Independent on Sunday 1,697/Hoskins

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Many thanks to Hoskins for this Sunday’s Indy 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

1 Serious trouble distributing weed at rep
DEEP WATER
(WEED AT REP)*

6 Bite to eat and beer outside quiet pub at front
APPLE
An insertion of P and P in ALE.

9 I’m less cut out to be pumped in the extreme!
MUSCLIEST
(IM LESS CUT)*

10 Those people beginning to eat a Topic?
THEME
A charade of THEM and E.

11 Make more exciting drink to entertain old flame
SEX UP
An insertion of EX in SUP.

12 Insult conservative and socialist relations in disgrace
DISCREDIT
A charade of DIS, C, RED and IT.

13 A French servant with large yen to be feminine?
UNMANLY
A charade of UN, MAN, L and Y.

15 Class religious academy cut short
SEMINAR
SEMINAR[Y]

18 Sailor’s ceased to have sex, reportedly
BELAYED
A homophone of BE LAID.

20 One rowing over a vacuous rebellious bloke
OARSMAN
A charade of O, A, R[EBELLIOU]S and MAN.

21 A job detaining out-of-head violent type?
A TOUGH ASK
An insertion of [R]OUGH in A TASK, and a cad.

23 Swedish band finally entertains Algerian leader
ABBAS
A charade of ABBA and S.

25 Lawyer rejected Cambridge university grant
ADMIT
A charade of a reversal of DA and MIT for Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

26 Exaggerate about gallery pinching original of Sickert
OVERSTATE
An insertion of S in OVER and TATE.

27 Loaded nurse chasing after young man
LADEN
A charade of LAD and EN.

28 Get rid of all bad bits in Dent sci-fi novel
DISINFECT
(DENT SCI FI)*

Down

1 A quip BDSM gone wrong is a letdown
DAMP SQUIB
(A QUIP BDSM)*

2 County chess excellent all round
ESSEX
Hidden in chESS EXcellent.

3 Terribly windy pals could make bloomer
WILD PANSY
(WINDY PALS)*

4 Used pants seen in river for period of time
TUESDAY
An insertion of (USED)* in TAY.

5 Once more assesses setters in need of editing
RETESTS
(SETTERS)*

6 Be hesitant to dismiss female change
ALTER
[F]ALTER

7 Does my pun upset Serpent in the Independent?
PSEUDONYM
(DOES MY PUN)*

8 Oust leaders for evil jokes? Expect countless troubles!
EJECT
The initial letters of the last five words of the clue.

14 Crooked man stashing police record with diamonds
MALFORMED
An insertion of FORM in MALE, followed by D.

16 People who will pass on fashionable blaspheming?
MORTAL SIN
A charade of MORTALS and IN.

17 Soldiers first to nose a perfume that’s reviving
RENASCENT
A charade of RE, N, A and SCENT.

19 Help up rocker’s foe cut by head of nasty Stone
DIAMOND
A charade of AID reversed and N inserted into MOD.

20 Monster joints picked up in Scottish islands
ORKNEYS
A homophone of ORC and KNEES. ORKNEYS is not a word for the Scottish Islands. They are collectively ORKNEY, which is already plural.

21 Use a face covering in conversation
AVAIL
A homophone of A VEIL.

22 Enter office or come home?
GET IN
A dd.

24 Do nothing to support British fire
BLAZE
A charade of B and LAZE.

10 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,697/Hoskins”

  1. Hoskins in a fairly benign mood, but I had trouble at the end seeing what the def for A TOUGH ASK was. I see what you mean now about it being a clue as def, so I suppose that makes it an &lit. Having lived a sheltered life, I wondered why the apparently random letters for the BDSM acronym were included at 1d, but looking it up, now I know! Thanks for the education about ORKNEY which I’d incorrectly thought had a plural form with an S.

    The surface for MUSCLIEST was my favourite. Good to see the pangram at the end.

    Thanks to Hoskins and Pierre

  3. An unusual start to the puzzle: solving in numeric order, I encountered 7 anagrams in the first 10 or so clues which must be a record. But they do allow for amusing surfaces and there were plenty of those. Many with the trademark Hoskins dose of light smut which is just right for a Sunday morning. I had the same challenge with LOI A TOUGH ASK – and, for a moment, the blog confused me even more as I wondered why there was reference to both a tough and a cad. Two bad boys! Not often that the pdm is in the blog rather than the clueing!!!

    Several of the anagrams make to to my list of favourites which includes MUSCLIEST as mentioned by WP, TUESDAY and PSEUDONYM along with UNMANLY and the delightful BELAYED. Thanks, Pierre, for the point about ORKNEY (which I believe applies to Shetland as well). I’m feel I want to cut Hoskins some slack on that one; I’ve spent a lot of time North of the border and have friends from the islands and have certainly heard reference to Orkneys in the plural. As a homeland, it’s referred to in the singular (or, of course, with that lovely adjective, Orcadian). But I’ve heard the islands as a collective of – well – islands – referred to in the plural – even if incorrectly. And it does allow for an amusing surface! I must be in a generous mood this morning!

    Thanks Hoskins and Pierre

  5. Typical Hoskins – great fun and lots of laughs. And a pangram to boot with too many good clues to pick a favourite or even a podium choice.

    Many thanks to Hoskins and to Pierre.

  6. Orkney is name of the island group and the local authority area. “The Orkneys” is a phrase you do hear but it’s a bit like saying “the Yorkshires”. The Orkney Islands is fine, in the same way as you can say “the Yorkshire ridings”.
    But enough of that, the crossword was just as Petert@4 has said.
    Thanks all

  7. Do like a Hoskins and suspected a pangram early on which is unusual for him as his trademark tends to be more umm ribald in nature. Still good fun crosswords are good fun. Thanks both.

  8. Wasn’t expecting a pangram from Harry so it took me by surprise when the ‘difficult’ letters turned up and could explain the slightly off-the-wall 21a.
    Thought TUESDAY was nicely contrived and my favourite was BELAYED.

    Thanks to Hoskins and also to Pierre for the review.

  9. Although it had to be what it had to be, the only one I had any trouble getting my head around was 21a. I even remembered the “Cambridge” university.
    All great fun with no real stand-outs though.
    Many thanks Hoskins and Pierre.

  10. Many thanks to all for the solving, commenting and blogging,

    Orkneys is in Collins on its own as one of the alts, so has the ring of right about it – though I agree that one would put a ‘the’ before it in conflabulation.

    Hope to see you all next time on the 20th of this month with an easyish to medium korma-spiced puzzle, but until then it only remains for me to say goodnight and good luck to all. 🙂

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