Independent 10,847 by Hoskins

by

There was lots of lovely clues in this but I did find one or two of the definitions a bit of a stretch.

13D was probably my favourite for the cunning use of sex symbol.

ACROSS
8 EAST CAPE
At peace, travelling round southern tip of NZ (4,4)

(At peace)* around S{outhern}
9 AUSTEN
Gold bag brought over containing small pen (6)

Au + net< around s{mall}. Not sure, but I think the def refers to Jane Austen with pen meaning a writer.
10 CREPE SOLED
Like some comfy shoes creep doles out? (5-5)

(Creep doles)*
11 ETUI
Some characters involved in college tuition case (4)

Hidden in college tuition
12 YOUNG MAN
Issue with old lady getting with new boyfriend (5,3)

Young (=issue in the sense of the young of an animal) + Ma + n{ew}
14 IMPROV
Taking drug, get better for unrehearsed performance (6)

Improv[e] (E for Ecstasy removed)
15 OATH
Vacuous accountant described by my swearword (4)

A[ccountan]t in oh!(=my!)
17 ACTED
Tough youth seen behind a conservative faked it (5)

Ted (=Teddy Boy) after a c{onservative}
18 ARSE
Leaders in America rightly slam enraged Trump? (4)

Initial letters of "America rightly slam enraged". Personally. I'm happy enough with it as a def for the ex President but I don't know if there is another meaning for Trump which would make it a more direct match. Clearly rump would be but that would have to be a headless Trump.
19 JAMPOT
Joint a male found by marijuana container (6)

J{oint} + a m{ale} + pot(=marijuana). I did wonder if it might be jamjar, there being so many slang terms for drugs.
21 HUCKSTER
In a state of agitation, he struck pushy salesman (8)

(He struck)*
24 DEMO
Protest Hoskins making comeback in work (4)

Me< in do
25 CUBAN HEELS
See you said outlaw dogs? But they can give you a lift! (5,5)

Hom of "See You"=CU + ban(=outlaw) + dogs(=heels in the sense of cads)
27 NIPPLE
Egyptian banker stealing pennies is bit of a tit (6)

Nile(=Egyptian banker i.e. river) around pp
28 TIA MARIA
Booze time? Hoskins is getting a flipping excellent drop of red (3,5)

T{ime} + I am<(=Hoskins is) + a (AI r{ed})<
DOWN
1 HAIRDO
Horse with wind knocked over old duke’s pompadour? (6)

H{orse} + air + (o{ld} d{uke})<
2 AT A PINCH
If really necessary, chap will get drunk with a tin (2,1,5)

(Chap a tin)*
3 PASSIM
PM inhales dope with Hoskins here and there in Rome (6)

PM around ass + I. Latin term used in bibliographic references.
4 PEEL
Former Brazilian player sending down large strip (4)

Pele with l{arge} moving to the end
5 YARDBIRD
Detectives offer to take in radical US prisoner (8)

Yard(=Scotland Yard) + bid around r{adical}
6 ASLEEP
A record broken by half-cut sleuth in bed, perhaps (6)

A EP around sle[uth]
7 NEBULOUS
Cloudy and no blue about? You close to Inverness? (8)

(No blue)* + u + [invernes]s
13 NOTCH
Turning 100, Catholic husband becomes sex symbol! (5)

Ton< + C{atholic} H{usband}. I think the def refers to "notches in the bedpost", figuratively used as a symbol of people's success in that area.
16 ACADEMIA
A rogue record label first to attack the scholarly world (8)

A cad(=rogue) + EMI + a[ttack]
17 ATTACHER
Awful chatter hindering a vicar doing wedding vows? (8)

Chatter* around a. I suppose a vicar could be said to be attaching the couple to each other but it seems a bit of a stretch.
18 AISLEWAY
Passage I’ll consider carefully from an audiobook (8)

Hom of "I'll weigh".
20 PROMPT
Occasion Her Maj will avoid one giving out lines (6)

Prompt[er]. Occasion can be used as a verb in a similar way to prompt e.g. this occasioned the event.
22 CONFAB
Tory with nothing on beginning to bother rabbit (6)

Con + FA (i.e. sweet FA) + b[other]. Rabbit in the sense of chatter.
23 ECLAIR
Going around Iranian capital and church is a treat! (6)

(Rial + CE)<. Rial is the currency of Iran, hence a type of capital.
26 BITE
Live without sex? That’s something to chew on! (4)

Be around it(=sex)

20 comments on “Independent 10,847 by Hoskins”

  3. Saw the nina and was expecting an anniversary blog by B&J. Maybe a different anniversary altogether.

  4. I normally love a Hoskins puzzle but I found this one a bit of a curate’s egg perhaps as a result of the constraints of the Nina. Ah well, there’s always next time.

    Thanks to Hoskins and Neal, and many congratulations to Bert and Joyce.

  5. A real mixed bag from Harry today and wasn’t sure about PEN although have to confess that the reference to Trump made me laugh!
    Also rather liked NOTCH & CUBAN HEELS.

    Thanks to Hoskins and Neal along with heartiest congrats to B&J.

  6. Congrats to B&J. Isn’t this the second Nina in your honour? I seem to remember one from about 2-3 years ago. True celebrity bloggers.

    I enjoyed this puzzle, though did rely on the Nina to help me finish. Some typical Hoskins clues, eg NOTCH and BITE together with some quite highbrow (well, relatively anyway) stuff, eg AUSTEN as ‘pen’ for “author”. CUBAN HEELS was my favourite.

    Thanks to Hoskins and NealH and congrats again to B&J

  7. Congratulations to Hoskins for a nice puzzle, B&J for the anniversary and the honour, NealH for the blog. Very clever Nina and, as always, how nice to find a grid with the requisite number of bordering squares.

    At the risk of lowering the tone – of a Hoskins – both the clue and solution to 27a reminded me of Prince Jefri, the playboy brother of the Sultan of Brunei who, notoriously, forked out on a superyacht he named Tits with two on-board speedboats titled Nipple 1 and Nipple 2. Classy!

  8. Congratulations to BertandJoyce! Excellent Hoskins today with a couple of laugh out louds. My favourite was 13dn.
    Thanks NealH and Hoskins.

  10. OMG!

    We were solving this over lunch and noticed the possibility of HAPPY ANNIVERSARY early on. Bert thought it may be an anniversary of one of Hoskins’ family and Joyce thought it may be that Hoskins had hit a milestone in terms of crosswords published in the Indy.

    We were stuck in the SE corner and hoped that the NINA would help us. Imagine our amazement when Bert said – It’s us!

    Thanks Hoskins and thanks to all the other commenters too. It was our Golden Wedding Anniversary on July 10th. Maybe Hoskins will tell us how he knew.

    We are amazed to be included twice in a puzzle. The first time was a Phi which we were actually blogging.

    What else can we say – Super puzzle!

  12. Hehe! Cool… nice one Bertandjoyce… only spotted after reading first comment.. hasty return revealed all.. way too late to help obvs.. agree with the first sentence of NealH’s blog.. but soldiered on.. favourite was 18dn even tho’ there may be another level of interpretation that I’m unaware of.. tbh I don’t regard an ECLAIR as a treat.. way better patisserie out there..
    Thanks Hoskins n NealH

  13. Thanks again Hoskins. We had forgotten about our comment on your earlier puzzle. Actually we have been ‘item’ since 1965! Doesn’t seem that long though.
    Pleased to tell you that our son spotted the NINA as he solved today’s puzzle.

  14. Thanks to the Hosk and congrats to the B&J. Saw ?appy in the top row early on and the perimeter Nina alert in my head went ping. Helped solve this in record time. Thanks Neal for blogging, hope we can meet again sometime.

  15. I found the right side of this a bit difficult and although I’d considered AUSTEN, it didn’t make sense to me.

    I totally missed the Nina – congrats to all concerned.

  16. Many thanks to Neal for the blog and to all who solved and commented.

    To hopefully put any stretches to bed, I fancy pen is fine for author both in common use and Chambers. Being attached means being married and so I did done nominalize it in zee normal crossword way like wot flower and banker done did be … of course, it had extra relevance here.

    Happy anniversary to the reviewsome-twosome and see y’all next time around.

    Cheers and chin chin. 🙂

  17. Thanks NealH for explaining the definition of AUSTEN, I will need to remember that pen can mean wielder thereof, I learned a few other things along the way eg don’t think I knew there could be a WAY on the end of AISLE, enjoyed TIA MARIA (probably not something I have ever said in real life) and more, thanks Hoskins and congratulations to Bert and Joyce.

  18. Late to this one, but I really enjoyed it. Had to use a word search to get AUSTEN, alas, even with AUS?E?. Clue-wise, the one I liked the most was 18A, although perhaps it doesn’t go far enough.
    Many congratulations to Bert and Joyce!

  19. On the subject of the Trump clue, I originally had ‘The Donald is one without doubt ultimately!’ TRUMP minus [doub]T but figured it too many steps/might not have worked and so nixed it prior to submission for an easy acrostic.

    Either or any way, Trump is defo an arse and, as Alliacol says, more than an arse. Perhaps I will get Trump’s true definition in a crossword one day, but prolly only in a hidden upside-down nina that no one will ever notice as per the precedent previously set by a drunker and more talented setter than I when you want to use that sort of language. 🙂

  20. I’m sorry I had to wait until today to do this puzzle, and so missed the opportunity to send timely congratulations to Bert and Joyce, two of my favorite bloggers. Better late than never: Congratulations Bert and Joyce! I remember July 1971 very well — seems like just yesterday.

    And this American adored 18A. Thank you, Hoskins. I’ll be watching for your upside-down nina.

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