Hoskins in one of his regular Independent appearances.
And, of course, Hoskins with his usual helping of sex, drugs and (in one passing reference) rock’n’roll. As for the other vice commonly associated with these, I can see CASK and TAP around the perimeter, but that’s probably a coincidence.
A fun puzzle – a few niggles as noted below, but it’s clear what our setter intended. I liked the radio presenters in 4d, those who actually do give a hoot in 14d, and the apparent contradiction in 17d. My personal favourite is 15a, for the neat anagram and sneaky definition – but also because I make costumes on a limited budget for an amateur opera company, so I can assure you that this does indeed happen. Thanks Hoskins as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | TOFF |
Aristocrat‘s sweet, giving drugs away (4)
|
| TOFF[ee] (sweet = confectionery), without two Es (slang abbreviation for tablets containing the drug ecstasy). | ||
| 8 | EARBASHING |
He bargains about carpeting (10)
|
| Anagram (about = scattered) of HE BARGAINS.
Carpeting (as a noun) = earbashing = harsh criticism. |
||
| 10 | ASSESS |
Tax dope and hash if lacking millions (6)
|
| ASS (dope = stupid person) + [m]ESS (hash, as in “to make a hash of things”) without the M (abbreviation for millions).
Assess = to calculate or estimate the value of something for tax purposes. The dictionaries say that “assess” can mean just “tax” but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that usage. |
||
| 11 | LAMENTED |
City folk retired detective deplored (8)
|
| LA (abbreviation for Los Angeles = a city) + MEN (folk), then DET (abbreviation for detective, used in police role titles such as Det Insp for “detective inspector”) reversed (retired). | ||
| 12 | PLAYTIME |
Quiet period in which set gets a break (8)
|
| P (p, in musical notation = abbreviation for Italian piano = quiet) + TIME (period), with LAY (set = put in place) in the middle.
A break between children’s class sessions in school. |
||
| 13 | NESTLE |
Home by latest eleven, primarily to snuggle up (6)
|
| NEST (home) + first letters (primarily) of L[atest] E[leven].
Not my favourite clue, because surely the definitions of NEST and NESTLE are related? |
||
| 15 | ACUPUNCTURIST |
Needleworker cut up curtains for alteration (13)
|
| Anagram (for alteration) of CUT UP CURTAINS.
A practitioner of alternative medicine using needles. |
||
| 18 | STOATS |
Beastly types love to interfere with data (6)
|
| O (zero = love in tennis scoring) inserted into (interfering with) STATS (short for statistics = data).
Animals = beastly types. |
||
| 20 | ACTUALLY |
Truly pretend to be posh to get partner (8)
|
| ACT (pretend to be) + U (as in “U and non-U” = upper-class = posh) + ALLY (partner). | ||
| 22 | HEDONIST |
Job in bank filled by academic playboy? (8)
|
| HEIST (a robbery from a financial institution = a “bank job” in criminal slang), containing DON (university academic staff member). | ||
| 24 | MOTION |
Medium-size, unopened concoction for evacuation (6)
|
| M (label indicating medium-size clothing), then [p]OTION (concoction) without the first letter (unopened).
Motion = evacuation = bowel movement. |
||
| 25 | FORSWEARER |
One who perjures or frees war criminal (10)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of OR FREES WAR.
Forswear can mean to swear something on oath that isn’t true = to perjure oneself; or it can mean to swear that you won’t do something again, or that you didn’t do it in the first place. It’s odd that a word associated with legal matters should be so ambiguous. |
||
| 26 | OSLO |
Go slowly … jams in capital city abroad (4)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . jams in = has something tightly packed within it?) in [g]O SLO[wly].
Capital city of Norway, which is “abroad” to most readers of this puzzle. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CONSULTANT |
Specialist can stun lot with new presentation (10)
|
| Anagram (with new presentation) of CAN STUN LOT.
An expert who provides advice on a particular subject, especially within medicine or business. (Or, to quote US journalist Eric Sevareid: “A consultant is any ordinary guy more than 50 miles from home.”) |
||
| 2 | AFTER YOU |
Without leader, more silly people lead the way (5,3)
|
| [d]AFTER (more daft = more silly) without the leading letter, then YOU (people? – perhaps as an address to a group, as in “Come on, people”, or as in “you can” to mean “people in general can”).
Lead the way = after you = an instruction meaning “Please go first and I’ll follow you”. |
||
| 3 | SENSEI |
Faculty with tip for inexperienced Japanese teacher (6)
|
| SENSE (faculty = physical or mental ability) + first letter (tip) of I[nexperienced].
Japanese title for a teacher, expert, or person in authority. |
||
| 4 | KATMANDU |
Two dudes work on radio in foreign capital (8)
|
| Sound-alike (on radio) of CAT MAN DO (cat and dude are both slang terms for a man; do = work).
Also spelled Kathmandu: the capital city of Nepal, so (as in 26a) foreign to most of us. |
||
| 5 | THANKS |
Tracked vehicles carrying head of Hull’s TA (6)
|
| TANKS (military vehicles that travel on continuous wheel-driven tracks) containing the first letter (head) of H[ull].
Ta = thanks = short forms of “thank you”. |
||
| 6 | KNEE |
Joint nurse rolled that Keef regularly inhales (4)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) of K[e]E[f], containing (inhaling = sucking in) EN (abbreviation for enrolled nurse) reversed (rolled). “Keef” is a nickname for Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who has acknowledged his use of various drugs in the past. | ||
| 9 | ROLLER-COASTER |
One having frightful ups and downs? (6-7)
|
| Cryptic definition. An amusement park ride that involves steep ascents and descents designed to frighten its users; I’m told this is supposed to be fun. | ||
| 14 | LITTLE OWLS |
We give a hoot if swell lot messes about with it (6,4)
|
| Anagram (. . . messes about) of SWELL LOT + IT.
Little owl = a species of bird that makes a hooting sound. |
||
| 16 | UNSUITED |
Inappropriate as one going skinny-dipping? (8)
|
| Skinny-dipping = swimming without any clothes on, so UN-SUITED. | ||
| 17 | INACTION |
Idleness at work (8)
|
| IN ACTION = doing what one is employed or expected to do = at work.
Inaction = not doing anything. |
||
| 19 | AROUSE |
Turn on a banker that’s embezzled Rand (6)
|
| A (from clue text) + OUSE (the old crossword trick: banker = something that flows between banks = a river, in this case one of a few in England with that name), containing (embezzling) R (abbreviation for rand = South African currency).
Turn on = arouse = excite sexually. |
||
| 21 | TIMBRE |
Quality wood needing to be delivered (6)
|
| Sound-alike (to be delivered = spoken out loud) of TIMBER (wood).
French-derived word for the quality of a sound (for example, how a note sounds when played on different musical instruments). I wouldn’t pronounce the two words the same at all, and I expect we’ll have the usual chorus of disapproval from those who use the French pronunciation for timbre, but both Chambers and Collins accept that it can be pronounced the same as “timber”. |
||
| 23 | EROS |
Men in extremes of strife flipping love God (4)
|
| OR (abbreviation for “other ranks” = ordinary soldiers who aren’t officers = men), inserted into the end letters (extremes) of S[trif]E, all reversed (flipping).
Greek god of love and sex. |
Wonderful blog, as ever, Ms.Q.
I pronounce 21(d), as “tahmbreh” ish, but I don’t use it much!
Your field of know-how.
My field of know-how….
Re: ASSESS, 10(ac) – I suppose we need to quote the lovely, legendary Ken Dodd, when HMRC first introduced ” SELF ASSESSMENT”, for our Tax Returns.
“They called it, assess your tax for yourself. Unfortunately, I took it literally!”
An excellent puzzle, from Hoskins, great surfaces, tricky definitions, the best I have tackled this month.
Both thumbs up to both, H Q
Very enjoyable as ever, and not much I can add to Quirister’s excellent review.
I’ve never heard anyone pronounce 21d as “timber” but it is not exactly used everyday in conversation!
Many thanks to Harry and to Q.
The Ken Dodd line doesn’t quite address Quirister’s doubt about ASSESS. In the days before self assessment an HMRC person might have said “We will assess £10,000”, meaning “We will [charge] tax [on income of] £10,000”. That’s as close as I can get to equivalent usages.
timbre (Collins)
in British English
(ˈtɪmbə, ˈtæmbə)
If we take the first pronunciation, the clue works fine.
Assess (The Britannica Dictionary)
to tax or charge (someone or something) : to require (a person, business, etc.) to pay a particular amount of money
The company was assessed $12 million in fines for polluting the river.
Close enough, I guess.
FORSWEARER
Liked Quirister’s comments.
ROLLER COASTER
I’d say it’s a thrilling experience. It’s subjective anyway.
Thanks Hoskins and Quirister.
Hector@3
ASSESS
Sorry. I didn’t refresh the page before posting my comment.
Hector@3, you are quite right, and indeed, that was Doddy’s barrister’s defence : assessment does not mean tax.
The HMRC persons were not amused. Nor you, obviously.
Assess synonym: to impose a tax, levy, fee, or charge.