Poor old Monk must be getting quite tired of having his crosswords blogged by me —this seems to be his fourth since December that I’ve blogged — especially since I always go on so about CDs and less than 50% checking (as in five answers here). But these blemishes (?) apart I feel pretty positive about this. Monk is one of my favourite setters and many of these answers are very nice and can be explained simply and clearly in one line.
I found this on the hard side and by the time I’d finished was so relieved that I couldn’t bring myself to look for a Nina. This I will leave to you, dear reader.
Definitions in italics (but in the case of 21ac, where in any case I’m not certain of the definition, I’ll insert italics as in the clue, which refers I think to a book title that I haven’t been able to trace).
Across
1 Negligent couples deserting those with injuries (6)
CASUAL
casual{ties}
4 Starts to interview rogue about quick investment scheme for foreigners (6)
IRAQIS
i{nterview} r{ogue} a{bout} q{uick} i{nvestment} s{cheme} — caught me out here: when I have a Q followed by a blank, I tend to write in the U
8 Lawyer regularly stopping ruin – a common area (3,4)
DAY ROOM
d({l}a{w}y{e}r)oom
9 Bit wife in playful approach (7)
GATEWAY
g(ate w)ay
11 OAP possibly not charged for her lodgings? (6,4)
GRANNY FLAT
granny flat — the OAP possibly is granny, flat as in flat battery
12 Foreign character, an alien in South Africa (4)
ZETA
Z(ET)A — Zuid Afrika, ZA (IVR)
13 Second person found on half-exposed marshy area (5)
BAYOU
ba{re} you
14 Hair on grating causing a blockage (8)
GRIDLOCK
grid lock — grid = grating, lock = hair
16 Former European currency about to get wasted (8)
SKELETAL
(late leks)rev.
18 Factions beginning to collaborate in groups (5)
SECTS
se(c{ollaborate})ts
20 Lout in church with a bible? (4)
CHAV
ch AV
21 Pornography – is this a crime? causes an outcry (4,6)
BLUE MURDER
I’m not quite sure how to parse this — blue = pornography perhaps, but although blue is in some senses a noun, I can’t see how as a noun it has this sense, murder = ‘is this a crime?’, again perhaps — or is it all a rather vague cryptic definition?
23 Sprinter, heading off, trained for later run (7)
REPRINT
({s}printer)* — later run as in second impression at the printers
24 Not yet known to get unwell when touring, so relax (3,4)
SIT BACK
si(tba)ck — to be announced
25 After being taken off, bowler could go here (6)
HATBOX
A CD which illustrates one of the reasons why I don’t like them: it could perfectly well be hat peg until the checkers tell you otherwise — in my opinion, and also I think in that of some more qualified to pronounce, this should not happen: you should know when you’ve solved the clue that it is definitely correct
26 Some UK agreement is always in line (3,3)
OCH AYE
och(ay)e — ‘Some’ usually suggests a hidden, but in this case it doesn’t — it indicates that some people in the UK would signify agreement thus — oche as in darts, the line beyond which the player may not go
Down
1 House buyers and sellers finally exchanged furniture (5)
CHAIR
chain with the n replaced by an r
2 Elastic, fanciful definition of seasonal ? (7)
SPRINGY
springy rather than summery or autumny or wintery
3 In Guyana, not renewing a correspondent and adviser (5,4)
AGONY AUNT
(Guyana not)*
5 Respond/, as cast must do in rehearsals? (5)
REACT
2 defs, one of them referring to what an actor has to do during a rehearsal — but why ‘re’? Is it that the actor has to act in rehearsals again and again, or am I missing something?
6 Question 12 about large gaudy bird (7)
QUETZAL
qu (zeta)* l — this is the quetzal
7 Pole raised whip over American slave hero (9)
SPARTACUS
spar (cat)rev. US
10 Lose heart, cross over being blocked by Liberal Whip (9)
FLAGELLUM
flag (mule)rev. round L
13 Woman getting cooks to circulate hot tip (9)
BAKSHEESH
bak(she)es h
15 You won’t get one amongst kippers (9)
INSOMNIAC
CD, kippers being people who sleep
17 US prize given to exchange student, ultimately one in first year? (7)
LEVERET
lever {exchang}e {studen}t — a leveret is a hare in its first year — prise is spelt prize in the US
19 Brains of Britain starting in new career (7)
CEREBRA
(career)* round B{ritain}
21 Bar recalled old judge, one for stringing up? (5)
BANJO
ban (o j)rev.
22 Try to leave cemetery, upsetting host (5)
EMCEE
(cemetery – try)* — no need to indicate an anagram of try since the letters appear in the right order in cemetery
*anagram
22. emcee is reversed in the clue
NIce blog
oops no it’s not
Thanks John
I think 21ac works if you take it as: BLUE (pornography is this) MURDER (a crime)
Monk usually has something ‘extra’ but I cannot see a Nina or theme, only that the grid is a pangram.
Back on today with better success (only four clues unsolved) but the previous two puzzles were completely beyond me.
Thanks to setter and blogger for raising my spirits again.
I solved a goodly chunk of the RHS fairly quickly but then went at a snail’s pace the rest of the way. I should have seen GRANNY FLAT a lot quicker than I did, and it was only after I’d got it that the NW corner fell into place. The SW quadrant only opened up once I finally saw BAKSHEESH. It took me an age to get GATEWAY (only three unhelpful checkers), and FLAGELLUM was my LOI after SKELETAL. A good challenge and fairly clued.
In 21a I think the definition is ‘outcry’ and the rest is the word-play which didn’t give me a problem.
The only one I couldn’t parse was 1d, so thanks for the explanation which I would never have seen.
In the end I failed on four clues. A couple of years ago this would have been acceptable but nowadays I expect more of myself when solving a high-level puzzle like this.
Having ?C? A?E in 26ac, the only thing I could think of was ICE AGE.
I fear, Monk deliberately chose not to use this option.
LEVERET (17d) was another one that eluded me and I think I cannot blame myself too much for that.
HATBOX (25ac)? Yes, John, you said it all.
Unlike PenelopeIII @6, I still don’t get CHAIR (1d) completely. Is there anything to tell me that the N should be changed specifically into an R? That said, there’s technically speaking nothing wrong here, so I surrender.
Many thanks to John for Blogging & Suffering.
Of course, ta to Monk too.
Despite my failures, I actually found this puzzle not the hardest of Monks.
We enjoyed the puzzle but Sil has encapsulated our concerns about some of the clues although Bert solved OCH AYE once we had the checking letters without too much of a problem.
We only sorted out 17d after an electronic search for possibilities.
Thanks Monk we had a good solve this evening and thanks to John for the blog which helped us confirm a few parsings.
This is worrying. Two days in a row where I’ve failed miserably at finishing. At least I got more answers than yesterday, and I was out this evening which gave me less time, but I only completed about a third of it.
There is an expression “to scream blue murder” which would justify the “outcry”.
Thanks to John for blog and to all for comments. Whilst the 25ac HATBOX/HATPEG alternatives could have been resolved uniquely by inserting in/on, respectively, before the final here, I personally have no problem with one of two alternative answers being confirmed by checking letters in a crossword 🙂
To John and Gaufrid@3 (BTW, your parsing of 21ac id correct), there is indeed a (fairly prominent, once spotted) Nina that augments the pangram!
Thanks Monk. We’ve just had a look. We didn’t expect a pangram and a nina in the same puzzle! Extraordinary.
Thanks B&J@12. Now you can see why Sil@7’s first clue comment raised a chuckle 😉
Well I’m sorry. I still don’t see the Nina, prominent as it may be. Perhaps someone could be kind enough to point it out.
Thanks everyone who has pointed out how 21ac works. Quite clear now.
I am with John, dear Monk.
It’s nice to have chuckles but tell us, please, why.
DIAGONAL ENTRY from the D of DAY ROOM.
The power of a Nina! I, too, faced the ‘hat box’ v ‘hat peg’ dilemma at 25ac; having noticed the Nina developing, I was only missing the ‘x’! After I’d removed my thinking cap the only suitable receptacle was a ‘hat box’ (though now occupied by a bowler!)
Hats off to Monk, and a tip of the titfer to John!