A tricky puzzle from Monk today. Thanks Monk.
There is a DENNIS WATERMAN theme in this puzzle. He played DS George CARTER n the TV series The SWEENEY and the character Terry McCann in the series MINDER and appeared regularly in New TRICKS. I expect there is more, so please let me know what you can find.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | DENNIS |
Send in suspect, a menace to some (6)
|
| anagram (suspect) of SEND IN – Dennis the Menace, character from The Beano children’s comic | ||
| 9 | WATERMAN |
Perhaps gondolier’s attendant and general averting eyes, reportedly (8)
|
| WAiTER (attendant) and MAiN (general) missing (averting) the letter I’s (sounds like, reportedly, eyes) | ||
| 10 | QUATERCENTENARY |
Violently react – tenner to enter dock for anniversary (15)
|
| anagram (violently) of REACT TENNER inside QUAY (dock) | ||
| 11 | REVEILLE |
Raver almost popping one – a wake- up call (8)
|
| REVELLEr (raver, almost) containing (popping, like a pill) I (one) | ||
| 13 | TRICKS |
Sketches outline of rook in dots (6)
|
| R (rook)inside TICKS (dots) | ||
| 14 | G-STRING |
Guitarist initially stumped by drummer removing his old thong (1- 6)
|
| first letter (initially) of Guitarist then ST (stumped, cricket) and RINGo (Ringo Starr, drummer) missing (removing his…) O (old) | ||
| 16 | OLD HAND |
Veteran’s reserved, not starting unlimited drink (3,4)
|
| cOLD (reserved) mising first letter (not starting) then sHANDy (drink) missing outer letters (un-limited) | ||
| 19 | MINDER |
Bodyguard died, choked by underground worker (6)
|
| D (died) inside (choked by, strangled by) MINER (underground worker) | ||
| 21 | INWARDLY |
Privately contrived wild yarn (8)
|
| anagram (contrived) of WILD YARN | ||
| 23 | NATIONAL LOTTERY |
Draw attention orally when upset (8,7)
|
| anagram (when upset) of ATTENTION ORALLY | ||
| 25 | ST HELENA |
Immediately securing emptied lake in South American island (2,6)
|
| THEN (immediately) contains (securing) LakE (emptied, no middle letters) all inside SA (South American) | ||
| 26 | CARTER |
Ticket issuer finally getting driver, of sorts (6)
|
| CARTE (ticket) then last letter (finally) of issueR | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DE LUXE |
With refinements, flood’s essentially fixed for good (2,4)
|
| DELUgE (flood) with middle letter (essentially) of fiXed replacing (for) G (good) | ||
| 2 | KNITWEAR |
Jerseys, say Charlie, caught north of river (8)
|
| KNIT sounds like (caught) “nit” (Charlie, a fool) preceding (north of, in a down clue) then WEAR (the River Wear) | ||
| 3 | USER |
Final score getting last third docked for backing addict (4)
|
| RESUlt (final score) missing (docked) last third then reversed (for backing) | ||
| 4 | SWEENEY |
Very small note in agreement raised an element of force? (7)
|
| WEE (very small) N (note) inside YES (agreement) reversed (raised) – slang for the Flying Squad, an element of the police force | ||
| 5 | STATUTE LAW |
Show disapproval at entering country, going over many rules? (7,3)
|
| TUT (show disapproval) AT inside (entering) WALES (country) all reversed (going over) | ||
| 6 | BRUNEI |
British hunt ending in reputable, independent oil exporters (6)
|
| B (British) RUN (hunt) then last letter (ending in) of reputablE and I (independent) – but why exporters plural? | ||
| 7 | LARRIKIN |
Old poet retaining grip exposed hooligan down under (8)
|
| LARKIN (Philip Larkin, former poet) containing gRIp missing outer letters (exposed) | ||
| 12 | LONE RANGER |
Silver often kept him going, a recluse nark (4,6)
|
| LONE (recluse) RANGER (nark, policeman). Ranger and nark are both slang for a policeman, though probably not applied to he same officer. Or better: LONER (recluse) and ANGER (nark, to annoy someone). Thanks to various commenters for this explanation. | ||
| 15 | SKI PANTS |
Maybe refuse to end up in this worker’s tight trousers (3,5)
|
| SKIP (where refuse may end up) then ANT’S (worker’s) – tight refers to the women’s fashion item rather than the winter sports kit | ||
| 17 | HERSTORY |
Others possibly emptied Rotary account, according to PC? (8)
|
| anagram (possibly) of OTHERS then RotarY (no middle letters, emptied) – a feminist (PC, politically correct) version of history | ||
| 18 | WILLIAM |
Old King of Israel wearing armour – weight mounting (7)
|
| IL (Israel) inside (wearing) MAIL (armour) with W (weight) reversed (mounting) | ||
| 20 | DRIVEL |
Force large rhubarb (6)
|
| DRIVE (force) and L (large) – nonsense | ||
| 22 | LARDER |
Fatter one having hidden – hopefully not in here! (6)
|
| LARDiER (fatter, containing more lard) missing (having hidden) I (one) | ||
| 24 | ONCE |
At any time, drink in clubs – on the contrary (4)
|
| ONE (drink, e.g. have another one) containing (outside, contrary of in) C (clubs) |
Dennis Waterman played Wiliam Brown in the 1960s TV series (18d). To me he is an archetypal 7d!
Thanks setter and blogger.
Monk is in my “don’t attempt” list but I was feeling brave. After an hour only had solved seven, so abandoned ship.
Good memories of DENNIS WATERMAN. The theme helped with 13a as I didn’t know the ‘Sketches outline’ sense of TRICKS. Also missed the WILLIAM series picked up by Steven @1, but agree that the characters he played were loveable rogues or LARRIKIN(s) in the best sense of the word.
Other favourites were G-STRING and the def for LONE RANGER.
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee
My picks: WATERMAN, OLD HAND, DE LUXE, SKI PANTS and ONCE.
Thanks, Monk and PeeDee!
The theme of this puzzle is one of my favourite actors: apart from “Just William” the first time I saw him was in “Up the Junction”. Then I followed him through “Sweeney”, “Minder” and “New Tricks”. He was also in “The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil” and I had the luck to see him live on stage in “Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell”.
Wasn’t he also in a show called “On the up” where he was an ordinary man who became a millionaire? I know that he was married for a time to Rula Lenska who was one of the girl singers in “Rock Follies: – a great show about a female rock band.
Until tonight, I didn’t know that he died last month. So sad, but I’m just a couple of years younger than Dennis. Life is limited, isn’t it?
Time for reflection…
As an alternative parsing of 12d LONERANGER, I’d suggest recluse = LONER and nark = ANGER (as in narked)
That was my reading, Steve. I felt nark = anger was a much better fit, as indeed is loner = recluse. Needed a lot of help to complete this (well, it is a Monk). Didn’t know LARRIKIN or QUATERCENTENARY. Have met HERSTORY though.
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
Found this pretty tough going, only starting it when I got home from work and taking up way too much of the evening. Eventually got it out with a little help from my e-friends. Missed the theme, although SWEENEY and MINDER did ring faint bells – wasted my time looking for the non-existent nina.
Messed up the parsing with 2d – had K-N-IT WEAR – getting Charlie mixed up with Christopher to get the contraction – didn’t think of the ‘Charlie’ / NIT definition. Agree with Steve and Hovis with regard to LONE RANGER.
Had not heard of HERSTORY (of course it had to come … ) and liked the novel way of clueing G-STRING.
Finished down the bottom with ONCE (needed at least one crosser to write it in – so was only after seeing CARTER that could do that), NATIONAL LOTTERY (didn’t spot the anagram until after I twigged to the definition) and WILLIAM (quite a complex word play with the reversal).
This was tough and a dnf. Yes,Peter @5 ,any death is a time for reflection . A deeper one for me as I am five years older than the late DW.
I agree with Steve and Hovis about LONER ANGER. I have never heard of NARK as a policeman only NARC.
But must thank setter and blogger for a mind stretching breakfast workout.
Thanks all for LONE RANGER, definitely a better explanation. Can anyone think of a reason why ST HELENA might be thematic? That would make all teh themed entries symmetrically placed in the grid.
Thanks Monk. Generally I’m like Geoff Down Under and I skip Monk but I gave this a go; it took an evening session and a morning session but I managed to get all but LARRIKIN and WILLIAM without outside help. There was a good bit I couldn’t parse so thanks PeeDee for the help. My top clues included DENNIS, WATERMAN, NATIONAL LOTTERY, DE LUXE, DRIVEL, and LARDER. The theme was unfamiliar but I’m satisfied enough without it.
I don’t see NARK as a policeman, as ‘copper’s nark’ is an informer
Hi Morris, both “policeman” and “police informer” are in the dictionary as meanings of nark, along with half a dozen other meanings too.
I went the nark=annoy=anger route for LONE RANGER.
This was definitely a finish with breakfast coffee puzzle – just done both.
Thanks for the challenge Monk and the unscrambling Peedee.
I usually avoid Monk’s offerings, and this reminded me why.