Hoskins fills the Tuesday Independent cryptic slot this week.
This being theme day, I looked first of all for albums by PRINCE in the grid but had no success. A bit more research showed that the theme was based on the novella The LITTLE PRINCE, by the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, published in 1943. Full details of the plot can be found HERE
A number of grid entries relate to the book. Apart from the title I found ROSE and PILOT in the acrosses with PLANETS, SAHARA, ELEPHANT, FOX and SNAKE in the downs.
There was a good mix of clue types, but I wondered about the validity of the homophone PRINCE / PRINTS. I definitely pronounce the T in PRINTS.
I think the clue for ROSE at 20 down is a triple definition, but you will see from the detailed table that I struggle with the definition of Man as ROSE.
I note that Hoskins uses ‘stops’ to indicate MALE is containing WAR at 19 down. I think ‘stops’ is more usually taken to indicate something is ‘contained in’ something else, but I guess the word can be used both ways.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Writer of a MAGA bent? Jingoist ultimately! (6) PROUST (reference Marcel PROUST [1871 – 1922], French writer) PRO US (in favour of America, the opinion of someone wearing a MAGA hat [Make America Great Again]) + T (final letter of [ultimately] JINGOIST) PRO US T |
| 4 |
Comforting cream pudding, one from France (8) AFTERSUN (comforting cream applied to moderate the effects of the SUN on the skin) AFTERS (pudding) + UN (French for the number ‘one’) AFTERS UN |
| 10 |
A long thing found on front of Hoskins? (5) AITCH (H, first letter of [found at the beginning of] HOSKINS) A + ITCH (a longing; a long thing) A ITCH |
| 11 |
Revel in silly EU ritual being blocked by vote (9) LUXURIATE (revel in [indulgence]) Anagram of (silly) EU RITUAL containing (being blocked by) X (indication of a vote on a ballot paper) LU (X) URIATE* |
| 12 |
Quote from record that’s number two in hip-hop chart (8) EPIGRAPH (a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter) EP (Extended Play record) + I (second letter [number two] of HIP-HOP) + GRAPH (chart) EP I GRAPH |
| 13 |
Serving of Coke with a slice of lemon given by dad to son? (6) LINEAL (transmitted by, direct line of descent, eg by father to son) LINE (a serving of cocaine [coke]) + A + L (first letter of [slice of] LEMON) LINE A L |
| 14 |
Scrap with one crashing party north of the border (4) SNIP (small shred or scrap) I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (crashing) SNP (Scottish National Party, a political party north of the England / Scotland border) SN (I) P |
| 15 |
Outlaw plans to steal grand in cheques (4,6) BANK DRAFTS (bills drawn by one bank upon another; similar to cheques) (BAN (outlaw) + DRAFTS [plans]) containing (to steal) K (one thousand; grand) BAN (K) DRAFTS |
| 18 |
Problems with joints and the rum as I’m losing control (10) RHEUMATISM (a condition characterized by pain and stiffness in muscles and joints) Anagram of (losing control) THE RUM AS I’M RHEUMATISM* |
| 20 |
Started fighting the Man and got out of the sack (4) I think this is a triple definition but I am struggling to relate Man to ROSE other than the tenuous ‘he ROSE to be come a man’ ROSE (rebelled; started fighting) ROSE (Man?) ROSE (got out of bed; got out of the sack) triple definition? |
| 23 |
Low-calorie drinks lead to tremendously large wee (6) LITTLE (wee) LITE (low calorie) containing (drinks) TL (first letters of [lead to] each of TREMENDOUSLY and LARGE) LIT (T L) E |
| 25 |
Cheekily irresponsible around judge? Flipping always! (8) CAREFREE (free from anxiety, worry or responsibility; happy-go-lucky; cheekily irresponsible) CA (circa; around) + REF (REFeree; judge) + E’ER (ever; always) reversed (flipping) CA REF REE< |
| 26 |
I act so hip dressed up in a pale green (9) PISTACHIO (light green colour) Anagram of (dressed up) I ACT SO HIP PISTACHIO* |
| 28 |
TV show on trial indicting Loyalist leaders into dope (5) PILOT (trial episode of a new television show) IL (first letters of [leaders] INDICTING and LOYALIST) contained in (into) POT (cannabis [dope]) P (I L) OT |
| 29 |
As I say! (8) ELEMENTS (substances that cannot be resolved by chemical means into simpler substances) ELEMENTS (I is the chemical symbol for Iodine, one of the ELEMENTS in the Periodic Table, so the other ELEMENTS are like [as] I) ELEMENTS |
| 30 |
Possible evidence in hearing for deceased virtuoso (6) PRINCE (reference PRINCE Rogers Nelson [1958 – 2016], American musician seen by many fans as a virtuoso) PRINCE (sounds like [in hearing] PRINTS [fingerPRINTS] which may be used in evidence at a trial) PRINCE |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Half-cut musician takes home those like Mercury (7) PLANETS (Mercury is a PLANET in our solar system) PLAYER (musician) excluding (cut) the final three of six (half) letters YER + NETS (reference to the value of take home pay) PLA NETS |
| 2 |
Nicotine hit husband inhaled in a perilous predicament (2,4,3) ON THIN ICE (in a perilous position) Anagram of (hit) NICOTINE containing (inhaled) H (husband) ON T (H) IN ICE* |
| 3 |
Woman strangling a husband in desert (6) SAHARA (desert) SARA (woman’s name) containing (strangling) (A + H [husband]) S (A H) ARA |
| 5 |
One extremely cunning hot woman in America (3) FOX (extremely cunning person) FOX (American term for an attractive young person, especially a woman; hot woman) double definition FOX |
| 6 |
Might one say more noble in the past? (7) EARLIER (in the past) EARLIER (more like an EARL [nobleman]) cryptic definition EARLIER |
| 7 |
In the end, Hoskins abruptly stripped Serpent (5) SNAKE (serpent) S (last letter of [in the end] HOSKINS) + NAKED (stripped) excluding the final letter (abruptly) D S NAKE |
| 8 |
Pointers unnecessary for the most part (7) NEEDLES (pointers, as in compass NEEDLES) NEEDLESS (unnecessary) excluding the final letter (for the most part) S NEEDLES |
| 9 |
Big beast apt to mess around with Helen (8) ELEPHANT (a big beast) Anagram of (mess around) APT and (with) HELEN ELEPHANT* |
| 16 |
Chessman Karpov’s moving around Black’s centre (8) KASPAROV (reference Gary KASPAROV (born 1963), Russian chess grandmaster, former world champion) Anagram of (moving) KARPOV’S containing (around) A (central letter of [centre] BLACK) – Anatoly Karpov was also a chess word champion) K (A) SPAROV – either A could be the one contained |
| 17 |
Wow! Builder essentially involved in rubbish layout (5,4) FLOOR PLAN (layout) FLOOR (dumbfound; amaze; wow) + L (middle letter of [essentially] BUILDER) contained in (involved in) PAN (criticise; rubbish) FLOOR P (L) AN |
| 18 |
Soldiers by lake take off without section and fall back (7) RELAPSE (fall back) RE (Royal Engineers; soldiers) + L (lake) + (APE [mimic; take off] containing [without; out side] S [section]) RE L AP (S) E |
| 19 |
Man stops conflict in Trojan Horse? (7) MALWARE (a Trojan Horse in computing terms is an example of MALWARE which involves concealed insertion of disruptive coded material within a program, coded to function at a preset time or on a preset condition) MALE (man) containing (stops) WAR (conflict) MAL (WAR) E |
| 21 |
One who] got into office via train with City supporter (7) ELECTEE (the person chosen by vote; one who got into office) EL (American informal term for an elevated railroad; train) + EC (postcode of the City of London) + TEE (supporter of a golf ball) EL EC TEE |
| 22 |
I might be between posts if official identifies foul play (6) KEEPER (a goalKEEPER occupies a position between the posts of a football net) KEEPER (if a referee [official] identifies a foul in the penalty area, or anywhere else on the pitch I suppose, the defensive KEEPER will always be between [the] posts) KEEPER |
| 24 |
Son cuts rubbish ecstasy with smack (5) TASTE (smack) (S [son) contained in [cuts] TAT [rubbish]) + E (an ecstasy tablet) TA (S) T E |
| 27 |
Role in Balmoral? (3) HAT (role, as in ‘what HAT are you wearing today?’, ‘what role are you undertaking today?’) HAT (a balmoral is a round flat Scottish bonnet with a pompom; HAT) double definition HAT |
ROSE
I took it as…
Def1: Started fighting ‘the Man’ (people in power/authority).
Def2: got out of the sack.
LITTLE
lead to tremedously=T, Large=L
ELEMENTS
As, I, say=Arsenic, Iodine, say.
My top fave: FLOOR PLAN
Thanks, Hoskins and duncanshiell!
I’m in agreement with KVa on all 3 of his points. I also had ‘thing’ as part of the definition in 10a, with ‘long’ = ‘itch’.
AITCH
Had the same as Hovis@3.
I spotted LITTLE PRINCE but it’s been an eternity since I read the book and I did not recognise the other thematic elements unfortunately. I could not properly parse ROSE and was thrown by ‘stopped’ which, like duncan, I would normally expect to be an insertion rather than a container. I parsed ELEMENTS as did KVa. I got ticked off by my test solver for using railway = EL without a US indicator!
Thanks Hoskins and duncan
I must be in a grouchy mood today as I didn’t much enjoy this Hoskins puzzle..
I still don’t understand 20a. We had to play guess a woman in 3d. For me “wow” is a bit of a stretch for “floor”. Surely 19d should be “conflict stops man”. 21d needs an American indicator. “Role” and “hat” are not interchangeable – you wouldn’t say “what role are you wearing today?”
Everything else was good, and I’m sure I’ll love the next Hoskins puzzle to appear!
Looking back at hat/role, I do recognise it – though it did not occur when parsing: in business, people are often said to wear two hats – ‘I wear two hats – I’m the Finance Director and I’m driving our sustainability agenda’. Indeed ‘double-hatting’ is the associated verb and it is in Wikipedia though not the dictionaries.
Collins:
If you say that someone is wearing a particular hat, you mean that they are performing a particular role at that time. If you say that they wear several hats, you mean that they have several roles or jobs.
ROSE – Agree with KVa@1 on “the Man” – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_man – cites ‘1969, John Fogerty (lyrics and music), “Proud Mary”, in Bayou Country, performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Left a good job in the city | Workin’ for the man every night and day”.
AITCH – Agree with Hovis@3 on “thing”.
ELEMENTS – “Arsenic, Iodine, say” – “Arsenic, Iodine, eg/perhap/?” – &lit?
I had WOKE for ROSE, with the same idea of the Man meaning authority in general. I was more floored than wowed by the Man stopping the war.
Several problems for me in this one – seemed to be a containment indicator missing in 23a, couldn’t find the Man in 20a, needed an American indicator for 21d and would never view PRINCE as a virtuoso. Ah well, there’s always the next Hoskins puzzle to look forward to!
Thanks to Hoskins and to Duncan for all his hard work.
Thanks both. Actually I quite enjoyed this, as it had some different angles of approach, including LITTLE which to Jane@11’s point uses ‘drinks’ for the insertion. Two exceptions to my appreciation were the non-homophone for PRINCE – perhaps there are some it works for, as only for me if I were a pit bished…and KEEPER where I hope we are all missing something, as I thought ‘goalie’ or ‘keeper’ straight away but still can’t quite connect with the rest
Thanks duncanshiell and Hoskins.
Big DNF.
Didn’t enjoy this at all…for one thing didn’t have PRINCE; also19d. Forget the obscure theme.
Like others I found this a bit of a mixed bag (and quite difficult in the south)
To start with the negatives I couldn’t parse ROSE and bunged it in from checkers and definition nor could I fully parse ELECTEE, though obviously I was familiar with the post code and ubiquitous support. I’m not a fan of using given names as part of anagram fodder as per ELEPHANT nothing wrong with it of course but to me it always makes the fodder seem somewhat manufactured. Stop indicates insertion rather than containment in my opinion and the homophone PRINCE just doesn’t work. ELEMENTS a bit of a stretch too and KEEPER (unless I’m missing something) seems a tad weak
I did like several others though including AITCH, LINEAL, LITTLE (vintage Harry and my favourite), KASPAROV and HAT.
Many thanks to Harry and DS.
Feeling a bit aggravated here as well so I’m in good company.
I love an Independent themed Tuesday but only if I get the theme! 🙂
The French fiction-reading linguist side of me feels annoyed that I haven’t read “le Petit Prince” so I was unaware.
I suppose for 22 down, a gamekeeper “identifies foul play”.
Edward de Bono and hats for roles….
https://www.groupmap.com/portfolio/six-thinking-hats
Thanks both
6d – EARLIER – Might one say more noble in the past? (7)
I don’t get a pdm from these whimsical clues where you have to invent a word EARLY – “like an earl” and its comparative – “more like an earl”.
And I won’t like it tomorrow when Monk clues it in much the same way.
Just caught up with this today. Pleased that not everyone found it straightforward.
I don’t see ROSE at 20 as a triple def. I think it’s just Started fighting “The Man” and Got out of bed.
The same as most others I thought KEEPER was weak, more quiptic I guess?
Despite having read Le Petit Prince during my French A level and having a copy at home I completely missed the theme. But then I’m not sure I’ve ever spotted one!
Thanks to a slightly more tricky than normal Hoskins and to Duncan for the blog.