Independent 12,160 by Hoskins

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I found this of medium difficulty with some easy starter clues and a few that required a bit of thought.

I liked 21D for the novel way of indicating containment and 23D for the brevity of the def.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
7 ASIA
Vast amount of land found back in Faisalabad (4)

Hidden, rev in Faisalabad
8 RIB TICKLER
Clerk Brit annoyed with one amusing joke (3-7)

(Clerk Brit + i)*
10 TREBLE
Large drink and shake maiden polished off (6)

Tre[m]ble(=m{aiden} removed, abbrev from cricket maiden over)
11 OXTONGUE
Overseer primarily gets cross with language in plant (8)

O[verseer] + x(=cross) + tongue(=language)
12 INDECENT
One polite around knight being licentious (8)

(I + polite(=decent)) around N(=knight in chess)
13 RIPPLE
Wave of resistance milk outlet initially ignored (6)

R{esistance} + [n]ipple(=milk outlet)
15 MEDICINE CHEST
Chic items need reorganising in drug store (8,5)

(Chic items need)*
18 SCARAB
Small vehicle: a black Beetle (6)

S{mall} + car(=vehicle) + a b{lack}
20 PERVERSE
A part of a poem is deliberately wicked (8)

Per(=a) + verse(=part of a poem)
22 HAIRGRIP
One fixing locks in hotel feeling spasm of pain (8)

H{otel}(=abbrev from phonetic alphabet) + air(=feeling) + grip(=spasm of pain)
24 TITIAN
Chap who had a brush with one punching heavyweight (6)

I in Titan(=heavyweight). Titian was an Italian painter.
25 MONTSERRAT
Island resort man fixed up close to Phuket (10)

(Resort man)* + [Phuke]t
26 OPEN
Somewhere to go around with nurse in public (4)

Po<(=somewhere to go to the toilet) + EN(=enrolled nurse)
DOWN
1 ASTRONOMIC
Enormous Roman Stoic must get into shape (10)

(Roman stoic)*
2 NAN BREAD
Old relative given cash for food (3,5)

Nan(=grandmother) + bread(=slang for cash)
3 BREEZE
British become paralysed after female released wind (6)

B{ritish) + [f]reeze
4 HISTORIC
Famous drunken outburst about IS by curt conservative (8)

Hic(=drunken outburst) around (IS + tor[y])
5 SKIN UP
Son and family at university prepare a joint (4,2)

S{on} + kin(=family) + up(=at university). Skin up is a slang term for rolling a cannabis joint.
6 MENU
List of people appearing near end of Nosferatu (4)

Men(=people) + [Nosferat]u
9 BLOTTING PAPER
Big plan potter set out is absorbing stuff (8,5)

(Big plan potter)*
14 LOTUS EATER
Hedonist true to ales will get hammered (5-5)

(True to ales)*
16 CABERNET
Red piece of tree trunk seen by Seine, perhaps (8)

Caber(=tree trunk piece) + net(=seen by Seine). I'm not sure what the second half is getting at – possibly it means a net to catch fish might be seen by the Seine. The def refers to red wine.
17 ERECTION
Engineers returning unopened part for building (8)

RE<(=Royal Engineers)+[s]ection
19 RARITY
Institute opening right painterly collector’s item? (6)

I{nstitute) in(=opening) (r{ight} + arty(=painterly))
21 ROTATE
Turn in books confiscated by judge (6)

OT(=Old Testament books) in(=confiscated by) rate(=judge)
23 ATOP
On a vessel, taking a northern course (4)

A + pot<(=vessel)

7 comments on “Independent 12,160 by Hoskins”

  1. Seine in 16d is a misleading capitalisation. Seine is a type of fishing net.
    I thought the lining up of solutions in column 12 was, appropriately, 12 🙂

  2. I think CABERNET is making use of a seine net: A large vertical fishing-net whose ends are brought together and hauled (also seine net) acc to Chambers. I feared I was going to be undone at the last when I couldn’t think of flowers other than ox-eye daisy, oxlip and oxalis and I was seeking a specific language. A last minute PDM when TONGUE came to mind.

    Hoskins not being too INDECENT today: HAIRGRIP, TITIAN and ROTATE my podium.

    Thanks both

  3. Great fun as ever from Harry. Thanks to my sheltered past, I had never heard of SKIN UP. The things you learn from solving cryptic crosswords! I also didn’t know that SEINE could be a type of net. However, I found both in Chambers.

    My top picks were RIPPLE, SCARAB, PERVERSE, TITIAN, NAN BREAD & CABERNET.

    Many thanks to Hoskins and to Neal.

  4. Kmew about seine nets but totally forgot sbout caber tossing, so cabernet went in with a shrug. No other dnks. Hic the drunk’s outburst was cute. Cheers to Hoskins and Neil

  6. At least I now know more about rolling a joint and the correct fishing gear to use in France!
    Had to work quite hard in places to complete this one but it’s always worth the effort when ‘arry is the setter.
    Particular clues that appealed were those for HAIRGRIP & ROTATE.

    Many thanks to Hoskins and to Neal for the review.

  7. Thanks Hoskins for an enjoyable crossword that I was able to solve & parse without undue angst. Favourites included OXTONGUE, SCARAB, BREEZE, LOTUS-EATER, and ATOP. Thanks NealH for the blog.

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