Comments on: Financial Times no. 13,715 by Monk

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:04:26 +0000

A bit late at the party, but since my last effort to tackle a Monk puzzle was a hopeless one [something I confessed at this place], I’d like to tell the world that this time I finished it!
Terrific crossword – instantly a great fan of this setter!

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:25:59 +0000

Thanks, Ringo.

It’s obvious once it’s explained (think these words might appear on my epitaph!)

By: Ringo

Ringo — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:06:52 +0000

SuperKiwiGirl: Whoops! Many apologies for the oversight. It should be:

25. TEHRAN The last letters [i.e. ultimately] of (governmen)t (th)e (Sha)h + ran [managed] to give the capital of Iran or Persia, which was governed (untiol 1979) by the Shah.

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:05:49 +0000

P.S. I suppose that “Shah ultimately” is telling us to move the “h” so that it comes after the “e” – should have spotted this sooner, rather than parsing the words “ultimately managed” together.

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:00:43 +0000

Many thanks Ringo for the helpful blog, and Monk for an entertaining puzzle.

I found this tough going, and failed to finish a couple here (always a disappointment!)

Just one thing about the blog – NUTHATCH is actually 26a. 25a is TEHRAN, and I’m a bit confused about the anagrind for “the”: is it “government” or am I missing the point somehow?

By: Ringo

Ringo — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:08:30 +0000

Mike04: ah, had a feeling I was missing something re. ‘inch’ – thanks.

Bamberger: to be fair, the OED defines ‘totty’ as a dialect term for ‘Unsteady, shaky, tottery (physically or mentally); dizzy, dazed; tipsy, fuddled.’

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:02:37 +0000

Started off well but came to a grinding halt and ended up with only 8 clues solved.

18a Never come across tmesis and don’t see how “totty” is an anagram indicator. Tottering ok but totty-that’s what the Bigg Market in Newcastle is full of on a Friday night.
20a Very obscure
3d Agree with comment about anagram indicator .

Even when I don’t get very far with some (most?) crosswords I can see the cleverness but this lacked a certain spark.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:46:48 +0000

Many thanks Ringo – you are still a star!

Whereas Monk is a little Monkey.

By: mike04

mike04 — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:33:15 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Ringo

I found this puzzle difficult, particularly the NW corner. 1dn took me ages too.
In retrospect though, it’s a great clue!

The word ‘inch’ is a generic term for an island and it’s used commonly in Scotland and Ireland.
In the Firth of Forth, near here, we have Inchcolm, Inchkeith, Inchmickery and Inch Garvie.

By: walruss

walruss — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:39:46 +0000

That’s a Monk signature I think? he has done this on more than one occasion in FT puzzles, IIRC.