Easy to start and hard to finish, enjoyable all the way! Thank you Monk.
The grid-fill is a pangram. As Monk once produced a triple pangram a single pangram looks a bit obvious. I wonder if this is the whole story, could there be something else in here too?
| Across | ||
| 7 | CENOTAPH | Monument path once repaired (8) |
| anagram (repaired) of PATH ONCE | ||
| 8 | ENOUGH | Sufficient in The Noughties (6) |
| found inside thE NOUGHties | ||
| 10 | FOXY | Government department axes cunning (4) |
| FO (Foreign Office, government department) then X and Y (axes, on a graph) | ||
| 11 | DIP THE FLAG | Lowering standards, show respect (3,3,4) |
| DIP (lowering, as a noun) then THE FLAG (standard?) – I’m not sure why “the flag” is singular but “standards” is plural, perhaps this is a cryptic definition clue? | ||
| 12 | QUOTED | Gave price in marks? (6) |
| something quoted put into “quotation marks” | ||
| 14 | EMMENTAL | Cheese measure’s ridiculous (8) |
| EM (printer’s measure) MENTAL (ridiculous). I wasted a lot of time looking for an anagram of MEASURE’S. | ||
| 15 | SPECTACULAR | Show cast clears up act (11) |
| anagram (cast) of CLEARS UP ACT | ||
| 20 | FATHOMED | Thick domestic maid finally grasped (8) |
| FAT (thick) HOME (domestic) and maiD (final letter of) | ||
| 21 | LOLLOP | See voting over in lounge (6) |
| LO (see) then POLL (voting) reversed (over) | ||
| 22 | RUBBERNECK | Narrow connector on protective goggle (10) |
| NECK (narrow connector) following (on) RUBBER (protective) | ||
| 23 | ZEAL | Fire fanatic for censoring books (4) |
| ZEALot (fanatic) missing (censoring) OT (books, of The Bible) | ||
| 24 | RIALTO | Retreat back beside a bridge (6) |
| LAIR (retreat) reversed (back) with TO (beside) – a famous bridge in Venice | ||
| 25 | SOLSTICE | Fish holding short rod in biannual event (8) |
| SOLE (fish) contains STICk (rod, short) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DECORUM | Look – reportedly odd propriety (7) |
| DECO sounds like (reportedly) “decko” (a look) then RUM (odd) | ||
| 2 | JOKY | Amusing panel disheartened about fine (4) |
| JurY (panel) with no middle (dis-heartened, without heart) contains (about) OK (fine) | ||
| 3 | CANDID | Frank performed after John (6) |
| DID (performed) following CAN (John, a toilet) | ||
| 4 | CHAPTER AND VERSE | Branch badly served by an exact authority (7,3,5) |
| CHAPTER (branch) then anagram (badly) of SERVED following (by) AN | ||
| 5 | PELHAM | Bit of meat under odd bits of paella (6) |
| HAM (meat) following (under, in a down clue) PaElLa (odd letters of) – a horse’s bit | ||
| 6 | COFFIN NAIL | Snout names corrupt official externally (6,4) |
| N N (name, twice) inside (with…externally) anagram (corrupt) of OFFICIAL – two names for a cigarette | ||
| 9 | GO AWAY | Leave Indian resort on street (2,4) |
| GOA (Indian resort) on WAY (street) | ||
| 13 | TOP THE BILL | Kill police head? (3,3,4) |
| TOP (kill) THE BILL (police, slang) | ||
| 16 | CAMEROON | Former PM framed over republic (8) |
| CAMERON (David Cameron, former PM) contains (framed) O (over) | ||
| 17 | UNLIKELY | Improbable form of energy in a French plant (8) |
| KE (kinetic energy, a form of energy) in UN (a, French) LILY (plant) | ||
| 18 | SALUKI | British ousting American sausage dog (6) |
| SALaMI (sausage) with UK (British) replacing (ousting) A (American) – a breed of dog | ||
| 19 | TOBACCO | Plant treated cocoa seeds in big tub (7) |
| anagram (treated) of COCOA and the first letters (seeds, beginnings) of Big Tub | ||
| 23 | ZETA | Character in bronze tabard (4) |
| found inside bronZE TAbard | ||
*anagram
There’s a Morecambe and Wise nina as well. MORNY STANNIT. Sure many will remember this.
The grid is rather unusual (see 16 & 17d), but I’m not sure why. Candid Cameroon?
I saw Morny but have only come across that as a character in The High Window. Don’t know much Morecambe & Wise
I found the puzzle a curious mix of the very easy and very tricky.
Thanks Monk, Peedee
Always enjoy a Monk and this was no exception. Really struggled though and ended up using a word fit for RIALTO & SALUKI. I also struggled with 4d. I guessed a pangram was on the cards and a quick check showed I was still missing a V. This then suggested VERSE and 4d finally followed.
I didn’t know the phrase at 11d but it was easy to guess, although I also was concerned about the plural ‘standards’. COFFIN NAIL for ‘cigarette’ was also new to me but the answer was clear once I had a few of the crossers.
Don’t remember ever seeing a cryptic with a pangram and a nina before. Monk always seems to provide more than just a tough solve. Thanks to Monk and PeeDee.
The pangram loomed so it slightly helped the finish. Then, as it was Monk, I had to google Mornay Stannit and was rewarded by You tube.That was before the Ronnies wasnt it?
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee.
Monk lured me in with a few friendly ones to start with and then notched up the difficulty level further down the grid. I spotted the Nina, and enjoyed myself greatly throughout the solve so thanks to Monk and PeeDee too
James@2, yes unusually the grid is not symmetric! if it were it couldn’t accommodate the Nina.
Many thanks Monk, very enjoyable. I hadn’t come across SALUKI, last one in. Particularly liked FATHOMED, RUBBERNECK and TOP THE BILL. also COFFIN NAIL.
Thanks Peedee
@Dutch
It seems a strange choice. If your only aim is to fit in a 5,7 nina, you pick a grid for it and build the puzzle around it. I want there to be more to it – other homophones?
Dutch – no symmetry. Well spotted I had not noticed that. Very unusual for a weekday puzzle.
james @8, peedee@9 – well it’s only the N in UNLIKELY and the A in CAMEROON, if they had been blacks we’d have 2-fold symmetry ( I think)
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
We haven’t seen Monk since June, although I did it much later. Found it pretty meaty, taking a couple of sittings to get it completed. Was able to pick up on the pangram but even if I had’ve seen the nina, it would have made no sense to me.
A few new terms – PELHAM, DIP THE FLAG and ‘snout’ for cigarette. Had heard of the SALUKI dog though. Was curious that GOA was clued as an ‘Indian resort’ – being a state rather than a city.
Finished with RIALTO, SALUKI and the tricky QUOTED as the last few in.
Thanks PeeDee for great blog and to all bloggers for the positive feedback. Indeed, I pleaded for special permission to use a bespoke asymmetric-by-moving-one-block grid (as Dutch@10 spotted) because I wanted the Nina centrally balanced.
And there was indeed something else. After writing a few clues it occurred to me that a challenge was rearing its head, so I aimed for it: as a result, the average clue length is a mere 4.96 words 😉