Independent 12,083 by Hoskins

19 comments on “Independent 12,083 by Hoskins”

1. An analysis from an AI agent :

   AI Overview
   The most common abbreviation for “congressional” is “Cong.”. Another less common abbreviation is “con”

2. Flea @1: thanks. I prefer not to take anything AI-generated as definitive without finding corroboration elsewhere, and Collins / Chambers don’t seem to know this one – but it may well be what’s intended. I’ve updated the blog.

3. I think CONDOM is a straight cryptic def?

4. CONDOM
   Looks like a cryptic def. No wordplay, probably.
   (PostMark@3 has said that already)

   Good puzzle. Great blog.
   Thanks Hoskins and Quirister.

5. First and foremost, an excellent blog, Ms.Q ( it’s not unusual). No chance of my spotting the theme….I didn’t see it even by going to your highlights in the grid ( i.e. before reading your explanation).
   It didn’t spoil the crossword, which was very smart and entertaining. Too many abbreviations/ text-speak, perhaps?
   I’m not a fan, so 13(ac), for one, was irritating ( navy = N as part of RN, Royal Navy).
   I didn’t help myself by originally going for SUNNIE instead of MOONIE, for 22(d), which was very stupid on so many levels.
   Some terms unfamiliar ( PUCK HOG, MAN ( drug dealer), SOUBRETTE ), but fairly clued.
   NOTORIOUS ( 30ac) doesn’t work for me; it implies “famous, for bad reason”, ergo not “a legend”; the clue was crafty, though.
   HAM ON RYE, 25(ac): oof! A bit green paint, maybe? What next …… FETA ON SOURDOUGH?
   A few quibbles, but more than compensated by a host of good devices and surfaces.
   Thumbs-up, H and Q

6. Re comments 1-4: I agree it works as “just” a cryptic definition, but there seem to be several components of a wordplay (if not an entirely satisfactory one), which I think must be intentional. Maybe Hoskins will drop in and tell us what he intended.

7. I’m another who thinks it is just a cryptic definition.
   People talk about the likes of Al Capone as a legendary outlaw. Similarly, Bonnie & Clyde etc, so not necessarily good people.

8. Hovis@7 I take your point, as ever; my feeling is, bad people may be described ( by a misguided few) as “legendary”, or the stuff of legend; but if a person is “a legend” (noun), the connotation is invariably “goodness”. If “legend” = “icon”, then I personally wouldn’t like to see it as applicable to gangsters and killers.

9. A lot of good fun as usual with this setter, although I did have a few hmms, possibly arising from the theme (about which I know nothing).

   HAM ON RYE is an American expression, as I imagine is PUCK HOG. Collins suggests that THE MAN (not just MAN) is an American expression for a drug dealer too.

   Thanks to Hoskins and to Quirister.

10. A fuller comment than earlier. Lots of fun but then Hoskins invariably is. It feels like a while since we’ve seen him and his style is all his own so I was delighted to see the pseudonym show up. Not that one needed it to identify the setter; there can be few more recognisable styles in crossword land, full stop!

    Fun to see a Spoonerism working well in HANDCARTS and ticks from me for SMOULDER, FACTOTUM, POST OFFICE, PULP, GRANDADS, DEMOCRATS, UNCLEAR, SHRUG OFF and the nho SOUBRETTE.

    Thanks Hoskins and Quirister

11. So glad to have Hoskins as entertainment on today’s LHR-JFK flight. Enjoyable as he always is. Many thanks to Hoskins, Quirster, and our commenters for the Congressional Debate.

12. Thanks both. Liked UNCLEAR and didn’t have any particular difficulty with the rest, however HAM ON RYE did feel very make-your-own pizza until the theme was revealed here, and CONDOM seemed cryptic only, but barely cryptic as I thought of the answer immediately, though perhaps that’s a commentary about me. For RESENDS I had RESHIPS for a while, which I feel works equally if you regard hips as extremities, until it upset the KENYAN.

13. Very late to comment having been out all day but wanted to pop in to say Hi to our ‘Arry and thank him for another of his ‘laugh a minute’ compilations. The theme passed me by that didn’t matter a jot. Biggest laughs came from SMOULDER, CARTLOADS, HAM ON RYE & SHRUG OFF.

    Many thanks to Hoskins and to Quirister for the review.

14. HAM ON RYE is a very standard American sandwich. So it’s not at all in “green paint” territory. All good delis need to serve a solid ham on rye.

    Our resident anti-American has already pointed out PUCK HOG, which I haven’t actually heard of, but it is easily derivable from “ball hog,” which is certainly a thing in football.

15. (And anyway, PUCK HOG would be Canadian, surely?)

16. Waiting for the Man is a song by The Velvet Underground about buying heroin from a drug dealer.

17. Thanks to Hoskins, and to Quirister for pointing out the theme which passed me by even though I admire Bukowski’s work. It occurs to me that 25 would be tempting fodder for a setter trying to come up with a clue for the Welsh site of the annual literature and arts festival (3-2-3).

18. Mr P@14….all good DIY shops sell white paint, it’s the most popular: but it’s not quite “an idiom”. But- I take your point, absolutely. A new sarnie, to me, but I shall make a point of making one, soon. Quite handy, because here in Greece all the ham seems to be smoked; rye bread might be a toughie.
    When I played footie, we used the term “ball hogger”, but again, you’re right….seems “ball hog” is the norm.
    yamas, IB

19. Feels like a long time since I did a Hoskins puzzle and this was a great reminder of what I’d been missing. Super stuff.

    I also took CONDOM to be a cryptic definition and I also have no problem with LEGEND being applied to bad as well as good. Plenty of legends deal with bad characters, bad gods, and so on, and this seems well within the bounds of reasonable misdirection to me.

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