Hoskins is here for our amusement today.
I’m not quite convinced by the definition in 5d, but the wordplay is clear enough, and everything else seems to make sense. The surface of 5a seems worryingly apposite at the moment, although it looks odd next to 7a (the President seemed to think he was an expert on it a month or so ago but apparently he’s now bored with the idea). But I’m glad to say these aren’t the start of the usual Tuesday theme – there is one, but that’s not it.
It took a while for me to see the theme because I haven’t read anything by the author David PEACE, but 15a / 19a rang a bell and Wikipedia filled in the remaining details. His books include the RED RIDING Quartet (each of which is named after a specific calendar YEAR), TOKYO Trilogy (two of which are TOKYO YEAR ZERO and OCCUPIED CITY), RED Or Dead, and The DAMNED UNITED (actually he used the abbreviation Utd but the film version spelled it out in full). You can probably include OPUS (the collected works of an author) in the theme if you want to.
Plenty to enjoy here: I think my favourites are 5a and 1d, for the surfaces as well as the neat anagrams. I also like the rather wistful 23a. Thanks Hoskins as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | AMERICA |
A crime spun by a superpower (7)
|
| A + anagram (spun) of CRIME, then another A. | ||
| 7 | PEACE |
Silence in composition on the radio (5)
|
| Sound-alike (on the radio) of PIECE (a musical composition). | ||
| 9 | YEAR |
Listener put on YMCA for a time (4)
|
| EAR (organ used for listening) added to Y (slang shortening of YMCA, mainly in the US). | ||
| 10 | NECKS |
Quickly drinks new lager brand out of barrel (5)
|
| N (abbreviation for new) + [b]ECKS (lager brand) without the B (abbreviation for barrel as a measure of volume).
Neck, as a verb = slang for gulp [a drink] down quickly. |
||
| 11 | AFRO |
Do nothing about contrary men (4)
|
| FA (slang abbreviation meaning nothing, of dubious derivation) reversed (about), then OR (slang for “other ranks” = ordinary soldiers = men) reversed (contrary).
Do = slang shortening of hairdo = hairstyle. |
||
| 12 | STANDARD |
Flag radical twirled in base? (8)
|
| RAD (slang shortening of radical, especially when used as a term of approval) reversed (twirled), inserted into STAND (as in lampstand = a base to support a lamp). | ||
| 13 | RIDING |
Call about princess on horse? (6)
|
| RING (call, as a verb = contact by telephone) around DI (short name for Diana, the late Princess of Wales; used by the popular press but probably not by her family or friends). | ||
| 15 | DAMNED |
Lawyer male Scottish hooligan cursed (6)
|
| DA (abbreviation for District Attorney = US lawyer) + M (abbreviation for male) + NED (Scottish slang for a hooligan). | ||
| 17 | ADULTS |
Soprano stuck on Blue for mature folk (6)
|
| S (abbreviation for soprano) added on to ADULT (blue, as in “blue movie” or “blue joke” = not suitable for children or the easily offended). A rather weak clue because “adult” means essentially the same thing in both definition and wordplay. | ||
| 19 | UNITED |
One tough youth seen by college (6)
|
| TED (variant of “Teddy boy” = a member of a 1950s youth subculture that, at the time, was often regarded as ill-mannered or violent = tough youth) next to UNI (shortening of university = college). | ||
| 20 | OCCUPIED |
Busy as some regions of Ukraine? (8)
|
| Double definition. Involved in doing something; or a reference to Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation”. | ||
| 23 | ZERO |
Nothing‘s unknown about rejected love (4)
|
| Z (mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity), then RE (about = on the subject of) reversed (rejected), then O (zero = love in tennis scoring). | ||
| 25 | TOKYO |
Took up stealing Yen here? (5)
|
| Anagram (up = in disorder) of TOOK, containing (stealing) Y (abbreviation for yen = Japanese currency).
Extended definition: Tokyo is the capital of Japan, so a place where one might use (or even steal) yen. |
||
| 26 | CITY |
Jerk coming round by 9:25, perhaps! (4)
|
| TIC (jerk = an involuntary muscle movement) reversed (coming round), next to Y (abbreviation for 9a YEAR).
Definition by example: TOKYO (25a) is an example of a city. |
||
| 27 | SHAME |
American punches quiet Hoskins? Pity! (5)
|
| A (abbreviation for American), inserted into (punching) SH (sh! = quiet! = a command to stop making noise) + ME (Hoskins, our crossword setter).
As in “it’s a shame” = it’s a pity = it’s regrettable. |
||
| 28 | DRILLER |
Doctor not as healthy as dentist? (7)
|
| DR (abbreviation for doctor) + ILLER (more ill = not as healthy).
Whimsical definition referring to the dentist’s job of drilling out decayed parts of teeth. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RETRANSMIT |
Awful rant merits further broadcast (10)
|
| Anagram (awful) of RANT MERITS. | ||
| 2 | VIENNA |
Struggle to get news on a capital (6)
|
| VIE (struggle, as a verb) + NN (two N = abbreviation for new, so “news” plural) + A.
Capital city of Austria. |
||
| 3 | OPUS |
Work‘s flipping revolting, sailor holds (4)
|
| UP (as in “up in arms” = reacting against authority = revolting) reversed (flipping), held by OS (abbreviation for ordinary seaman = sailor).
A work of music or literature. |
||
| 4 | CAVA |
Drink of cold coffee judge left out (4)
|
| C (abbreviation for cold) + [j]AVA (coffee from beans grown on the Indonesian island of Java, or a US slang word for coffee generally), leaving out the J (abbreviation for judge).
Spanish sparkling wine. |
||
| 5 | AGENT |
Dope inhaled by vacuously abhorrent setter (5)
|
| GEN (dope = slang for information; gen = slang shortening of “general information”) contained in (inhaled by) A[bhorren]T (vacuously = emptied = inner letters removed).
I’m not sure about the definition here, but Chambers says that “setter” can mean someone who leases property to a tenant – perhaps a letting agent? Or perhaps both “agent” and “setter” can mean someone that gets something done? Either way it seems a bit obscure. |
||
| 6 | ARCADE |
A new race to save Dutch shopping precinct (6)
|
| A + anagram (new) of RACE, containing (saving) D (abbreviation for Dutch).
Arcade = a covered passageway with shops. |
||
| 8 | ERRANDS |
Go wrong with foremost of SAS missions? (7)
|
| ERR (go wrong) + AND (with) + foremost letter of S[as]. | ||
| 13 | RED |
An example of this could be cherry wine (3)
|
| Double definition, though both are from the same basic meaning. Cherry = cherry red = an example of a shade of red; or red = short for red wine. | ||
| 14 | DILL PICKLE |
Dead crummy jam one put in a sandwich? (4,6)
|
| D (abbreviation for dead) + ILL (crummy = slang for unsatisfactory) + PICKLE (jam = slang for a difficult situation).
Also called a gherkin: a small pickled cucumber. |
||
| 15 | DANGERS |
French city supporting Democrat’s threats (7)
|
| ANGERS (city in north-west France) after (below, in a down clue = supporting) D (abbreviation for Democrat). | ||
| 16 | END |
Bottom of knight pinched by my boss (3)
|
| N (chess notation for knight, because K = king) contained in ED (short for editor: a newspaper editor is a crossword setter’s boss). | ||
| 18 | BONKED |
Had it with being hit really hard? (6)
|
| Double definition. Bonk = have it = slang for engage in sexual intercourse; or bonk = slang for hit, as in “bonked him on the nose”. I think the second meaning has pretty much dropped out of use now, because the ambiguity might be unfortunate. | ||
| 21 | COOL IT |
Chill dotard catches close to Bhopal, India (4,2)
|
| COOT (slang for a foolish person, especially a foolish old man; dotard = someone feeble-minded with old age), containing (catching) the last letter of [bhopa]L + I (India in the radio alphabet).
Chill! = cool it! = a command telling an agitated person to calm down. |
||
| 22 | ENTER |
Record retired north European spins (5)
|
| RET (abbreviation for retired) + N (abbreviation for north) + E (abbreviation for European), all reversed (spinning round).
Record, as a verb = enter = put data into a form. |
||
| 24 | OBAN |
Outlaw after drop of overpriced port (4)
|
| BAN (outlaw, as a verb = make illegal) after the first letter (a drop = a very small amount) of O[verpriced].
Port town in western Scotland. |
||
| 25 | TIER |
Row and draw revolver at the front (4)
|
| TIE (draw = a sports match in which two competitors or teams have the same score; “draw” means something slightly different in cricket, but the two words are equivalent in most other sports) + front letter of R[evolver].
Row = tier = a line of seats in a banked seating area of a theatre or arena. |
Thanks Hoskins and Quirister. Re 5d: Chambers gives five definitions of SETTER, the last of which is “a spy”. One of OED’S definitions is “a police spy or informer”. Citations date from 1630 to 1899, so I suspect this usage is more historic than current.
I liked CITY for the clever use of two cross-references and ARCADE for the whimsical surface. I suppose Munichs would have been too tricky to include.
I reconciled myself to SETTER = AGENT, as alluding to chemical setting agents, such as amines, which speed up hardening in glues.
I’m not keen on AFRO, 11(ac), never heard of “DO” for hairdo.
The theme sailed over my head, so big thanks to Ms.Q for the detective work. I do think that the article, THE, is pretty key in the title “The Damned United”, though.
Lots to enjoy in both puzzle and blog, so hats off, Hoskins & Ms.Q
I had a similar take on ‘setter’ = AGENT to ENB, thinking of something like gelatine, pectin or agar-agar: culinary setting agents.
Enjoyable puzzle as per though the theme is completely unknown to me.
Thanks both
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Why has Hoskins ruined an otherwise excellent puzzle with the inclusion of not one, not two, but three Americanisms?!
Thanks anyway to him and also to Quirister.
Thanks both. Fairly gentle, though I couldn’t see the theme, as didn’t know of the writer linkage. I’ll also say do as the definition for AFRO doesn’t resonate with anything I’ve experienced. TOKYO could also have been Kyoto without the crossers.
Thanks Hoskins. Most of this slipped in easily but I missed the very clever CITY, needed a reference to solve DANGERS, and had ‘conked’ instead of BONKED for 18d. (I rationalised this thinking ‘had it’ could be ‘tired’ as in ‘sick and tired’.) I looked for a theme but had no shot of spotting it. Thanks Quirister for the blog.