Independent on Sunday 1588 Hoskins

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Thanks to Hoskins for an enjoyable solve. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Music producer Parisian thugs attacked (7,6)

SPANISH GUITAR : Anagram of(… attacked) PARISIAN THUGS.

8 Primate touring southern part of church (4)

APSE : APE(a large primate, the animal, not the human you might find in church) containing(touring) S(abbrev. for “southern”).

9 Appointment in Battle (10)

ENGAGEMENT : Double defn: 2nd: … between armies, not the small town in Sussex, England, near where the Battle of Hastings was fought.

10 Woman in bed with touch of arthritis (6)

BERTHA : BERTH(a bed, a narrow shelf-like one in a ship, train, or other means of transport) plus(with) 1st letter of(touch of) “arthritis“.

Defn: Feminine name of German origin, from which also came these Big ‘uns in World War I:

11 Rubbish German article about the Queen’s fancy man (8)

PANDERER : PAN(to rubbish/to criticise as nonsense/rubbish) + DER(German for the grammatical article “the”) containing(about) ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina, the Queen).

Defn: … being an archaic term for a pimp, one who procures.

No, the Queen hasn’t one … though one cannot vouch for one of her sons.

12 Officer that’s potty about men (9)

COMMODORE : COMMODE(a toilet, or a piece of furniture shaped like a chair with a potty under it, used as one) containing(about) OR(abbrev. for “other ranks”, non-commissioned men in the military).

Defn: … rank in the navy, above captain and below rear-admiral.

14 In this country you might hear an insect (4)

LAOS : Homophone of(you might hear) “louse”(a parasitic insect).

15 Function of wickedness? Evil primarily! (4)

SINE : SIN(wickedness/moral offence) + 1st letter of(… primarily) “Evil“.

Defn: …/a relationship between variables in trigonometry.

16 Give up the ales or rum? (4,5)

LOSE HEART : Anagram of(… rum/odd) THE ALES OR.

20 Lengthy word? Interminable, perhaps? (4-4)

LONG-TERM : LONG(lengthy) + WORD(a term/what something is called).

21 Large housing project in European country (6)

ESTATE : E(abbrev. for “European”) + STATE(a country).

23 Bulge of porcine men needing to get in shape! (10)

PROMINENCE : Anagram of(… needing to get in shape) PORCINE MEN.

24 Awful sort of revolutionary shot by soldiers (4)

OGRE : Reversal of(revolutionary) GO(a shot/an attempt) plus(by) RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, soldiers in the British Army).

25 Desert an idiot travels about, being lost (13)

DISORIENTATED : Anagram of(… travels about) DESERT AN IDIOT.

Defn: What you are after someone/something causes you to lose your bearings.

Down

1 Big cheese Diana Ross once cut to get slice of Ossau-Iraty (7)

SUPREMO : “Supremes”(the singing group once headed by Diana Ross) minus last letter of(cut) plus(to get) 1st letter of(slice of) “Ossau-Iraty“.

The big and the small cheeses:

2 Info gathered by heartless adjunct for spy (5)

AGENT : GEN(information/dope) contained in(gathered by) “adjunct” minus all its inner letters(heartless …).

3 Country lad, nice in an odd sort of way (7)

ICELAND : Anagram of(… in an odd sort of way) LAD, NICE.

4 Very powerful gig by drug-addled singer? (4-11)

HIGH-PERFORMANCE : PERFORMANCE(a gig/a live act by a musician or group playing pop or jazz) as might/? be given by a HIGH(drug-addled/intoxicated by drugs) singer.

 

5 Old city man is earnest and persistent (6)

URGENT : UR(an old city in Sumer, in ancient Mesopotamia) + GENT(short for a gentleman).

Defn: …, as you would be if you need to go before you wet your pants.

6 Teetotal locum associated with English judge (9)

TEMPERATE : TEMP(short for a temporary worker standing in for someone/a locum) plus(associated with) E(abbrev. for “English”) + RATE(to judge/to valuate).

7 Scottish squad of soldiers? (7)

RANGERS : Double defn: 1st: …/club in professional football; and 2nd: … belonging to a particular combat unit in the US Army.

13 Man and midges involved in psychological warfare? (4,5)

MIND GAMES : Anagram of(… involved) [MAN plus(and) MIDGES].

15 Medics turned up around river to get washed (7)

SCOURED : Reversal of(… turned up, in a down clue) DOCS(short for “doctors”/medics) containing(around) URE(river in North Yorkshire, England).

17 European permit that covers chaps in a group (7)

ELEMENT : E(abbrev. for “European”_) + LET(to permit/to allow) containing()that covers MEN(chaps/fellows).

Defn: One of the constituents/parts ….

18 Embarrassed cuddling Jade in bed? (7)

RETIRED : RED(embarrassed, from the colour of one’s complexion when one is) containing(cuddling) TIRE(to jade/to be exhausted/to fade in strength)

What happened to Bertha?

And Jade is to be found in some beds:

19 Note produced by opera singer on radio (6)

TENNER : Homophone of(… on radio) “tenor”(a singer, say, in an opera).

Defn: Informal term for a … in UK currency (or US currency).

22 Run into one who is trying to sell fish (5)

TROUT : R(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores) contained in(into) TOUT(one who is trying to sell, usually persistently).

16 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1588 Hoskins”

  1. Pleasant low-key Sunday fare from Harry, just paying lip service to the usual topics. Even the queen wasn’t Her Maj this time. Hadn’t heard of the cheese, which seems to have disappeared in the blog, like Bertha the secret weapon. Battle is in Sussex, by the way. Thanks to Hoskins & Scchua.

  3. A nice, easy solve. By a strange coincidence, immediately before starting this I had listened to Viv Stanshall saying “Spanish guitar and introducing acoustic guitar” (I’m sure you all know where that’s from).

    Not sure I‘ve heard “jade” as a verb before but “jaded” is commonly used. I thought it strange that PANDERER is not in Chambers but PANDERESS is.

    Thanks to Hoskins and scchua.

  4. Thanks for the blog, scchua.

    I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, particularly the clever anagrams and surfaces at 1a SPANISH GUITAR, 16ac LOSE HEART, 25ac DISORIENTATED (or, as my granddaughter used to say, ‘distantorientated’) and 13dn MIND GAMES. I also liked 10ac BERTHA – my mother’s name – and 1dn SUPREMO.

    Many thanks to Harry for a nice puzzle.

     

     

  5. Paul A, I’ve added the missing pics, and corrected the 9a comment.  E.Sussex became Essex in my addled brain.

  6. Desperately-needed relief and ego-restoration after yesterday’s washout.

    A couple of teasers that only bubbled up after returning to the grid after a short break (SCOURED and LAOS), some lovely anagrams (SPANISH GUITAR, DISORIENTATED) and for me a couple of facepalms (BERTHA and for too long I had TEMPERANT instead of -ATE, fool).

    Aside from Big Bertha artillery, the only time I’ve come across anyone or anything called Bertha was a mid-80s children’s programme from the same stable as Postman Pat. I still remember the theme tune!
    https://youtu.be/coZfzTcv4bA

    Many thanks to Scchua and especially Hoskins for helping me regain my self esteem.

  8. As Tatrasman said, an excellent relaxing puzzle for a Sunday morning.

    Yesterday we had Wensleydale cheese, made (partly, these days) with sheep’s milk.  Today it was Ossau-Iraty – one we’d not heard of before, but another sheep’s milk cheese.

    Plenty to enjoy but no real CoD.

    Thanks, Hoskins and scchua.

  9. To paraphrase what Cryptic Sue said about another setter recently – where’s Harry and what have you done to him?   I do miss his old style but I guess time moves on.

    Don’t think I’d heard of the meaning of PANDERER before today so that’s another to lose in the old memory bank!

    Thanks to Hoskins and to sschua for the review – nice to have some accompanying illustrations.

  16. EIGwero Thanks for the research and links.
    I shall have to concede that if some people do pronounce the two in a similar fashion, the clue is perfectly acceptable.

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