It looks like Hoskins and myself have synchronised in our respective rotas, this being our third meeting on the trot, so I do hope the poor chap doesn’t get sick of me too soon.
I’ve no objections though, and this was the usual high standard Sunday fare with some chuckles and a few risqué moments thrown in. Perhaps a little tougher than some Sundays, or more likely I’m just a little off the pace.
All good stuff, but a favourite might be 4 down for its simplicity and the pause before the “ohhh, I see what you did there” moment.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AFFECTION | Love act? No thanks (9) |
| AFFEC[ta]TION. | ||
| 6 | AISLE | One’s to get in beer? Gangway! (5) |
| IS in ALE. | ||
| 9 | ARSE ABOUT | A boat user wrong to act stupidly (4,5) |
| Anagram of (A BOAT USER). | ||
| 10 | DRILL | Vacuous dealer Hoskins will bore (5) |
| D[eale]R + I‘LL. | ||
| 11 | TWEAK | Golden Brown? Bit of wisdom in that tune (5) |
| W[isdom] inserted into TEAK. | ||
| 12 | INEBRIANT | A dizzying thing I catch around May? (9) |
| (I NET) around BRIAN (May, of the band Queen). | ||
| 13 | EARNEST | Serious load of fuzz in the lughole? (7) |
| EAR NEST. Quite the image! | ||
| 15 | STRETCH | Street artist might do this over royal extension (7) |
| R in (ST + ETCH). | ||
| 18 | DECIDER | Crucial match papers covered in December outside of Exeter (7) |
| ID in (DEC + E[xete]R). | ||
| 20 | TOSSPOT | Old drunk drunks facing off around back of Co-op (7) |
| (SOT< + SOT) around [co-o]P. | ||
| 21 | PUSHCHAIR | Buggy PC with harsh UI in need of fixing (9) |
| Anagram of (PC + HARSH UI)*. Quickly spotted that the clue was an anagram but slowed myself down be being convinced that “buggy” was the indicator. | ||
| 23 | INGLE | After removing top, circulate fire in Fife (5) |
| [m]INGLE. | ||
| 25 | SKIMP | Miss out to save money might do this? (5) |
| (M in SKIP &lit. | ||
| 26 | INSPECTED | Vetted various pints with editor around city (9) |
| EC in (PINTS* + ED). | ||
| 27 | SWEAR | Promise to use bad language (5) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 28 | DEPOSITED | Ousted from office (after having sex inside laid down) (9) |
| IT inside DEPOSED. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | APARTHEID | Head trip on drugs with a wicked white line? (9) |
| Anagram of (HEAD TRIP + A). | ||
| 2 | FOSSE | Ditch some gormless officers when heading north (5) |
| Hidden and reversed in [gorml]ESS OF[ficers]. | ||
| 3 | CRACKHEAD | Drug user director possibly put in the rear of shot (9) |
| CRACK + HEAD. | ||
| 4 | IDOLIST | Declaration of one leaning over worshipper (7) |
| I DO LIST. Nice one. | ||
| 5 | NATTERS | Gossips with issues wanting successor of leader (7) |
| From [m]ATTERS with the leading M changed to N, its successor in the alphabet. | ||
| 6 | AIDER | Excellent kind of meat served up in one helping? (5) |
| A1 + RED<. | ||
| 7 | SPINAL TAP | Tip to save a penny involving pliant plastic band (6,3) |
| PLIANT* in (S[ave] + A + P). | ||
| 8 | ECLAT | Catholic caught in lie about brilliant success (5) |
| C in TALE<. | ||
| 14 | ROCKSLIDE | Event where one will see The Rolling Stones? (9) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 16 | RISKINESS | Excited kissers in a state of peril (9) |
| Anagram of (IN KISSERS). | ||
| 17 | HOT-HEADED | Reckless as one diving into The Sun (3-6) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 19 | READIED | Rosy’s fed up with a bit of iceberg Ed prepared (7) |
| (A in RED) + I[ceberg] + ED. | ||
| 20 | TURNS UP | Barrel full of rare drink arrives (5,2) |
| (R in TUN) + SUP. R/rare was a new abbreviation for me, but I believe it’s in Collins. | ||
| 21 | POSTS | Dispatches head of state kept in pockets (5) |
| S[tate] in POTS. | ||
| 22 | CAPER | In which millions will be stolen from van? (5) |
| CA[m]PER &lit. | ||
| 24 | GET IT | Cotton on jacket from George starts to tear in trolley (3,2) |
| G[eorg]E + T[ear] I[n] T[rolley]. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
Nice one harry. And thanks Simon.
Found this very tough. Annoyingly, I entered DRIVE for 10a (stupidly I admit) and so failed to get ECLAT. Also, failed to get ROCKSLIDE. The only word I could think of to fit was RECESSIVE which I couldn’t parse. So obvious on hindsight. Got TOSSPOT and parsed it but wasn’t initially convinced that TOSSOT didn’t conjure up back to back rather than facing off (‘sot’ facing left then facing right) but then decided that, if you take S as the head of SOT, then the 2 heads are facing each other.
Great workout and the usual humour from Harry. Thanks to both S&B.
Took a while to sort out 11a & 1d but no real problems to report.
9a made me laugh and takes the honours with 4&17d close behind.
Thank you, Harry, and thanks to Simon for the blog.
A nod to England’s loudest band! All good clean fun.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I was about half an hour into this with 1d left to do when the family arrived and my attention was required elsewhere. After a pleasant interlude providing tea and soft drinks, the Quality Street box looked as though it had been the focus of locusts, and the horde went on their way and I resumed cogitations. After some time, and a lot of scribbling, I finally came up with APARTHEID, but the completion indicator did not come. My attention was drawn to 4d where a careless IMOLIST was changed to IDOLIST and the job was done. I was obviously thinking along the lines of a burnt sacrifice when I put that one in. Nothing to do with today’s dinner of course. Laughed out loud at 9a. Thanks Harry and Simon.
21ac – shouldn’t Buggy be underlined?
Agree that this one is a bit harder than the normal Sunday fare, with a good sprinkling of sex, drugs n alcohol. Thanks to S & B. I’ve just about got used to doing these things on Firefox now, miss the iPhone version though.
Quite a challenge for a Sunday Indy, and with only 1dn and 12ac left we resorted to a wordfinder. Never thought of (a) ‘on drugs’ being an anagrind – presumably as equivalent to ‘high’ or (b) Brian for ‘May’.
But there was plenty to like. Our CoD has to be TOSSPOT – we thought of the answer as soon as we read the clue but couldn’t see how to parse it for ages; a real lightbulb moment when we did and finally wrote it in! EARNEST was a worthy runner-up.
Thanks, Hoskins and Simon.
Had a bit of a ‘mare in the NW, but as usual lots of laughs from the very clever – but never stuffy – cluing at which Harry excels. Many thanks to Hoskins and Simon.
Many thanks to SH for the usual lovely blog and to all who solved and especially those who commented.
I don’t think those who found it harder than usual were wide of the mark, as although my test-solver came in at the easyish solve time the general concensus I’ve had in the past week it was harder than that, so apologies for over-working the little grey cells on a Sunday.
Very busy in the run up to Xmas at the moment here so it just remains for me to say thanks to all for visiting and I hope to see you this Wednesday with – to quote one solver – ‘the easiest Hoskins ever’. However, hope you don’t wait around till then to solve another Indy puzzle as Vigo kicks of our Indy week tomorrow with some lovely stuff as is her wont.
Cheers and chin chin to all. 🙂
Cheers and chin chin to you too Harry! See you Wednesday……..
All good fun as usual with some lovely images during the solve!
Thanks Simon.
Paul A – you’re right of course re 21ac. Told you that one had me misled! Thanks for the heads-up, all fixed now.
Hoskins – no need to apologise, it’s nice to have a bit more of a challenge. That said, I get a wee bit longer to work on them than most solvers, so might be the wrong person to listen to.
Thanks to all commenters for dropping in.