 | IDIOT |
I spot nurses beginning to inject Hoskins? (5)
|
| I + DOT (spot), around (nursing) the beginning of I[nject].
Self-deprecation from our setter Hoskins? |
||
| 8 | HAMLET |
Small village tree climbed in Panama? (6)
|
| ELM (a type of tree), reversed (climbed = went upwards, in a down clue) in HAT (for example a Panama hat: the question mark indicates a definition by example). | ||
| 9 | FINEST |
The best penalties finish in net (6)
|
| FINES (penalties) + last letter (finish) of [ne]T. | ||
| 16 | TETE-A-TETE |
Notes taken about a restricted conversation? (4-1-4)
|
| TE (a note in the musical sol-fa scale) four times (so “notes”), around A.
From the French “head-to-head” = a private conversation between two people. |
||
| 17 | IGNORANCE |
I anger con about lack of education (9)
|
| Anagram (about) of I ANGER CON. | ||
| 18 | BYPASSES |
How women might get into knickers or skirts (8)
|
| Cryptic definition, which even for Hoskins seems rather risqué: women might achieve sexual conquests BY PASSES (amorous advances).
Skirt, as a verb = bypass = take an indirect route to avoid. |
||
| 20 | CARROT |
Stimulus a Right Reverend will get in bed (6)
|
| A + RR (Right Reverend, title for a bishop) in COT (small bed).
As in “carrot and stick” = a stimulus to do the right thing, with an associated penalty for not doing so. |
||
| 21 | DISOWNS |
Insult grasping private refuses to acknowledge (7)
|
| DISS (slang for disrespect = insult) containing OWN (private). | ||
| 22 | ODDS-ON |
Likely lad sat on by old theologian (4-2)
|
| SON (lad), with O (old) + DD (Doctor of Divinity = theologian) before it (above, in a down clue = “sitting on” it). | ||
| 24 | SUNNI |
Popular group of students rejected believer (5)
|
| IN (popular) + NUS (National Union of Students).
Sunni = a member of a branch of Islam. |
||
| 25 | GRANT |
Give good venting of the spleen? (5)
|
| G (good) + RANT (angry outburst = venting of the spleen). |
Thanks to Hoskins for this journey through the innermost workings of his mind. Time for a shower, I think, maybe even a cold one.
Good fun as always. I didn’t know DA at 10A and (call me naïve) but I still don’t understand how 18D works. Thanks Hoskins and Quirister.
Proper dose of smut beautifully delivered. Definitely not a U rating, but a thumbs up from me.
Tatrasman@2,
Trying to get into someone’s knickers is a crude description of ‘being on the pull’ or making passes.
Thanks Hoskins and Quirister
Great fun as ever from Hoskins. Somehow he has developed the knack of making smut and vulgarity inoffensive which many other setters seem unable to do. There was a notably bad example recently from A.N.Other recently which I couldn’t bring myself to comment on.
I needed to look up the non-musical meaning of SYNCOPATE which was new to me, and I created a bit of a hold-up for myself in the SE corner having initially written in STRESSFREE for 30a.
Many thanks to Hoskins and Quirister.
Thanks both. Surely, though, there is more to the parsing of 7? I have tried researching I from Withnail & I, in case relevant, but found nothing significant
I am am musically ignorant enough to take it for granted that syncopation meant missing the middle beat. Not sure I will be able to contemplate moist rice with equanimity again. All good dirty fun. Thanks both.
21a refers to the Irish song, I think, not just any young Daniel. Thanks to Hoskins and Quirister.
Jen @7: yes, the song “Danny Boy” does make 21a slightly easier than it might otherwise be. [Strictly speaking, the words were written by an Englishman, but set to an existing Irish tune.]
As RD commented, Hoskins does seem to manage to get smut and vulgarity into his puzzles without it seeming offensive – goodness knows how he does it! Perhaps he gets his mum to look over what he’s written before submitting it?!!
The theme floated over my head as usual but it wasn’t necessary to enjoy the puzzle.
Petert @ 6 – I share your feelings about facing damp rice in the future!
Thanks to Hoskins for the fun and to Quirister for his review and homework.
[jane @9: thanks – but please don’t assume that Quirister is a man, because I’m not.]
tatrasman @2 Re.18D, it helps if you do not take it as read that the women in question are heterosexual!
Quirister @10 – my humble apologies, too used to the idea that the majority of crossword bloggers seem to be male! There are obviously notable exceptions and I’m delighted to learn that you are amongst them.
Sc@11 Yes. I meant to say that I thought that was clever misdirection. I spent some time thinking about how women got into their own knickers.
Thanks Harry and the Q lady for the blog and spotting withnail etc that completely passed me by. Hoskins’ Indy style is certainly different from his other personas – I’d love to see the reaction of Hoskins being let loose on the back page of the Telegraph.
Thanks Hoskins and Quirister. I only looked at the Indy today because the Guardian’s offerings were over all too quickly, but if they’re all as good as this, I really should make an effort to do them more often. I didn’t spot the theme until CAMBERWELL clicked into place. Loved it.
Like Jen @7, I took DANNY to be a reference to the song – which elicited an appreciative Ha! when the penny dropped. And another when I spotted the theme.
TFO @5 – 7d was my LOI, by which time the theme had convinced me that “I” was the definition… totally failed to spot the setter’s self-deprecation (perhaps because it’s undeserved!)
Many thanks to Q for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.
I guess it is time to come clean and admit that it is me silver-haired mum wot writes the clues – I just act as a come-go-fetch for the voluminous amount of red wine it takes for her to get the muse going.
I’ll be back two weeks tomorrow on the 21st September with an easyish offering for the Tuesday slot so until then it be cheers and chin chin from me and pass the bottle from me ma. Hope to see y’all then. 🙂