Hoskins fills the Tuesday slot this week.
We found most of the puzzle to be easier than we expected for a Hoskins, but there were three new words to us – at 22d, 27d and 29ac.
Tuesday is usually theme day in the Indy, and initially we suspected that there might be a ‘pairs’ theme (13ac) with Black at 1ac and White at 4d, but there seems to be nothing else in the grid – ebb, but no flow, big, but no small….. Then we thought there might be a film theme with 7d/21ac and 1ac/18ac, but they have nothing to do with the other possible film entry at 26ac, so we are stumped. We can’t help but think that there is a theme in there somewhere, with the number of 3-letter entries and some choices of unusual words in some entries where there are several more common words that would fit the crossing letters…..Just as we were writing up the blog, we realised that it is a pangram – perhaps that is the theme? Perhaps someone out there (or Hoskins?) will elucidate?
BACK (defender in several team spots) round or ‘defending’ L (first letter or ‘header’ of Leeds) – ‘player’ as in chess
WEB (complex) + a reversal (‘returning’) of LIAM (Irishman)
An anagram (‘mess around’) of I and IT LATER
NOS (numbers) round or ‘burst into’ by LES (‘the’ in French)
An anagram (‘set in motion’) of LET A NIGHT and HER
A reversal (‘changing direction’) of RIP (split) round or ‘over’ A (America)
E B (first letters of expected Biden) round or ‘welcoming’ B (British)
DIES (passes) + E L (first letters or ‘heads’ of English labs)
A reversal (‘flipping’) of AIL (trouble) after DA (district attorney – ‘lawyer’) H (husband)
Double definition
U (‘you’, as in text-speak) L (first letter or ‘start’ of lob) EX (former husband)
An anagram (‘crazy’) of ACT IN FIELD round or ‘saving’ O (old) N (knight)
FrIENDS (‘buds’) with the ‘r’ (right’) omitted or ‘having nothing to do with’
DO (party) DAY (time) round or ‘hosting’ a reversal (‘retired’) of SIR (teacher)
NOW HERE (‘just arrived’)
VA (Virginia) D (democrat) U (Unionist) Z (unknown, in algebra) – shamefully, we had never heard of the capital of Liechtenstein – we learn something every day!
B (bishop) A (first letter of admit) IT (sex)
A PERT (saucy) RA (artist) round or ‘enthralling’ U (‘you’ – again) + L (line)
Hidden (‘appearing’) in NiKE Advertisements
HIT (smack) in or ‘picked up’ by WE (you and I)
An anagram (‘give a whipping to’) of A BAD ENGLISH
ALL (everybody) A H (first or ‘front’ letters of any hope)
ANGEL (financier) ‘involved’ in LOSES (decreases in value)
EMERALDS (stones) L round or ‘touring’ I (Italy) + E (Spain)
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of A POIGNANT round A
A reversal (‘knocked up’) of GI (American soldier) B (bachelor)
An anagram (‘in an excited way’) of I SQUEALED
Hidden (‘running through’) in blufF IN OWschlag – another geographical discovery for us!
N (new) U (university) D (Dutch) IE (that is)
JA (German for ‘yes’ – Kraftwerk is a German band) + ZZtop (without the ‘top’)
ReV (vicar) with the ‘e’ (ecstasy) ‘swapped’ for A (first letter or ‘drop’ of ale)
The two film adaptions you have identified are part of a quartet; the other two are also there…
Well done and thanks to mw7000.
The other members of the LA Quartet are The Big Nowhere and White Jazz.
Thanks Hoskins. We knew there must be more to the puzzle.
This pangram was pleasant but less fun than normal for a Hoskins puzzle and my repetition radar bleeped with you = U twice. Like B&J, the same three words were new to me and you can add 20a to my not-previously-known list.
My top three were GAS, NOWHERE and BAIT.
Thanks to Hoskins and to B&J.
No hope in identifying the theme; I’ll have to take seeing the pangram as a poor second. I may have come across VADUZ before (in crossword-land of course), but FINOW was definitely new, as was RAV for ‘Rabbi’.
Should I say the surface of the clue for GAS was my favourite? Probably not!
Thanks to Hoskins and B&J
Not sure how web and complex equate, struggling to think of a sentence where they’re interchangeable.
Also not come across fiends as addicts before but did at least know Vaduz.
Thanks to Hoskins and B&J
reddevil @ 5
How about ‘the criminal mastermind ran a complex / web of interlocking schemes’?
Drug addicts were portrayed in 50s scare stories as ‘drug fiends’.
I rather hoped that we had left FIENDS=ADDICTS in the past where it belongs, even in crosswordland
Good fun but maybe not top-notch Hoskins but he sets a very high bar.
I liked EMERALD ISLE but my top clue was the super clever JAZZ
Pleased to note that I wasn’t alone in being ignorant of ULEX, VADUZ & FINOW – bet I don’t remember them either!
Top three for me in this ‘tough for Harry’ puzzle were THE REAL THING, CONFIDENTIAL & EMERALD ISLE.
Thanks to Hoskins and to B&J for the review.
Thanks Hoskins and B & J. I found this easy but no theme for me. JAZZ was a favourite. I had lunch decades ago in VADUZ so that was buried in my brain.
Many thanks to the reviewsome-twosome for the blog and to all solvers and commenters.
nicbach@7 – what don’t you like about fiend/addict? Isn’t the meaning derived from fiend as in someone with an intense love for something rather than any more devilish connotations?
Anyhoo, that’s all from me, but I’ll be back on the 9th October with an easyish korma puzzle for your entertainments. Until then it only remains for me to say good night and goodluck to all. :0
Oh, forgot to say – if you haven’t read any James Ellroy you should give him a go. The LA Confidential novel blew my tiny mind when I read it … though I do have a tiny and easily-blown mind and was much younger then. 🙂