Independent 11,965 / Hoskins

Hoskins has delivered his latest crossword today for our stimulation and entertainment.

I found this to be a highly entertaining solve, of medium-difficulty on the Indy spectrum. I think that I have come up with a set of correct answers, most of which I have parsed to my satisfaction, but I would appreciate fellow solvers’ confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing of 4 and 21.

My favourite clues today were 13 and 15, for smoothness of surface; and the ingenious cryptic definitions at 6 and 14. And nor was I immune to the sauciness running the clues, of which the Private Eye’s Cyclops, the master of innuendo, would have been proud.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues

Across

01	ASH BLONDE	In shock, this individual looks very pale Cryptic definition: the “shock” of the definition refers to a head of hair, not to a state of shock!

06	THUMB	One up for getting picked up by a stranger? Cryptic definition: the reference is to thumbing a lift, hitching a lift

09	ADAMANT	A flipping angry soldier fixed in purpose A + DAM (MAD=angry; “flipping” indicates reversal) + ANT (=soldier)

10	RAILCAR	One on the line with right trouble about royal R (=right) + AIL (=trouble, as verb) + CA (=about, i.e. circa) + R (=royal, as in RSPB)

11	ASSES	Scottish gals pinching large bums in America <l>ASSES (=Scottish gals; “pinching large (=L, in sizes)” means letter “l” is dropped); in US slang, “ass” means backside, bottom, hence “bum”, as in to kick ass

12	PATRONISE	Petrosian will need to play to find sponsor *(PETROSIAN); “will need to play” is anagram indicator

14	BOP	Jazz // hit Double definition: bob or bebop is a kind of jazz AND to bop is to hit, strike

15	ADOLESCENTS	Teenagers gone out, so let’s dance *(SO LET’S DANCE); “gone out” is anagram indicator

17	BLOCKBUSTER	Might you say The Karate Kid or Star Wars? Cryptically, the karate kid could be described a “block buster”, i.e. one who can bust or break (concrete) blocks with a karate chop!

19	SIN	Function that bans ecstasy is wrong SIN<e> (=function, in trigonometry; “that bans ecstasy (=E, i.e. drug)” means letter “e” is dropped)

20	TRACK SHOE	Daley Thompson often puts his foot in it Cryptic definition: as a former decathlete, Daley Thompson often, and quite literally, put his foot in a track shoe!

22	ERASE	Time soprano and earl use a rubber? ERA (=time, age) + S (=soprano) + E (=earl)

24	ODOROUS	Smelly Ohio angler repelled old American O (=Ohio) + DOR (ROD=angler, i.e. one with a fishing rod; “repelled” indicates reversal) + O (=old, as in OT) + US (=American)

26	ASTRIDE	Straddling a good man, having intercourse A + ST (=good man, i.e. saint) + RIDE (=intercourse, i.e. sex, colloquially)

27	HEY-HO	How are you with US tart? I’m disappointed HEY (=how are you?) + HO (=US tart, a US slang word for prostitute); as an exclamation, hey-ho can convey disappointment

28	ALDERSHOT	Beer-covered duke gets rare dram in town [D (=duke) in ALE (=beer)] + R (=rare) + SHOT (=dram, of liquor)

Down

01	ALANA	Woman’s name seen in Catalan addresses Hidden (“seen”) in “catALAN Addresses”

02	HEADS-UP	Advance warning: principal’s on drink HEAD (=principal) + SUP (=(to) drink)

03	LOAN SHARK	Lender studio’s last used in Network and Jaws? [<studi>O (“last” means last letter only) in LAN (=Network, i.e. Local Area Network)] + SHARK (=Jaws, in action films)

04	NOT UP TO MUCH	Having hardly anything on or pretty pants? “Pretty pants” could mean of fairly poor quality, hence “not up to much”; if you have little planned for the day, you have not much on, you are not up to much

05	EAR	Be afraid of losing female attention <f>EAR (=be afraid of; “losing female (=F)” means letter “f” is dropped)

06	TAINO	Around India, Brown initially overdid foreign language [I (=India, in Nato alphabet) in TAN (=brown, i.e. colour)] + O<verdid> (“initially” means first letter only); Taino is a language of the West Indies

07	UNCTION	Count in Barking displays affected charm *(COUNT IN); “barking (=mad, crazy)” is anagram indicator; unction is superficial earnestness, affected charm

08	BARPERSON	Prohibit individual from coming to pub? I might! BAR (=prohibit, ban) + PERSON (=individual); semi- & lit.

13	THEATRELAND	Dealer that worked around noon in the West End? N (=noon) in *(DEALER THAT); “worked” is anagram

14	BABY TOOTH	Chopper with built-in obsolescence? Cryptic definition: the chopper is a tooth, and a baby tooth is not expected to last for long, hence “with built-in obsolescence”!

16	CARPENTER	One like Jesus around? Repent drunkenly, right? CA (=around, circa) + *(REPENT) + R (=right); Jesus of Nazareth, like his father Joseph, was a carpenter by trade

18	ORATORY	Men sitting with a conservative in chapel OR (=men, i.e. Other Ranks) + A + TORY (=conservative); an oratory is a place for private law

19	SLAVISH	Unoriginal bit of script by toilet one’s sat on hard S<cript> (“bit of” means first letter only) + LAV (=toilet, i.e. lavatory) + I’S (=one’s) + H (=hard, as in HB); e.g. a slavish adherence to protocol shows a lack of originality

21	KYOTO	Old model king picked up in city abroad O (=old, as in OT) + TOY (=model, i.e. miniature) + K (=king, in cards and chess); “picked up” indicates vertical reversal

23	ERECT	English soldiers on court could be up for it! E (=English) + RE (=soldiers, i.e. Royal Engineers) + CT (=court, in addresses); rather saucily, the definition appears to refer to a male member in a state of arousal

25	SPA	Drop of Pils drunk by South African resort P<ils> (“drop of” means first letter only) in SA (=South African)

11 comments on “Independent 11,965 / Hoskins”

All the usual fun here from Harry. What a red-letter day for crosswords, with three of my favourite setters appearing in different places today!

I was delighted to see the required American indicator in 11a but disappointed that it was missing from 2d. 6d was a new word for me but very fairly clued.

I expect I’m missing something, but doesn’t the wordplay for 27a lead to HAY-HO (HAY being text speak for How Are You) whereas the answer needs to be HEY-HO?

My top picks were ASSES, LOAN SHARK, NOT UP TO MUCH, BAR PERSON, BABY TOOTH and ERECT.

Many thanks to Hoskins and to RR – I parsed 4d & 21d as you did.

Hear, hear! And in case it has gone unnoticed, no doubt 28A is meant to be part of the sauciness, especially in the SE corner. Thanks Hoskins and RatkojaRiku.

This puzzle seemed to veer between sober Hoskins and saucy ‘arry but was certainly very enjoyable. Don’t think I realised that bop was a type of jazz but the answer was obvious enough. Top clues here were those for BLOCKBUSTER & BABY TOOTH.

Thanks to Hoskins and to RR for the review.

3d LOAN SHARK: LAN always seems to be clued by giving away what the “N” stands for. At least this time it was another movie to go with Jaws(1975 … ):
Network (1976) – “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” — Shame the Indy app doesn’t do italics.
[18d ORATORY “…a place for private law“- Did you mean prayer, RR?]

Just for the record, I had the same parsings for 4 and 21. I wasn’t sure about “O” for “ohio” – I had thought it was “OH” but that is only in the USPS standard from 1963 onwards. Wikipedia lists is under “other abbreviations” and not part of the sets such as the Government Printing Office which gives us the familiar “Fla” for Florida. A bit unfair I thought until I saw “Cal” for California also listed under “other abbreviations” and no-one has ever objected to that common crossword trick, so I guess it’s another wrinkle on my bottom, as my mum would say.

“Taino” a good example of “let’s see if that’s a word – ooh yes” as so fairly clued once a crosser or two was in.

Rabbit Dave @1: I did not know anything of text speak for “how are you” and simply took it as a colloquial greeting – “Hey there”. I agree, however, that that does not really equate to “how are you” as you might easily say “Hey, how are you?” without being tautological!

All good fun… altho I managed to slow myself down by inserting SPORT instead of TRACK, which seemed reasonable, until the crossers put me right… not sure how many different pairs of shoes decathletes need..?
Obscure language and refreshingly open language, what’s not to like…
Thanks Hoskins n RatkojaRiku

Can’t really see why 2d would need an American indicator?
Jolly good fun: loved BLOCKBUSTER and THUMB made me laugh. And it’s always nice to solve the clue, then find that eg TAINO is actually a word.
Thanks to Hoskins & Ratkojariku