Independent on Sunday 1,685/Hoskins

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Many thanks to Hoskins for this Sunday’s puzzle.

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

 

Across

5 It’s said I clean rubbish
EYEWASH
A homophone of I followed by WASH.

7 A leader at the front
AHEAD
A charade of A and HEAD.

9 Woman and man I knocked back
IRIS
A reversal of SIR and I.

10 Heckle slow magician might get in work
DO THE TRICK
If you heckled a slow magician, you might say DO THE TRICK.

11 Portray dead writer without romance ultimately
DESCRIBE
An insertion of E in D and SCRIBE.

12 US nerd criminal took care of
NURSED
(US NERD)*

14 A court Hoskins has occupied?
ACTIVE
A charade of A, CT and IVE.

16 Meaty cuts of wood installed in ship
STEAKS
An insertion of TEAK in SS for ‘ship’.

18 Academic, after charge reviewed, is sorry
PARDON
A charade of RAP reversed and DON.

19 Code of behaviour poor clot broke
PROTOCOL
(POOR CLOT)*

22 Car units I’m involved in nail worker
MANICURIST
(CAR UNITS IM)*

24 Pine church in outskirts of Adelaide
ACHE
An insertion of CH in A and E for the outer letters of ‘Adelaide’.

25 Reportedly, old red wines must be strained
TENSE
A homophone of TENTS.

26 Basic bit of rig for joiner?
STAPLER
A charade of STAPLE and R.

Down

1 Maltreated pet rescued is in a state
PERSECUTED
(PET RESCUED)*

2 Old spiritual leader good with God mostly
GANDHI
A charade of G, AND and HI[M].

3 Beer can’t turn into wine
CABERNET
(BEER CANT)*

4 Boozer visited by earl in Paddington?
BEAR
An insertion of E in BAR.

5 Unopened lager? That’s weird
EERIE
A charade of [B]EER and IE.

6 Successful record by chaps in The Killers?
HITMEN
A charade of HIT and MEN.

8 Private Eye’s regularly meanest writer
DICKENS
A charade of DICK and ENS for the even letters of ‘meanest’.

13 Woolly 4 on sale at a decent price?
REASONABLE
(BEAR ON SALE)*

14 A worker crossing barrier is very determined
ADAMANT
An insertion of DAM in A and ANT.

15 Old president brave nun slammed
VAN BUREN
(BRAVE NUN)*

17 Divorces in European city beginning to soar
SPLITS
A charade of SPLIT and S.

20 Published French article on Welsh criminal
OUTLAW
A charade of OUT, LA and W.

21 Additional trouble avoided by bishop
OTHER
[B]OTHER

23 One charged over a Scottish island
IONA
A charade of ION and A.

15 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,685/Hoskins”

  1. Fascinating to me how Indy setters calibrate the difficulty a puzzle requires. Today, by and large, is ‘easy’ day and most welcome after yesterday’s occult experience. Enjoyed both but 100% in 25 mins made my Sunday (and it’s still early).

  3. Not too difficult but even so I missed how DO THE TRICK, well, worked and incorrectly parsed STAPLER as a cryptic def – your parsing is better anyway.

    Good spot, Hovis @2; partly made up for by a few references to the demon drink in the clues and answers anyway.

    Thanks to Hoskins and Pierre

  4. One of Hoskins’s easiest, completed before my second mug of tea. Thanks Hoskins and Pierre.

  5. Always fun to encounter the Hoskins and Pierre double act. HP Sauce. Great to go with Sunday breakfast.

    I think Rookie has summed it up; feeling slightly battered by Tees’ test of yesterday, this was just as a Sunday should be. My only problem was Gandhi – one of those words I always feel has about three different ways of being spelled. And it generally takes all three goes to arrive at the right one. CABERNET and STAPLER were both on the podium but I think DO THE TRICK takes the biscuit. (Can you be given a biscuit on the podium?)

    Thanks both

  6. Thanks Hoskins and Pierre

    Hovis @ 2: Hoskins posted recently that he’d set a number of puzzles revolving around the themes of ‘drunk’ and ‘sober’, so I guess this is one of them.

  7. This was very mild in every respect for Hoskins and light relief after yesterday. Many thanks to him for the fun and to Pierre.

  8. Very enjoyable, if a somewhat “muted” Hoskins.
    I liked DO THE TRICK, STAPLER, EERIE& HITMEN in particular.
    Thanks to the setter and Pierre

  10. This was indeed Hoskins on his best Sunday behaviour.
    Favourite here was EYEWASH, just because it made me laugh!

    Thanks to Hoskins and to Pierre – sorry there were none of our feathered friends for you today.

  12. Well Harry did say it was going to be easy and relatively rudeness free. After some brain busting recently this was still a joy to do .

  13. A tale of two crosswords, yesterday’s lion and today’s lamb. My top clue was HITMEN because the band The Killers do have a number of hits, at least in the US. Thanks to both.

  14. Many thanks to the Frenchman for the blog and to all who solved and commented.

    BLUNT was just a coincidence, unless I was only sober because I was stoned … but as I stopped taking drugs other than alcohol, nicotine and hangoverkillers quite a while ago I reckon coincidence is favourite.

    I’ll be back three weeks today with an easy puzzle that couldn’t offend a Tristram even if it tried so hope to see you then, but until that time it be good night and good luck to all from me. 🙂

  15. Thanks Pierre and Hoskins. This was a very pleasant way to wind down on a Sunday evening. Particularly enjoyed DO THE TRICK.

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