It’s unusual to see a Hoskins’ crossword on a Friday in the Independent series of puzzles.
It’s even more unusual to see Hoskins highlighting a serious subject in the grid rather his providing us with one showing his usual trademark more risqué offerings.
This grid has a number of references to the British miners’ strike that ran from 6th March 1984 to 3rd March 1985. We have the two leaders Margaret THATCHER [1925 -2013], UK Prime Minister and Arthur SCARGILL [born 1938], President of the National Union of Mineworkers plus COAL, MINERS, STRIKE, PIT, UNION, PICKET and SCAB.
There are a few ‘loves’, ‘cuddles’ and ‘relations’ or similar, but generally Hoskins is quite straitlaced today.
The humanist John COLET was new to me but the wordplay was very clear and it was just a case of checking that a humanist with that name existed.
I think it was a coincidence that PIT [place where Formula 1 cars are serviced during a race] and SILVERSTONE [racetrack used for Formula 1 Grand Prix] appeared in the same row of the grid.
Thanks to Hoskins for an interesting puzzle. There were some good clues; the ones for UNI and ECONUT (interesting definition [variety of green]) stood out for me.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Sort of pet cosmetic? Tad ridiculous! (8,3)
DOMESTIC CAT (sort of pet) Anagram of (ridiculous) COSMETIC TAD DOMESTIC CAT* |
| 7 | Where people read of marriage not working (3)
UNI (UNIversity, a place where people ‘read a subject’ as in ‘I’m reading mathematics at UNI‘) UNION (marriage) excluding (not) ON (working) UNI |
| 9 | Mistake made by scary person taking temperature (5)
ERROR (mistake) TERROR (a scary person) excluding (taking) T (temperature) ERROR |
| 10 | European people covering Master of Arts in effluent (9)
EMANATION (‘flowing out’ as an adjective; effluent [‘flowing out’ as a noun]) adjective])) (E [European] + NATION [people]) containing (covering) MA (Master of Arts) E (MA) NATION |
| 11 | Gawpers getting a load of king with no clothes on? (8)
STARKERS (naked; with no clothes on) STARERS (gawpers) containing (getting a load of) K (king) STAR (K) ERS |
| 12 | Variety of green fruit sent by English company (6)
ECONUT (a type of [variety of] green politician or ecological fanatic) E (English) + CO (company) + NUT (fruit with an edible seed) E CO NUT |
| 14 | Protective cover cold sailor put on end of oars (4)
SCAB (crust formed over a wound or sore; protective cover) S (last letter of [end of] OARS) + C (cold) + AB ([able] seaman) S C AB |
| 15 | Fellow responsible for locking up greatest possible lag (4,6)
FALL BEHIND (lag) (F [fellow] + BEHIND [responsible for as in ‘She was BEHIND the decision to do something’ meaning ‘She was responsible for the decision’]) containing (locking up) ALL (everything; greatest possible) F (ALL) BEHIND |
| 18 | Corrections sent madmen off the rails (10)
AMENDMENTS (corrections) Anagram of (off the rails) SENT MADMEN AMENDMENTS* |
| 19 | What might come after 14 vehicles son brought to front? (4)
SCAR (mark or lesion that may be apparent once a SCAB [entry at 14 across] comes off a wound) CARS (vehicles) with the S (son) moved to the beginning [brought to the front] to form SCAR SCAR |
| 22 | Go for vile Count ultimately with pointed stakes (6)
PICKET (a fence formed of pointed stakes) PICK (select; choose; go for) + ET (final letters of [ultimately] VILE and COUNT) PICK ET |
| 24 | Given replacement equipment, soldiers did a dance (8)
REJIGGED (re-equipped; given replacement equipment) RE (Royal Engineers; soldiers) + JIGGED (did a dance) RE JIGGED |
| 26 | I’d act badly with love to get a life of luxury (5,4)
DOLCE VITA (a life of wealth, pleasure and self-indulgence; life of luxury) Anagram of (badly) I’D ACT and [with] LOVE DOLCE VITA* |
| 27 | Musical from 26 with first four parts cut (5)
EVITA (name of a musical about the life of Eva Peron) EVITA (letters remaining in DOLCE VITA [entry at 26 across] when the leading four characters [first four parts] DOLC are removed [cut]) EVITA |
| 28 | Heading to puritanical relations can be hell (3)
PIT (hell or its lowest depths) P (first letter of [heading to] PURITANICAL) + IT (sexual relations) P IT |
| 29 | Track by grey-haired bloke like Keith Richards? (11)
SILVERSTONE (racetrack for cars in Northamptonshire, England) SILVER (a term used to describe a grey-haired man [bloke]) + STONE (Keith Richards [born 1943] is a member of the Rolling STONEs pop group) SILVER STONE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Medic on English ship gets drug and small bandages (7)
DRESSES (bandages as a verb) DR (doctor;medic) + E (English) + SS ([steam]ship) + E (ecstasy tablet; drug]) + S (small) DR E SS E S |
| 2 | Old lady alarmed about food delivered to Paddington? (9)
MARMALADE (food favoured by Paddington Bear) MA (mother; old lady) + an anagram of (about) ALARMED MA RMALADE* |
| 3 | Hit bar, having left foremost of pubs for King’s Head (6)
STRIKE (hit) STRIPE (a band or bar of colour) with P (first letter of [foremost] of PUBS) being replaced by (left for) K (first letter of [head] KING) to form STRIKE STRIKE |
| 4 | Drunken nurse on the rebound breaks into drunken diatribe (10)
INEBRIATED (drunken) EN (Enrolled Nurse) reversed (on the rebound) contained in (breaks into) an anagram of (drunken) DIATRIBE I (NE<) BRIATED* |
| 5 | California bands beginning to outrageously rock (4)
COAL (a firm, brittle, generally black combustible carbonaceous rock) CAL (California) containing (bands) O (first letter of [beginning to] OUTRAGEOUSLY) C (O) AL |
| 6 | One who could have worked with Reed on The House of Usher? (8)
THATCHER (someone who works with reeds to make a roof) THATCHER (Nurse THATCHER is a character in The House of Usher, a novel by Edgar Allan Poe [ 1809 – 1949]. The actor Oliver Reed [1938 -1999] played the lead role in the 1989 film of the novel) cryptic definition linking THATCHER and Reed THATCHER |
| 7 | A Parisian and Hoskins performing the act of love (5)
UNION (The act or state of marriage or sexual intercourse; the act of love) UN (French [Parisian] for ‘a’) + I (Hoskins, the crossword setter) + ON (performing) UN I ON |
| 8 | Grunt about one with no top on being inflamed (7)
IGNITED (set on fire; inflamed) GI (a grunt is a term for an infantry soldier [American GI] or United States marine) reversed (about) + UNITED ([as] one]) excluding the first letter (with no top on) U IG< NITED |
| 13 | Liberal admitted, males hate dancing still (3,3,4)
ALL THE SAME (notwithstanding; nevertheless; still) L (Liberal) contained in (admitted) an anagram of (dancing) MALES HATE AL (L) THE SAME* – either L could be the one contained |
| 16 | Criminal noticing jacketless cop in a disguise (9)
INCOGNITO (in a disguise) Anagram of (criminal) NOTICING + O (letters remaining in COP when the outer letters C and P are removed [jacketless]) INCOGNIT* O |
| 17 | Superstar picked up by gangbuster for loafing (8)
IDLENESS ([standing about] doing nothing; loafing) IDLE (sounds like [picked up] IDOL [an object of love, admiration or honour in an extreme degree; in some cases, a superstar]) + NESS (reference Eliot NESS [1903 – 1957], an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down the gang leader Al Capone while enforcing Prohibition in Chicago) IDLE NESS |
| 18 | Excited cougar about to cuddle priest and my boss (5,2)
AMPED UP (excited) PUMA (the cougar) reversed (about) containing (to cuddle) (P [priest] + ED [editor, a crossword editor is the setter’s boss]) AM (P ED) UP< |
| 20 | Time left-wing Mirror covers undue bureaucracy? (3,4)
RED TAPE (rigid formality of intricate official routine; undue bureaucracy) (RED [communist; left-wing politically] + APE [emulate; mirror]) containing (covers) T (time) RED (T) APE |
| 21 | Aussie birds in cruise ships taking top off for maiden (6)
MINERS (Australian honeyeaters of the genus Manorina [birds]) LINERS (cruise ships, with the first letter [top] L being replaced by [off for] M [maiden]) to form MINERS MINERS |
| 23 | Old humanist seen around in Hotel Oceania (5)
COLET (reference John COLET [1467 – 1519], English humanist) COLET (reversed [around] hidden word [seen in] in HOTEL OCEANIA) COLET< |
| 25 | Hoskins will go after German unit (4)
GILL (a small measure of volume, having various values; in recent times = 1/4 pint according to Chambers dictionary) G (German) + I’LL (Hoskins [the setter] will) G ILL |
Well spotted, duncan. I’ll be honest and confess I never thought to look for a theme on this occasion. As Phi’s Tuesday offering WAS themed, I assumed that was the reason for him appearing on a different day and, with Hoskins being the replacement, that it would be a ‘normal’ Hoskins. I had no idea about the nurse in The House of Usher, COLET is a NHO and I only just recalled NESS from other crosswords at the eleventh hour. So the blog was most helpful.
Thanks Hoskins and duncan
Thanks Hoskins and Duncan
Missed the theme but enjoyed the puzzle none the less.
Just could not see parsing of miners. Loved -ness not being clued by …head.
I missed Tuesday’s puzzle for will have to flip back for my weekly dose of Phi magic.
Matthew @2: apologies if my comment was slightly spoilerish – but then you would probably have expected a theme on a Tuesday so not too much of a giveaway?
I don’t tend to look for themes (or pangrams) unless I’m stuck at the end, and I’m almost entirely unable to spot them in passing! I needed to be on the lookout today, and it helped me confirm my final answer, the unknown GILL. Further checking confirms that D is not a valid abbreviation for ‘German’, just ‘Germany’, but that’s the sort of subtlety I’m unlikely to retain.
A nice and otherwise breezy puzzle as usual from Hoskins.
Thanks both.
Just a couple of minor niggles: I found the fact that the clues to 7a and 7d were the inverse of each other was more clunky than clever, and a liner is practically the opposite of a cruise ship. Otherwise an enjoyable solve. Missed the theme entirely.
All the usual fun from Harry, but I was utterly oblivious to the theme. Thanks to Hoskins for the entertainment.
I didn’t understand the connection between THATCHER and The House of Usher, and I couldn’t parse either IGNITED (even though I twigged the “grunt” part) or the last syllable of IDLENESS. So, many thanks to Duncan for the explanations.
Amoeba @ 4
I think Collins Dictionary is the ‘bible’ for setters of Independent crosswords. Collins lists German as one of the ‘definitions’ of G.
Chambers has G: German as in G-agents (poison gases developed by the Nazis for possible military use)
duncanshiell @7 – Crossed wires I think. Yes, my Chambers also gives G for German, with the same logic. Not querying that – I had wondered while solving whether the wordplay could have led to DILL, but D is Germany, not German.
Maybe the 40th anniversary of this (Oct 10 ’84) and/or this (Oct 12 ’84)?
Didn’t occur to me to look for a theme on a Friday which is embarrassing as it was staring me in the face!
Clever setting but not one of my favourite puzzles from our ‘Arry, much prefer it when he brings us sex, drugs & rock’n roll. Picks of the bunch for me today were SILVERSTONE & THATCHER.
Thanks to Hoskins and to Duncan for being far more alert than I obviously was!
I confess that this one left me a bit cold, despite the nice theme (alas spotted too late). The repetitions DOLCE VITA and EVITA, UNION and UNI didn’t really do it for me; cross-references aren’t to my taste unless the numbers are better “hidden”; and I had quibbles about a couple of surfaces: “sent” in that for ECONUT seems to play no part, while “will” is doing double duty in that for GILL. I also revealed a couple as I went along, as I was getting a bit impatient.
That said, I liked the surfaces for PICKET and STRIKE, and my favourite was THATCHER, though I confess to not having heard of the film and hence needing the blog to fully understand it. I take the entire surface to have two readings, both semi-cryptic: one about working with material on a someone’s house and one about working on set in a film. Clever.
Thanks both!
Re: 21D
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/barclays-banker-women-birds-sexism-b1923878.html
@postmark №2. No need to apologise at all. Once I get here I am finished with all the solving side :-). It never ceased to amaze how often I miss the theme – even when (such as Tuesdays’) I know it is there.