Another nice puzzle from Monk, a bit trickier than the last few of his that I have blogged.
I am speculating that Monk has a twin brother who is a mega-fan of The Seagulls (Brighton and Hove Albion) who have recently been promoted to the Premier League. Well done to The Seagulls and to Monk too.
| Across | ||
| 9 | SYNTH | Instrument playing in middle of county shows (5) |
| anagram (playing) of letter found in the middle of couNTYSHows | ||
| 10 | IN THE MAIN | Primarily seaborne? (2,3,4) |
| double definition | ||
| 11 | EARWIGGED | Illicitly picked up unopened equipment under rug (9) |
| gEAR (equipment, unopened) then WIGGED (wearing a wig, under rug) | ||
| 12 | LEAVE | Abandon shelter, clutching books (5) |
| LEE (shelter) contains AV (Authorised Version, the Bible, books) | ||
| 13 | THAIS | People requiring answer in clue? (5) |
| A (answer) inside THIS (the clue) | ||
| 14 | NEOLOGISM | Brexit maybe upset solemn one about self-inflicted setback (9) |
| anagram (upset) of SOLEMN I (one) containing (about) OG (own goal, self inflicted setback) | ||
| 15 | FITNESS | Suitability of testimony with revised introduction (7) |
| wITNESS (testimony) with F as starting letter (with revised introduction) | ||
| 17 | FINALLY | Mostly sensitive friend, when all is said and done (7) |
| FINe (sensitive, mostly) then ALLY (friend) | ||
| 19 | NUMBER TWO | Dump deputy (6,3) |
| double definition | ||
| 22 | OFFAL | Refuse to kill old gangster (5) |
| OFF (to kill) AL (Al Capone, old gangster) | ||
| 24 | SORRY | What runs repeatedly in story, oddly so (5) |
| R R (runs, repeatedly) in StOrY (odd letters of) | ||
| 25 | AUNT SALLY | Scapegoat stealthily follows topless friend (4,5) |
| hAUNTS (stealthily follows, topless) then ALLY (friend, again) | ||
| 26 | UNION SUIT | Combination of unmentionables, please, following marriage (5,4) |
| SUIT (please) following UNION (marriage) – underwear | ||
| 27 | ENSUE | University invested in several directions to get result (5) |
| U (university) in E N S E (several directions) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASSERT | Swear in fool with bible, under arrest at last (6) |
| ASS (fool) with last letters of biblE undeR arresT | ||
| 2 | INERRANT | Infallible, unmoving about brief row (8) |
| INERT (unmoving) contains RANk (row, briefly) | ||
| 3 | CHAINS | Taps in when going round links (6) |
| C and H (hot and cold, taps) then AS containing (going round) IN | ||
| 4 | RIGGINGS | Fixing small ropes 10? (8) |
| RIGGING (fixing) S (small) – ropes at sea | ||
| 5 | STUDIO | Workplace boss receiving and transmitting data? (6) |
| STUD (boss) with IO (input/output, receiving and transmitting data) | ||
| 6 | WELL-WORN | Stock Orwell novel bound by twine at regular intervals (4-4) |
| anagram (novel) of ORWELL inside (bound by) tWiNe (at regular intervals) | ||
| 7 | MALAWI | Rules stopping crooked triad in Weimar Republic (6) |
| LAW (rules) inside anagram (crooked) of three letters (triad) from weIMAr | ||
| 8 | UNSEEMLY | Disreputable yes-men, extremely unethical when working (8) |
| anagram (when working) of YES-MEN and UnethicaL (extremes of) | ||
| 15 | FINESPUN | Over-subtle amusement involving trendy mind-reading? (8) |
| FUN (amusement) contains (involving) IN (trendy) ESP (mind-reading perhaps) | ||
| 16 | EVERYONE | All musical brothers getting left off single (8) |
| EVERlY (musical brothers) missing L (left) then ONE (single) | ||
| 17 | FOOTNOTE | Minor reference often wrong besides being raised internally (8) |
| anagram (wrong) of OFTEN containing (with…internally) TOO (besides) reversed (being raised) | ||
| 18 | LIFELESS | Passive sentence, to a smaller extent (8) |
| LIFE (gaol sentence) and LESS (to a smaller extent) | ||
| 20 | MORRIS | Gentleman having memory about Victorian craftsman (6) |
| SIR (gentleman) having ROM (computer memory) all reversed (about) – William Morris | ||
| 21 | TEAM UP | Join Brighton and Hove Albion following promotion? (4,2) |
| double/cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | OYSTER | Schoolboy’s terrapins eating food 10? (6) |
| found inside (eaten by) schoolbOY’S TERrapins | ||
| 23 | LEYDEN | Finally, sabbatical year in paradise in foreign city (6) |
| sabaticaL (finally) Y (year) inside EDEN (paradise) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Seems a long time since the last Monk. Enjoyed this and got further than usual with this setter. Failed to get 20d and also, annoyingly, 13a. Thanks also to PeeDee for the blog.
Yes, a warm welcome back to Monk!
(and there’s soon more to come, I heard)
I found most of this crossword quite easy, unusually easy.
The right hand side was filled in a blink of the eye.
But I got completely stuck in the NW corner, apart from 1d and 11ac.
If only I had seen the (blatant) nina but alas ….
While I found 6d rather weak for a Monk clue, it was the originality of MALAWI (7d) that caught the eye.
Some may say that Monk doesn’t make clear which letters of ‘Weimar’ to use.
And that one basically has to try and find a country with any three (adjacent but in any order) letters of ‘Weimar’ built around ‘law’.
The device used in 9ac was similar but more straightforward.
Enjoyable puzzle which will surely make the heart of another ‘mega fan’, John Halpern, beat faster.
For which thanks to Monk.
Thank you PeeDee for your colourful blog.
Bizarre clue at 9A. ‘Playing in middle’?
Parts of this put up quite a fight but I did enjoy myself so thank you to Monk and PeeDee too
I’d been missing Monk so this was very welcome.The NW was last to fall.It also contained some great clues. Someone who can combine the sheer wiliness of 9 and 13 with the naughty directness of19 deserves special praise.
Even after the hint of “team up”I should have looked a bit more carefully for the “Monk extras” although they were not present in a couple of recent ones.
Sorry I missed that and thanks(PeeDee) for pointing it out. I get the impression that there are some happy folk down on the coast
Any Albion fan is a brother of mine whichever Albion it is. Looking forward to next season when competitive chants of ‘Albion’ shall ring around The Hawthorns for the first time in the top tier (I think)…
Thanks to PeeDee for a spot-on blog and to all for comments. My poor twin bro was crestfallen when The Seagulls got only 1 point out of their final possible 9 (scoring only 1 penalty on the way?), thereby handing the Championship to Newcastle.
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
Found this one very hard going and the error was drawn at 20d with MORRIS – the problem was coming here before realising that I hadn’t finished – had used RAM as the memory and was fiddling with SIR as the upturned ‘gentleman’ but did not think it all of the way through.
I thought that 14a was the best of them – harking back to BREXIT with an appropriate surface and an answer that was totally unexpected. THAIS was not far behind – very clever !
INERRANT (a new word for me) and the clever THAIS were the last couple in before the incomplete MORRIS.