We haven’t seen a Monk puzzle in the Indy for quite some time – indeed we had the pleasure of blogging the most recent one last September.
We didn’t find this quite as tricky to solve as we had expected. We then started trying to find a theme or nina which is something that we had come to expect from Monk.
However, in our search we came across a comment made back in October on a Monk puzzle in the FT that he is no longer routinely including themes or other ‘extras’ in his puzzles. As far as we can see, there is no theme here, although the presence of TRUMP in the grid fooled us into looking for longer than we should have – UP THE GARDEN PATH was the nearest connection we could find. 11ac certainly doesn’t fit in with a Trump theme.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Poison gas used on the front in conflict (9) | |
| WARFARING | WARFARIN (poison) G |
|
| 6 | Acquires opinions (5) | |
| TAKES | Double definition | |
| 9 | Provokes through gossiped-about situations (7) | |
| INCITES | IN (through) + a homophone (‘gossiped-about’) of SITES (situations) | |
| 10 | Writer’s assistant in pink wellies (7) | |
| INKWELL | Hidden in ‘pINK WELLies’ | |
| 11 | Strong guys trying to stop jealousy in a way that benefits society? (15) | |
| ENVIRONMENTALLY | IRON MEN (strong guys) TALL (trying, as in ‘a tall order’) in or ‘stopping’ ENVY (jealousy) | |
| 12 | Close call that’s instinctive but not new (9) | |
| TERMINATE | TERM (call) IN |
|
| 14 | Ancient tree (5) | |
| ELDER | Double definition | |
| 15 | Unusual sailor reels in dance (5) | |
| RUMBA | RUM (unusual) AB (sailor) reversed or ‘reeling’ | |
| 17 | Strong drink stored in wood that’s hot, unsafe for bottling (3,6) | |
| RYE WHISKY | YEW (wood) H (hot) in or ‘bottled by’ RISKY (unsafe) | |
| 19 | Put out horse, say, by forest track where ass may be led (2,3,6,4) | |
| UP THE GARDEN PATH | An anagram of PUT (anagrind is ‘out’) H (horse) EG (say) ARDEN (forest) PATH (track) | |
| 22 | Just this and other housing (7) | |
| ETHICAL | HIC (this) in or ‘housed by’ ET AL (other) – two Latin references in one clue! | |
| 23 | American social critic and novel author touring East (7) | |
| THOREAU | An anagram of AUTHOR (anagrind is ‘novel’) round or ‘touring’ E (East) | |
| 24 | Best time to get behind (5) | |
| TRUMP | T (time) RUMP (behind) | |
| 25 | Abandon fake press of a sort (4,5) | |
| DROP FORGE | DROP (abandon) FORGE (fake) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | You and I eating buffet pasty (5) | |
| WHITE | WE (you and I) round or ‘eating’ HIT (buffet) | |
| 2 | Rescue one wandering outside city (7) | |
| RECOVER | ROVER (one wandering) round or ‘outside’ EC (City) | |
| 3 | Aromatic peanuts crushed too much for a trifle? (1,5,2,1,6) | |
| A STORM IN A TEACUP | An anagram of AROMATIC PEANUTS – anagrind is ‘crushed’ | |
| 4 | Glib sentimentality stifles a writer (5) | |
| IBSEN | Hidden in, or ‘stifled by’ ‘glIB SENtimentality’ | |
| 5 | Queen always interrupting dance after dismissing leading couple (9) | |
| GUINEVERE | EVER (always) in or ‘interrupting’ |
|
| 6 | Spoil excitement of buff? On the contrary (4,3,5,3) | |
| TAKE THE SHINE OFF | If you literally TAKE THE SHINE OFF something you would make it matt, whereas if you ‘buff’ something, you would polish it | |
| 7 | King irritated when first duke goes prepared for knighthood? (7) | |
| KNEELED | K (king) NEE |
|
| 8 | Joke with host who spreads the word? (5,4) | |
| SALLY ARMY | SALLY (joke) ARMY (host) | |
| 12 | Blurt tune out, getting unsettled (9) | |
| TURBULENT | An anagram of BLURT TUNE – anagrind is ‘out’ | |
| 13 | Public tackling Irishman about being sent abroad? (3,4) | |
| AIR-MAILED | AIRED (public) round or ‘tackling’ LIAM (Irishman) reversed or ‘about’ | |
| 16 | Dull husband, regularly vague half of odd couple? (7) | |
| MATTHAU | MATT (dull) H (husband) + alternate or ‘regular’ letters of ‘vAgUe’ – a reference to Walter Matthau, who starred with Jack Lemmon in the 1968 film ‘The Odd Couple’ | |
| 18 | Reportedly catch simple marine creature (3,4) | |
| SEA BEAR | A homophone of (‘reportedly’) SEE (catch) BARE (simple) | |
| 20 | Excessive papers going over the same thing (5) | |
| DITTO | OTT (excessive) ID (papers) all reversed or ‘going over’ | |
| 21 | Bend to put on stockings in store (5) | |
| HOUSE | U (bend) in or ‘putting on’ HOSE (stockings) | |
Thanks to Monk and to B&J.
Would it be 22 to 2 the 1d 21 and 12a the 12d 24?
baerchen@1 I think you’ve nailed it!
Very enjoyable puzzle, thanks all.
We had thought about a theme along these lines but decided against it as we have a planned trip to the USA this year. We are very glad that someone else spotted it though!
Lovely Goldilocks-zone puzzle for me with loads of nice stuff in it. I read the Trump theme as 24a 6a 1d 21d (with various other theme-words adding tone), but much prefer baerchen’s reading! Many thanks to B&J for the blog and to Monk for an enjoyable solve.
Thanks Monk and B&J
For alternative reading, 24 9 12D 1A, 6A 5 19, 11 22 is 3. 17 6D (with an added s in the first word) 24.
I saw the theme/nina as did Hoskins, and thought it something I could have done without spotting!
But thanks, Monk, for the mental workout, and B&J for explaining the bits I couldn’t.