Independent 10,929 / Hoskins

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Unusually, Hoskins is occupying the Friday slot today, with Phi’s latest puzzle having been published yesterday.

I found this to be towards the easier end of the Indy spectrum in terms of difficulty, but highly entertaining nonetheless. We had more than our fair share of raunchiness in the clues today – at 13, 20A, 21A, 21D, 23 … – which put a good few smiles on my face as I worked through the puzzle.

My favourite clues today were 1A for surface; 1D, for the clever splitting of “tumble // dryers” between definition and wordplay; and all the saucy clues for the smirks provided along the way. The entries at 11 and 24 were both new to me, but they could be worked out satisfactorily from the wordplay and checked in Chambers afterwards;

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
01 TOLERABLE Love tucking into awfully tall beer, ok?

O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis) in *(TALL BEER); “awfully” is anagram indicator
   
06 PYGMY Wee guy’s indignant reply to charge of greed in hearing?

Homophone (“in hearing”) of “Pig, me?! (=indignant reply to charge of greed)”!
   
09 ARMADILLO Member a Green brought into party is a beast

ARM (=member, of body) + A + [ILL (=green, sick)] in DO (=party, function)
   
10 ISLAM I harshly criticise one of the big religions

I + SLAM (=harshly criticise)
   
11 LASSU You must follow Scottish girl in slow part of dance

LASS (=Scottish girl) + U (=you, in textspeak); a lassu is the slow part of a csárdás
   
12 SPIDER-MAN Superhero spotted a dude in need of picking up

Homophone (“in need of picking up”) of “spied a man (=spotted a dude)”
   
13 TROLLOP Tart will have sex covered in cream

ROLL (=sex, as in a roll in the hay) in TOP (=cream, elite)
   
15 ABANDON Give up a prohibition mafia boss

A + BAN (=prohibition) + DON (=mafia boss)
   
18 SWEATER Promise to keep a hold of extremely tense jumper

T<ens>E (“extremely” means first and last letters only) in SWEAR (=promise)
   
20 CRAWLER Bootlicker? Bend over with hands around heel of shoe

CRA (ARC=bend; “over” indicates reversal) + W (=with) + [<sho>E (“heel of” means last letter only) in L R (=hands, i.e. left and right)]
   
21 ADAPTABLE Flexible secretary lawyer’s taken over desk

ADAP (PA=secretary, i.e. personal assistant + DA=lawyer, i.e. district attorney; “taken over” indicates reversal) + TABLE (=desk)
   
23 PATIO I love to chase old man close to nudist courtyard

PA (=old man) + <nudis>T (“close to” means last letter only) + I + O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis)
   
25 CHINA Popular to tuck into tea here?

IN (=popular) in CHA (=tea); semi-& lit.
   
26 SERENGETI Plain green ties needing to be done up

*(GREEN TIES); “needing to be done up” is anagram indicator
   
27 TUNIS I butt flipping soprano to get foreign capital

TUNI (I+NUT (=butt, deal a blow with the head); “flipping” indicates reversal) + S (=soprano); Tunis is the capital city of Tunisia
   
28 NANNY GOAT One nursing tot got a drunk to be an animal

NANNY (=one nursing tot, i.e. small child) + *(GOT A); “drunk” is anagram indicator
   
Down  
   
01 TEA CLOTHS He lost cat to tumble dryers

*(HE LOST CAT); “to tumble” is anagram indicator
   
02 LIMES Maiden cut into pork pies and fruit

M (=maiden, on cricket scorecard) in LIES (=pork pies, in rhyming slang)
   
03 RED MULLET Soviet film about Scottish island swimmer

MULL (=Scottish island) in [RED (=Soviet) + E.T. (=film, by Stephen Spielberg)]
   
04 BALLS-UP Dance and drink? That could be a mistake!

BALL (=dance) + SUP (=drink)
   
05 EROTICA I raced about with half-cut cads to see stimulating art

EROTI (I + TORE (=raced); “about” indicates reversal) + CA<ds> (“half-cut” means 2 of 4 letters are dropped)
   
06 POISE Hoskins must be hugged by model? Cool!

I (=Hoskins, i.e. today’s compiler) in POSE (=model, for photographer); to keep one’s cool could be to maintain one’s poise
   
07 GOLD MEDAL New model glad to get top award

*(MODEL GLAD); “new” is anagram indicator
   
08 YEMEN Desire to grab yours truly in a really hot place

ME (=yours truly) in YEN (=desire, wish)
   
14 OPERATION Work with Eurocentric leader helping campaign

OP (=work, i.e. opus) + E<urocentric> (“leader” means first letter only) + RATION (=helping, portion)
   
16 A BAD PENNY Any bedpan having been upset is an objectionable thing

*(ANY BEDPAN); “having been upset” is anagram indicator
   
17 NARCOTIST Junkie knight painter possibly keeps company

N (=knight, in chess) + [CO (=company) in ARTIST (=painter possibly)]; a narcotist is a drug addict, hence “junkie”
   
19 ROBESON Old US singer wearing graduation clothes?

Cryptically, if you have your “robes on”, you can be wearing graduation clothes; the reference is to American bass baritone concert artist Paul Robeson (1898-1973)
   
20 CHEVRON Revolutionary against Republican performing V-sign?

CHE (=revolutionary, i.e. Che Guevara) + V (=against, i.e. versus) + R (=Republican) + ON (=performing, e.g. on stage)
   
21 ASCOT Some grandpas cottaging in a racy English town?

Hidden (“some”) in “grandpAS COTtaging”; the “racy” of the definition refers to Ascot racecourse
   
22 TEARS Lacerations // and things they can create?

Double definition: tears are lacerations when things are torn AND the tears that we cry when we suffer lacerations
   
24 TAE-BO Those heading to army encampment: brigade on exercise?

T<o> A<rmy> E<ncampment> B<rigade> O<n>; “those heading” means first letters only; Tae-Bo is an exercise regime that combines tae kwon do with aerobics and dance
   

 

13 comments on “Independent 10,929 / Hoskins”

  4. Kurukveera @2 and RR: 24D: Those heading (to army encampment: brigade on) exercise? Gives T A E B O and definition, not anagram indicator, exercise

  5. There should be a word for this combination of cleverness and crudity. Cludity?
    CRAWLER was clever and delightful, but 21 & 27 maybe on the wrong side of the line.
    Thanks Hoskins & RR

  7. Sorry. Should have said thanks to both. A typically risque Hoskins in both surfaces and solutions. Are wee allowed to say PYGMY these days? I honestly have no idea.

  8. I did need to check on my answers to 11a & 24d but otherwise it was just the ‘wee guy’ that gave me pause for thought.
    Top of the pie here were BALLS-UP and ROBESON.

    Thanks to Harry for another dollop of his unique cheekiness and to RR for the review.

  9. Enjoyable, albeit a bit too much on the easy side. Also didn’t know LASSU and TAE-BO and bunged in ROBESON from the wordplay. Don’t really understand what “Scottish” is doing in 11a. Surely ‘lass’ for ‘girl’ is just standard English? ‘Lassie’ I would associate with Scotland, as in ‘bonnie wee lassie’.

  10. Fun crossword, and not too hard, though both 6a and 6d defeated me even with all the crossers, just couldn’t think of the right homophone and model synonym respectively.

  11. Many thanks to RR for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.

    I’ll be back in 12 days with an easyish to medium puzzle for your edifications.

    Cheers and chin chin for now from a holiday let with no heating but plenty of booze somewhere deep in the Norf Norf October night. 🙂

  12. Great surfaces and a healthy dollop of smut as usual, perhaps a little too easy tho, as many of the solutions jumped out from the definitions and then were easily parsed. So a little light on the pdm’s for me.

    Still enjoyable even if over too quickly.

    Thanks Hoskins and RR.

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