i Cryptic Crossword 3437 by Hoskins
February 12, 2022
Difficulty rating (out of five): 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I found this to be about the same difficulty level as Punk yesterday, but I’d put both at 4 stars – these things being completely subjective of course. Another interesting comparison might be to measure the enfant terrible of today against his predecessor by counting references to sex, drugs, alcohol, and toilets. Hoskins 14 – 4 Punk. Given that this one felt quite light on such references by Hoskins’ standards, I find that quite telling.
In the 2017 blog RatkojaRiku was unsure as to why the puzzle was indeed quite so difficult to solve – I would welcome thoughts below, but I suspect a good measure was down to the whimsical, allusive nature of many of the definitions. ‘Shots fired?’ for a cocktail at 1a; ‘Store for Dolly’ for TOOLCHEST; ‘Soaks’ for FLEECES; ‘Crack’ for SAN ANDREAS FAULT; ‘likely to get a spanking’ for FOR IT; ‘Sacrifice’ for ISAAC; ‘Celebration moves’ for FIST BUMPS. In addition some definitions were plain enough but disguised within surface readings cleverly designed to mislead, like my nomination for today’s CoD which also drew a laugh:
20a Can cleaner offer earl foremost of treatments? (5)
The only obscurities were the dolly tool used in riveting (apparently) mentioned in 11a, WINDSTORM – not a term I’ve met before, and then the cocktail at 1a was hard for me to call to mind – cocktails being a bit of a weak area in my general knowledge. Oh and quite who did or didn’t sacrifice whom in the Old Testament is a bit niche for non-Christians perhaps; we were looking for ISAAC in 3d of course.
So all told an absorbing, challenging, and entertaining experience this morning. Thanks to Hoskins.
Here’s the link to the original blog, complete with a series of comments where everyone seems to be a group of friends with chummy references to each other. Oh well. Inevitable perhaps.
Borodin
batarde
Saboteur
Denzo
flashling
jonofwales
Cornick
sprouthater
uiytjhgmj
willow1235
idothei 
Curious. I was utterly stumped by yesterday’s puzzle, but found this to be right up my street, polished off in no more than 2* time. Loved it from start to finish, and it was fairly mild on the innuendo front for Hoskins.
It did take me a few minutes to get a toehold, but once I’d started there was barely a pause. Agree with choice of COD, it raised a smile.
I’m in exactly the same situation as thebargee, finding this a typically enjoyable, no more than 2* Hoskins. Must confess to having cheated with 27, but still a one coffee puzzle.
It’s the whimsical definitions which make Hoskins so good, as far as I am concerned. He is very creative and so evidently enjoys playing with words. I do find it somewhat surprising that I am able to get so readily onto the wavelength of a setter who often adopts the persona of a smutty adolescent showing off on the top deck of the school bus, but I suppose that’s something for me and my nearest and dearest to worry about.
I too found this much easier than yesterday’s Punk – 2* or maybe 3* for me. But, as I commented yesterday, when I am blogging, the solving often seems harder because I am making sure I understand what is going on. Today I was able to go with the flow and enjoy the wit and creativity.
Of a similar difficulty to yesterday’s Punk, which I also finished pretty quickly. 😉 The top half a little more difficult than the rest, in no large part to the long across at the start. Lots of fun as expected, with many of Hoskins’ trademark touches.
Huh – horses for courses, eh? It’s half past seven (pm) and I’ve just given up after struggling all day to get to about the 2/3 mark.
Surprisingly I almost finished this one!
Beaten by constrain & fleeces & Mustang.
Thought 9ac was ni in tadar but dubious spelling of tada and is ni a benefit or a tax?
Anyway close to solving a 4* is a win for me.