Hoskins seems to appear practically every week nowadays and he has certainly had his fill of me, since we frequently coincide. But I haven’t had my fill of him, since he always produces good crosswords where everything is properly explained; as ever, this crossword contains some very good clues.
Definitions underlined and in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
I don’t think Hoskins does Ninas. Perhaps he does, but with the number of crosswords he produces to do so would be quite an extra challenge.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FATA MORGANA | Anagram of a source of trickery at sea? (4,7) |
| (anagram of a t{rickery})*, &lit. — I’d heard of a Fata Morgana, but didn’t know what it was so hoped for the best; fortunately this is what it is. | ||
| 7 | PIT | Mine‘s two halves together, but hold the third (3) |
| pi{n}t — two half-pints make a pint | ||
| 9 | RE-ENTRY | Never flipping attempt a return to this planet! (2-5) |
| (ne’er)rev. try | ||
| 10 | FETLOCK | Vacuous eejit interrupting congregation, bit of a nag (7) |
| f(e{eji}t)lock — nag as in horse — a fetlock is part of a horse | ||
| 11 | OUT OF GEAR | Cruising in a car naked in need of some more drugs? (3,2,4) |
| 3 defs | ||
| 12 | RETRO | Worry that’s starting off upset men in 60s, perhaps (5) |
| {f}ret (OR)rev. — the 1960s | ||
| 13 | SPEEDOS | Amphetamines and stuff that’s inside most trunks (7) |
| speed {m}os{t} | ||
| 15 | TEA LEAF | One pinching duck starters in exotic Angolan foodery (3,4) |
| teal e{xotic} A{ngolan} f{oodery} — rhyming slang tea leaf = thief | ||
| 17 | HATABLE | Laugh at board deserving to be loathed (7) |
| ha! table | ||
| 19 | IN HASTE | One shan’t put off Beefy slimming to core in fast (2,5) |
| 1 (shan’t)* {Be}e{fy} | ||
| 21 | INCUR | Expose yourself to most old folk and you’re reported (5) |
| Inc{a} UR — most = most of — UR is textspeak | ||
| 23 | CAPE VERDE | The First Lady wears red cap going around country (4,5) |
| Eve in (Red cap)* — shame that the string of letters ‘cap’ appears in the clue and also in the answer | ||
| 25 | NOTHING | Zip (n): object next to middle of groin (7) |
| n {gr}o{in} thing — a typical Hoskinsian clue | ||
| 26 | ARCADES | Undercover places for shopping a scared criminal (7) |
| (a scared)* | ||
| 27 | TAT | After stripping, say things that are pretty seedy (3) |
| {s}tat{e} | ||
| 28 | GODCHILDREN | Issue most people would never want to have to raise? (11) |
| CD referring to the fact that godchildren are raised by their godparents in the event of the parents’ death | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FURIOUS | Angry? But I love you cutting into expensive coats! (7) |
| fur(I O U)s — although in 21ac the textspeak is signposted, it isn’t here — or is U somehow an abbreviation for ‘you’, or IOU an abbreviation for ‘I love you’? | ||
| 2 | TREATMENT | @Hoskins must be dunked in river for behaviour to others (9) |
| Tre(at me)nt | ||
| 3 | MOTIF | Flash good-looking revolutionary figure in music (5) |
| mo. (fit)rev. | ||
| 4 | RHYMERS | Male opening fresh sherry we might like to wine and dine? (7) |
| (sherry)* round m — an example of a rhyme is ‘wine’ and ‘dine’ | ||
| 5 | AT FIRST | A way to snort crack up before anything else (2,5) |
| a (tfir) St, the tfir being (rift)rev. | ||
| 6 | AFTERMATH | Crossbreeding at the farm will have later consequences (9) |
| (at the farm)* | ||
| 7 | PROST | Old champ involved in F1 spin off course, perhaps is out of line (5) |
| PR [= spin] {l}ost — ref Alain Prost | ||
| 8 | TAKE OFF | Remove a bit of clothing and become suddenly popular (4,3) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 14 | DEBARRING | Prohibiting new red bra leads to, invariably, no good (9) |
| (red bra)* i{nvariably} n{o} g{ood} | ||
| 16 | EASY RIDER | Picture a walk in the park near rivers full of fish (4,5) |
| easy [= a walk in the park] r(ide)r — ref the film Easy Rider | ||
| 17 | HAIRNET | It stops bits of a fishmonger’s mullet mixing with cod (7) |
| CD whose raison d’etre is that a mullet is not only a hairstyle but a fish | ||
| 18 | ENCAGED | Shut up about grams European hoovered up by tip (7) |
| en(ca g E)d | ||
| 19 | IMPEACH | Challenge validity of claim pea chowder holds the answer! (7) |
| Hidden in claIM PEA CHowder | ||
| 20 | EMERSON | Transcendentalist with Hoskins visiting the Queen and Prince Charles? (7) |
| E(me)R son — I never knew that Emerson was a transcendentalist | ||
| 22 | CUT IT | Occult filth needs regular censoring to meet requirements (3,2) |
| {O}c{c}u{l}t {f}i{l}t{h} | ||
| 24 | VOCAL | Outspoken and against the pub down the road not opening (5) |
| v {l}ocal | ||
*anagram
At the harder end of a Hoskins but ‘a walk in the park’ compared to today’s FT (which I also loved). Didn’t know 1a. Favourites include NOTHING and AT FIRST. EMERSON was my LOI with the wonderful clueing of Prince Charles. Thanks to S&B.
For me this was a return to Harry of old.Great fun-I didnt know that EMERSON was a transend…..wasnt he the keys player in The Nice?
But the clue was perfect.I likrd it all.
Thanks John and harry.
Hoskins in fine form today! A bit trickier than some of his, yes, but then we’ve seen that he can do a range of difficulties without compromising on fun. No sign of him going OUT OF GEAR any time soon …
I also constructed FATA MORGANA from wordplay and just trusted that it sounded right. Similarly with EMERSON. But I failed on PROST.
I loved PIT, RE-ENTRY, INCUR, NOTHING, TREATMENT, RHYMERS, TAKE OFF, and I could go on.
Many thanks Harry and John.
Thought this was definitely Harry playing his ‘A’ game – a whole raft of excellent clues.
Didn’t know 1a but will do my level best to remember it – fascinating and a delightful sounding phrase.
It would be churlish to pick any one favourite but I did particularly enjoy ‘@ Hoskins’ and the 10a eejit. The latter describes so many of the vicars I have had the ‘pleasure’ of listening to over the years!
Many thanks to Hoskins and to John for the blog.
Great crossword which kept me on my toes. I’ve come across 1a in a Times crossword, so that was somewhere in the depths and emerged when I had some crossers. Didn’t know the transwhatever, but the wp was clear. Lots of convoluted thinking needed. Liked 10a. Thanks Harry and John.
Thanks for the blog, John.
Not my favourite Hoskins ever, but as John says, he is quite the regular these days, so there was bound to be one coming along that I didn’t engage with. A DNF, in fact: I couldn’t get PROST (F1, like golf, doesn’t float my bateau); this meant I couldn’t guess RETRO (very vague definition, imo); I would always write HATEABLE so decided uncharitably that the setter had painted himself into a corner and HATABLE was only there ‘cos naff all else fits H?T?B?E; and I couldn’t parse INCUR.
I did like FATA MORGANA, because I could work it out and it turns out to be, as Winnie-the-Pooh might have described it to Piglet, an Interesting Thing.
I will thank the setter and go away now.
We got there in the end but couldn’t parse PIT (although it couldn’t be anything else). We knew of FATA MORGANA but not in that context – she’s a witch and the villainess in Prokofiev’s opera The Love for Three Oranges. And knowing Hoskins’ style we felt a little let down by 13ac; we were expecting something a bit saucier referring to what might be concealed by the trunks. HAIRNET was good: reminded us of Chambers’ definition of a mullet – a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back and ridiculous all round. Our CoD, though, was RHYMERS.
Thanks, Hoskins and John
Why is 1across an &lit?