FT 12,797 Monk

Always gratifying to lock horns with Monk on his all too infrequent FT appearances. Fortuitously, I seemed to be on a similar wavelength to him today, which isn’t always the case. Also, solving 19A and 5D early helped to suggest a pangrammatic grid which, in turn, helped my solving time marginally.

Across
6 PL(EBB)Y – “of scum”, although probably not the technical term employed by sociologists.
9 SH(R)I(M)P – An interesting device.  “parted in” indicating a fragmented content for the container/contents structure.
10 SO,ME(TI)ME
11 GRID – Dirg[-e] (rev)
12 S,T(RINGVES)T – (serving)*.  Rab C. Nesbit might dispute the definition of “underwear”!
14 ASBESTOS – cryptic def’n
16 NINE – In Roman numerals IX (or 2/3s of SIX)
18 A,XIS – “boundary”=Six (rev)
21 SUB,ROUTINE – I always tend to spell “programme”, in the IT/software sense, witohut the  “-me” ending, which didn’t help matters
24 F(LAP)JACK – not sure how far the international renown of the flapjack reaches?
28 YO(GHOUR)T – (rough)* in toy (rev).  An unorthodox spelling,  to me at least.

Down
2 [-p]USHER
4 OPPOS(IT)E
5 MISTRESS QUICKLY – (slick yet squirms)*. “Character” is a pretty non-specific definition.
6 POM,ON,A – (mop) rev. I recognised the name, but couldn’t recall job title (goddess of fruit and orchards).
8 BUM,P(SIN)TO – P.T.O = please turn over, in the fast-fading art of letter writing.
13 VENUS,DE MILO – (I model)*. Cliche-busting brownie points to Monk, for avoiding all mention of arms/unarmed in this clue. Thank you!
15 SEX,TUP,LET
17 RIVET,IN,G
20 C(U)RATE – “gun uncovered” =[-g]U[-n]
23 EULER – “Oiler”: a little behind the times this one. Houston’s NFL team is now the Texans. The erstwhile Oilers franchise is now plying its trade in Tennessee, as the Titans.