It has been a while since it last fell to me to blog a puzzle by Monk.
Monk is one of those compilers whose puzzles I have been solving regularly for many years and yet I continue to find them rather challenging. My first run-through of the clues revealed only a handful of answers, and it was pretty slow progress throughout. The bottom half of the puzzle fell into place more quickly than the top, with 7, 8 and 9A being my last ones in. Spotting the Nina ONE SIZE FITS ALL across the top and bottom rows provided a few helpful first and last letters and speeded up the solving process at the business end.
My clues of the day were 2, for surface reading; 15, for its misleading “Ritz” reference; and above all 5, for surface reading and for the clever anagram spot. I needed to check the spelling of 22D in Chambers, since I had assumed the only spelling was with –ph at the end. I am not sure of my parsing of 18, so any corrections would be welcome.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 08 | USERS | Dress up naked, shivering addicts
*(<d>RESS U<p>); “naked” means first and last letters are dropped from anagram, indicated by “shivering” |
| 09 | FACE-CREAM | Dial-tone application
Cryptic definition, where the “dial” refers not to telephony but to the face (of the body) with its skin “tone”, and the “application” is the cream one rubs into it! |
| 10 | TOSCANINI | Conductor of opera, briefly a number one
TOSCA (=opera) + NIN<e> (=a number; “briefly” means last letter dropped) + I (=one); the reference is to Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) |
| 11 | BIGOT | Great books, perhaps sexist
BIG (=great) + OT (=books, i.e. Old Testament) |
| 12 | LOAFERS | For sale – new shoes
*(LOAFERS); “new” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | DORMANT | Lethargic guard dropping over time
D<o>ORMAN (=guard; “dropping over” (=O, on cricket scoreboard) means letter “o” dropped) + T (=time) |
| 15 | NUTCRACKER SUITE | Ballet held in head apartment on Ritz, maybe
NUT (=head, colloquially) + CRACKER (=Ritz, maybe, i.e. savoury biscuit) + SUITE (=apartment); the reference is to the Tchaikovsky ballet, premiered in 1892. |
| 18 | HEAVE-HO | Notice house on horrible abandoned avenue
H<eav>E (“abandoned” seems to imply that all but first and last letters are dropped) + AVE (=avenue) + HO (=house); to give someone the (old) heave-ho would be to give someone notice (of dismissal) |
| 20 | SEASIDE | Holiday place, but not in Kent?
“SE aside” suggests somewhere “not in Kent” |
| 22 | BLOCK | Close British section of canal
B (=British) + LOCK (=section of canal) |
| 23 | PRIZE RING | In which wannabe pros engage in square bashing?
Cryptic definition: the reference is to prize-fighting, with the “square” of the definition being the boxing ring |
| 24 | METHODIST | Protestant first to go by the way
METHOD (=way) + 1ST (=first) |
| 25 | DRAWL | Twang with fat, round backing
W (=with) in LARD (=fat); “backing” indicates reversal |
| Down | ||
| 01 | OUT TO LUNCH | Nuts unavailable – in a mess?
Someone who is “unavailable in a mess (-room)” may well have gone “out to lunch” |
| 02 | NEWSCAST | Report son banged up in strange shed
S (=son) in [NEW (=strange, unfamiliar) + CAST (=shed, as verb)] |
| 03 | ESCAPE | Flight key on board before take-off?
ESC (=key on board, of computer) + APE (=take off, imitate) |
| 04 | SCHINDLER’S LIST | Independent school’s up-front sir tells moving story
SCH (=school) + IND (=independent) + *(SIR TELLS); “moving” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the 1993 Spielberg film about the Holocaust |
| 05 | ICEBERGS | Beer and cigs, bad examples of healthy food
*(BEER + CIGS); “bad” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | ZEUGMA | New game going round university under unknown figure of speech
Z (=unknown, in algebra) + [U (=university) in *(GAME)]; “new” is anagram indicator; a zeugma is a figure of speech whereby an adjective or verb is applied to two nouns, though strictly appropriate to only one of them |
| 07 | EMIT | Expel European supported by Cambridge university
E (=European) + MIT (=Cambridge university, i.e. one located in Cambridge, Massachusetts) |
| 09 | FAITS ACCOMPLIS | They’ve been done, making zilch on corrupt politics scam
FA (=zilch, i.e. Fanny Adams) + *(POLITICS SCAM); “corrupt” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | THE SEAGULL | Repeatedly, this fool swallows adult drama
A (=adult) in [THESE (=repeatedly, this, i.e. plural form of this) + GULL (=fool)]; the reference is to the play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, premiered in 1896 |
| 16 | REEF KNOT | Resistance over charge raised to cover strike about one type of union?
R (=resistance, in physics) + EEF (FEE=charge; “raised” indicates vertical reversal) + KNOT (TONK=strike, hit; “about” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 17 | INIMICAL | Hostile core of feminists about to stop in a short distance
<fem>INI<sts> (“core of” means middle letters only) + [CA (=about) in MIL<e> (=distance; “short” means last letter dropped)] |
| 19 | AGOUTI | Rodent secreted in bag when taken on outing?
Hidden (“secreted”) in “bAG + OUTIng” |
| 21 | AGENDA | Eastern commander about to close what’s to be done?
END (=to close) in AGA (=Eastern commander) |
| 22 | BUMF | Sponger following papers
BUM (=sponger) + F (=following) |
The nina helped me too. Funny having a Monk that was easier than a Paul today.
As usual, very enjoyable.
Ah, that’s what “mess” was doing in one down. Many thanks.
For me, “Notice house on horrible abandoned avenue” was…
__”house” = abbreviation HO
__”on” = coming after
__”horrible abandoned” = HE (vacating the word leaving only first and last)
__”avenue” = abbreviation AVE
…and so…
__HO after HE+AVE
…but I didn’t twig the meaning of “notice” as definition at all until this post!
Excellent puzzle. Almost gave up a few times but persistence was rewarded and the Nina was icing on the cake. Missed the ‘Ritz’ = CRACKER which I wish I had spotted but there were many other great clues, of which my favourite was EMIT. I was very pleased with myself for getting ZEUGMA, one of those obscure words I’ve collected from cryptics over the years.
Many thanks to Monk and to RatkojaRiku.
Very enjoyable thank you Monk and RR too. As others have said, lots of really great clues, including the aforementioned ‘cracker’
I never consciously look at a grid while solving a crossword which means of course that I didn’t see the extremely helpful Nina until I’d finished
Felt quite pleased that I remembered ‘key’ can refer to a computer key and ‘Cambridge University’ to the MIT, then kicked myself for not associating ‘Ritz’ with ‘cracker’ – I just took it that if one had an apartment at The Ritz it would be a suite and something of a ‘cracker’, i.e. really good. Incidentally, to be pedantic, the ballet is simply The Nutcracker. The Nutcracker Suite was derived from the ballet as an orchestral piece for concert performance. But that’s only a minor quibble about an enjoyable crossword with a nina that I spotted and which helped with the last few entries.
Thanks, Monk and RatkojaRiku.
After yesterday’s FT crossword this was another marvellous offering from Monk.
I think “tone” in 9 across is in the sense of colour. That is, cream is a tone.
Heave-ho was great.
I don’t often say this, but this crossword was more entertaining than the Paul in the Guardian.