Hoskins tests our skills today
There are lots of references to drugs, drinks and bawdy activity in the clues, but that I think that is just typical Hoskins’ phraseology in cluing rather than a specific theme.
Not all the possible alcoholic references were to drinks though as we had the port of SALERNO at 13 across
The definition of POD PERSON (28 across) is in Collins dictionary, which is, I think, the reference source of choice for Independent daily crosswords. The term was not one I have come across before. Nor was TOPOI at 2 down, but in each case the wordplay and the crossing letters made it fairly clear what the entry had to be.
I’m not entirely sure of the definition in the clue leading to DIGESTIVE at 16 down. It may be an &Lit where the whole clue serves as the definition as well as the describing the wordplay.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 | I gag on a cored root vegetable (9) |
A + RT (letters remaining in R A RT I CHOKE |
ARTICHOKE (thick perennial plant served as a vegetable) |
| 6 | Criminals purchasing island? They’re minted (5) |
CONS (criminals) containing (purchasing) I (island) CO (I) NS |
COINS (items of currency that are created in a mint) |
| 9 | I got the job! So at last tucked into a quiet beer and some drugs (9) |
(O [final letter of {at last} SO] contained in [tucked into] [A + P{piano; quiet} + PINT {beer]]) + EE (two occurrences of E [ecstasy]; drugs]) A P P (O) INT EE |
APPOINTEE (the person who got the job) |
| 10 | Coat boat in paint artfully at the bow (5) |
ARK (boat) contained in (in) (P [first letter of {at the bow} PAINT] + A [first letter of {at the bow} ARTFULLY]) P (ARK) A |
PARKA (originally a fur shirt or coat with a hood, now a similar outer garment made of a windproof material) |
| 11 | Tense editor, after taking religious instruction, had a shot (5) |
(T (tense) + ED [editor]) containing (taking) RI (religious instruction) T (RI) ED |
TRIED (had a shot) |
| 12 | Stick around area to meet a bloke and a US highwayman (4,5) |
(ROD [stick] containing [around] A [area]) + A + GENT (bloke) RO (A) D A GENT |
ROAD AGENT (historical American term for a highwayman) |
| 13 | Senior and half-cut wino drinking beer and port (7) |
(SR [senior] + NO [the two letters remaining when the other two {of four letters; half} WI are excluded {cut} from WINO]) containing (drinking) ALE (beer) S (ALE) R NO |
SALERNO (port city in south western Italy) |
| 15 | Flipping party time? Pops off to get drinks! (7) |
(DO [party] + T [time]) reversed (flipping) + DIES (pops off) (T OD)< DIES |
TODDIES (mixtures of spirits, sugar and hot water; drinks) |
| 18 | With no goals, direct girl to sub American for European (7) |
AIM (direct) + LASS (girl) replacing (sub) A (American) with E (European) to form LESS AIM LESS |
AIMLESS (with no purpose or goals) |
| 20 | Go back out with foremost of Romeos for a start! (7) |
R (first letter of [foremost] ROMEO) + EGRESS ([way] out) The R is positioned at the beginning of the entry in line with the clue phrase ‘for a start’ R EGRESS |
REGRESS (go back) |
| 21 | Broken many bones? Certainly not! (2,2,5) |
Anagram of (broken) MANY BONES BY NO MEANS* |
BY NO MEANS (certainly not) |
| 23 | Son with affected mannerisms is a little rascal (5) |
S (son) + CAMP (with affected mannerisms) S CAMP |
SCAMP (rascal, usually applied to a child [little]) |
| 25 | Managed to collar canine that’s released bit of ghastly gas (5) |
RAN (managed) containing (to grab) DO RA (DO) N |
RADON (radioactive gaseous element) |
| 26 | A bit cruel to get plastered in oil? (9) |
Anagram of (to get plastered) A BIT CRUEL LUBRICATE* |
LUBRICATE (supply with oil; oil) |
| 27 | Like the sound of Serpent in a childish tantrum? (5) |
HISSY (a serpent makes a HISSing sound, so HISSY describes the sound) HISSY |
HISSY (a childish tantrum can be referred to as a HISSY fit) double definition |
| 28 | Odd sort of awful penis droop? Not I! (3,6) |
Anagram of (awful) PEN POD PERSON* |
POD PERSON (A person who behaves in a strange especially mechanical way, as if not fully human; odd sort) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Royal secret police allowed into three articles (9) |
STASI (former East German secret police organisation) contained in (allowed into) (AN + A + A [three examples of the indefinite article]) AN A (STASI) A |
ANASTASIA (reference the Grand Duchess ANASTASIA Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia; Russian royal) |
| 2 | On the contrary, I love marijuana themes in literature (5 |
(I + O [character representing zero or nothing] + POT [marijuana]) all reversed (on the contrary) (TOP O I)< |
TOPOI (stock themes, topics or expressions in literature or rhetoric) |
| 3 | Not having a tot or two riled chef up (5-4) |
Anagram of (up) CHEF RILED CHILD FREE* |
CHILD-FREE (not having any children [tots]) |
| 4 | Lake beside a port, time to get in (7) |
T (time) contained in (to get in) (ON [beside] + A + RIO [reference the port city of RIO de Janiero) ON (T) A RIO |
ONTARIO (one of the Great Lakes in North America) |
| 5 | English soldier seen around section is simply ingenious (7) |
(E [English] + ANT [reference a soldier ANT]) containing (around) LEG (section of a route or race) E (LEG) ANT |
ELEGANT (cleverly simple; ingenious) |
| 6 | Cocaine high and drops of potent Armenian brew (5) |
C (cocaine) + UP (high) + PA (first letters of [drops of] each of POTENT and ARMENIAN) C UP PA |
CUPPA (cup of tea; brew) |
| 7 | Old person realities sent off the rails (9) |
Anagram of (sent off the rails) REALITIES ISRAELITE* |
ISRAELITE (a descendant of Jacob; old person) |
| 8 | Sting and Summers essentially invested in small paintings (5) |
M (middle letter of [essentially] SUMMERS) contained in (invested in) (S [small] + ART [paintings]) Both Sting [Gordon Sumner] and Andy SUMMERS were members of English rock band The Police. S (M) ART |
SMART (sting [of pain]) |
| 14 | After eating delicious starter, munched meal with one’s drinks (9) |
Anagram of (munching … with) MEAL and ONE’S containing (after eating) D (first letter of [starter] DELICIOUS) LEMONA (D) ES* |
LEMONADES (drinks) |
| 16 | Give diet up, having eaten last of this? (9) |
Anagram of (up) GIVE DIET containing (having eaten) S (final letter of [last of] THIS) DIGE (S) TIVE* |
DIGESTIVE (relating to dissolving items in the stomach; ie something that happens after eating; of eating; of this) |
| 17 | He’s a spy in Barking that’s both tough and useless (9) |
Anagram of (barking) HE’S A SPY IN SISYPHEAN* |
SISYPHEAN (relating to Sisyphus, king of Corinth, condemned in Tartarus to roll ceaselessly up a hill a huge stone which would roll back to the foot of the hill again each time he neared the top; hence, endless, laborious and futile). |
| 19 | Ring work after bit of spoilt seafood |
S (first letter of [bit of] SPOILT) + CALL (phone; ring) + OP (opus; work) S CALL OP |
SCALLOP (seafood) |
| 20 | One soon to make a bloomer got up and sat on friend (7) |
ROSE (got up) + BUD (buddy; friend) As this is a down entry the letters ROSE are sitting on the letters BUD ROSE BUD |
ROSEBUD (an unopened flower, that will bloom in time) |
| 21 | Bed woman, having had bottom pinched (5) |
BERTH BERTH |
BERTH (sleeping place in a ship or train; bed) |
| 22 | Butch Cassidy finally goes after chap heading for Louisiana (5) |
MAN (chap) + L (first letter of [heading for] LOUISIANA) + Y (last letter of [finally] CASSIDY) MAN L Y |
MANLY (masculine; BUTCH is defined as aggressively masculine) |
| 24 | Male idiot behind opening of Avengers Assemble (5) |
A (first letter of [opening of] AVENGERS) + M (male) + ASS (idiot) A M ASS |
AMASS (assemble) |
Enjoyed this but had a couple of things I didn’t care for. If 18a had “with” instead of “for”, Duncan’s parsing would be fine. As it is, it is hard not to read it as having to substitute A for E in the answer. Also, “out”, rather than “way out” for EGRESS seems a bit off to me.
Never heard of ROAD AGENT, TOPOI or CHILD-FREE (rather than childless say).
Thanks to Hoskins and Duncan.
in 16D a DIGESTIVE is a biscuit/cookie, so the clue works well
Good fun, as expected.
We had the same thoughts as Hovis @1 about 18a and EGRESS. Similarly, we hadn’t heard of TOPOI or ROAD AGENT.
In 16d, we took DIGESTIVE as referring to the biscuit, which perhaps makes it more &Litty? On that basis, that was our favourite clue.
Thanks to Hoskins and to duncanshiell.
Must type faster.
I too was a little confused by the American for European device, and agree with Hovis that ‘with instead of ‘for’ would have been better. I’m also with Skinny, having thought of the biscuit as the definition, since they are often referred to simply as ‘digestives’. I really enjoyed this, so thanks Hoskins and Duncan.
Yes, where an adjective is used in the place of a noun that it qualifies.
You may have heard of the Indian tiffin item ‘masala dosa’. Customers in hotels would simply order ‘masala’. The waiter would know what it is.
I thought this was a bit of mixed bag with all the usual Hoskins’ fun combined with some clues that didn’t quite gel as mentioned by Hovis @1.
In addition there were a couple of my bugbears on show – a vague name in 21d (although this one was not at all hard to find and the surface made me smile) and an unindicated American term in 20d. I was also surprised that such an experienced setter would use the same device (“bit of …” to indicate the first letter) twice.
My favourites were ARTICHOKE, DIGESTIVE & RADON.
Thanks to Hoskins and to Duncan.
Another who took DIGESTIVE to be an &lit reference to the biscuit. CHILD FREE could refer to, say, a designated part of a restaurant rather than potential parents so works for me and BUD may often attract the US descriptor but is certainly in wider use so I’m inclined to cut Hoskins some slack. I ticked ARTICHOKE like RD, LUBRICATE, ROAD AGENT (which I’ve only encountered in crosswords), SISYPHEAN, APPOINTEE and, though it’s simple and was my FOI, COINS. I share the discomfort with EGRESS for out but wasn’t thrown by the E/A device.
Thanks Hoskins and Duncan
PostMark @8. I take your point about child-free zones. Didn’t think of that context. I also note from my Chambers that EGRESS can mean the ‘right to depart’ so, perhaps, “I want out/egress” might be ok?
Although I think it possible to read 18a as saying that if you substitute A for E in the answer you get AIM LASS, it seems more likely Hoskins either meant to put “with” or meant to have American and European the other way around. We may never know.
I don’t often come across terms I have never met before in a daily puzzle, but 28A was absolutely new to me. I’ve obviously led a sheltered life.
Secondbass @10. I believe this comes from the sci-fi novel The Body Snatchers which has been the subject of several films, such as 2 called Invasion of The Body Snatchers.
We’re not prudes by any means; we enjoy the odd risqué surface in a clue and expect that with this setter, but we take exception to the in-your-face vulgarity of 28ac. It was totally unnecessary in our opinion as a suitable clue could have been constructed without importing an extra letter merely to drop it again. Also, we shared Hovis’s misgivings about 13ac and 18ac, and thought the surface of 3dn was not exactly smooth. So all in all not a satisfactory solving experience – sorry, Hoskins. But thanks to Duncan for the blog.
Hovis @11. That explains it. Not the sort of film I go for.
its so often the little words that make the difference… I didnt actually notice the 18ac conundrum, but became aggrieved by the “on” in 1ac.. associating it with before rather than after… of course “add on” clarifies immediately.. plenty of new words for me… most indecipherable being Sisyphean in anagram form..
thanks Hoskins n duncanshiell
Maybe not my favourite puzzle from this setter but I did have quite a few smiles along the way – ARTICHOKE, SCAMP, HISSY & CHILD-FREE all rather amused.
Hadn’t heard of a POD PERSON or a ROAD AGENT and struggled to justify DIGESTIVE.
Thanks to Hoskins and to Duncan for the review.
I completed this on paper without the need for any external aids, which doesn’t happen very often. Having said that, 2d and 28a were both new to me, but the wordplay and the crossers helped me out.
I think CHILD-FREE is supposed to be a more positive version of childless, the result of a conscious choice rather than a failure to conceive.
I was reading the blog for the tees crossword on Saturday and then seen this “Alnd” can someone tell me what this means please.
Thanking you in advance
should have been Nimrod not Tees sorry for any problems.
worworcrossol: AInd is short for Anagram Indicator.
worworcrossol @18
AInd is a short term for ‘anagram indicator’.
thank you BOTH