A pleasant puzzle from Hoskins, with maybe a slight twist?…
I am fairly sure this is my first blog of a Hoskins puzzle…and maybe even my first solve…he seems to have been fairly prolific in the Indy and Sindy in the past couple of years, but since they went online-only and non-prize I only tend to solve the ones on my schedule…bah humbug! I believe we met at the get-together after the Times Championships last October(?)…but that was all a bit of a blur after a few sherbets…
A fairly straightforward solve at first, with the speed-solving blinkers on and just working through the clues from top to bottom, Across and Down. No major sticking points, with ISCHIA and finally TRICYCLING as my last ones in.
Then, as I started to blog it all out and type in the grid, I wondered about a Nina or theme – that SIXTIETH looks possibly significant – a diamond wedding anniversary in the Hoskins clan? But unless the lucky couple are call ERISWATA AND EHAND (left and right columns), I couldn’t see anything obvious….I’m not sure those would even anagram-ise into anything sensible.
But at some point in the blogging process something clicked – that DUTCH seemed to go with a lot of words – ELM, CAP, COURAGE, UNCLE…and those CLOGS, plus a bit of DOUBLE DUTCH. I hadn’t heard of a DUTCH OVEN, but according to the list of associations with Dutch in Chambers there is such a thing… So maybe Hoskins has a Dutch uncle and aunt called Eriswata and Ehand who have just celebrated their Sixtieth wedding anniversary…or maybe he just stumbled upon the idea of fitting a few Dutch links into the puzzle:
Either way, it added a bit of fun to the bclogging process – and hopefully to the solving process for anyone a bit more observant than me? Thanks to Hoskins for some light diversion!
No particular glitches or quibbles. I liked the use of US (in capitals) in 5D to distract us into thinking about American breweries, but I wasn’t sure why Courage should be clued as a ‘brewery, once’? However, a quick Wiki-oogle suggests that Courage as a brewery has been through multiple different ownerships since the 70s, most recently in the hands of Marston, even if the Courage Best and Directors brands have remained constant throughout…
And, on a similarly alcoholic note, I like the idea of a ‘gin friend’ in 13D…’you’re my besht friend… I really love you…hic’…!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | ECLECTIC | Catholic city half-backing Scottish club (8) | catholic / EC (postcode area of the City of London) + LECTIC (Cel-tic, Scottish football club, with the first half ‘backed’) |
|
| 6A | FEDORA | Not completely wild about party hat (6) | hat / FE_RA( |
|
| 9A | RENT | Split now, with dog having done one (4) | split / if a dog (CUR) was added to RENT (split) it would mean ‘now’ |
|
| 10A | COUNTY TOWN | York? Noble, yet heartless, individual (6,4) | York (for example) / COUNT (noble) + Y_T (Y |
|
| 11A | INMATE | Popular head of media had one canned! (6) | one canned (in the can) / IN (popular) + M (first letter, or head, of Media) + ATE (had) |
|
| 12A | ALIGHTED | Got off with a journalist around fire (8) | got off / A + ED (journalist), around LIGHT (fire) |
|
| 14A | SELECTEE | US conscript chosen to appear in court (8) | US conscript / S_EE (woo, date) around ELECT (chosen) |
|
| 16A | DOUBLE | Stuffed shirt ignoring tenor’s two fingers? (6) | two fingers (e.g. of scotch) / DOUBLE( |
|
| 18A | WARM-UP | Welsh member in an excited state for foreplay? (4-2) | foreplay / W (Welsh) + ARM (member) + UP (in an excited state) |
|
| 20A | SIXTIETH | Diamond heist at sea, nine tons to split! (8) | diamond (anniversary) / S_IETH (anag, i.e. at sea, of HEIST) around IX (nine, Roman numerals) + T (tons) |
|
| 22A | ACCURSED | Damned used car explodes outside club (8) | damned / AC_URSED (anag, i.e. explodes, of USED CAR) around C (club, playijng card) |
|
| 24A | ISCHIA | One’s mate missing out on North Island (6) | (Greek) island / I (one) + S (contraction of IS) + CHI( |
|
| 26A | TRICYCLING | Type of riding stick on royal in windy city (10) | type of riding / T_ICY (anag, i.e. windy, of CITY) around R (royal, Regina or Rex), plus CLING (stick) |
|
| 28A | OVEN | Archdeacon after the heart of Tom Baker? (4) | baker / O (heart, or middle letter, of tOm) + VEN (abbreviation, venerable, or archdeacon) |
|
| 29A | ASLEEP | Dead large stash of drugs in a small piano (6) | dead / A + S (small) + L (large) + EE (ecstasy, or drug, plural) + P (piano) |
|
| 30A | HARASSED | Much-troubled Texan behind electronic parts firm (8) | much-troubled / HAR_D (firm) around (parted by) ASS (American, behind) + E (electronic) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | CLEANSE | Purge of Sophoclean sensibilities (7) | purge / hidden word in, i.e. ‘of’, ‘sophoCLEAN SEnsibilities’ |
|
| 3D | EXTRA | Spare chap with a very small part? (5) | double defn. / EXTRA can mean spare; and an EXTRA can be a person (chap) with small/walk-on part in a film/play |
|
| 4D | TICKER TAPES | Papers showing stock pickets tear up (6,5) | papers showing stocks / anag, i.e. up, of PICKETS TEAR |
|
| 5D | COURAGE | Prison housing belonging to US brewery once (7) | brewery, once / C_AGE (prison) around (housing) OUR (belonging to us) |
|
| 6D | FIT | Short argument about relationship (3) | relationship / FIT = TIF( |
|
| 7D | DUTCH | Church supporting tax cut from Maastricht? (5) | (describing someone) from Maastricht / DUT( |
|
| 8D | RAW DEAL | Bitter US agency beginning to lambaste Schwarzenegger film (3,4) | (Arnold) Schwarzenegger film / RAW (bitter) + DEA (US Agency, Drug Enforcement Agency) + L (beginning letter of Lambaste) |
|
| 13D | INDEX FINGER | Gin friend upset collaring old pointer? (5,6) | pointer / IND_FINGER (anag, i.e. upset, of GIN FRIEND) around (collaring) EX (old) |
|
| 15D | ELM | Tree seasonal worker trimmed close to gym (3) | tree / EL( |
|
| 17D | UNI | College: an association of people avoiding working (3) | college / UNI( |
|
| 19D | ACCORDS | When to tackle cold duke about my grants (7) | grants / A_S (when) around (tackling) C (cold) + COR (my, gosh) + D (duke) |
|
| 20D | SADDISH | Rather blue commercial with Southern beauty hosting it (7) | rather blue / S (southern + DISH (beauty), around (hosting) AD (commercial, advertisement) |
|
| 21D | TRIREME | Flag setter placed around Republican ship (7) | ship / T_IRE (flag) around R (Republican) plus ME (the setter) |
|
| 23D | UNCLE | Family member is dirty, having pinched bottom twice! (5) | family member / UNCLE( |
|
| 25D | CLOGS | Diary found in empty campus blocks (5) | blocks / C_S (empty C |
|
| 27D | CAP | Better complain if queen’s blown off (3) | better / CA( |
|
Fantastic. A master at work. Nice mix of easyish and difficult clues. I must admit I resorted to a word fit for 26a and then parsed it afterwards. Nice to see her maj makes her usual appearance at 27d. Thanks to Harry and mc_rapper67.
PS blog missing the L+E+E bit for 29a.
Nicely done, Harry, constantly amazes me how you invariably manage to balance on that tightrope that divides humour from the unacceptable!
I didn’t know that term for a US conscript – thought they were ‘draftees’, but the wordplay was clear enough. The Welsh member caught me out for a while – it’s ALWAYS an AM!
No particular favourite to mention – they almost all made me smile.
Hope you might pop in later – your post-babycham banter has been missed although I appreciate the reasons for your absence. Hope your Mum is finding the courage to carry on – it can’t be easy for her.
well done Harry; like Jane I hope that things wil become easier for you; best wishes.
Thanks @mc_r
Best puzzle ever
Good to see you back, Harry, at what must be a difficult time.
A steady solve with only the occasional reference to Chambers to confirm our guesses, but we couldn’t parse RENT or HARASSED. We wondered if TICKER TAPES are still used in these days of instant electronic communication – and if so do ticker tape welcomes still happen in a litter-conscious age?
No real CoD but COURAGE was in the running. Interested to learn the current ownership of the brand – we thought it might have gone to the Bury St Edmunds lot.
@4dutch: with a moniker like that you couldn’t really say anything else!
Oops! Forgot to thank Harry and mc_rapper.
Great puzzle.
Thanks for the various comments & feedback, and thoughts/best wishes with HH, it would seem.
Hovis – I have updated 29a – well spotted.
dutch – I can’t see why you would have liked this (;+>)
jane – yes, a few risqué clue readings, maybe verging on the Cyclops-ean/Paul-esque…
Thanks for a great blog, mc_rapper67.
All of what jane said @2 – but I don’t understand her ‘Welsh member’ bit.
Dutch @4 – you should be so lucky 😉
Lovely puzzle, Harry – many thanks! x
@9Eileen: I think jane is referring to a member of the Welsh Assembly, who would use the designation AM (= Assembly Member) – or in Welsh AC (= Aelod y Cynulliad) corresponding to MSP in Scotland.
@9Eileen – yes, Allan is quite correct, I was thinking in terms of Welsh Assembly members who seem to pop up regularly in crosswordland. My appreciation of them in the real world is a totally different matter……..
Great to have another Hoskins to solve.
Missed the Dutch theme completely – it added a cherry to the cake when we found out.
Excellent puzzle – thanks to Harry and mc_rapper. All the best to Ma Hoskins as well.
Thanks, Allan and jane – I didn’t know that abbreviation [and didn’t see your comments last night].