I am only a stand-in today but I am really pleased to have an encounter with Hoskins, my first actually (as a blogger, that is)!
Excellent crossword.
Not only the usual fair amount of the Things That Make Life Easier (For Some), also great precision and quality clueing – often taken for granted when ‘exciting’ surfaces take over.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GREEN LIGHT | What makes racy type on pole put her foot down? (5,5) |
| Cryptic definition Well, that’s what I think it is. I’m not used to Hoskins writing cryptic definitions. Can we add Women & Fast Cars to Harry’s vocabulary now? |
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| 6 | EDIT | Turn over fish, then time to take out rubbish? (4) |
| Reversal [turn over] of IDE (fish), followed by T (time) It doesn’t have to be ‘rubbish’, does it? |
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| 10 | LOCKS | Hair clasps that are hard to free oneself from? (5) |
| Double definition Unless you’re Houdini. |
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| 11 | LADIES MAN | Romeo‘s a bloke who prefers using female loos (6,3) |
| The wordplay is cryptic, with a MAN (bloke) who prefers to use ‘the LADIES’. | ||
| 12 | CRANIUM | Contrary drug cop I, with little hesitation, nut (7) |
| NARC (drug cop) + I, together reversed [contrary], + UM (little hesitation) The skull – that kind of ‘nut’. |
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| 13 | SPORRAN | Without right, Parson shot one covering privates (7) |
| Anagram [shot] of PARSON around R (right) That kind of privates! |
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| 14 | UTTER | One covering toast, but ignoring bride initially, say (5) |
| BUTTER (one covering toast) minus B[ride] | ||
| 15 | BOLDFACE | Type of bishop that might display wrinkles? (8) |
| B (bishop) + OLD FACE (that might display wrinkles) ‘Type’ as in ‘Type‘. |
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| 19 | GREAT DOG | Super party with good collection of stars (5,3) |
| GREAT (super) + DO (party) + G (good) Canis Major, a constellation containing Sirius. |
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| 21 | MAGMA | Publication with nude imam is hot stuff! (5) |
| MAG (publication, a magazine) + [i]MA[m] We’re all only human. |
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| 23 | RULE OUT | Reject bad route going round centre of Hull (4,3) |
| Anagram [bad] of ROUTE around [H]UL[L] | ||
| 26 | RETIRED | Stop work to have bit of delectation in bed (7) |
| RETIRE (stop work) + D[electation] | ||
| 27 | WITHSTAND | Endure flatus cut by soprano that wafted around (9) |
| WIND (flatus) with on the inside of it: S (soprano) with around it an anagram [wafted] of THAT Perhaps, some solvers wish to see ‘wafted around’ as an anagram indicator for S+THAT. |
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| 28 | ALLOA | Ball OAP holds in Scottish town (5) |
| Hidden answer [holds]: Ball OAP | ||
| 29 | RAPT | Spat lyrics on the mike, feeling great delight (4) |
| Homophone [on the microphone] of RAPPED (spat lyrics) | ||
| 30 | CLAPPED OUT | Tired as audience after a Kim Jong-un speech? (7,3) |
| Double definition, with the second one cryptic or whimsical (depends on your mood) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GOLF CLUB | Sell up and hit a place for folk who swing? (4,4) |
| Reversal [up] of FLOG (sell) + CLUB (hit) That kind of swingers [you’ll find them in clubs too]. |
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| 2 | ENCHANTER | He can net fools with conjuration essentially (9) |
| Anagram [fools] of HE CAN NET, followed by [conju]R[ation] Perfect &lit. |
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| 3 | NASTIER | Her Maj, after drop of new wine, gets more offensive (7) |
| N[ew] + ASTI (wine), together preceding ER (Her maj.) | ||
| 4 | ISLAMABAD | I criticise a poor capital in a foreign land (9) |
| I + SLAM (criticise) + A + BAD (poor) Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan. |
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| 5 | HADES | Hell on earth, son? Heroin and losing heart! (5) |
| E (earth) + S (son), with above it: [indicated by on] H (heroin) + A[n]D | ||
| 7 | DEMUR | Disagree that Rod had a hand in punching doctor (5) |
| EMU (Rod had a hand in) inside DR (doctor) More about Rod Hull: here. |
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| 8 | TENANT | Wine bottles a new source of landlord’s income? (6) |
| TENT (wine) around A N (new) | ||
| 9 | GET OFF | Posh type sat on by abrupt setter might say this (3,3) |
| TOFF (posh type) with above it: GEL (setter) minus [abrupt] the last letter L Of course, the definition is quite a bit more than just ‘this’. |
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| 16 | LAGERED-UP | Sweet English royal brought up on the beer? (7-2) |
| PUD (sweet) + E (English) + REGAL (royal), together reversed [up] I’ve underlined ‘on the beer’ because that’s what was left. However, in this particular case my knowledge of the English language is not really sufficient. Just tell me when I got it wrong. |
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| 17 | CIGARILLO | Frazzled garlic oil can produce a little smoke (9) |
| Anagram [frazzled] of GARLIC OIL | ||
| 18 | HANDCART | Tinned sort of offal Spooner delivers in barrow (8) |
| Spoonerism of CANNED (tinned) HEART (sort of offal) About 25 years ago I was in a small (and more than half-empty) restaurant somewhere in the French Pyrenees. Heart was the only thing on the menu that night ….. |
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| 20 | AROUSE | Turn on Hospital department nursing sour criminal (6) |
| A,E (Hospital department, A & E) around an anagram [criminal] of SOUR | ||
| 21 | METHANE | Gas with Hoskins and another then start on alcohol (7) |
| ME (Hoskins) + anagram [another] of {THEN + A[lcohol]} | ||
| 22 | BREWER | Jug found under British person in drink? (6) |
| EWER (jug) positioned under BR (British) | ||
| 24 | LIT UP | Plonk one liberal brought over to get thus? (3,2) |
| PUT (plonk) + I (one) + L (liberal), together reversed [brought over] As ‘plonk’ also can be cheap wine, the clue as a whole should be seen as kind of the definition. |
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| 25 | TRAIL | Dog track (5) |
| Double definition Well, that’s an unusual chestnut (for Hoskins, I mean) to end with! |
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*anagram
Nice to see METHANE clued without Macbeth (thats surely had its day)
isnt LOCKS a triple def?
Bit nonplussed on the Kim clue-does he mean you get shot if you dont clap?
Good fun and nice to see a bed clue that could even imply sleep? Cripes!
Thanks Sil and Harry.
As usual, plenty of surfaces that bring a smile to the dial. I particularly liked 3dn’s image of the Queen losing her inhibitions after a tipple. I supposed 7dn had to be DEMUR but couldn’t make the connection between rod and emu. I thought maybe Rod Emu was a name known to Brits so looked it up. Then came the PDM and another laugh out loud.
I hesitated at 15ac when I had B—–C-. Surely this wasn’t a wrinkly body part?! Not even in a Hoskins. Luckily the crossing 3 letter word O– couldn’t end in S. Of course it was perfectly respectable, but this is the frame of mind that all that surface innuendo leads one to!
My comments on Hoskins’ puzzles do seem to be a bit repetitive. Superb constructions from one of the very best setters. The extra effort put in to produce such beautiful surfaces and the usual Hoskins humour are always very much appreciated.
Didn’t get 1a until I had all the crossers. Great cryptic, which had me fooled for some time. BOLDFACE was another beaut. Even the L would fit in with swatty’s initial thought.
The question mark at the end of 6a is surely there to indicate that an edit doesn’t have to imply taking out rubbish. I think you are quite correct with your underlining in 16d, Sil.
Thanks, as always, to Hoskins and to Sil.
Haven’t heard of the expression in 16d before although it is extremely descriptive!
Bit of sexual discrimination going on in 1a or perhaps her male counterpart have been more likely to put his foot down on amber.
LADIES MAN earned the biggest tick here with DEMUR close behind.
Thanks to Hoskins and to Sil for the blog.
Surely the most fun to be had in a grid all week. Looking forward to seeing some of you on Tuesday for some fun out-of-grid.
Many thanks Hoskins and Sil.
A very enjoyable crossword with lots of lol moments. Loved LADIES MAN and MAGMA. Took a while for the penny to drop with my LOI, 15a. DEMUR was great fun too. Thaks Harry for raising some smiles, and to Sil for the blog.
A bit tricky but we managed to complete it. We liked BOLDFACE and MAGMA, as well as CRANIUM (once the penny dropped as to what sort of nut was meant!)
Sil, you were correct about LAGERED-UP. It’s in Collins (but not Chambers) meaning ‘drunk’ – presumably having been on the beer for a while!
Thanks, Hoskins and Sil.