I’m a stranger in these parts: I normally give here a link to the crossword, but to find where the Independent hides theirs would take me more time than I can .reasonably afford
Today I am a stand-in, and although I seldom do the Independent, I have come across Hoskins before; this one seemed reasonably tractable, with the one exception that I could not satisfactorily explain 23A, so it is over to you to fill in my blind spot
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GAMBLE |
Risky venture drinking barrel – up for it? (6)
|
| An envelope (‘drinking’) of BL (‘barrel’) in GAME (‘up for it’). | ||
| 4 | DAUGHTER |
Don’t start chuckling after passing of dead relative (8)
|
| A charade of D (dead’) plus [l]AUGHTER (‘chuckling’) minus its first letter (‘don’t start’). My best guess is that ‘after passing of’ in the wordplay indicates the order of the particles. | ||
| 10 | DENIM |
Material from pit steed finally brought back (5)
|
| A reversal (‘brought back’) of MINE (‘pit’) plus D (‘steeD finally’). | ||
| 11 | STRANGERS |
Murderers doing away with fifty foreigners? (9)
|
| A subtraction: STRANG[l]ERS (‘murderers’) minus the L (‘doing away with fifty’; Roman numeral L). | ||
| 12 | OPERETTA |
Amusingly trivial work is awful to repeat (8)
|
| An anagram (‘awful’) of ‘to repeat’. | ||
| 13 | ALWAYS |
Gangster is ahead of customs every time (6)
|
| A charade of AL (Capone, ‘gangster’) plus (‘is ahead of’) WAYS (‘customs’). | ||
| 14 | SNOG |
After losing heart, boy shot back for a kiss (4)
|
| A charade of S[o]N (‘boy’) minus its middle letter (‘after losing heart’) plus OG, a reversal (‘back’) of GO (‘shot’ – “give it a go”). | ||
| 15 | CROCODILES |
Freshly-made cider cools some basking in the sun? (10)
|
| An anagram (‘freshly-made’) of ‘cider cools’. As cold-blooded reptiles, crocodiles may well be found basking. | ||
| 18 | FLAT-PACKED |
Gang in uniform head regularly boxed before assembly? (4-6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of PACK (‘gang’) in FLAT (‘uniform’) plus ED (‘hEaD regularly’). | ||
| 20 | LOST |
Group imbibing drop of stout will get wasted (4)
|
| An envelope (‘imbibing’) of S (‘drop of Stout’) in LOT (‘group’). | ||
| 23 | IN TURN |
Where one might find desire to perform back to back (2,4)
|
| RUT (‘desire to perform’) ??? I cannot make sense of the wordplay. | ||
| 25 | DERRIÈRE |
Ruddy turned on about pinching one’s buttocks (8)
|
| An envelope (‘pinching’) of I (‘one’) in DER, a reversal (‘turned’) of RED (‘ruddy’) plus RE (‘on’) plus RE (‘about’). | ||
| 26 | NUMBER ONE |
Drink after drug like opium is the best (6,3)
|
| A charade of NUMBER (‘drug like opium’ as an analgesic) plus ONE (‘drink’ – “just a quick one”). | ||
| 28 | NINJA |
Mercenary judge held in ship going to America? (5)
|
| An envelope (‘held in’) of J (‘judge’) in NINA (‘ship going to America’ – along with the Pinta and the Santa Maria, the ships of Columbus; the ship was named Santa Clara, but is generally known as La Niña). | ||
| 29 | SHOOTING |
Filming Ghost in Barking, Whoopie’s heart stops! (8)
|
| An envelope (‘stops’) of O (‘WhoOpie’s heart’) in SHOTING an anagram (‘barking’) of ‘ghost in’. | ||
| 30 | BEDSIT |
Live debuts from Dre and Snoop one tenor digs? (6)
|
| A charade of BE (‘live’) plus DS (‘debuts from Dre and Snoop’) plus I (‘one’) plus T (‘tenor’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GIDEONS |
Religious folk understand about eternities (7)
|
| A charade of GID, a reversal (‘about’) of DIG (‘understand’) plus EONS (‘eternities’), for members of the association which distributes free bibles. | ||
| 2 | MINNESOTA |
Etonian getting mixed up with S&M is a state (9)
|
| An anagram (‘getting mixed up’) of ‘Etonian’ plus (‘with’) SM (‘S&M’). | ||
| 3 | LIMPET |
Clingy type is flaccid and extremely expectant (6)
|
| A charade of LIMP (‘flaccid’) plus ET (‘extremely ExpectanT‘). | ||
| 5 | AIR |
Arabian with touch of irritating trapped wind (3)
|
| An envelope (‘with … trapped’) of I (‘touch of Irritating’) in AR (‘Arabian’). | ||
| 6 | GENTLED |
Bloke on line my boss stroked soothingly (7)
|
| A charade of GENT (‘bloke’) plus L (‘line’) plus ED (editor, ‘my boss’). | ||
| 7 | THETA |
Greek character hugged by lithe Tasmanian (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘hugged by’) in ‘liTHE TAsmanian’. | ||
| 8 | RESISTS |
Reservation about South Island street fights (7)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of S (‘South’) plus I (‘Island’) plus ST (‘street’) in RES (‘reservation’, commonly used abbreviation, particularly amongst indiginous Americans). | ||
| 9 | ESOTERIC |
Private parts at last held by naughty coterie (8)
|
| An envelope (‘held by’) of S (‘partS at last’) in EOTERIC, an anagram (‘naughty’) of ‘coterie’. | ||
| 16 | CLEVERER |
Brighter ace bails out of chopper with spinning soldiers (8)
|
| A charade of CLE[a]VER (‘chopper’) minus the A (‘ace bails out’); plus ER, a reversal (‘spinning’) or RE (Royal Engineers, ‘soldiers’). | ||
| 17 | LOOSE ENDS |
Some unfinished business in bogs Earl concludes (5,4)
|
| A charade of LOOS (‘bogs’) plus E (‘Earl’) plus ENDS (‘concludes’). | ||
| 18 | FRIENDS |
Wicked types snarfing rat-arsed leader’s Buds (7)
|
| An envelope (‘snarfing’) of R (‘Rat-arsed leader’) in FIENDS (‘wicked types’). | ||
| 19 | PERFECT |
Polish school monitor Roedean’s head sent down (7)
|
| PREFECT (‘school monitor’) with the R moved nearly to the end (‘Roedean’s head sent down’). The definition as a verb. | ||
| 21 | THE PAST |
What was tense man on assistant? Busted essentially! (3,4)
|
| A charade of T (‘tense’) plus HE (‘man’) plus PA (personal ‘assistant’) plus ST (‘buSTed essentially’). | ||
| 22 | PRINCE |
Royal visiting church is after publicity (6)
|
| A charade of PR (‘publicity’) plus IN (‘visiting’) plus CE (‘Church’ of England). | ||
| 24 | TEMPO |
Flipping love pint with Hoskins getting in speed (5)
|
| A reversal (‘flipping’) of an envelope (‘getting in’) of ME (‘Hoskins’) in O (‘love’) plus PT (‘pint’). | ||
| 27 | OWN |
Wife visits Iona naked? That’s personal! (3)
|
| An envelope (‘visits’) of W (‘wife’) in ‘[i]on[a]’ minus its outer letters (‘naked’). |
IN TURN
I thought…
desire to perform—>referring to performing on stage.
In (a) Turn one may find ‘desire to perform’
Couldn’t think any better.
Thanks PeterO and Hoskins.