Independent 11,357 by Hoskins

by

It’s a while since we blogged a Hoskins.

Tuesday is theme day. When we were solving we noticed Ballard but we couldn’t see ‘Empire of the Sun’ in the grid. We wondered about Goon characters with BLUEBOTTLE at 1d and then cartoon characters with SWEET PEA at 3d although the spelling is slightly different. A quick google revealed we were correct all along – J.G. Ballard books: The 8d/7ac, The 11ac/13d, 14d/20d, 21d and 23d/9ac.

We’re never too happy with grids like this, where there are four mini-crosswords in the corners with single connections between them, but they do seem to be fairly common in themed puzzles and in this case it didn’t cause too many problems during solving. We are a bit puzzled by the inclusion of ‘3’ in 19ac and the anagrind in 3d.

Thanks Hoskins – some lovely surfaces again – many raising a smile.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
5. Writer and poet everybody gets into (7)
BALLARD

BARD (poet) with ALL (everybody) inside or ‘getting into’

7. River in stretch of rolling land or field? (5)
WORLD

R (river) in WOLD (stretch of rolling land) – a slightly puzzling definition we thought but Chambers Thesaurus has ‘world’ and ‘field’ as synonyms

9. English teacher about to get pay increase (4)
RISE

E (English) SIR (teacher) all reversed or ‘about’

10. Secretly steal, for example, ledger or wallet (10)
POCKETBOOK

POCKET (secretly steal) BOOK (ledger for example)

11. Riot Act changes getting Yard in outrage (8)
ATROCITY

An anagram (‘changes’) of RIOT ACT plus Y (yard)

12. Quietly show cynical contempt around grooms (6)
PREENS

P (quietly) + SNEER (show cynical contempt) reversed or ‘around’

14. Very distressed copper knocked back plonk (3,2)
CUT UP

CU (copper) + PUT (plonk) reversed or ‘knocked back’

16. A red wound ultimately throbbed (5)
ACHED

A CHE (Guevara – ‘red’) and D (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of wound)

18. Plan that woman snorting coke put to Hoskins (6)
SCHEME

SHE (that woman) around or ‘snorting’ C (coke) + ME (Hoskins)

19. Use 1471-3-0-100-1000 to get hold of airline! (4,4)
RING BACK

We think this is RING (0) C (100) K (1000) around or ‘getting hold of’ BA (airline). We are not sure what 3 is doing in the clue. Does anyone know what we are missing please? Thanks Tim Phillips for pointing out that we needed to amend the underlining in the definition.

22. Becoming brighter after shocking weather consumes east (10)
LIGHTENING

LIGHTNING (shocking weather) around or ‘consuming’ E (east)

24. Large and advanced alien going over? Duck! (4)
TEAL

L (large) A (advanced) ET (alien) all reversed or ‘going over’

25. What a fat cat might want to lose? Not the wife or the boat! (5)
EIGHT

wEIGHT (something a fat cat may want to lose) without W (wife)

26. City in Turkey not supporting old church (7)
ANTIOCH

ANTI (not supporting) O (old) CH (church)

DOWN
1. Fly in sky over vessel (10)
BLUEBOTTLE

BLUE (sky) BOTTLE (vessel)

2. Pietà sculpted by one in foreign capital (6)
TAIPEI

An anagram (‘sculpted’) of PIETA by I (one)

3. Climber a pet wees on (5,3)
SWEET PEA

An anagram (‘on’) of A PET WEES – ‘on’ as an anagrind? We’re not sure about that.

4. Flipping poor housing close to river’s dingy (4)
DRAB

BAD (poor) reversed or ‘flipping’ around or ‘housing’ R (last letter or ‘close’ to river)

5. Put up with large and powerful muscles (5)
BUILT

Double defintion

6. Without drug with cold, time son perishes (6)
DECAYS

DAY (time) around or ‘without’ E (drug) C (cold) + S (son)

8. DEFRA’s head argued about number getting flooded (7)
DROWNED

D (first letter or ‘head’ of DEFRA) ROWED (argued) about N (number)

13. Show restraint on losing home to old lover (10)
EXHIBITION

inHIBITION (restraint) with EX (old lover) replacing ‘in’ (home)

14. Charlie‘s firm with Michael, according to Equity (7)
COCAINE

CO (firm) CAINE (as in Michael Caine the actor)

15. Parsimonious leader feels bitter about getting gifts (8)
PRESENTS

P (first letter or ‘leader’ of parsimonious) RESENTS (feels bitter about)

17. Lout into paintings about to have threesome (6)
TROIKA

OIK (lout) inside a reversal (‘about’) of ART (paintings)

20. Horse, I’m told, with bit of speed can make evenings (6)
NIGHTS

A homophone (‘I’m told’) of KNIGHT (horse as on the chess board) + S (first letter or ‘bit’ of speed)

21. Go to bed with Conservative? That’s impetuous! (5)
CRASH

C (Conservative) RASH (impetuous)

23. What’s up with good husband on drugs? (4)
HIGH

HI (What’s up) G (good) H (husband)

 

28 comments on “Independent 11,357 by Hoskins”

  2. This was good fun and, unusually for me, I actually spotted the theme and found all the books mentioned in the review.

    It’s bad enough that some folk think that a castle can be a rook, but the less said the better about horse being a synonym for knight.

    Like B&J, I am not sure how “on” in 3d is an anagram indicator.

    I don’t know but I suspect that the 3 in 19a might be the option you need after using 1471 to return the call.

    Thanks to Hoskins and to B&J.

  4. Thanks to mw7000 and Rabbit Dave for explaining the ‘3’ in 19a. It’s not a service we have ever used as the message said, if we remember correctly – there may be a charge for this service. We now just listen to the number, write it down and then put the phone down!

  6. @Rabbit Dave – when I learned and played chess as a kid I would certainly have taken horse to be a synonym for knight … the piece is called a knight but it don’t half look like a horse!

  7. I liked TROIKA and EXHIBITION. I wondered if the KNIGHT in 20 down was horse as in cavalry rather than chess????

  8. Didn’t like this crossword. Very unsatisfying, poor grid and not really up to Independent standard.

  9. The app starts you off in 9a RISE instead of 5a BALLARD. Sneaky!
    But then I solved BALLARD second, so it didn’t really work on me.

  12. I don’t recall any other setter using ‘on’ as an anagram indicator but I think it is fine. The 4th definition in Chambers, as an adverb, is “on the way to being drunk”, which I equate to being ‘tipsy’. Hoskins has used this quite often in the past.

  13. Peter Piper @10, I too tried to work in ‘pickpocket’ at first but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t. Didn’t like 5D BUILT as some people may be slightly built. Otherwise all up to Hoskins high standard to thanks to him and B&J.

  14. Peter Piper picked a pocketbook of pickled pickpockets.
    A pocketbook of pickled pickpockets Peter Piper picked.
    If Peter Piper picked a pocketbook of pickled pickpockets,
    Where’s the pocketbook of pickled pickpockets Peter Piper picked?

  15. Peter Piper @14 is a hard act to follow – and all without a peck.

    No hope with the theme, but at least I thought of it as a possibility; knowing only “Empire of the Sun” though, I was at a bit of a disadvantage. The first sight of 19a was intimidating but wordplay came to the rescue. Should have recognised the ‘Charlie’ def earlier and COCAINE was my last in.

    Thanks to Hoskins and B&J

  16. Bertandjoyce – field? (5) = WORLD “slightly puzzling”
    Why does Worzel Gummidge deserve a promotion?
    Because he’s outstanding in his field.

  17. Tatrasman @13, built in the sense used here is slang for well-built, muscled, as in “He’s built, must be putting in the gym hours.”, but I admit I came here to parse it as it was one of my last ones in. And I hear this stuff all the time in youthwork.

    I wondered about on as an anagram indicator, so left the clue until I had crossers to confirm.

    Thank you to BertandJoyce and Hoskins.

  18. Got BALLARD but know nothing of him or her
    Filled the grid but none the wiser
    Sorry. (I like Graham Greene)

  19. Another theme floats over my head – maybe I should give up looking for them in future……..
    I knew 20d would have RD spluttering into his coffee, not sure that ‘I’m told’ is sufficient to get Harry off the hook!
    No problem here with field = world as in ‘he’s highly regarded in the world/field of physics’.
    Biggest laughs here came from CUT UP, LIGHTENING & BLUEBOTTLE.

    Thanks to Hoskins and to B&J for the review and the insight into Mr Ballard.

  20. A slow start for me, but eventually one of my fastest ever Indy solves, I reckon. Not sure why – certainly not down to the theme…

    Thanks H & B & J.

  21. Yes, as B&J have pointed out, it’s “four mini-crosswords in the corners” but the long linking “single connections” have clues on the easier end of the spectrum.
    POCKETBOOK, LIGHTENING, BLUEBOTTLE, EXHIBITION.
    Only EXHIBITION is part of the theme. The other theme words I found “chewier”. Delicious.
    But how do you expect a Zoomer (Gen Zer) like me to get RING BACK without Googling “1471 3”?
    https://www.bt.com/help/landline/all-about-bt-1471
    35p – what a ripoff! – I have better things to spend money on – like a cortado with avocado toast.
    What is a landline?
    tschüssi H & B&J

  22. Thanks both. RING BACK was attractively different, though I suspect lost on some given the advancement of telecoms. I didn’t recognise BUILT on its own in that sense, nor ‘on’ in SWEET PEA in the sense offered by Hovis@12 – my dictionary lists 49 potential meanings, but not that one, and I have regrettably often enough been ‘on my way to getting drunk’ but have never heard it so briefly described

  23. Yes, when someone is ‘well on’ they are liable to confusion (but just ‘on’? – well why not?). Very sneaky – I’ll watch out for that one.

    Live and learn. I never heard of ringing 1471 – must remember that one too – but satisfied myself that the airline must be BAC so bunged in RING BACK and blessed whoever (Bertandjoyce as it happens) might provide the parsing.

    TROIKA tickled this oik.

    And bless Hoskins too (since I’m at it).

  24. wiktionary:
    “Adjective BUILT (not comparable) (informal) well-built, muscular or toned
    Synonyms strapping or voluptuous”
    Used of men: New Haven Review of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire:
    “Joe Manganiello as Stanley (Kowalski) … In his very first scene he strips off his shirt to expose his ultra-buff bod—he’s so built, it’s almost a special effect”
    Used of women: Brick House by Commodores:
    “She knows she’s built and knows how to please
    Sure enough to knock a strong man to his knees”

  25. I eventually finished this, but there were many I couldn’t parse.

    BALLARD was one of the first I got, but I forgot it was theme day and never spotted the theme answers. When I started getting into science fiction in the sixties there was a lot of his stuff in the library but I couldn’t get on with it, but many years later I did like Empire of the Sun.

  26. Missed the theme (again) but enjoyed the puzzle. Liked ringback and pocket book – I also initially wondered about pickpocket.
    Thanks to Hopkins and Bertandjoyce, also to Peter Piper for the Worzel Gummidge joke!

  27. Missed the theme – doh. First Indy puzzle in quite a while & loved it. Great surfaces & a fun solve with plenty of ticks.
    Thanks both.

Comments are closed.