What a pleasure solving a Monk puzzle is.
There are always some great clues and interesting wordplay to tease out.
However it was quite hard. Hard to finish.
I got about a dozen on the first pass, but only a couple more after that and had tpo have a break a return afresh to tackle the last 7 – for which I needed internet dictionary help (e.g. Rowdydow is not a word I have come across before).
One of those last few certainly gets my favourite clue gong: 22A Nympho – Brilliant definition, and clue surface. What a laugh.
I had started so well with 12A Paddington. Somehow the ‘adding’ bit and Paddington station leapt into my thoughts.
Later on I agonised over 14A then had to kick myself after writing in Bear when I saw the two word phrase across the row.
So I thought a theme might be lurking. Maybe Children’s books, films, something like that – but nothing came of it.
I did recognise that something was going on when I also spotted Good / Neighbours and Quarantine / Flag in those columns, and at the very last when I only had 18A unsolved I realised it might link to Hygienists and the answer Oral was confirmed.
As for a theme: There are these natural two word phrases spread across a few rows and down a few columns but they don’t seem to be related.
This grid also lends itself to a message in the circumference, but I cannot see anything there either
(Anti-clockwise from top left could refer to Mr P. Pond – who could that be?)
So I fully expect someone to point out something glaringly obvious.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | MEXICO | Doctor’s daughter sunk by cross country (6) MEDICO with D[aughter] swapped for (sunk by) X (cross) |
| 9 | NEUROTIC | Anxious note — endless credit needed to secure international currency (8) EURO (international currency) inside N[ote] and TIC[k] (endless credit) |
| 10 | ROWDYDOW | Line by odd, heartless, witty eccentric causing hubbub (8) ROW (Line), (ODD W[itt]Y)* AInd: eccentric. Not a word I knew |
| 11 | ROUTER | Packet handler‘s cutting tool (6) Double Definition |
| 12 | PADDINGTON | Station parking being increased not withdrawn (10) P[arking], ADDING (being increased), NOT< First one in. |
| 14 | BEAR | Mentioned basic support (4) “Bare” (basic) Homophone Indicator: Mentioned |
| 15 | PRESTIDIGITATOR | Performer’s figure seen in forged English portraits (15) DIGIT (figure) inside PRESTI … ATOR made from (E[nglish] PORTRAITS)* AInd: forged |
| 18 | ORAL | Uninitiated lesson in speech? (4) [m]ORAL (lesson, uninitiated) Last one in. I never think of ‘moral’ as a noun |
| 20 | HYGIENISTS | Might they freshen up insight? Yes, after a fashion (10) (INSIGHT YES) * AInd: after a fashion |
| 22 | NYMPHO | One after the other member entering extremely naughty house (6) MP (member) inside N[augh]Y HO[use]. Brilliant Def. |
| 23 | REFINERY | Adornments on both sides of rare plant (8) R[ar]E FINERY (adornments) |
| 25 | DEATH ROW | From which centre parting may ensue? (5,3) Cryptic Definition. Parting as in dying, as opposed to hairstyles |
| 26 | AIR BED | Kippers don’t actually float on it (3,3) Cryptic Definition. Kippers as in people who kip |
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEBONAIR | Sophisticated plot turned up during broadcast (8) BED< (plot, turned up) ON AIR (during broadcast) |
| 2 | MISDID | Girl reportedly withered when taking ecstasy, having acted badly (6) “Miss” DI[e]D (withered=died, then take an E[cstacy] from it) |
| 3 | GOOD | Oscar has to follow up housing benefit (4) O[scar] inside DOG< (to follow, up) |
| 4 | KNOW A THING OR TWO | Be shrewd at work, noting who is organised (4,1,5,2,3) (AT WORK NOTING WHO)* AInd: is organised |
| 5 | QUARANTINE | Isolate from a storm in Quebec, making shelter? (10) QUE[bec] around (making shelter [for]) A RANT (storm) IN QUE: Is that really short for Quebec? |
| 6 | COLUMBIA | Navigator once missing America, backing excellent state university (8) COLUMB[us] AI< (excellent, backing) |
| 7 | CINEMA | Flicks pieces over in uneven climax (6) MEN< (pieces, over) inside CIA from C[l]I[m]A[x] |
| 13 | NEIGHBOURS | Maybe soap bum, groin and bush and finally rinse (10) (GROIN BUSH [rins]E)* AInd: bum |
| 16 | SELF-PITY | Ruth’s ego overbearing — it will trouble you (4-4) PITY (ruth) preceded by SELF (ego) |
| 17 | ON TARGET | Totty not heading great cast as per plan (2,6) (NOT)* AInd: totty, (GREAT)* AInd: cast Took till doing this blog to spot that totty is the anagram indicator here – I spent ages failing to find a word for totty missing its ‘heading’ like _ONT |
| 19 | RHYMED | Chimed with this? (6) Beautiful concise cryptic clue: Chimed rhymes with rhymed! |
| 21 | IGNORE | Slight Italian guy going topless (6) [s]IGNORE |
| 24 | FLAG | Forced schoolboy to hold large Red Cross, say (4) L[arge] inside FAG (Forced schoolboy – forced to do chores) |
I’d just like to join you in praising NYMPHO-a classic.I liked it all but I’ll leave it to bear of larger brain to tie all the peripheral letters up
Thanks beermagnet and Monk.
Brilliant but a DNF for me. Had to cheat to get ROWDYDOW (new word for me as well) and failed to get MISDID (a word I would never use). Also incorrectly entered TENTH ROW for 25a wondering what ORAL HYGIENISTS had to do with centre partings.
Some solutions I only got through the link wording. Namely GOOD to go with NEIGHBOURS and FLAG to go with QUARANTINE (originally a period of 40 days – hence the name) and BEAR to go with PADDINGTON.
If there’s anything else hidden here, I didn’t spot it. Thanks Monk and beermagnet.
Meant to add my praise for NYMPHO but my COD was the lol clue for NEIGHBOURS. There may well be some who complain but I thought it was a brilliantly funny construction. Bet Monk had a gleeful grin when he came up with it.
Great fun – thank you Monk, especially for including one of my favourite words at 15a- Like Hovis I thought the clue for 13d was wonderful. I spotted the links and I’d be interested to know whether Mr P Pond has any relevance.
Thanks also to beermagnet
That was hard. Thanks for the blog, needed help to understand a few today. Not sure what “centre” is doing in 25a, and while I know Columbia University in New York, google doesn’t seem very interested in Columbia State except as something quite obscure and fraudulent. Still, all good fun and I look forward to learning what the 4 two-word lines have in common!
I wonder if in 6dn, A1 is “excellent state” and te definition is just “university”.
I think centre in 25ac is just a place where things happen, as in recreation centre, arts centre, etc. So, DEATH ROW is a centre for parting – death.
Joyce is so pleased that others thought it was hard.
I started it late as usual and wanted to finish it this evening because I have a busy day tomorrow. Lots of checking along the way – enjoyed NYMPHO too which I did manage to sort out unaided. However I needed a couple of reveal letters to open up a corner. 10ac was a new word for me so not surprised that I was having problems. I really needed Bert tonight to bounce some ideas off and I eventually conceded defeat and came here.
I really thought someone would have found a theme or nina. I kept looking hoping that it may enable me to finish without help.
So…… Monk won tonight. Thanks beermagnet. I am so pleased that I had Crosophile this week to blog on my own. I would have struggled with this one. I did enjoy what I was able to sort out though!
It is late, but if anyone else is still awake grateful for further explanation on how ‘totty’ becomes an anagram indicator – assume I am missing the obvious in the same manner as England cricketers are missing the wickets
Well, Chambers defines “totty” as unsteady, dazed, tipsy, which works for me.
Thanks Dormouse It works for me too, but I will forgive myself when even the anagrind is an obscure definition not included in my dictionary Loved the challenge today, and don’t even mind falling a little short
surely if you’re going to include obscure (ridiculous?) words like 10a you should make the clue simpler.
I’m glad others found it but it wasn’t shown at all where I normally look when stuck
We too needed a wordfinder for ROWDYDOW, and for MISDID. In fact at one stage we wondered if ‘girl’ in 2dn was the definition, leading to ‘Sinead’ which would make 10ac ‘honeydew’ – not that we could parse either of them. And we thought of ‘Heath Row’ for 25ac as a centre for [de]parting – the airport name was originally two words.
Apart from that we didn’t do too badly once we got the paired entries. We liked NYMPHO and QUARANTINE (btw Collins has Que as an abbreviation for Quebec – possibly the city, as the province abbreviation is PQ).
Thanks, Monk and beermagnet.