The puzzle is available here.
Hi everyone. Hoskins provides today’s welcome distraction from the BLEAK world. There is an abbreviation that may raise eyebrows as it’s not yet in the main dictionaries, or possibly for another reason. Plenty of characteristic humour, though, and I was tickled by the right-hand man at 6d. Many thanks Hoskins.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
Across
1a People in general will get half-cut here (3)
PUB
PUBlic (people in general) has half removed (will get half-cut)
3a Taken advantage of plonk and in good mood at work (3-4)
PUT-UPON
PUT (plonk) + UP (in good mood) + ON (at work)
7a Gentleman getting European gold hat in Paris (7)
CHAPEAU
CHAP (gentleman) + E (European) + AU (gold)
8a Where a hack might be employed on occasion? (2,5)
AT TIMES
A journalist/hack might be employed AT [The] TIMES newspaper
10a Very gloomy-looking judge hoovering up line (5)
BLEAK
BEAK (judge) going around (hoovering up) L (line)
11a A pervert I smacked around’s one out for booty (9)
PRIVATEER
A PERVERT I anagrammed (smacked around)
12a Plain-spoken French knight tucks into pastry (2,5)
EN CLAIR
N (knight) goes inside (tucks into) ÉCLAIR (pastry)
14a Woke in English seaside resort after bishop’s left (5-2)
RIGHT-ON
[b]RIGHTON (English seaside resort) after B (bishop)’s gone (left)
16a Section of an outfit possibly indicating turret of a Panzer? (4,3)
TANK TOP
A Panzer turret could literally be described thus
18a Go and nut ordinary couple of fellows (4,3)
HEAD OFF
HEAD (nut) + O (ordinary) + F and F (couple of fellows)
20a Minimal working around one uni then another for Al (9)
ALUMINIUM
MINIMAL anagrammed (working) around one U (uni) then another U
22a Sure to get hot with Fahrenheit over record at front (2,3)
IN FOR
IN (hot) + F (Fahrenheit) + O (over) + the first letter of (… at front) Record
24a Musician goes on about one with touch of talent (7)
HARPIST
HARPS (goes on) around I (one) + the first letter of (touch of) Talent
25a Chilled American airport involved in grass (7)
RELAXED
LAX (American airport) inside (involved in) REED (grass)
26a Soldiers and performers will get shots after services (7)
RETURNS
RE (soldiers) + TURNS (performers)
27a Blue movies BAFTA recognised at last! (3)
SAD
The final letters of (… at last) movieS baftA recogniseD
Down
1d Tranquillity Base involved in step (5)
PEACE
E (base: the base of natural logarithms) inside (involved in) PACE (step)
2d Tabs freak chewed for sustenance in the morning? (9)
BREAKFAST
TABS FREAK anagrammed (chewed)
3d Bump into agent that’s brought over more stout? (7)
PLUMPER
LUMP (bump) goes into REP (agent) that’s reversed (brought over)
4d Listener intruding on row is more obviously upset (7)
TEARIER
EAR (listener) inserted into (intruding on) TIER (row)
5d Pain in the arse stealing foremost of Tesco’s bread (5)
PITTA
PITA (pain in the arse, acronym) around (stealing) the first letter (foremost) of Tesco’s
6d A right-hand man won’t rub me the wrong way (6,3)
NUMBER TWO
WON‘T RUB ME anagrammed (the wrong way)
7d Conservative fit to become an old Lib-Dem leader (5)
CABLE
C (Conservative) + ABLE (fit)
9d Do wrong hugging mostly embarrassed temptress (5)
SIREN
SIN (do wrong) around (hugging) all but the last letter of (mostly) REd (embarrassed)
13d Trick question Her Maj put to men and William? (9)
CONQUEROR
CON (trick) + QU (question) + ER (Her Maj) + OR (men)
15d Bloomers really pleased one old girl no end (9)
GLADIOLAS
GLAD (really pleased) + I (one) + O (old) + LASs (girl) without the last letter (no end)
16d Coach with facial hair under nose earl sent up (5)
TEACH
TACHE (facial hair under nose) with the E (earl) moved to an earlier position (sent up)
17d I’m breathless taking in piece from Indian artist (7)
PAINTER
PANTER (I’m breathless) with the insertion of (taking in) the first letter (piece) of Indian
18d Houses full of British gentlemen on the Costas (7)
HOMBRES
HOMES (houses) containing (full of) BR (British)
19d Shot provided that must be served up flaming? (5)
FIRED
IF (provided), which needs to be reversed (that must be served up), plus RED (flaming?)
21d Silly-billy I spot mainlining premier bit of ice (5)
IDIOT
I + DOT (spot) injecting (mainlining) the first letter (premier bit) of Ice
23d Shot of heroin the boss of Hoskins sorted out (5)
FIXED
FIX (shot of heroin) + ED (the boss of Hoskins)
You know what you are going to get with a Hoskins puzzle (a lot of fun) and a Kitty review (excellence). Many thanks to both of them.
I had no specific favourite clue, I enjoyed them all.
Excellent. Maybe a war theme with BLEAK, TANK(top), SAD, PEACE, CONQUEROR, IDIOT (Putin), TEARIER (most of us),, SIREN and FIRED. Or is this a horrible coincidence? I didn’t know PITA as an abbreviation, but will now use it at every opportunity. Thanks Hoskins and Kitty.
The text-speak in 5d fooled me for a while but 11a sorted that out for me.
All the expected fun of the fair from Hoskins and a great review from our favourite feline – quite the combination!
Many thanks to both of the above, hope to see the two of you together again ‘ere long.
My second tussle of the day with Hoskins, which was a bit gentler than his puzzle elsewhere. V. enjoyable to complete, even if the PITA abbreviation defeated me too. Missed the likely reminder of the terrible events in Ukraine. We can only hope 1d prevails.
My only quibble was with GLADIOLAS. The singular is GLADIOLUS (2nd declension), not “gladiola”, so the plural should be GLADIOLI (the dictionaries also give “gladioluses”), not the answer as given. As usual, happy to be told if I’m incorrect.
Thanks to Kitty and Hoskins
Very enjoyable as usual from Hoskins and Kitty. I was a bit dubious about GLADIOLAS too.
Thanks all for your comments and kind words.
Tatrasman@2 – I’m going with coincidence. I’m seeing references in every crossword I do at the moment. I think it’s just that we’re primed to spot these things.
I have kept well away from social media for some time but was moved to break my Twitter silence earlier, and used (kind of) language rather stronger than PITA … [link]
WP@2 and Petert@5 – I confess I just gave the setter and editor the benefit of the doubt and assumed gladiolas to be an accepted alternative. It’s not in Chambers or Oxford, but Collins (the Independent’s preferred dictionary, if I recall correctly) has gladiola as a variant form of gladiolus, with this form as its plural.
Nice Sunday jaunt today! We got PITA instantly and had a ‘oh no you didn’t’ moment when we realised that Al was the chemical symbol and not a capital i!
Slightly bemused by chapeau (not the parsing, just that the answer was a French word), but otherwise a nice tidy puzzle and a welcome distraction.
Thanks to Hoskins and Kitty!
[Kitty – I’m late to the plate today and had got as far as Tatrasman@2 and was immediately prompted to reply – and see you’ve got there ahead of me. No idea if you do the Guardian prize – and this is definitely not a spoiler as I’m only referring to the clues – but, as I went through it yesterday morning, with tanks rumbling through the Ukrainian countryside, I found myself wincing at clue after clue. I’m not sure if it was an intended theme – presumably not intended to appear in concert with the invasion – or whether it was me seeing coincidences but that’s now all three of my weekend puzzles. Yesterday’s Quince also threw up half a dozen potential war references. Uncanny and uncomfortable but probably all in the mind.]
Turning to today, Hoskins very much in form with some lol moments scattered throughout. Thanks for the acronym – for a moment I was thinking the ‘foremost’ was meant to be applying to the first four words as well as Tesco and thinking that couldn’t be right. Should’ve known better. Raised an eyebrow at GLADIOLAS but, if it’s in a decent dictionary… And harrumphed at Al cheekily taking advantage of typefaces. I wonder if anyone read it other than as Artificial Intelligence?
Labradoodle @7: chapeau does appear quite regularly on these pages as an exclamation of respect due to a fine attempt so it never crossed my mind to query it. If anything, HOMBRES seemed slightly less obvious for inclusion but it certainly appears in use occasionally. Neither are in Chambers, needless to say.
Thanks Hoskins and Kitty
This was extremely light and good fun throughout.
I particularly liked 18a plus 6&18d.
Many thanks to Hoskins and Kitty.
Many thanks to Teh Kittehz for the blog and to all who solved and commented.
This puzzle was written sometime last year and was scheduled for publication a couple of weeks ago, so no theme or deliberate placing by the Ed. I fancy when big events happen you just see them everywhere.
As long as we are all still here, I’ll be back two-weeks today – but until then its goodnight and good luck to all from me. 🙂