There was a time when Monk’s crosswords were the ones I anticipated most eagerly of all. Which suggests that I am lukewarm about this one: not the case; it was easier than his devilish constructions of the past, but the clues were of a uniformly high standard and the whole thing was very enjoyable.
My impression is that there is no Nina, but I’m only saying that because I can’t see one. Which is nothing to go on.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | STOPGAPS — (spats surrounding GPO)rev. — the GPO was the General Post Office, a forerunner of the Royal Mail |
| 5 | ENTOMB — Ben and Tom are the two chaps, with B moved to the east |
| 10 | NITRE — (inert)*, and nitre is rather explosive so not usually inert — a nice &lit., one which Monk decides merits an exclam |
| 11 | ROAST BEEF — this is scoff as a noun, and roast = criticise, beef = complaint |
| 12 | PILOT LAMP — lam = hit, pilot = guide, p = page |
| 13 | Interview Russian Asking Questions In — usually these first letters clues stand out a mile, but Monk has disguised this one well |
| 14 | ANNEXE — année around × |
| 15 | KING KONG — King = Elvis, kg around on |
| 17 | GRIDIRON — you’re looking at this grid, iron is the metal, and a gridiron is a frame (news to me, who had only been aware of the American Football meaning) |
| 19 | T(IS SO)T — James Tissot |
| 23 | RADII — CD |
| 24 | ANAGLYPTA — an a {wron}g (aptly)* — Anaglypta is a type of wallpaper |
| 25 | AMPL(IF 1)E R |
| 26 | AZ URE — the State abbreviation and the river in North Yorkshire |
| 27 | ETH(A N)E{r} — ethane, being a colourless gas, can’t be seen in the lab, and ether = number is an old one that always tends to catch me out |
| 28 | MOLECULE — mole with clue, the inner two letters of which are reversed |
| Down | |
| 1 | SINOPIA — (in soap I)* — sinopia is a reddish-brown pigment of which I’d never heard, although once the checkers were in the answer had to be this (or possibly sonipia or even sinipoa) |
| 2 | doOR TO LANding |
| 3 | GREAT EXHIBITION — great = Chief, exhibition = fair, and the Great Exhibition was held in 1851 |
| 4 | PARIAH — PA with (hair)rev., hair = shock |
| 6 | NOTTING HILL GATE — (to{o} late lightning)* |
| 7 | OREGANO — (gar{d}en)* in OO |
| 8 | BOFFI(n} NG —a new word to me, but according to Chambers it’s (sl. esp US) and as a verb means amongst other things to hit; the scientist could hardly have been Biffin or someone like that |
| 9 | SAPPHIC — sic around (happ{y})* |
| 16 | COHABIT — (chao{s})* bit, def ‘shack up’ |
| 17 | GARBAGE — (E (gab) rag) — Refuse a noun |
| 18 | IN DEPTH — I = current (not in, as I thought at first) dept. h{ead} all around n — dept. = deputy was new to me, but it’s in Chambers |
| 20 | SEPPUKU — (s puke up)* [stupidly incorrect at first, thanks Wanderer] — another word that was new to me (it’s the same as hara-kiri, apparently), but it’s a fairly obvious anagram |
| 21 | TRAPEZE — rap in “tease” |
| 22 | HAIR DO |
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