The puzzle is available here.
Hello everyone. I hope you are managing to stay sufficiently cool. Hoskins is here providing plenty of refreshment, though 1a and 24d surround it all with some less-than-fresh hot air – perhaps not the most welcome thing in a heatwave. Drinking, drugs and general bad behaviour abound as usual; we have less than the expected quota of adult content, but there is some to be found if you look for it (13a and 2d). 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 Let loose energy and flatulate vaporous emission! (4,3,5)
BLOW OFF STEAM
BLOW OFF (flatulate) + STEAM (vaporous emission)
8a Poured out wine and told stories around club (7)
LIBATED
LIED (told stories) around BAT (club)
9a A paper associated with bill under discussion (2,5)
AT ISSUE
A + TISSUE (paper)
11a Time taken to orbit sun? Primarily not long! (5)
YEARN
YEAR (time taken to orbit sun) + the first letter of (primarily) Not
12a Might he and I tipsily start to sing, having these (4,5)
HIGH TIMES
MIGHT HE and I anagrammed (tipsily) + the first letter of (start to) Sing
13a Expose yourself to hot copper close to bar (5)
INCUR
IN (hot) + CU (copper) + the last letter of (close to) baR
15a French-style port and ale drunk with smile outside Ram’s Head (9)
MARSEILLE
An anagram of (… drunk) ALE with SMILE around (outside) Ram’s first letter (head)
17a Female accessory in a crash Fed busted (9)
HEADSCARF
A CRASH FED anagrammed (busted)
20a A type of toy dog (5)
CORGI
Two definitions, the first referring to Corgi toys
21a Hip worker inhaling class grass (9)
INFORMANT
IN (hip) and ANT (worker) taking in (inhaling) FORM (class)
23a Legal to do away with leader? That’s terrible! (5)
AWFUL
lAWFUL (legal) removing the first letter (to do away with leader)
25a Boy in jacket from Lacoste recalled causes of climatic change (2,5)
EL NIÑOS
SON (boy), IN, and the outer letters of (jacket from) LacostE, all reversed (recalled)
26a African article on timeless sacrificial chess move (7)
GAMBIAN
AN (article) + GAMBI[t] (sacrificial chess move) without T (timeless …)
27a Aussie fleecing a Hebridean at Perth station? (12)
SHEEPSHEARER
A cryptic definition by example: a Hebridean is a type of sheep, and for the Perth station we need to think of an Australian sheep station – so we’re not in Scotland with the Hebridean, but in Australia with the Aussie. I did have to investigate post-solve to work out what the “station” was doing in the clue
Down
1d American fellow and graduate stealing uni books (5)
BUBBA
BA (graduate) taking in (stealing) U (uni) and B B (books)
2d Not so sure criminal makes more noise than you in bed! (9)
OUTSNORES
NOT SO SURE anagrammed (criminal)
3d Stale smell surrounding Catholic pal you’ve know for yonks? (3,4)
OLD CHUM
OLD (stale) and HUM (smell) surrounding C (Catholic)
4d Might one tire of official holding German girl up (7)
FLAGGER
REF (official) around (holding) G (German) and GAL (girl), all in reverse (up, in a down entry)
5d Foolish person going around society dance (5)
TWIST
TWIT (foolish person) going around S (society)
6d One who puts together mass rebel rioting (9)
ASSEMBLER
MASS REBEL anagrammed (rioting)
7d Why ape and I flirt wildly? To live dangerously! (4,4,4)
PLAY WITH FIRE
An anagram of (… wildly) WHY APE and I FLIRT
10d Volcanic area of land with giant rock faces? (6,6)
EASTER ISLAND
A cryptic definition in which the rock faces are not the usual kind
14d A very strong creep stalking church singer (9)
CHAFFINCH
A + FF (very strong) + INCH (creep); this is following (stalking) CH (church) if we take the left to right reading order as the direction of travel
16d One who cries out “I am no longer on the dole!” (9)
EXCLAIMER
If I am no longer on the dole I might be termed an EX–CLAIMER
18d Idiots accommodating old lady gathers together (7)
AMASSES
ASSES (idiots) containing (accommodating) MA (old lady)
19d Military clothing with rear torn out shows tiredness (7)
FATIGUE
FATIGUEs (military clothing) without the last letter (with rear torn out)
22d Series of peaks cameraman finally captured in storm (5)
RANGE
The last letter of (… finally) cameramaN is captured in RAGE (storm)
24d Bit of gas mostly engulfing Rhode Island religious type (5)
FRIAR
FARt (bit of gas) without the last letter (mostly) surrounding (engulfing) RI (Rhode Island)
A strange mixture from Hoskins today. All the usual fun and smut but interspersed with some oddities like 1d & 2d. Is the latter a real word? Yes, I know it’s in Collins, but can you imagine anyone but Hoskins ever wanting to use it? Why is the definition for 15a not just “French port”? 10d is barely cryptic.
Perhaps the heat is making me mildly grumpy, but I did enjoy this overall.
Many thanks to Hoskins and to Kitty. It’s too hot for kitties, I imagine.
OUTSNORES is certainly an odd word and one I cannot really imagine being used but, if it’s in the dictionary, it’s fair game. 10d might be barely cryptic but I needed crossers to solve it. With regard to MARSEILLE, my interpretation was that the name has been spelled with an S at the end for a long time, as far as the English were concerned, but the French typically dropped that final letter. Hence French-style. Some evidence on t’internet for that.
Favourites include YEARN, INFORMANT, SHEEPSHEARER, OLD CHUM, CHAFFINCH and RANGE with PLAY WITH FIRE as my COTD for the lovely image conjured up by the surface.
Thanks Hoskins and Kitty
Took a while to get a toehold. I had forgotten the Corgi toy and surprised to know they still exist. You can buy a Mk2 Cortina online for $99. Inflation. I liked the parsing for ‘flagger’ but I don’t understand ‘might’ in the clue. Enjoyable Sunday solve. Thanks to both.
Definitely an odd assortment from Harry, almost as though he couldn’t decide whether or not to gear the puzzle for a Sunday. I wasn’t overly keen on 1&2d and am more familiar with 1a having ‘LET’ as the first word but I guess it works for some folk.
Favourite was INFORMANT with CHAFFINCH flying into second place.
Thanks to Hoskins and to our favourite feline for the review – hope you manage to stay cool over the next few days, you do seem to be in one of the hottest spots.
Great fun as usual from Hoskins. I agree with Rabbit Dave @1 that 10D doesn’t seem at all cryptic on the face(s) of it. Maybe Postmark @2 is being tongue-in-cheek but surely it’s the British who, for some (to me) inexplicable reason, added an S to the French original of Marseille – the same with Lyon(s). Enough quibbling, thanks Hoskins and Kitty for your usual entertaining blog.
Very enjoyable though I needed some electronic help in the NW.
Top three for me FRIAR, SHEEP SHEARER and CHAFFINCH.
Thanks to Hoskins and Kitty
Saw F-A and thought the German girl was going to be FRAU and then tried to convince myself that a THG was some kind of official. An enjoyable puzzle, which I solved eventually, unlike the riddle of why the English put an s on Marseille. Thanks, both.
Tatrasman @5: not being tongue in cheek but probably not expressing myself clearly. The English have long spelled it with an S; the French don’t. I think we are in agreement ne c’est pas?
Thanks Hoskins for the Sunday treat. Top choices include YEARN, INFORMANT, RANGE, and FRIAR. I needed a word fit for SHEEPSHEARER and Kitty’s excellent blog to explain it. I loved the LIBATED photo.
There are no sheep stations in Perth, it’s a city!
Many thanks to Teh Kittehz for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.
French-style was an indicator for the spelling as has been mentioned. The Easter Island clue I made a bit easier so only had one key word for reading two-ways – sometimes with CDs the solver just reads it the right way first. With ‘Perth’ I used it as a sort of Aussie indicator rather than a specific place.
For those who thought ‘outsnores’ a word unlikely to be used you were in good company as an esteemed setter thought so too. However, it is in the dictionary and RD is right I would use it – for example by saying after sharing a room with a rampant snorer: ‘that dude outsnores three-time world-champion snorer Bertie McSnorer from Snoresville – seriously bruv, the local seismographic institute thought they had a five-point-oh on the Richter scale on their hands last night!”.
Anyhoo, that’s all from me but I hope to see you all again next time on the 25th July with an easyish puzzle of a Hoskinsian bent. Until then it only remains for me to say goodnight and good luck to all and don’t forget to put ice cubes in yer pants and bras over the next few days. 🙂