Usual excellent puzzle from Monk with inventive treatments – solving time 27 mins.
* = anagram < = reversal
ACROSS
1 UNNATURAL (U-turn Alan)* This was clever because you were not sure which end was the definition and which was the anagram indicator.
6 MO SES Three points of the compass
9 DIS TURB (brut Sid)< Again good misdirection as containment was suggested
10 BIT TERN
11 RE (L) IC(h)
12 IMPORTUNE (merino tup)*
14 NOD Final letters
15 EMPIRE STATE This refers to the ‘King Kong’ film which ended with the ape falling off the Empire State Building. The clue reflects this cryptically (r = king, ape meets it – i.e. with the s falling off)*
17 W OMEN I N LOVE Women’s Insitute (WI) = organised ladies (novel)* = novel novel – third novel is definition – book by DH Lawrence
19 WAS First letters
20 PU (BL I) SHER From ‘publish and be damned’ BL = capsule of butanol, outside letters, I think.
22 PIT TA (at tip)<
21 P (OTTER) Y Good misdirection again – crossword convention allows the false capital in China
26 AVOCETS (Caves to)*
27 R URAL Did not confirm, but guess the River Ural flows through K.
28 SPEED BUMP Cryptic definition Jaguars = cars going faster after going over this.
DOWN
1 (j)UDDER lower = one who lows = cow
2 NE (S-T L) ED
3 TRUNCHEON (c on the run)* c = caught (cricket)
4 RABBIT PUNCH The individual parts separately defined in the wordplay
5 LOB Cryptic definition (from tennis)
6 MATER (mother in Latin) –thanks, Richard Palmer, for explaining this = mater (agent noun, one who mates).
7 SPECULA (capsule)* plural of speculum
8 SENSELESS Every letter except the L is a direction
13 PARLOUR GAME (Reap glamour)*
14 NEWS PAPER More points of the compass. Daily Express and in theory = on paper which describes this cryptically (down clue)
16 SHE EP F OLD
18 MOBSTER hidden reversal
19 WATT EAU (water for Monet i.e. in French)
21 IDEA L
23 AES OP sea< Aesop’s fables
25 (No)YES The poet Noyes.
In 6D the wordplay is to read the answer as an agent noun.
I think the hyphen in 19A is very unfair.
28A: Is there no wordplay at all here? I stared for ages at my answer, trying to get some confirmation. If there is none, is this not quite weak?
I thought 28A was fine with the setter making us think of the animal jaguar rather than the car. So I never thought beyond the cryptic definition and that it was quite a good clue.
Is 28ac SPEED BUMP or SPEED HUMP?
It’s SPEED BUMP, Wil, as confirmed by ‘reveal’ but in Chambers ‘speed bump’ is defined as a ‘hump’ so you’re not far out.