I always enjoy Monk puzzles, varied and entertaining. They are not as intimidating as they used to be, I no longer have any fear of failing to complete the puzzle in time for the blog (now only Io occupies this territory). Thanks Monk for another fun puzzle.
There will certainly be some message hidden in the grid but I can’t find it. I may be getitng better at solving but I am still hopeless at spotting Ninas. Perhaps someone can help me out?
| Across | ||
| 1 | OSPREY | It flies in very large quarry (6) |
| OS (out-size, very large) and PREY (quarry) | ||
| 4 | T-SQUARES | Beginning to tune, say, four small instruments (1-7) |
| Tune (first letter of) SQUARE (four say, a square number) and S (small) | ||
| 9 | TENDER | Vulnerable offer (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 10 | FEAST DAY | Maybe Christmas fairy’s touring dates adjusted (5-3) |
| FAY (fairy) contains (touring) DATES* anagram=adjusted | ||
| 12 | FETA | Not a thing to wrap extremely excellent cheese (4) |
| FA (sweet Fanny Adams, not a thing) contains ExcellenT (extremes of) | ||
| 13 | SRI LANKANS | Islanders, drooping in rain, set out in ship (3,7) |
| LANK (drooping) in RAIN* anagram=set out all inside SS (steam ship) | ||
| 15 | STREETS AHEAD | Wasted head start? See superior (7,5) |
| anagram (wasted) of HEAD START SEE | ||
| 18 | EAU-DE-COLOGNE | Perfume department in France stocking English and German port (3-2-7) |
| AUDE (department in France) inside (stocking) E (English) and COLOGNE (German port) | ||
| 21 | NOW OR NEVER | Promptly on about curtailed employment continually repressing north (3,2,5) |
| ON reversed (about) WORk (employment, curtailed) EVER (continually) containing N (north) | ||
| 22 | TIDE | What might carry ultimately dormant fish (4) |
| dormanT (ultimately, last letter) and IDE (fish) | ||
| 24 | EASTMOST | Smack steams to the Orient, as far as it goes? (8) |
| anagram (smack) of STEAMS TO | ||
| 25 | TIVOLI | Quartet from Rome in setback, following split, west of one Italian town (6) |
| IV (quartet from Rome) in LOT (set) reversed (back) reversed before (to the west of) I (one) – “following split” indicates that setback has to be split into “set” and “back”. A difficult clue. | ||
| 26 | TAYBERRY | Hybrid transplant by artery (8) |
| anagram (transplant) of BY ARTERY | ||
| 27 | FREAKY | Frank introducing vital broadcast – very odd (6) |
| FREAKY sounds like (broadcast) free (frank) key (vital) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | OUT OF USE | Public joining our European unemployed (3,2,3) |
| OUT (public) with OF US (our) and E (European) | ||
| 2 | PUNCTURE | Pressure on union judge to leave flat (8) |
| P (pressure) on jUNCTION (union) missing J (judge to leave) | ||
| 3 | EWER | Cotswold female on river vessel (4) |
| EWE (female Cotswold, sheep) on R (river) | ||
| 5 | SPELLCHECKER | Might one be confused by form from Dumbledore, for example (12) |
| double/cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | UNSINKABLE | Buoyant United Kingdom clever to welcome Poles in (10) |
| UK ABLE (clever) contains (to welcome) N and S (poles) IN | ||
| 7 | REDCAP | Example of MP inflamed over EU farming system? (6) |
| RED (inflamed) on CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) – a military policeman | ||
| 8 | SHYISH | Somewhat cautious, boy finally tucked into type of kebab (6) |
| boY (final letter) inside SHISH (type of kebab) | ||
| 11 | CROSS-DRESSER | TV put out on furniture (5-7) |
| CROSS (put out) on DRESSER (furniture) – a transvestite | ||
| 14 | DECAGRAMME | Cadge fresh butter – yours truly finds a third of an ounce or so (10) |
| anagram (fresh) of CADGE then RAM (a goat, somthing that butts) and ME (yours truly) | ||
| 16 | AGRICOLA | Indian city hosting one colonel and a general (8) |
| AGRA (Indian city) contains (hosting) I (one) and COL (colonel) – a Roman general | ||
| 17 | CELERITY | Heartless name for speed (8) |
| CELEbRITY (name, heartless) | ||
| 19 | INSECT | Bee caught in little picture (6) |
| C (caught) in INSET (little picture) | ||
| 20 | TWISTY | At first sight, typical weather in Scotland, temperate yet windy (6) |
| first letters (at first sight) of Typical Weather In Scotland Temperate Yet | ||
| 23 | LIAR | Fence turning up – one’s worse than a thief (4) |
| RAIL (fence) reversed (turning up) – I presume the definition references some famous quotation but I don’t know which | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
I had radial for 7.I wasnt aware of CAP-I thought it might be red something….I think there is a radial farming ,maybe obscure but that was a case of general ignorance-I loved SPELLCHECKER- and the rest of the puzzle. Spent some time looking for the Monk signature. Hope he pops in briefly.
having monk and Picaroon in the same was great.
Another good Monk puzzle – I found the bottom a lot harder than the top not helped by having confidently written in TRAY at 22a I can’t spot a Nina but that’s nothing new where I’m concerned.
PeeDee- I always think it is a mistake to admit as a blogger that you aren’t finding a particular setter as hard as they used to be, as I’m sure that makes them more determined to be trickier in the future!
crypticsue – I think TRAY is a better answer to the clue
I can see the possibility of TRAY but it plays havoc with CELERITY which I thought was an excellent clue.
Copmus @4 I only realised I had the wrong solution in 22a when I couldn’t get the excellent CELERITY
Many thanks to all for nice comments; in particular to PeeDee for one of his trademark superbly clear blogs. I’d not anticipated the TRAY/TIDE issue at 22ac, though, since it was resolved by checking, there was thankfully no ambiguity. Surprised to see that references still surface about the old “intimidating” Monk, who long ago saw the (editors’) light that complexity is by far preferable to difficulty, e.g. due to hard-for-hard’s sake wordplay and/or stretched/unconvincing definitions. There was, of course, a Nina, but it was so well hidden (a seed rather than a Nina) that I had to find it in my records, ergo hint: count across, but not down.
Aah the first letters of across solutions, in order, are O (one), T (two), T (three) etc. Nice one Monk!
A delightful crossword and a delightful comment from the setter, one that I agree with wholeheartedly. I always say that my perfect crossword is one that I can solve on the beach, armed only with my brain, a biro and preferably a beer or two. I want a crossword that challenges my intellect, not my librarianship or Google skills, and this one was spot on. No stretched or thin definitions, and no obscure words. Entertaining but with some challenging clues (Tayberry, possibly one of the simplest, was the one that had me thinking, and the form/from schtick in 5 was classy. An example to others.
Fiendish but highly entertaining. Managed top left-hand corner and about 30% of the rest. Great clues with my favorite being 5 down. Thanks to Monk and Peedee for this one.
Really good and accessible puzzle by, in the end, perhaps my favourite setter.
[so tomorrow will be another good day for the solver in me]
I wondered whether 19d, strictly speaking, should need a question mark.
No problem whatsoever to find the solution, though.
Interesting to see TIVOLI being defined as an Italian town.
For me, it’s that famous amusement park in Copenhagen.
[when I was there umpteen years ago, I couldn’t understand why people thought it was so special]
Tivoli is also the name of a pop venue in my home town Utrecht (NL), one that’s not there where it once was.
Now that may not be terribly important information, however it was almost a second home for Crosswordland’s favourite ‘band’ REM.
They not just did their gig but went into the city centre to have a beer (or two) in one of the many pubs – not protected by bodyguards or the like.
I never saw them there, unfortunately – being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I admit, nostalgia.
18ac was my first one in, perhaps from the enumeration and the word ‘perfume’ alone.
Calling Cologne a port is a bit of a stretch, I think.
While Cologne is frequently visited by boats because it’s on The Rhine, it is hundreds of miles away from any seashore.
I didn’t see the nina today.
Normally I spot the value added in Monk’s crosswords and a value added it is then.
This one was clever but only a geek would have spotted it.
I’m afraid I am not a geek.
Many thanks to PeeDee and Monk for the entertainment.
Thanks PeeDee and Monk.
I was beaten in th SE corner, even though I got 22 right. So CELERITY, TIVOLI, LIAR, and FREAKY (is Frank really free?) were not entered.
First time I’ve been beaten for a while.
16dn was the same answer and clued very similarly to the Paul Prize puzzle in the Guardian – No. 26956 – recently. Paul use a reversal of LOCI for the central part of the charade.
Missed the Nina as well – but at least I’m not alone in that one.
Thanks Monk and PeedeeAm enjoying doing these backlog puzzles whilst I’m away from being able to print the current ones (still don’t like doing the interactive ones). This was a beauty and enhanced by the obscure theme of the initial letters of all of the across clues.It took twice as long as the normal solve time for an FT crossword and had needed quite a bit of help to finally get it out – particularly the SE corner where I finished with CELEBRITY, TIVOLI and FREAKY (which I couldn’t parse and bunged it in from definition only … and then just hoped). Getting LIAR was a key entry … and had to go trawling to find the biblical phrase. Thought that SPELLCHECKER was the standout from a very good crop of clues.