I don’t know what has happened to PeeDee today unless he has forgotten that it’s Wednesday.
In view of getting this posted without too much further delay, I won’t add much of a preamble other than to draw attention to my comments on 14ac and 23ac.
Across
1 Composure, a quality of one modelling flat cap? (5-10)
LEVEL-HEADEDNESS – double def., the second one cryptic
9 Dry fruit served round community, thus consumed (9)
DESICCATE – DATE (fruit) around (served round) EC (community) around (consumed) SO SIC (thus)
10 Head filmmaker once getting a mention (5)
MAYOR – sounds like (getting a mention) ‘Mayer’ (filmmaker once)
11 Old organiser of best odds for backing (5)
PSION – NO 1 (best) SP (odds) reversed (backing)
12 Perhaps one’s chosen by current king about to stop plot (9)
ISRAELITE – I (current) LEAR (king) reversed (about) in (to stop) SITE (plot)
13 Courteous and respectful worker given honour is first (8)
OBEISANT – OBE (honour) IS ANT (worker)
14 Indicator contributing to Sino-Mongolian uprising (6)
GNOMON – hidden (contributing to) reversal (uprising) in ‘siNO-MONGolian’ – ‘uprising’ for a reversal indicator would be more appropriate in a down clue
16 Body of troops pass gunmen regularly (6)
COLUMN – COL (pass) [g]U[n]M[e]N (gunmen regularly)
18 Big bird flying, à la geese (3-5)
SEA EAGLE – an anagram (flying) of À LA GEESE
22 Total common sense, to eat new bread and cheese, for example (4,5)
MASS NOUNS – MASS (total) NOUS (common sense) around (to eat) N (new)
23 Dostoyevsky partially raised in islands (5)
EYOTS – hidden (partially) reversal (raised) in ‘doSTOYEvsky’ – again the reversal indicator would better suit a down clue
24 Explorer caught in southern extreme? (5)
SCOUT – C (caught) in S (southern) OUT (extreme)
SCOTT – C (caught) in S (southern) OTT (extreme) – Edited, thanks peterj @1
25 Old poet who wrote of French and English prime minister (9)
BOCCACCIO – the old poet who wrote Decameron – de (of French) Cameron (English prime minister)
26 Deep Throat flew north, travelling for noted work (5,3,3,4)
PETER AND THE WOLF – an anagram (travelling) of DEEP THROAT FLEW N
Down
1 Came before Oriel College Oxford, ultimately getting university instruction to read more (3,2,2)
LED UP TO – [orie]L [colleg]E [oxfor]D (Oriel College Oxford, ultimately) U (university) PTO (instruction to read more)
2 Trace garment, maybe one that’s returned (7)
VESTIGE – VEST (garment, maybe) I (one) EG (that’s) reversed (returned)
3 Elusive Caledonian head interrupting sermon, cloth getting annoyed (4,4,7)
LOCH NESS MONSTER – NESS (head) in (interrupting) an anagram (getting annoyed) of SERMON CLOTH
4 Dodges girl that’s repeatedly wrong about love (8)
EVASIONS – EVA (girl) SINS (that’s repeatedly wrong) around (about) O (love)
5 Gloomy pet fording river (6)
DREARY – DEARY (pet) around (fording {crossing}) R (river)
6 Awful men, dead mean about English colourful character? (4,4,7)
DAME EDNA EVERAGE – an anagram (awful) of MEN DEAD plus AVERAGE (mean) around (about) E (English)
7 See one entering total state of bliss (7)
ELYSIUM – ELY (see) I (one) in (entering) SUM (total)
8 Forces doctor to heave leg (7)
SURGEON – SURGE (heave) ON (leg)
15 Sweet drink prices to change (8)
PERSICOT – an anagram (change) of PRICES TO
16 In uprising, a state of confusion briefly occurs (5,2)
COMES UP – MES[s] (a state of confusion briefly) in COUP (uprising)
17 Spend extravagantly in French rendition of The Scream? (4,3)
LASH OUT – LA (French rendition of the) SHOUT (scream)
19 King’s painful expression over famous brother (7)
GROUCHO – GR (king) OUCH (painful expression) O (over)
20 Flag announcement that drug is no longer available? (4,3)
EASE OFF – sounds like (announcement) ‘E’s off’ (drug is no longer available)
21 Time to accept mostly elegant non-European headwear (6)
TURBAN – T (time) URBAN[e] (mostly elegant)
For 24ac I had SCOTT – C(aught) in S( outhern) OTT (extreme – over-the-top)
Enjoyed this with a goid variety if clues and not straightforward definitions.
Thanks Monk and Gaufrud
peterj
You are right! I wasn’t happy with extreme=out but, being in a rush, I didn’t think of OTT. I should have got this right because the explorer was one of the answers in yesterday’s Math (Indy 9364 23dn: “Security concern over Trojans leads to close of Internet Explorer (5)”).
Good puzzle and not too difficult.
Although, at one point, I messed things up by entering MOROSE at 5d.
Wish I had a ‘moose’ as pet ……
Thanks Gaufrid, just like you I wasn’t happy with the two reversal indicators in 14 and 23ac.
If the grid were mirrored in the NW-SE diagonal, all solutions would still be there and the indicators all right.
That said, some other indicators might not work anymore then [I’m too lazy to figure that out] and, who knows, the mirrored grid is not an FT grid.
There is always something going on in a Monk crossword but I’m afraid I’m not eagle-eyed enough to see anything.
Sil
“There is always something going on in a Monk crossword but I’m afraid I’m not eagle-eyed enough to see anything.”
It is possible (probable?) that you are not missing anything. Monk said some months ago that he was no longer routinely including ‘extras’ in his puzzles.
Love the “new” Monk, clever, stimulating, not brain-aching! Thanks also to Gaufrid for blog.
Thanks Monk and Gaufrid
Good puzzle that’d didn’t seem as difficult as he can be. Lots of interesting clues throughout. Made the error with MAYOR – had worked out MAYER but couldn’t get the right pronunciation going – tried “MAY-A” and “MY-ER” but didn’t think of “MARE-A” and so left the ‘head film maker’ entered and wondered what sounded like a word for ‘once’. Oh, well !
Liked the two long clues and thought that GROUCHO was very good as well.
Thanks Monk 🙂
Thanks Monk and Gaufrid.
The device in 25 was new to me — the wordplay defining the poem, which we then turn into a poet for the answer. Is that common? (Not that I knew either one; I had to use the Internet to go through 9-letter poets!)
I nearly tripped myself up on 26 by writing in POWER AND THE LEFT, which I assumed was some sort of political treatise I’d never heard of (re: poet in 25!). Luckily the F from 20 saved me and I was able to see the retrospectively obvious.
In 9 ac, I parsed it as:
DATE (fruit) around (served round) EC (community) around (consumed) SIC (thus)
Good puzzle, though. Thanks to Monk and all.