Well it’s a Hoskins’ puzzle today, so it will be entertaining and will probably generate comments.
Hoskins tends to the use of colourful language in both his clues and his ‘in your face’ entries. Today we have smack dealers, plenty of alcohol and body parts in the clues as well as the names of forthright people in the entries.
I prefer intricate wordplay to cryptic definitions so there were a couple of clues that didn’t enthuse me today, those being the ones for AIR GUITAR and NIGELLA which didn’t seem to have any wordplay at all. I am sure there will be solvers who disagree and think that cryptic definitions are excellent. On the other hand I did like the clues for EVILDOERS and AILERON.
I can’t see any theme or nina.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
1000 smack dealers with time off for good behaviour (7) MANNERS (good behaviour) M (1000) + TANNERS (people who smack) excluding (with … off) T (time) M ANNERS |
| 5 |
Tumbler drunk actor filled with Bass and drop of Armagnac (7) ACROBAT (tumbler) Anagram of (drunk) ACTOR containing (filled with) (B [bass] + A [first letter of [a bit of] ARMAGNAC) ACRO (B A) T* |
| 9 |
Who cares if princess punches drunk? (3,2) SOD IT (expression of annoyance or exasperation, often meaning ‘I don’t care any more’) DI (reference Diana, Princess of Wales [1961 – 1997]) contained in (punches) SOT (drunk person) SO (DI) T |
| 10 |
One closely involved with Labour Lord (9) DELIVERER (Christ, Lord; there are many references in the Bible linking Lord and DELIVERER) DELIVERER (a person, such as a midwife, who is a DELIVERER of babies) double definition DELIVERER |
| 11 |
An insubstantial axe? (3,6) AIR GUITAR ([the playing of] an imaginary guitar to music, especially rock music) AIR (akin to AIRY [insubstantial]) + GUITAR (AXE is a term for a GUITAR in the rock music field) AIR GUITAR |
| 12 |
6-1 … right, Hearts must be in the lead! (5) RHONE (name of a RIVER [entry at 6 down]) R (right) + H (hearts) + ONE (1) R H ONE |
| 13 |
Will group of lawyers bow to DA? (3,4) THE BARD (William Shakespeare [1564-1616]; Will) THE BAR (In the UK, barristers collectively; in America, the legal profession [group of lawyers]) + D (first letter of [bow to] DA [District Attorney, a senior legal official in America]) THE BAR D |
| 15 |
Academic rejected passes for dunces (7) NODDIES (simpletons; dunces) DON (academic) reversed (rejected) + DIES (passes [on]) NOD< DIES |
| 17 |
Predict death will come after strong wine (7) PORTEND (predict) PORT (strong wine) + END (death) PORT END |
| 19 |
Get stuck in toilet with individual snorting bit of Dexedrine (3,4) BOG DOWN (to be impeded physically or mentally; to get stuck) (BOG [slang term for the toilet] + OWN [belonging to oneself; individual]) containing (snorting) D (first letter of [bit of] DEXEDRINE) BOG (D) OWN |
| 21 |
Pale ales finally necked by a Scottish woman (5) ASHEN (very pale) S (last letter of [finally] ALES contained in (necked by) (A + HEN [Scottish term for a lady]) A (S) HEN |
| 23 |
All by myself and, oh, need to get jiggy! (3-6) ONE-HANDED (with, by or for one hand, hence all by oneself) Anagram of (to get jiggy) AND OH NEED ONE–HANDED* |
| 25 |
Really bad seeds spoilt red olives (9) EVILDOERS (people [seeds; descendants] who are really bad) Anagram of (spoilt) RED OLIVES EVILDOERS* |
| 26 |
A couple of feet? Hoskins is bloody sizable primarily! (5) IAMBS (more than one, which includes a couple, foot [division of a line of poetry] of two syllables) I AM (Hoskins [the setter] is) + BS (first letters [primarily] of each of BLOODY and SIZABLE) I AM B S |
| 27 |
Celebrity chef who uses loads of sauce? (7) NIGELLA (reference celebrity chef NIGELLA Lawson [born 1960]) NIGELLA (the only wordplay I can think of is related to the slight sauciness of NIGELLA‘s chat when she is presenting her cookery programmes. I have heard of NIGELLA seeds but I haven’t heard of NIGELLA sauce in cookery ingredients) NIGELLA |
| 28 |
Cads pinching nurse and daughter’s butts (3-4) DOG-ENDS (cigarette butts) DOGS (cads) containing (pinching) (EN [{enrolled} nurse] + D [daughter]) DOG (EN D) S |
| Down | |
| 1 |
In haze, bag up, but put in the wrong hams? (7) MISCAST (engage actors [hams are actors who rant and overacts] who are really unsuitable for a particular play) SAC (pouch or bag-like structure) reversed (up; down entry) contained in (in) MIST (haze) MIS (CAS<) T |
| 2 |
A bottom one couldn’t possibly get beneath? (5) NADIR (the lowest point of anything) NADIR (if it is the lowest point, then you can’t possibly get beneath it) NADIR |
| 3 |
Topless chap having 45 mins with mature escort (9) ENTOURAGE (group of followers or attendants; escort) ENT OUR AGE |
| 4 |
Dope mostly found in Stone shot full of barbiturates (7) SEDATED (calmed or quietened with drugs, possibly shot full for barbiturates to achieve the necessary effect) DATA (information; dope) excluding the final letter (mostly) A contained in (found in) SEED (pip or stone in a fruit) SE (DAT) ED |
| 5 |
Trouble at work with Her Maj in a flap (7) AILERON (flap on an aeroplane wing tip for lateral balancing) (AIL [trouble] + ON [working; at work]) containing (with … in) ER (Elizabeth Regina; queen; Her Majesty) AIL (ER) ON |
| 6 |
Waterway in Phoenix? (5) RIVER (waterway) RIVER (reference RIVER Phoenix [1970-1993], American actor, musician, and activist) RIVER |
| 7 |
Red robin lad released close to gazebo (9) BARDOLINO (an Italian red wine) Anagram of (released) ROBIN LAD + O (last letter of [close to] GAZEBO) BARDOLIN* O |
| 8 |
Old jailers ignoring last of warden’s failures (7) TURKEYS (plays, films, etc that are complete failures) TURNKEYS (archaic [old] term for a keeper of the keys especially in a prison , warder and jailer) TURKEYS
|
| 14 |
Worldly-wise Hoskins is one hot to open shaken-up lager tin (9) EARTHLING (person living on the earth; a worldly-minded person, which describes Hoskins) H (hot) contained in (to open up) an anagram of (shaken-up) LAGER TIN EART (H) LING* |
| 16 |
Unfortunately, ginger dad can be humiliating (9) DEGRADING (humiliating) Anagram of (unfortunately) GINGER DAD DEGRADING* |
| 17 |
Place to secure almost all hash and E, then start using gradually (5,2) PHASE IN (gradually make use of) PIN (put in place) containing (to secure) (HASH excluding the final letter [almost all of] H + E) P (HAS E) IN |
| 18 |
Couple upset a Scottish hooligan? That takes guts! (7) DUODENA (portions of the small intestine; guts) DUO (couple) + NED (Scottish term for a young hooligan) reversed (upset) + A DUO DEN< A |
| 19 |
In God’s favour or damned? (7) BLESSED (invoked divine [God’s] favour upon) BLESSED (accursed; damned) double definition BLESSED |
| 20 |
We don’t like dressing fruits around plate endlessly (7) NUDISTS (people who go naked, or approves of going naked; we don’t like dressing) NUTS (fruits) containing (go around) DISH (plate) excluding the last letter (endlessly) H NU (DIS) TS |
| 22 |
Revolutionary network of computers downs commercial server (5) NADAL (reference Rafael NADAL [born 1986], very successful Spanish professional tennis player [server]) LAN (local area network) reversed (revolutionary) containing (downs) AD (commercial) N (AD) AL< |
| 24 |
Hill, perhaps, rambler goes up (5) DAMON (reference DAMON Hill [born 1960], Formula 1 racing driver [World Champion in 1996] NOMAD (rambler) reversed (goes up; down entry) DAMON< |
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