[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
I was very glad when I found it was Monk today as he is one of my favourite setters. Last time I blogged a Monk puzzle in the Prize slot back in May he was at his most fiendish, but this time he gave us a more gentle ride for some reason.
I solved 1A from the off, immediately followed by 1D, so I got off to a storming start from the word go and had loads of first letters to help solve many others. I didn’t make a note of the time but this has to be my fastest solve for a Monk puzzle, indeed for any Indy Prize puzzle, for a very, very long time. Not that that detracts from the joy of solving. I was especially pleased as I was down to blog this one.
Now, two months ago I couldn’t see a theme in Monk’s puzzle (link to that fifteensquare blog) but it turned out there was a hidden theme to do with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and their alter-egos Derek & Clive. This puzzle appears just at the time a complete box-set of “Derek & Clive” is released (link to relevant Indy article)
So, can there be a similar theme here – if there is I still cannot see it – or anything else. I expect my theme-blinkers are still in place.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HASTE MAKES WASTE | Sees Matthew ask a cryptic proverb (5,5,5) (SEES MATTHEW ASK A)* AInd: cryptic. FOI. Worth fiddling around with the anagram fodder to get this and deliver loads of first letters. I saw the proverb soon enough after seeing “makes” arise from the letters. |
| 9 | VERGE | Churchman briefly leaving staff (5) VERGE[r] If you are a verger you get to carry a verge (staff), if your lucky |
| 10 | RECEIVING | Admitting bad habit about drug when back in band (9) E (drug) inside VICE< (bad habit, about) inside RING (band) Convoluted wordplay made this one of the last to fall in this quadrant |
| 11 | ASPIRIN | Briefly optimistic cure for some? (7) ASPIRIN[g] Surely you don’t have to be optimistic to be aspirational – is that why there is a “?” because aspirin certainly is a cure for some |
| 12 | NOTHING | Snag either side of narrow zip (7) THIN (narrow) inside NOG (snag) – I didn’t know nog as a snag, but there it is in Chambers |
| 13 | COLD WATER | One ignored by indifferent man dishing out disparagement (4,5) COLD (indifferent) WA[i]TER (man dishing out, ignoring one). Cold water is only disparaging when it is poured on |
| 15 | EPSOM | Mephisto, having hit out, beginning to shift course (5) MEPHISTO – HIT move M from start to end (beginning to shift). Clever construction |
| 17 | ELBOW | Joint group (5) Double Def. |
| 19 | ACCRETION | Growth of gang limited in battle (9) CRE[w] (gang, limited) inside ACTION (battle). |
| 21 | LESSONS | Examples made of boy with not so much clothing (7) SON (boy) inside LESS (not so much) |
| 23 | SIGHTER | Left out of smaller shot, in practice? (7) S[l]IGHTER (smaller – L[eft]) Strangely common-like unfamiliar word – clearly means the first shots made “to get your eye in” in, say, darts but I would not have thought it’s in common use |
| 24 | ORWELLIAN | Authoritarian old boot briefly managed housing (9) O[ld], then WELLI[e] (boot, briefly) inside RAN (managed) Particularly enjoyed this clue and getting the answer |
| 25 | THORN | Author naively including an old character (5) Hidden in auTHOR Naively |
| 26 | EXPENSE ACCOUNTS | Reckons on fantastic apex with scene in which charges appear? (7,8) (APEX + SCENE)* AInd: fantastic, then COUNTS (reckons). Ah! Expense accounts – those were the days … |
| Down | ||
| 1 | HAVE A SCREW LOOSE | Be eccentric to experience it to get free (4,1,5,5) HAVE A SCREW (experience it) LOOSE (free) “it” in one of its euphemistic meanings. I’m losing track – is this still an acceptable way of referring to clinical befuddlement? |
| 2 | STRIP CLUB | Site in which threads are systematically removed (5,4) Cryptic Def. and a good one |
| 3 | EYEBROW | Intellectual in East End broadcast feature of boat race there? (7) Homophone “highbrow” in cockney “‘ighbrow”, and in rhyming slang “boat race” is face |
| 4 | APRON | Part of stage for new acting, above all else (5) PRO (for) N[ew] after A[cting] |
| 5 | ECCENTRIC | Odd enchantress about to pocket coin (9) CENT (coin) inside CIRCE< (enchantress, about) |
| 6 | WHITTLE | In an unspecified period, races diminish gradually (7) TT (races) inside WHILE (an unspecified period) The def here had me thinking it was going to be a musical term |
| 7 | SCI-FI | Profound backing unavailable for specified literary genre (3-2) I BIFD this one in and have only just twigged the wordplay while blogging: SPECIFIED – (DEEP)< = S |
| 8 | ENGAGEMENT RINGS | Signs of pending union battle with bands (10,5) ENGAGEMENT (battle) RINGS (bands) |
| 14 | TRANSPIRE | Swimming terrapins lose breath (9) (TERRAPINS)* AInd: swimming. I’ve seen terrapins/transpire anagram elsewhere recently … |
| 16 | SAINT JOHN | Disciple of Jonah isn’t worried (5,4) (JONAH ISN’T)* AInd: worried |
| 18 | WOOLLEN | Clangers are so modern to reflect about repeated old lines (7) OOLL (repeated old lines) inside NEW< (modern, reflected) LOI but I don’t know why – once I’d realised what kind of (capital C) Clanger was involved, the answer was obvious. |
| 20 | EIGHTVO | Cardinal opposed to 12’s style of book? (7) EIGHT (cardinal) V[ersus] (opposed to) O (12 = nothing). What an odd word – another word for octavo – I have seen it before but still doubted it till I checked in the dictionary. Again, unsure why clue requires a “?” |
| 22 | SEW UP | Complete ruin when credit runs out (3,2) SCREW UP (ruin) – CR[edit] |
| 23 | SINIC | Chinese thus eating at home (5) IN (at home) in SIC (thus) |
No comments so far? Obviously, like me, no-one can remember anything about this.:-)
I have the completed grid in front of me, so I know I solved it. No question marks, so I guess I was able to parse everything.
I’ll just note that when the group Elbow turned up in a daily puzzle a few weeks ago, there was much comment about they were too obscure to be the answer. I must admit I’d never heard of them (not that that means much with pop music). Then I saw an advert for them on the tube. Now they’ve turned up again. And I see they have the cover and and two-page spread in today’s Radar entertainment section of the Indie.
Well, I solved it but I can’t say I found it very satisfying. Perhaps I just wasn’t on Monk’s wavelength today. I thought it a bit odd (!) that ECCENTRIC turned up in the clue to 1dn and as the answer to 5dn. And then there was the use of ‘band’ for ‘ring’ in both 10ac and 8dn.
Actually I did like the clue to 5dn even though I spent ages convinced that ‘odd’ indicated the use of alternate letters of ‘enchantress’, before I had sufficient crossing letters for the penny to drop.
But thanks, anyway, Monk and beermagnet.
I agree with beermagnet that this was nicely accessible for a Monk. But I cannot agree with allan_c that it was in any way unsatisfying. On the contrary, I found it hugely satisfying (and have to wonder whether he is recalling a different puzzle).
I’m not one to casually pepper clues with ticks (I have often gone days without marking a single clue thuswise) yet I see I ticked COLD WATER, EPSOM, ORWELLIAN, THORN, STRIP CLUB, EYEBROW and WOOLLENS. And two ticks for SCIFI!! Maybe I was just in a good mood, but I came here specifically to offer my heartfelt thanks to Monk – I thoroughly enjoyed it.
A great blog from beermagnet, as ever, but I’m sorry for him that the delight of 7dn was missed at the time of solving…
Thanks again, both.
Thanks to BM for blog and all for comments. Glad WFP enjoyed it 🙂 There was, as usual, a Nina, albeit not very imaginative: 11 and 12 respectively end and begin with the same letter, and the grid has 90-degree rotational symmetry …
Aha! There had to be something hidden when it’s by you Monk.
I have coloured up the “compass points” in a sky-blue on the grid image.