This was one of the first Monk puzzles that I’ve come close to solving without recourse to the cheat button, though cleverly having recycled the paper and therefore my notes in the days between solving and blogging, I can’t say for sure how close.
As is often the case with Monk, there’s a clever device—perhaps “theme” would be the wrong word—in there which must have made setting significantly more difficult. In every single answer, the initial and penultimate letters are the same. Of course, your blogger spotted this far too late to be of any help while solving.
A few (26ac, 7dn, 11dn) have yet to be fully explained.
| Across | ||
| 1 | LOUCHELY | Source of lies that hurts a clergyman’s office in a sinister way (8) |
| L[ies] + OUCH + ELY | ||
| 5 | LOCALE | Supposedly diet-enhancing drug causes a scene (6) |
| LO CAL + E | ||
| 9 | TRAVOLTA | Agency rejected something a little shocking by adult actor (8) |
| ART< + VOLT + A | ||
| 10 | REVERB | Echo note right back (6) |
| (BREVE + Right)< | ||
| 12 | LEILA | Galileo endlessly moved her (5) |
| [g]ALILE[o]* | ||
| 13 | EMBATTLED | Involved in conflict, he arranged for Wombles to interrupt section of teledrama (9) |
| M BATT in [t]ELED[rama]. Mike Batt was the chap who created all those classic Wombles hits in the 70s | ||
| 14 | TOASTY | Warm to a place of debauchery (6) |
| TO + A + STY | ||
| 16 | SURBASE | Safe to hold odd bits of brass moulding (7) |
| B[r]A[s]S[e] in SURE. A new word for me, but clearly solvable from wordplay | ||
| 19 | LA SCALA | Run away from sailor left by a noted venue? (2,5) |
| LASCA[r] + Left. Noted in at least two senses | ||
| 21 | REWORK | Alter banger, perhaps after Formula One quits (6) |
| [fi]REWORK | ||
| 23 | TEMPERATE | Invite requires a long time in European continent (9) |
| (ERA in TEMPT) + European | ||
| 25 | CATCH | Time in hide curtailed – out with it! (5) |
| Time in CACH[e] | ||
| 26 | ITALIC | East wing of infirmary about to admit one from Rome? (6) |
| 27 | SUDANESE | African petition about Europeans (8) |
| DANES in SUE | ||
| 28 | HEIGHT | Measurement of a letter by its position in the alphabet (6) |
| H + EIGHT. Hands up who else counted this out on their fingers | ||
| 29 | INTERMIT | Merit in working before start of tea break (8) |
| (MERIT IN)* + T[ea] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | LET FLY | Attack allowed to pass quickly (3,3) |
| LET + FLY. As in “time flies” | ||
| 2 | UNANIMOUS | As one promoter of peace oversees hostility, nothing must interrupt (9) |
| United Nations + (0 in ANIMUS) | ||
| 3 | HOO-HA | Back-to-back houses are causing a fuss (3-2) |
| HOuse + (HOuse)< + Are | ||
| 4 | LITHELY | Supply plant with article to be packaged (7) |
| THE in LILY | ||
| 6 | OVERTHROW | Run from public dispute about hospital (9) |
| Hospital in (OVERT + ROW) | ||
| 7 | AREAL | A region that’s short of space (5) |
| 8 | EMBEDDED | Seduced yours truly turning up on set (8) |
| ME< + BEDDED | ||
| 11 | IBIS | Bird’s limited visibility when flying north (4) |
| 15 | SCALE FISH | One could be caught at sea if clashes get stormy (5,4) |
| (IF CLASHES)* | ||
| 17 | AIRSTREAM | Jet wash (9) |
| double definition | ||
| 18 | SLUTTISH | Loose snow that’s thawed around dry bit of ice (8) |
| (TT (teetotal) + I[ce]) in SLUSH | ||
| 20 | AFAR | Nadal returned from baseline to baseline? (4) |
| RAFA< | ||
| 21 | RAEBURN | Agony aunt regularly treated injury (7) |
| [t]R[e]A[t]E[d] + BURN, or Anna of that ilk | ||
| 22 | SHIEST | Most retiring professors essentially in trouble? (6) |
| [prof]ES[sors] in SHIT. Might raise a few eyebrows among the easily offended | ||
| 24 | MIAMI | Misogamist twice visited place associated with vice? (5) |
| MI[sog]AMI[st] | ||
| 25 | CHACE | Old hunt expert going after champion (5) |
| CHampion + ACE | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed
Thanks Simon and Monk,
I didn’t spot the theme – very nice!
26: (hosp)ITAL + C around I
7dn: A + REAL(m)
11dn: Reverse hidden answer
This was a Monk puzzle I came close to solving full stop. Ihad three left when I gave up so thank you to Simon for the explanations of the ones I didn’t get and to Monk for really making me work hard.
I somehow managed to finish this in one session without resort to aids, but it was a tough challenge with a very archaic feel to some of the answers and definitions. I hadn’t spotted the theme so that may explain some of the obscurities, especially CHACE. IBIS was my LOI when I finally saw the reverse hidden. I thought the wordplay for EMBATTLED was stretching things a bit far, although I did see how it worked in the end.
The only answer I couldn’t parse was ITALIC so thanks to Muffyword for that.
Not sure what it says about me or this puzzle, but I got maybe half a dozen answers Saturday before giving up and trying the Inquisitor, which I found easier. And although I looked at it again many times during the week, I never got any more answers.
At first, I put it down to jetlag after getting back from holiday, but the fact that I could do the Inquisitor suggests otherwise.
Thanks, Simon. I knew there had to be a theme when that unusual spelling CHACE was in there, but I did not spot it so thanks also for thst.
I found this one of the easier Saturday crosswords and surprised myself by being able to parse all the entries after I found the M BATT and Wombles connection via Wikipedia. Of course I never spotted the theme so thanks Simon for pointing that out and thanks Monk for an entertaining puzzle.
Monk usually means a testing time but some help. Missed the help despite the nagging doubt of why chace and hence his rather tricky I assume grid fill.
Can’t really remember how much I fully solved last week so thanks Simon and others and Monk for a puzzle I completed correctly which is rare with him.
Finally filled in 5 across and 7 down only this morning with the aid of Roget – curiously, when looking up ‘region’ and finding ‘locale’! No difficulties with parsing, but the subtle connection eluded me.
A real stinker as far as I’m concerned. Took several sessions and word finder and/or cheat button needed for a good 50% of entries and lots that I couldn’t parse – so count it as a failure. Hoping for better luck with the IoS.
I found this puzzle difficult even though I had the advantage of the check button, and also not very enjoyable because I couldn’t parse 17d, 13a, 7d, 21d, 23a, 24d (still don’t get it), 28a & 18d and thanks Muffyword@1 for the parsing of 7d and 26a.
I liked 8d, 1a, 3d.
New words for me were CHACE, INTERMIT, SURBASE.
Thanks Monk and Simon. I completely missed the theme – yes, it’s very clever.
Michelle at #10. 24D refers to the TV crime series Miami Vice.
I suspect Michelle grasped the Miami Vice part of the clue but was asking how “Misogamist twice visited” yields Miami. If so, I wondered the same thing and can only guess that “twice visited” directs us to take two pieces from “misogamist”. Rather weak, IMHO. Monk also used one of my least favourite techniques in 12a: “her” as the so-called definition of a woman named Leila.
But there were also a few gems; I liked 1d (mixing two tenses) and 4d (supply as an adverb rather than a noun). And the first/penultimate letter theme is quite an achievement.
Yes, that’s right, Keeper at #12, that’s probably what was missed – it had been a week since I tackled the puzzle. That was how I understood the wordplay at the time – I think it was close to the end of solving and crossing letters helped. Without those crossing letters the wordplay could have been ambiguous but the definition then made the answer certain. An unusual treatment, yes, but ultimately fair.