Good stuff again from Monk. I particularly like to blog Monk puzzles as there is always a clear and precise explanation of the solution in there waiting to be found. The only difficulty for the blogger is finding it. Thanks Monk.
There will be a Nina or something in the grid but I can’t find it yet. I will keep looking…
| Across | ||
| 1 | TWIG | Tumble from branch (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 4 | SAUSAGE-DOG | Tearful outside practice, try to turn back a best friend? (7-3) |
| SAD (tearful) contains (outside) USEAGE then GO (try) reversed (to turn back) – a dog is a man’s best friend | ||
| 9 | PESETA | Bother about Spain beginning to analyse what it once spent (6) |
| PEST (bother) contains (about) E (Spain) and Analyse (beginning letter of) | ||
| 10 | GARDENIA | Shrub requiring exceptional drainage (8) |
| DRAINAGE* anagram=exceptional | ||
| 11 | SCUTTLED | Destroyed small mollusc, flattened at last (8) |
| S (small) CUTTLE (mollusc) and flatteneD (last letter of) | ||
| 14 | See 4 down | |
| 16 | LEAMINGTON SPA | Antagonise Liberal MP running English town (10,3) |
| anagram (running) of ANTAGONISE L (Liberal) and MP | ||
| 20 | CHAIN REACTION | Series about lawsuit that is self- sustaining once started (5,8) |
| CHAIN (series) RE (regarding, about) ACTION (lawsuit) | ||
| 23 | ABSORB | Incorporate muscle, getting brothers to retreat (6) |
| AB (abdominal muscle, usually plural abs) with BROS (brothers) reversed (in retreat) | ||
| 25 | VOCATION | Calling by scene of shooting with a new opening (8) |
| LOCATION (scene of shooting) with V for L (with new opening letter) | ||
| 28 | PANTHEON | Manx cat, as it were, beside monument (8) |
| PANTHEr (manx cat as it were, a cat with no tail) then ON (beside) | ||
| 29 | UMPIRE | Judge, initially under pressure, in a fix (6) |
| Under (initial letter of) then P (pressure) in MIRE (a fix) | ||
| 30 | DEPLOYMENT | Depression round recruit that’s delaying mass battle action (10) |
| DENT (depression) containing (round) EMPLOY (recruit) with M (mass) moved to the back (delayed) | ||
| 31 | ZERO | Zulu champion relinquishing crown for nothing (4) |
| Z (zulu, phonetic alphabet) and hERO (champion) with no first letter (relinquishing crown) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | WRETCH | Wife has to vomit, poor devil (6) |
| W (wife) has RETCH (to vomit) | ||
| 3, 12, 21 | GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY | Bring to bear and retry a terribly well-known job (5,5,7) |
| anagram (terribly) of BRING TO BEAR and RETRY A | ||
| 4, 14, 26 | SMALL CLAIMS COURT | One place to settle travelling circus – almost outside shopping centre (5,6,5) |
| (CIRCUS ALMOST)* anagram=travelling containing (outside) MALL (shopping centre) | ||
| 5 | URGED | Rose going topless gets prodded (5) |
| sURGED (rose, topless) | ||
| 6 | APRICOT | A soft cheese? No thanks – some fruit (7) |
| A P (piano, soft) RICOTta (cheese) missing TA (thanks) | ||
| 7 | ENEMA | Blokes in hospital department turning up for fundamental procedure? (5) |
| MEN (blokes) in A & E (Accident and Emergency, hospital department) all reversed (turning up) – a medical procedure of the bottom (fundament) | ||
| 8 | GLASS JAW | Press endlessly going after good girl with weak feature (5,3) |
| JAm (press, endlessly) following G (good) LASS (girl) then W (with) | ||
| 12 | See 3 | |
| 13 | EXILE | Deport European team with luggage on vacation (5) |
| E (European) XI (eleven, team) with LuggagE (on vacation, removing middle letters) | ||
| 15 | IBSEN | Rising English author with no time for Scandinavian one (5) |
| NESBIt (English author) missing T (time) | ||
| 16 | LIARS | One entertained by mostly fat, small, porky narrators (5) |
| I (one) inside (entertained by) LARd (fat, mostly) and S (small) – people who tell “pork pies” (lies, rhyming slang) | ||
| 17 | GECKO | Getting up, say, about to flatten lizard (5) |
| EG (say) reversed (getting up) C (circa, about) and KO (to flatten) | ||
| 18 | OUIJA | Board needing agreement from EU neighbours (5) |
| OUI and JA (agreements) in French and German (from EU neighbours) | ||
| 19 | SCRAPPED | Rushed to collect rubbish that’s thrown away (8) |
| SPED (rushed) containing (to collect) CRAP (rubbish) | ||
| 21 | See 3 | |
| 22 | HORROR | Fear of unlimited pain stopping workforce (6) |
| sORROw (pain) with no outside letters (unlimited) inside (stopping, like a cork) HR (human resources, workforce) | ||
| 24 | OCTAL | Centrally allocated in pieces of eight (5) |
| anagram (in pieces) of teh centre of alLOCATed | ||
| 25 | VENUE | Without introduction, approach rendezvous (5) |
| aVENUE (approach) missing first letter (without introduction) | ||
| 26 | See 4 | |
| 27 | TOPAZ | Destroy ring with opening for tiny round gemstone (5) |
| ZAP (destroy) O (a ring) with Tiny (opening letter of) all revesed (round) | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Normally insufficient to merely fill the grid. Spent ages searching for his signature. bet I missed something. I’ll watch this space.
Lovely puzzle of course.
Thanks PeeDee and Monk. Another good ‘un. No Ninas from me, but that’s as per usual.
I got on really well with this and was thinking ‘Who are you and what have you done with Monk?’ but I think he’s put all his effort into hiding the Nina.
The only whole words I can see in the unchecked letters form TALE, BOX and OAR (the latter two reversed) but that’s as far as I can go.
Thank you to Monk for a lovely puzzle and to PeeDee for the blog. I look forward to finding out what I’ve missed in the grid once someone spots it!!
Yes, a great puzzle again. But, as Pee Dee says, the precise explanation cannot always be found (if you’re as obtuse as me, anyway). Glass jaw was a new term to me — but even when I’d found it I still couldn’t work out where ‘jaw’ came from. So many thanks to both of you.
Monk has kindly emailed me so say that there is no Nina in the puzzle today. The grid was constructed using the two 3-word phrases GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY and SMALL CLAIMS COURT as a starting point (opposite ends of the criminal spectrum as it were).
He also tells me that one of the reasons for eschewing the more comprehensive Nina format today is to avoid having any obscure words in the grid. This would explain crypticsue @3’s bafflement at being able to solve the puzzle so readily.
Wot, no nina? !&%$ 🙂
Good crosswords like this one do not need ninas to be very satisfying to solve.
I did most of it during lunchtime today, so it can’t have been one of Monk’s most difficult.
But what a joy to crack.
So many good surfaces too – 4,14,26 to name one (not: three!).
Thanks PeeDee (especially for explaining 22d which I didn’t see) and I’d wish, at some point, I could blog one of Monk’s puzzles.
As a Monday blogger, however, no chance.
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee. Normally I dread the prospect of a Monk puzzle, but as others have noted I found this one easier than most. Still needed help understanding JAW in 8d and 22d. First in was 16a; last to fall were 28a and 25d.
Thanks Monk and PeeDee.
I always miss the Ninas anyway so for a change I’m not guilty of missing it.
Needed your help to explain DEPLOYMENT, the JAW in 8dn and HORROR – all of which I should have got if I’d been patient. Too intent on playing catch-up!
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
Also found this one quite accessible and finished well within the hour – which is unusual for this fellow ! Was able to parse all but PESETA (for some silly reason) and the JAW bit of 8d.
LEAMINGTON SPA was a new place for me. Liked the VOCATION clue.
Finished in the SW with the clever VENUE, OCTAL and PANTHEON the last few in.