Independent 11,999 / Hoskins

Hoskins has compiled today’s puzzle, on what is Tuesday aka theme day.

Alas, despite scouring the clues and the completed grid, I haven’t managed to come up with any theme, but I feel quite sure that other solvers will have.

In any case, I think that I have solved and parsed the individual clues to my satisfaction, finding this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle.

My favourite clues today were 3, for the misdirection around “plonk”; 14, for the inclusion of two equine references, one in the wordplay and the other in the definition; and 25, 26 and 30, all for smoothness of surface.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across

01	BANSHEES	Outside hotel, outlaw spots The Wailers H (=hotel) + [BAN (=outlaw, as verb) + SEES (=spots, catches sight of)]

06	DAMNED	Flipping crazy Fife hooligan headed for nether regions? DAM (MAD=crazy; “flipping” indicates reversal) + NED (=Fife hooligan, i.e. in Scots English); someone who is “damned” is, cryptically, “headed for nether regions”, i.e. hell

09	AVATAR	Out-of-head rock singer repelled online icon <l>AVA (=(molten) rock; “out-of-head” means first letter is dropped) + TAR (RAT=singer, informer; “repelled” indicates reversal)

10	INDENTED	How some lines are in Dutch and English books by editor? IN + D (+Dutch) + E (=English) + NT (=books, i.e. New Testament) + ED. (=editor)

11	REMINISCE	I’m sincere in drink, remember? *(I’M SINCERE); “in drink” is anagram indicator

13	PUNK	Indy setter essentially working on wordplay PUN (=wordplay) + <wor>K<ing> (“essentially” means middle letter only); Punk is one of the crossword setters on the Indy team

14	USES	American casing deserted shire takes horse? S<hir>E (“deserted” means all middle letters are dropped) in US (=American); the “horse” of the definition is heroin, hence “uses”, takes drugs

15	STRANGLERS	Unidentified visitors touring large sort of plants L (=large, in sizes) in STRANGERS (=unidentified visitors); stranglers are plants that choke other species

17	A SINGLE MAN	Awfully mean lags in film directed by Ford (MEAN LAGS IN); “awfully” is anagram indicator; the reference is the 2009 US film A Single Man*, directed by Tom Ford

21	TAPE	Sticky stuff made by head of theology and primate T<heology> (“head of” means first letter only) + APE (=primate)

23	POGO	Having rejected work, half-cut goon gets stick PO (OP.=work, i.e. opus; “rejected” indicates reversal) + GO<on> (“half-cut” means two of four letters are dropped); a pogo stick is a child’s toy on which to stand and bounce

24	SYCAMORES	Some scary bleeding trees *(SOME SCARY); “bleeding” is anagram indicator

26	EGOMANIA	Am I gone mad having bit of amorous self-love? *(AM I GONE) + A<morous> (“bit of” means first letter only); “mad” is anagram indicator

27	RAJKOT	Some around in Vladivostok, Jarrow or Indian city Reversed (“around”) and hidden (“some”) in “vladivosTOK JARrow”; Rajkot is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujurat

29	B-SIDES	Ignoring first bit of evidence, apart from in parts of records B<e>SIDES (=apart from; “ignoring first bit (=first letter) of evidence” means letter “e” is dropped)

30	HALF-MAST	Position taken by Standard on tragic event? Cryptic definition: the “standard” of the definition is a flag, not a newspaper!

Down

02	ADVERTS	A detective impounding green trailers? A + [VERT (=green, in heraldry) in DS (=detective, i.e. Detective Sergeant)]

03	SET	Those opening some exceptionally tasty plonk S<ome> E<xceptionally> T<asty>; “those opening” means first letters only; to plonk something down is to set it down, put it down

04	ERRANDS	That woman in Bow managed to get medical degree and commissions ˈER (=that woman; in Bow, i.e. in the East End, hence letter “h” is dropped) + RAN (=managed) + DS (=medical degree, i.e. Doctor of Surgery)

05	SLITS	Socialist leader inflamed by last of Truss’s cuts S<ocialist> (“leader” means first letter only) + LIT (=inflamed, caused to burn) + <trus>S (“last of” means last letter only); slits are cuts, e.g. in skirts

06	DUDGEON	Fellow punched by out-of-head public official in anger <j>UDGE (=public official; “out-of-head” means first letter is dropped) in DON (=fellow, at university)

07	MANIPULATOR	A tour plan I’m sorting out for Malcolm McLaren? *(A TOUR PLAN I’M); “sorting out” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the UK fashion designer Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010), often referred to as a master or arch-manipulator

08	ELEANOR	Men in pursuit of earl and skinny woman E (=earl) + LEAN (=skinny) + OR (=other ranks)

12	MISINFORMED	Criminal minds more if dealt the wrong dope *(MINDS MORE IF); “criminal” is anagram indicator; cryptically, if you are dealt the wrong dope (=gen, info), you are misinformed!

16	RAM	American involved in jolly stuff A (=American) in RM (=jolly, i.e. Royal Marine); to ram is to stuff, pack, ram

18	STOOGES	Straight men try love in circles after retiring [GO (=try, attempt, stab) + O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis)] in SETS (=circles, e.g. of friends); “after retiring” indicates reversal; stooges are comedians’ straight men

19	LOSINGS	Wrongdoing found in records for bookies’ income! SIN (=wrongdoing) in LOGS (=records, diaries); betters’ losings are bookies’ income!

20	NUMERAL	A lemur monkeying around after noon or 1? N (=noon) + *(A LEMUR); “monkeying around” is anagram indicator

22	PISTOLS	Opening drink, knocked back shooters SLOT (=opening, e.g. for coins) + SIP (=drink); “knocked back” indicates reversal

25	CLASH	Don’t go with Conservative whip C (=Conservative) + LASH (=whip, thrash); clothes that clash don’t go with each other, don’t match

28	JAM	Squash punch not totally masculine JA<b> (=punch, in boxing; “not totally” means last letter is dropped) + M (=masculine, in grammar); to jam is to squash, squeeze

18 comments on “Independent 11,999 / Hoskins”

Theme is punk bands, associated with McLaren

There’s a fair bit of punk in today’s puzzle, RR. 9 bands (I think), PUNK, POGO, B-SIDE, perhaps.

Cracking puzzle, full of Hoskins’ verve and fun. Thanks both

Banshees, Stranglers, Damned, Avatar, Stooges, …. – the grid contains a number of bands mainly leaning towards the punk genre.

Thank you Hoskins and RR

No theme, as apart from Sid and co at 22d (God save the Queen, etc), punk is not in my gk, though now I look I’ve also heard of Clash. And Mr MM at 7d was a nho too, though the anagram was clear. All part of the fun, ta H & RR.

GIF @3: Malcom McLaren was pretty much the godfather of punk and, today, possibly more famous for that than for his fashion design. His girlfriend back in the day was Vivienne Westwood and they created the iconic punk fashion shop, Sex, on the King’s Road. MM was a driving force behind the creation of the Sex Pistols and later managed Adam Ant.

For what it’s worth, as I am about to leave a train and will not be able to return to this until much later, the bands I’ve spotted are BANSHEES, DAMNED and STRANGLERS in the Acrosses (along with PUNK, POGO and B-SIDE); ADVERTS, SLITS, STOOGES, PISTOLS, CLASH and JAM in the Downs.

Ta for the great overview, PM @4. Know of Westwood of course, and very recently read of the King’s Road shop, although being congenitally vague I can’t remember where.

Good fun puzzle. Glad to say I did spot the theme quite early today as it proved helpful with the last couple to go in – SLITS and CLASH. (Flea – I don’t know AVATAR – the internet tells me they’re a Swedish metal group from the early 2000s so I’m not convinced that’s intended as a theme word.)

My knowledge of Indian geography doesn’t extend to fourth largest city in Gujarat, but it was kindly clued – couldn’t have been anything else!

I felt this was a bit flat for a Hoskins puzzle as the need for a theme on a Tuesday seems to have constrained his usual raciness. However, apart from a couple of dodgy anagram indicators, it was fun to solve.

Thanks to Harry and to RR.

Didn’t need the theme for the solve, but happy to spot most of the usual suspects… enjoyed the puzzle, but mildly curious as to why Hoskins ignored including the SEX of the PISTOLS… his fan base, no doubt, spotting this as a “shooting fish in barrel” situation! Certainly made me smile..
Thanks Hoskins n RatkojaRiku

I’d heard of some, but not all, of the bands PM picked up on – not really my kind of music, and I have to agree with RD that the constraints of a theme often do no favours for a setter, but perhaps our ‘arry is a closet punk fan!
Still an enjoyable solve for those of us who aren’t so thanks to Hoskins and to RR for the review.

Perhaps Hoskins found an old PUNK TAPE which made him REMINISCE?

A documentary on the history of The JAM was (re)broadcast the other night. They deny being punks but admired the energy and aggression of the genre. Paul Weller was more a Mod fan, especially The Who. He certainly possessed his fair share of EGOMANIA.

Definitely a helpful theme, which made it a quick solve. Strictly speaking all of the band names are incomplete (apart from the very tenuous AVATAR) – most are missing definite articles and the Banshees and Stooges are missing their leaders.