Financial Times 17,139 by MONK

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At the easier end of the Monk scale, so not very easy!. Thank you Monk.

The grid is a pangram, even I can spot that. Can anyone see anything more in here?

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
7 MAXIMIN
Old car plant, almost the best of a bad bunch? (7)

MAXI (Austin Maxi, old car) then MINt (a plant, almost)
8 GROSSER
More obscene 20 getting caught (7)

sounds like (getting caught) "grocer" (20 across)
10 PRESERVE
Maintain quiet aloofness (8)

P (quiet) and RESERVE (aloofness)
11 VIAGRA
By George – adult lifting gear? (6)

VIA (by) GR (George Rex) and A (adult)
12 TWELVE-HOUR CLOCK
Check out Orwell novel – see inside, you may use it for the time (6-4,5)

anagram (novel) of CHECK OUT ORWELL containing (with…inside) V (vide, see)
13 THE DIRTY DOZEN
1960s war film editor cutting one way to view 360? (3,5,5)

ED (editor) inside (cutting) THIRTY DOZEN (360 = 30 x 12)
16 QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
Team quotes often hushed up after sacking wingers in squad (5,2,3,5)

anagram (up) of QUOTES OFTEN HUsHEd missing (after sacking) outer letters (wingers) in SquaD – a Scottish football team
20 GROCER
Picked up 8 for food shop (6)

sounds like (picked up) "grosser" (8 across)
21 OLD FLAME
Ex model, half drunk, leaving hotel (3,5)

anagram (drunk) of MODEL hALF missing H (hotel)
22 OSTMARK
Stamp on letter, not a penny in old money abroad (7)

pOSTMARK (stamp on letter) missing P (a penny)
23 TWIN BED
Bishop breaking wind died in a place of rest just like another? (4,3)

B (bishop) inside (breaking) TWINE (wind, to roll up) then D (died)
DOWN
1 BARROW
Old hill indicated by black pointer (6)

B (black) and ARROW (pointer)
2 LIP SALVE
Wearing this, chaps are less likely to kiss (3,5)

cryptic definition ? I want kiss to mean mouth, but that would be kisser.
3 DISRAELI
Papers held up – around 5 PM on one occasion (8)

ID (papers) reversed (held up) containing (around) ISRAEL (5 down)
4 DRIVER
Club penguin, say, catching end of finger (6)

DIVER (penguin say) containing (catching) last letter of fingeR
5 ISRAEL
Republic in 3 scrapping borders (6)

dISRAELi (3 down) missing outer letters (borders)
6 JERRYCAN
Mouse getting titchy bits of cheese after nibbling container (8)

JERRY (mouse, from Tom and Jerry) then first letters (titchy bits of) Cheese After Nibbling
9 AEROSTATION
Ballooning aristo ate no crackers (11)

anagram (crackers) of ARISTO ATE NO
13 TAU CROSS
Tense, mostly annoyed, St Anthony is associated with this (3,5)

TAUt (tense, mostly) then CROSS (annoyed) – also known as Saint Anthony's cross

14 DIED DOWN
Fail before limits of demand have subsided (4,4)

DIE (fail) then outer letters (limits) of DemanD and OWN (have)
15 ZOOM LENS
This will hopefully help one to get better still (4,4)

cryptic definition
17 ENCAMP
For one, 3 having complaint raised pitch (6)

PM (Disraeli for one, 3 down) with ACNE (medical complaint) all reversed (raised)
18 ORRERY
Error upset unknown heavenly model needing a wind-up? (6)

anagram (upset) of ERROR then Y (an unknown)
19 TIMBER
Warning announced as plane possibly plummets (6)

cryptic definition – warning of a a plane tree possibly being cut down

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,139 by MONK”

  1. I enjoyed this and had to dig deep to solve it completely. I can’t see a Nina either but the Pangram helped with 1ac.

    Disraeli was Prime Minister twice, in fact.

  2. I wouodnt have said that this was on the easy side for Monk
    But spotting D(ISRAEL)I and GROCER/GROSSER gave me a push
    The GROSSER) tied in with the TWELVE HOUR CLOCK and THE DIRTY DOXEN
    TH(ed)IRTY DOZEN of course makes 360

    That and the pangram not to mention the brilliant cluing esp “Lifting gear”

    Thanks Monk and Pe Dee

  3. Agree with Steven, that the Disraeli clue made me do a double-take. It was, however, an excellent grid full of wit.
    PeeDee reckons this was easier, and he must be right, as I was just left with one, ORRERY, to solve with the aid of cheats. There are usually a few more for me with this setter). Loved the ‘plane’ in 19d, 11a, 12a and the amusing 2d with its sneaky ‘chaps’.
    Saw the pangram, noted the repetitions (Israel, Disraeli, twelve/dozen, grocer/grosser) but couldn’t find a nina or anything else though I suspect there’s something.
    Thanks to Monk and PeeDee.

  4. Oh no! In the 11th-hour-tweaked version of the puzzle on my USB the clue for 3dn is Papers held up – around 5 PM on a couple of occasions. However, the one that I submitted was from my hard disk, and I hadn’t synced files. So mea culpa, and profuse apologies 🙁

  5. Thanks for the blog, a lot of fine clues here, I did like the connecting clues.
    Perhaps 12AC has an allusion to 1984 and the famous first line with the clock striking thirteen.
    ORRERY seems to turn up quite often for a tricky place in the grid. I have several orreries , try saying that on a Friday night.

  6. Thanks Monk. It certainly didn’t detract from pleasure of solving this grid. I live in high hopes of completing one of yours some day soon.

  7. “Not very easy” indeed. Who knew there was such a word as MAXIMIN? A professor of mathematics, (and by the blog and lack of comments about the word, our blogger and other posters) that’s who. Even seeing that X was needed for the pangram didn’t help. I couldn’t quite get LIP SALVE to work either; a sort of whole clue as the def (ie cryptic def) and part of the clue as the def, but I’m probably missing something.

    Very good though as usual with VIAGRA (‘lifting gear?’!) and the ZOOM LENS and TIMBER cryptic defs my favourites.

    Thanks to Monk (including for popping in to explain 3d) and PeeDee

  8. I thought the cross-referencing things with DISRAELI and ISRAEL rather annoying, as you should really be given one of them in cluing. The sort of tiresome thing one expects to see in The Guardian, as is up as an anagrind. Monk I normally like a lot but didn’t think this was him at his best (regardless of the mistake).

  9. “The easier end of the Monk scale”? Not in our book; this was considerably more difficult than Monk’s offering in the Indy on Saturday. But we persevered and eventually finished with some anagram solver and wordfinder help. The interdependent pairs, 3&5 and 8&20 foxed us for a while but we really liked them when we realised what was going on. We also liked JERRYCAN and TIMBER, and couldn’t suppress a smile at VIAGRA. As for 5, we’re not very well up in 19th century history so the error passed us by. The pangram also passed us by we were too relieved to have finished to look for one.
    Thanks, Monk and PeeDee.

  10. Thanks Monk and PeeDee

    Distracted by UK politics I only got to this late on, and found it tricky, possibly for the same reason.

    Re 2D I saw it as a CAD, or &lit if you wish: if you’re wearing lip salve you’re less likely to have chapped lips, so there would be no chaps (ie flaky skin) when the lips meet to kiss.

    That’s probably an over-convoluted explanation.

  11. I think in 2d that “chaps” can be read in two ways. One reading ends in “likely” when “chaps” means “sores” )then to kiss would be superfluous; and one ending in “kiss” when it means “fellows”.
    That would clear up PeeDee’s problem because chaps with balm on would be “less likely to kiss” and WordPlodder @7 when the whole clue is the cryptic def.

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