Independent on Sunday 1,759 by Hoskins

by

Sunday already? Where does the time go?

Hoskins doing his thing, you know the fart, sex, drugs & booze stuff you’d expect. A lot of countries/states/regions in this one.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. A very quiet London borough is charming (9)
APPEALING

A & PP – very quiet musically & the London borough of EALING

6. Huge sot, when out of head, gets sexist? (5)
BIGOT

BIG – huge & a headless (s)OT

9. Students send results (without including the E!) (9)
POSTGRADS

POST – send & E removed from GRAD(e)S – results

10. Understand yen to get to athletic state (5)
KENYA

KEN – understand & Y(eN) & A(thletic)

11. Note at one fisherman finally had a bite (5)
EATEN

E – note say & AT from the clue & final letters of (on)E (fisherma)N

12. Adult breaking tenner is loaded? Seriously? (2,7)
IN EARNEST

A(dult) inserted in a loaded [TENNER IS]*

13. I’d love story about ultimate of riders Revere (7)
IDOLISE

I’D & O – love, nothing & end of (rider)S inside LIE – story

15. Brutish type taking in end of Animal Rescue (7)
SALVAGE

End of (anima)L inside SAVAGE – brutish type

18. State of country? Essentially damnable! (7)
INDIANA

INDIA – country & middle of (dam)NA(ble)

20. Sober Australian soldiers drinking tea mostly (7)
AUSTERE

AUS(tralian) & most of TE(a) & RE – soldiers

21. Nag coke and heroin overwhelm imaginative skill (9)
CARTHORSE

C(oke) & ART – skill & HORSE – heroin. At least it wasn’t ORCHESTRA* who’d want chestnuts when Hoskin’s is offering drugs around?

23. Some basic ingredients for sugary preparation (5)
ICING

Some basIC INGredients

25. Fancy ecstasy can be found in little drinkie (5)
DREAM

E(cstacy) inside a wee DRAM

26. Outstanding old boy with unusual virtues (9)
OBTRUSIVE

OB – old boy & an unusual VIRTUES*

27. Soldiers primarily seen inside compound (5)
RESIN

RE – soldiers & S(een) primarily & IN – inside. RE for soldiers again (see 20a)? Hmm some purists won’t like that

28. Short film that flopped with Laurel in a foreign region (9)
TURKESTAN

Most of TURKE(Y) – a stinker of a film & STAN (laurel)

DOWN
1. I must get drunk with pint and pale cocktail (9)
APPLETINI

[I PINT PALE]* gets drunk

2. Idea put forward as concession upset relations (5)
POSIT

SOP – concession reversed, upset & IT – sex, relations.

3. A Republican chap visiting American state (9)
ARGENTINA

A & R(replublican) & GENT – man & well if you were visiting, you’d be IN A(merica)

4. Reckon Hoskins is a G wearing piece from Evisu (7)
IMAGINE

I’M – Hoskins is & A & G & IN – wearing & a bit of E(visu). Evisu is a Japanese clothing company apparently but I didn’t really fancy seeing if they did G strings. Hoskins wearing a G string? Wouldn’t put it past him.

5. Wind individual releases at work shocked folk! (7)
GASPERS

GAS – wind & ON – at work removed from PERS(on) – individual

6. Name-dropping financier who makes much bread? (5)
BAKER

N(ame) removed from BA(n)KER

7. I drag Gene all over the place for a drink (9)
GINGERADE

[I DRAG GENE]* all over the place

8. Property way out of Lima close to forest (5)
TRAIT

TRAI(L) – way – less L(ima) – phonetic alphabet & end of (fores)T

14. Haphazard way to cut down on home delivery? (9)
ORDERLESS

Well if you ORDER LESS you’ll get fewer deliveries

16. Mental weariness leads suit astray (9)
LASSITUDE

[LEADS SUIT]* astray

17. Unfading colour always seen on top (9)
EVERGREEN

EVER – always & GREEN – colour

19. Topless blonde left for place folk get high? (7)
AIRPORT

A topless (f)AIR – blonde & PORT – left

20. One who assists a chap at the wheel in Monaco? (7)
ABETTER

A & BETTER, well there’s infamously casinos in Monaco

21. Wine I served up after cold drink (5)
CIDER

C(old) & I & RED (wine) reversed, served up

22. Stink with a bit of niff … Hoskins? (5)
HUMAN

Some setters are more human than others. HUM – stink & A & a bit of N(iff)

24. Ian Dury is often thought, at first, a Blockhead (5)
IDIOT

Initial letters of Ian Drury Is Often Thought

Thanks Hoskins for today’s fun, over to you folks, I’ll be back in the morning.

12 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,759 by Hoskins”

  1. A wonderfully enjoyable puzzle from the master of smut and innuendo despite the bleep from my repetition radar with the double dose of soldiers.

    My top picks were TRAIT, ORDERLESS, AIRPORT and ABETTER.

    Many thanks to Hoskins and to flashling.

  2. Never heard of gingerade but it sounds wonderful! Went down a blind alley at 10A, initially getting ‘ready’ (from ready, set, go) but otherwise plain sailing so thanks Hoskins and Flashling.

  3. flashling sums this up perfectly. A breezy run through the majority of the Deadly Sins; just what one needs on a Sunday morning. SALVAGE, AUSTERE, ICING, ABETTER and CIDER were my favourites.

    Thanks Hoskins and flash

  4. Although I enjoyed the challenge, am I alone in thinking that too many of the surfaces here seemed very contrived and awfully clunky? e.g. 6a, 9a, 13a, 21a, 4d. For me, not one of Hoskins’ best.

  5. Thanks both. Ideal for a Sunday, though I’d agree at least in part with Deezzaa@4 regarding some surfaces, most notably for IMAGINE wherein the G and Evisu combination perhaps still needs some explanation. Did like ABETTER which succeeded in taking me down at least one blind alley before my eventual enlightenment

  6. Couple of drinks here that I can’t envisage our setter partaking of but perhaps he’d have a CIDER if all else failed. No sign of any Babycham which I know was his office favourite!
    Tops for me today were APPEALING, AIRPORT & ABETTER.

    Thanks to Hoskins and to flashling for the review.

  7. TFO @5 the G in IMAGINE is a slang term for a ganster / gangsta. Hoskins is alluding to the chance of such a character donning the apparel of the mentioned fashion house.

  8. Thanks Hoskins for the Sunday fun. GASPERS was my top pick for the amusing surface. I failed with TRAIT, not knowing that it meant property; I bunged in an unparsed “tract” instead. Evisu was a mystery to me but IMAGINE had to be the answer. Thanks flashling for the blog.

  9. Like others, I liked abetter (took me ages to get it) and orderless. Also liked Turkestan.

    Just like Tony I went for tract, being unable to parse, so defeated by that.

    As always, I enjoyed H’s puzzle. Many thanks to him and flashing.

  10. I went for TRACT as well, failing to recall my alphabet. I was hoping for a bit more nudge,nudge,wink,wink myself. Favourite was 1a, which was indeed just as charming as it said it was.
    Doesn’t ABETTER look odd? It feels like ‘ABETTOR’ would be a more correct spelling somehow, although both seem legit.
    Thank you Flashling and Hoskins.

  11. A bit vexed by a couple of things here.

    First in 4D where does the N come from?

    Second 20D doesn’t seems to have any distinction between ABETTER and ABETTOR. Both are valid spellings for someone who helps. And BETTER and BETTOR are both valid for someone who bets.

    Some nice clues in there too. ORDERLESS was a very nice one.

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