A good straightforward puzzle. Thank you Hoskins.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FRILLIES | Hoskins takes ecstasy in extra small undies (8) |
| I (Hoskins, the setter) with E (ecstacy) in FRILL (extra) and S (small) | ||
| 5 | REDCAR | A place to race an F1 Ferrari? (6) |
| RED CAR F1 Ferrari cars are red – a horseracing venue in England | ||
| 10 | SUPPORTER | Second drink left by Phil’s missus (9) |
| SUP (drink) with PORT (left) and ER (The Queen, wife of Price Phillip) | ||
| 11 | CASTS | Hipsters hanging around square models (5) |
| CATS (hipsters) containing S (square) | ||
| 12 | BRIE | Prepare to polish off fine cheese (4) |
| BRIEf (prepare) missing (to polish off) F (fine) | ||
| 13 | RHODESIAN | Old African in a shed or building (9) |
| anagram (building) of IN A SHED OR | ||
| 15 | AMAZEBALLS | Fab to floor former Shadow Chancellor? (10) |
| AMAZE (to floor) BALLS (Ed Balls, shadow chancellor) – a recent arrived word, and one that I would not miss if it were to fade away again | ||
| 17 | MOON | Month or day with an O in it? (4) |
| MON (day) containing O | ||
| 19 | ROME | Last love’s lost by lover boy in this city (4) |
| ROMEo lover boy) missing the last O (love, zero tennis) | ||
| 20 | DEATH KNELL | One ringing to inform of a loss? (5,5) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | LIABILITY | Large institute with faculty debt (9) |
| L (large) I (institute) with ABILITY (faculty) | ||
| 24 | SACK | Temperature put out by chimney fire (4) |
| StACK (chimney) missing T (temperature) | ||
| 26 | GAUNT | Wasted occupants of sauna tucking into G&T (5) |
| sAUNa (occupants, middle letters of) inside G and T | ||
| 27 | ANATOMIST | One cutting a mutated man to section bone-type? (9) |
| I (one) inside (cutting) A with (MAN TO)* anagram=mutated then S (section) and T (bone-type) – definition is &lit, the whole clue is both construction and definition | ||
| 28 | TRENDY | Butt-clenching attempt to get ‘with it‘ (6) |
| TRY (attempt) contains (clenching) END (butt) | ||
| 29 | UNDERSET | Posh nerd excited by regular vest and pants? (8) |
| U (posh) with NERD* anagram=excited by SET (regular) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FIST | Able to pocket second bunch of fives (4) |
| FIT (able) contains (to pocket) S (second) | ||
| 2 | IMPERIAL MEASURE | Premium ale rise going to be around a pound? (8,7) |
| anagram of PREMIUM ALE RISE contains (to be around) A | ||
| 3 | LOOSENED | Relaxed cooking the last of Chinese noodles (8) |
| anagram (cooking) chinesE (last letter of) and NOODLES | ||
| 4 | EATER | Consumer society rejected by holy festival (5) |
| EAsTER (holy festival) missing (rejected by) S (society) | ||
| 6 | EXCEED | Outdo formerly ranked player, say? (6) |
| EX (formerly) and CEED sounds like (say) seed (ranked player) | ||
| 7 | CASH IN ONES CHIPS | Die – result of till explosion in Harry Ramsden‘s? (4,2,4,5) |
| 8 | RESONANTLY | New royal sent up in a resounding manner (10) |
| anagram (up) of N (new) ROYAL and SENT | ||
| 9 | BROOKLET | Brochure about river and very small stream (8) |
| BOOKLET (brochure) contains (about) R (river) | ||
| 14 | FAIRY LIGHT | Tree decoration, not very heavy, just one left (5,5) |
| FAIRlY LIGHT (not very heavy) missing an L (with only one left) | ||
| 16 | AMERICAN | US toilet sat on by dodgy aimer (8) |
| CAN (toilet) on AIMER* anagram=dodgy | ||
| 18 | SKI SLOPE | Runner crop in small English nursery? (3,5) |
| SKI (runner) then LOP (crop) in S (small) and E (English) – a nursery slope perhaps | ||
| 21 | MINTED | Rich kind of sauce date put on earl’s bottom (6) |
| MINT (kind of sauce) on then D (date) following (put on …’s bottom) E (earl) | ||
| 23 | YEARN | Long story describing the end of empire (5) |
| YARN (story) contains (describing) empirE (end letter of) | ||
| 25 | AT IT | Tantrist regularly in flagrante delicto (2,2) |
| tAnTrIsT (regular selection from) | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Sorry, PeeDee, but I think your parsing of 7D is a bit wide of the mark. Can’t see the letters fitting an anagram! Surely the result of the till exploding in Harry Ramsden’s is that you end up with ‘cash in your chips’!
I thought this was terrific stuff. Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that had me chuckling away to myself in public.
Finished this, but there were several I couldn’t fully parse, although I agree with GregN about 7dn. Wasn’t familiar with the meanings of the words in 21dn and 29ac. However, I wouldn’t call 15ac a recent word. In the fast moving world of popular slang, I think it’s already dated. Must be at least five years old.
7dn is clearly a cryptic definition. I have no idea why I wrote down it was an anagram, it has barely has any of the correct letters! Apologies to all.
Doormouse – glad to hear that Amazeballs is already dead (probably). My other regular Sunday blog is the AZED puzzle from the Observer where I think a ‘recent’ word is one coined post 1800 or so.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks PD and “harry hoskins”
Really enjoyed this – many thanks. (I thought I ought to investigate the Independent crosswords before the paper disappears)
Last one in was AMAZEBALLS – I had to email my daughter in NZ with the clue and the crossers: reply came immediately!
Cheers to PD for the blog and to everyone who solved and commented.
Fingers crossed for the continuation of all The Indy crosswords (if you’ve missed the petition to support them, check out the sticky post at the top of this site’s homepage). If things turn out badly (heaven forefend!) and this proves to be my last Indy outing, then I’d like to take the opportunity to give thanks to Mike Hutchinson for being a great editor and allowing me to be a part of such a great series, and also to everyone who has given my puzzles either the two thumbs (or fingers!) up.
Viva la Indy crossword and its excellent editor, setters and solvership!