Financial Times 15,859 by MONK

11 comments on “Financial Times 15,859 by MONK”

1. For 26d, take DIVOrced reversed (upset). Finished this but had to check some. Didn’t know MAN RAY, EDACIOUS, SOUTHDOWNS (I took SOUTHS as the points) or HARRIS as southern part of island. There’s a typo in blog for 1d, MAN not MAT.

   Great crossword. Thanks to Monk and PeeDee.

2. I knew Southbound had to be wrong but alas no check on FT format-so thats two wrong today as I had to reveal NEYMAR in Puck.Bit annoyed with myself.

   Bit many thanks to Peedee and Monk -such a reliable setter.

3. Re the Nina I spotted ‘Buono’, ‘Brutto’, and ‘Cattivo’ (the Good, the bad and the Ugly (also see 11 across).

    

   I do like Monk’s style. Thanks to him and PeeDee.

4. I agree with copmus et al — a lovely puzzle. A witty Nina too.

5. Thanks Monk and PeeDee

   I sympathise with your point about ‘tour’ and ‘contain’, PeeDee, but I think it’s acceptable in the sense that if I tour Austria, I go around Austria.

6. Thanks for the blog, PeeDee.

   When i’d printed this off, my eye first fell on 20ac. I got it very quickly, smiled at the solution, and carried on, feeling both amused & encouraged.

   I wish I hadn’t bothered. It was soon clear that this was another typical Monk, full of impossibly obscure solutions.

7. Thanks to Monk and PeeDee. I struggled here. I did manage to work out SOUTHDOWNS (new to me) but failed with HARRIS, could not parse OVID, and did not get the ZULU-SAMBUCA combination. PLAY TRUANT (my LOI) did finally emerge.

8. Grumpy @ 6

   “impossibly obscure”? – this was probably my fastest Monk solve..

   ‘obscure’ just means something you don’t know, but now have the opportunity to learn.

9. Simon S @5 – yes I agree it is acceptable, in fact as there are no official rules my general take is that anything is acceptable, it just comes down whether as an individual you like it or not.

   It is a bit of a technical point but for me “tour” meaning “contains” requires two steps: 1) “tour” means “go round” 2) “go round” means “to contain”.  The issue for me is that using this two step process one can make almost anything indicate anything else.  For example: 1) “create” means “form” 2) “form” means “bench”.  Hence “create” means “bench”.  No is doesn’t, meaning is not transitive.

   For me an indicator should contain some sort of first-hand relation to the thing it indicates.  In this case “to tour” does not relate to “to go round the outside of”, in fact it relates to the direct opposite.

   I know Monk is a stickler for details so I thought I would see what he thinks.

10. Thanks Monk and PeeDee

    A bit late for this (nothing really unusual) and like others (except one) thought that it was the usual entertaining solve with the normal challenges that he presents.  Didn’t spot the nina and wouldn’t have understood it if I had of – but can appreciate the nice touch that it brought to the puzzle.

    Didn’t work out the homophone of ‘PHUS’ at 14a.  Enjoyed the variety of tricks and treats that he delivered in all of his clues – particular liked NYMPHO and SAMBUCA.

    Finished all over the place with SAMBUCA (which took an age to see which Caribbean island that he was meaning), ZULU (tricky cryptic definition) and ACROSS (a trick that pops up from time to time that always seems to hold me up for longer than it should).

11. I’m with PeeDee @9, both that first-hand relations best avoid ambiguity (even though his example is somewhat extreme), and that there should be no rules so that anything is acceptable – including ambiguity. My definition of a good clue is that is obscure until you get it, then so obvious you know it is definitely right. Which makes ambiguity a double-edged sword, with a fine line to observe.

    24ac ZULU is the word for the last letter in the military alphabet: the clue seeks the last letter but indicates the last word (OVER or OUT). IMHO ambiguity here between word and letter crosses the line, especially if MONK is a stickler for detail.

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