A fun but challenging crossword from Monk this morning.
The Nina helped me as I was stuck on 10a. A message of thanks to the editor, Colin Inman. Well deserved I’m sure!
And thanks from us solvers to Monk.
ACROSS
1. Thrash dough (5)
PASTE
4. Concerning dreams about one being trapped in Clapton? (7)
ONEIRIC
ON (about) + I (one) being trapped by ERIC (Clapton?)
8. City in Europe to fail in discussions (8)
TOULOUSE
“TO LOSE” (to fail, “in discussions”)
9. Promptly give out number when recalled (2,4)
ON TIME
EMIT NO< (give out number, <when recalled)
10. Leave all but composer (4)
HOLS
HOLS[t] (composer, all but)
11. Simple organism, I note, small and terribly dull externally (5,5)
SLIME MOULD
I + MEMO (note); S (small) and (DULL)* (*terribly) externally
12. Go before stake, church adhering to vacuous doctrine (8)
ANTECEDE
ANTE (stake) + CE (church) adhering to D[octrin]E (vacuous)
13. Dog almost catching favourite rabbit (6)
TAPETI
TAI[l] (dog, almost) catching PET (favourite)
15. Indonesian stone transported around island (6)
NESIOT
(STONE)* (*transported) around I (island)
16. Bird is something seen around island (8)
WHINCHAT
WHAT (something seen) around INCH (island)
17. Contained protesters with strange instrument (10)
KETTLEDRUM
KETTLED (contained protesters) with RUM (strange)
19. Digging by Truro on vacation (4)
INTO
IN (by) + T[rur]O (on vacation)
20. Times covering trendy revolutionary snack (6)
SARNIE
(ERAS (times) covering IN (trendy))< (<revolutionary)
21. On reflection, yes, getting fine always brings complaint (3,5)
HAY FEVER
YAH< (yes, <on reflection) getting F (fine) + EVER (always)
23. Starts shooting in prisons, press going outside (5,2)
OPENS UP
PENS (prisons), OUP (press, Oxford University Press) going outside
24. Viewing problems perhaps caused by 22 on the way (5)
STYES
YES (22 across) on ST (the way, street)
DOWN
1. Utter pillock initially runs against fast cat (9)
PRONOUNCE
P[illock] (initially) + R (runs) + ON (against) + OUNCE (fast cat)
2. Opposition to purchase new trainee’s classes (5,10)
SALES RESISTANCE
(TRAINEES CLASSES)* (*new)
3. International currency developed by City University (3)
ECU
EC (city, central London postcode) + U (university)
The European Currency Unit preceded the Euro as an accounting unit used by the EEC
4. Bear grudge and fool English political disciple (7)
OWENITE
OWE (bear grudge) + NIT (fool) + E (English)
5. Self-interest and self-concern, say, not crimes when reviewed (11)
EGOCENTRISM
E.G. (say) + (NOT CRIMES)* (*when reviewed)
6. Outrageous Oscar is pretty clever, with hindsight (15)
RETROSPECTIVELY
(O (Oscar) IS PRETTY CLEVER)* (*outrageous)
7. Buoyancy aid reached over lake (5)
CAMEL
CAME (reached) over L (lake)
11. Developing respect without missing royal staff? (11)
SCEPTRELESS
(RESPECT)* (*developing) + LESS (without)
14. Heads of army invading Turkey putting lock around betrayer (9)
TRAITRESS
A[rmy] I[nvading] (heads of) + TR (Turkey), putting TRESS (lock) around
16. Service vessel with line up above (7)
WORSHIP
SHIP (vessel) + ROW< (line, <up) above (edited – thanks Pelham Barton)
18. Muse or Queen tattoos regularly seen (5)
ERATO
ER (queen) + [t]A[t]T[o]O[s] (regularly seen)
22. Ultimately every little helps, of course (3)
YES
[ever]Y [littl]E [help]S (ultimately)
I suspect I won’t be the only one to confidently enter POUND for 1a, taking ‘dough’ in the money sense.
Hovis@1
POUND was first in until I sussed SALES RESISTANCE-then it was first out.
I had heard of Colin’s imminent departure but all I saw was EDITOR on the right
And I was completely flummoxed by HOLS(T)
Got everything else so glad I came here to be schooled
Thanks Monk and Oriel
Thanks Monk and Oriel
16dn: I took this as SHIP following ROW reversed (line up).
Thanks Pelham Barton @3. Your solution is better and I’ll amend the blog.
I found this quite tricky but spotting the Nina helped no end
Many thanks to Monk, Oriel and Colin!
Thanks for the blog, I think the message led to some fairly obscure words here but they were all clued very fairly. I also had POUND until I got to 2D , I was actually thinking pound=thrash not quite right but close enough, PASTE is much better.
Many excellent constructions so I will not pick favourites.
15A was unknown to me. As was 4A.
16A: how does “something seen” equate to “what”?
17A: I have only seen “kettle” as a police maneuverer in crosswords.
21A: How does “Yes” mean “hay” … or even reversed “yah”?
4D: “owe” = “bear grudge” – not in my vocabulary. And what is an “owenite”?
14D: I would have thought that the word would be “traitoress”, but both words were unknown to me.
Peter@7 a few ideas. I think it is just something=what and it is seen around inch.
OK YAH was Yuppie speak or posh Sloane Rangers, meaning yes.
OWENITE follower of Robert Owen, a great socialist thinker .
Defeated by the crossing ONEIRIC and OWENITE and only spotted the THANKS EDITOR bit of the Nina. Just being slow, but I still can’t really see WHAT for ‘something’ or ‘is something’ though crossers helped in solving 16a. A few other uncommon or new words in TAPETI and NESIOT, so this was up to the standard of the usual Monk toughie.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel
Some rather odd entries to accommodate the theme. I assume that editor is retiring?
Well-written, which is a blessing in this case!
Thanks Monk for a clever crossword and nina (which I overlooked). Much of this was beyond my orbit — HOLS, NESIOT, WHINCHAT, OWENITE but I was able to deduce SARNIE, ONEIRIC, and TAPETI which means I still have hope for the next Monk test. I particularly liked PRONOUNCE and TOULOUSE. Thanks Oriel for explaining it all.
Great puzzle by m’colleague, whose sentiments here I thoroughly endorse.
It’s never much of a pleasure solving a Monk as one always has look up so many obscure words.
We were struggling with the left hand side till we saw EDITOR down the RHS and had a hunch that the LHS had to read THANKS, enabling us to finish. We missed the rest of the nina, though. TAPETI and NESIOT were new to us -and we only saw the latter by chance while looking in the dictionary for a different word.
A challenge but worth the effort.
Thanks to setter, editor and blogger.
Struggled and cheated but made it in the end. I knew Colin was retiring after more than 40 years (at the FT i was his deputy on crossies for some years) then came here to check and realised the nina. All good things must come to an end I suppose. He stands as the longest serving crossword editor on a national paper.
When I was a kid I had many a stye, but they never impaired my vision. Viewer problems would work better.
A nit-pick really Greg. And your alternative suggestion?