Always a pleasure to tackle a Monk puzzle, but I had particular trouble finishing the last few in this puzzle …
… especially in the top left corner. 1A and the 1D linked 4D pair need more explanation than I can offer. Those ones, and a few others, resisted all efforts the first day I tackled the grid. Monk always seems to have a wide range of clue difficulty in these Prize puzzles. There are usually a few easy ones to get anyone started, (I nominate 19A Tango and 5D Theme), up to the sort of stuff to confound all but a few. The range of clue devices is extensive too. I was particularly impresed with the clue for 8D EPEE.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ANAGRAM | A beastly pair paralyse bait for one (7) A NAG and a RAM are a beastly pair but I will need help to understand how the rest of the clue delivers any kind of definition or example of an anagram. I have been fiddling with the letters from PARALYSE BAIT to no avail. (What a way to start a blog ;( ) |
| 5 | TREMBLE | Singer biting top off milk shake (7) M[ilk] inside TREBLE (singer) I used to be a treble once, back before life got, err, complicated. |
| 9 | SPECTACLE | Show high places, etc (9) (PLACES ETC)* AInd: high. Offbeat anagram indicator prehaps, but the clear definition and wordplay that signalled “anagram fodder” to me (the “etc” looked like a necessary addition to make up the 9 letters) meant this was the first clue solved on sight. |
| 10 | TRACE | Obstructive cartel holds back plan (5) Hidden reversed in ObstructivE CARTel |
| 11 | ROMAN NUMERALS | Civil and mild characters say “we were told” (5,8) This one took me ages to see. I eventually wrote in the answer based on the crossing letters with no idea how it related to the clue. Later I realised that CIVIL and MILD are made from most of the set of letters used for Roman Numerals (IVXLCDM), and that “told” is being use in the sense of telling – totting up, adding. The fact that civil and mild are given in lowercase, and to a lesser extent do not include the X, and not in Roman numeric order (e.g. CLVII and MDLI), mean it is difficult to see they are being referenced in that manner. Maybe any of those extras in the clue would have made it a give-away? (I think not) |
| 13 | LISLE | Thread through northern town after vehicle is taken (5) [car]LISLE |
| 15 | ROOFSCAPE | Desperately poor faces that might be overlooked? (9) (POOR FACES)* AInd: Desperately |
| 17 | AGREEMENT | Jealous about setter stopping a small-time contract (9) ME (setter) inside GREEN (jealous) all inside A T[ime] |
| 19 | TANGO | Dance beat with energy (5) TAN (beat) GO (energy) |
| 20 | MISCONCEPTION | Mistake idea in decentralised assignment (13) CONCEPT (idea) replacing the middle letter of MIS[s]ION (assignment) |
| 24 | PYLON | Extremely pricey west London power supplier? (5) P[rice]Y LON[don] |
| 25 | ECONOMICS | Endlessly moot science, converting one in particular? (9) (MOO[t] SCIENC[e])* AInd: converting. Is economics a science? Discuss. (I agree with the final question mark) |
| 26 | TORRENT | Get over river in another turbulent flow (7) O[ver] R[iver] inside TRENT (another – river) |
| 27 | DREAMER | One imagines setter has gloomy housing (7) ME (setter) inside DREAR (gloomy) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | AUSTRALIAN | For whom there might have been a canary up the line? (10) I do not have any idea how this clue works. I only got this from the crossing letters and the reference in 4D’s clue which indicated it was some kind of race or place, then confirmed by the person revealed on solving 4D’s anagram |
| 2 | ABEAM | Lover briefly stops in the morning, by sailor’s side? (5) BEA[u] (lover briefly) inside A.M. (morning) |
| 3 | RETINUE | Small girl leaving Mount Erie to change train (7) (MOUNT ERIE – MO (small girl))* AInd: to change. I had to work back to understand the wordplay from the answer which was initially guessed entirely from the definition |
| 4 | MACQUARIE | Question America about founding father of 1D community (9) (QU[estion] AMERICA)* AInd: about. Lachlan_Macquarie seems to have a record number of places in Australia named after him |
| 5 | THEME | Article on setter’s subject (5) THE (article) ME (setter) |
| 6 | ENTRAPS | Finally, modern art is put in thin mounted frames (7) [moder]N [ar]T inside SPARE (thin) reversed (mounted) |
| 7 | BOATSWAIN | One at sea, crazy about nothing, on the wagon (9) BATS (crazy) around O, WAIN (the wagon) |
| 8 | EPEE | Weapon Triads systematically exported in illegal procedure (4) Phew! This is a piece or wordplay that I’ve not seen before and only worked out long after deciding EPEE was the only Weapon that fitted E_E_. The ‘Triads’ we have to systematically export (remove) are three letter strings from “illegal procedure”: [ill]E[gal]P[roc]E[dur]E. |
| 12 | RECOGNISER | I acknowledge Roger’s nice totty (10) (ROGER’S NICE)* AInd: totty |
| 14 | SCRAMBLER | Rose underneath skimpy crop tops I take off with urgency (9) RAMBLER (rose) under S[kimpy] C[rop] |
| 16 | OCTACHORD | It can be played after a month, 17 reported (9) OCT (a month) ACHORD homophone “accord” (agreement via 17). This is an eight stringed instrument, e.g. a mandolin or maybe banjo I suspect the strings are 4 pairs of strings each pair tuned to the same note in the manner of a 12 string guitar, to give a fuller sound |
| 18 | ESSENCE | Being caught, restrained by Jewish sectarian (7) C[aught] inside ESSENE |
| 19 | TOP-HOLE | Excellent photo ruined by half-obscured lens (3-4) PHOTO* AInd: ruined, then LE[ns] |
| 21 | OVERT | Open secret about to be released (5) [c]OVERT |
| 22 | IDIOM | Dialect one finally heard on an island (5) I (one) [hear]D IOM (island – Isle of Man) |
| 23 | SPAT | Rush without ending quarrel (4) SPAT[e] |
Sorry, I will mostly likely be unable to respond to comments because early today (Saturday), with the rest of the English-side family, I am heading to France for some golden wedding anniversary celebrations pour les beaux parents. These are scheduled to take the best part of a week, so even if I find a computer I might not be in a condition to use it.
Thanks, beermagnet. I agree this was tricky. I can’t help you on 1dn I’m afraid – is it some weird cryptic definition?
On the other hand, you will kick yourself on 1ac: “a beastly pair” and “paralyse bait” are anagrams!
Chambers tells me that a canary is obsolete Australian slang for a convict – maybe that’s got something to do with it.
Thanks for the blog, beermagnet. I needed your help to parse 19a, 21d, 1a, 11a, 3d, 2d.
I still don’t understand why MO = small girl in the parsing of 3d.
Regarding 1d, although I am Australian I only discovered in Collins while doing this puzzle that ‘canary’ is Australian slang for ‘convict’. I parsed 1d as an Australian is someone who may have convict anscestors (“a canary up the line”).
New words for me were OCTACHORD & LISLE.
My favourite clues were 17a, 5a, 8d, 6d.
Sorry about the typo above – it should be convict ANCESTORS
Hi Michelle. I think you’re right about the ancestral line! [Not quite sure why I didn’t see it, having got the difficult bit.] 🙁
Mo is a shortened version of various girl’s and boy’s names.
NeilW@5
Thanks for the explanation of MO. I’ve never met anyone called MO so I just didn’t get it.
Re 1d, I guess that we Aussies are more plugged in to the fact that many Australians have English/British convict ancestors, but it still took quite a while for the penny to drop regarding the parsing of this clue.
Those of a certain age will remember, or have heard about, the US tennis player Maureen(“Mo”)Connolly who sadly died young.
It took me a while to get properly started on this one, and like the blogger the NE corner was the last to fall.
I saw the ANAGRAM at 1ac easily enough but MACQUARIE, SPECTACLE, and finally AUSTRALIAN all took me a while, and I didn’t understand the canary reference until the explanation here.
nmsindy@7: Not to forget Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam, who also died young. (Well, she was younger than I am now, and I don’t feel old.)
Now that I am reminded, I think I’d heard of canary meaning a convict, but I when I got it (via a word search) I was totally at a loss to explain 1dn.
Dormouse@9 and nmsindy@7
Thanks for the information. I notice that both examples are “Marjorie”. I guess I am used to its shortened form as as Marge, Margie, Marj or even Maggie. I still can’t think of a single MO that I ever met(or heard of. Perhaps one of the Three Stooges? Or, “eenie meenie minie mo”?
The canary up the line had me thinking of Gallipoli in the First World War. The canaries were NCOs whose job was to make sure the soldiers went over the top on order, if necessary by shooting at them. I had heard of the term being used as slang on the Western Front and always assumed it was derived from yellow and cowardice. This reference had me wondering whether it came from another front.
The canary as convict and the line being ancestry makes much more sense – but it seems a very oblique reference.
Thanks for the blog.
According to http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-slang the term ‘canary’ derives (fairly obviously) from the yellow uniforms convicts had to wear. Interestingly it was Governor MACQUARIE who introduced conspicuous uniforms – although his were black and white and gave rise to ‘magpie’ as slang for a convict.
ANAGRAM was my last in and I could have kicked myself when the penny dropped. TREMBLE wasn’t immediately obvious either, till I realised a ‘lift and separate’ operation was required; that could be my CoD.
Thanks, Monk and beermagnet.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I found it tough and although I finished it I couldn’t parse AUSTRALIAN or ANAGRAM either. I agree the explanation here for the former looks right. Even having put the answers in without knowing why, it still took me two days to solve, so I certainly feel I got a run for my money.
I suspect Mo Mowlam’s nickname came from Mowlam rather than Marjorie, which I can imagine her fruitily dismissing, along with its derivatives, as somewhat dated. Chambers gives only Maureen as the full form of Mo. Nice to be reminded of Little Mo after all these years.
I am a month late, nonetheless want to join the choir of solvers who thought this was once more a good Monk.
Thanks, beermagnet, for explaining 8d – very clever cluing.
Just like others I couldn’t parse 1d and, like NeilW @1 said, I should have kicked myself on 1ac.
11ac is nice but I am not sure whether the use of (mostly) lower case is fair.
Although I suspected 15ac to be an anagram for ‘poor faces’, I entered DECACHORD at 16d. A solution that is just as legitimate as OCTACHORD.
In most Monk puzzles there is something going but I couldn’t see anything special this time – not even a pangram.
The IC IC IC in the middle row is probably meaningless, or?
Sorry Sil @ 15, only just noticed your valedictory comment. This was my puzzle number 99 for the Independent, in which there are three occurrences of 99 in 11ac in the central row, the representations of which are a 20ac (as discussed here).