Financial Times 17,454 by MONK

by

A brilliant challenge from Monk this morning.

I spotted the Nina late in the game, but it was helpful, particularly in the north east corner. As ever, a brilliant challenge from Monk and many thanks to him.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8. Bond stopping out for birthday (8)
FORTIETH

TIE (bond) stopping FORTH (out)

9. One after the other, as disputants may be (2,1,3)
IN A ROW

Double definition

10. Stone block crushing state’s defunct space hardware (6)
SKYLAB

SLAB (stone block) crushing KY (state, abbreviation for Kentucky)

11. I work in Essen when picked up (8)
TINSMITH

Cryptic definition

"Essen" picked up = Sn, chemical formula for TIN

12. Duty dealt with by the FT? (4)
ONUS

ON US (dealt with by the FT)

13. Where to change old biker — menace, according to Spooner (6,4)
LOCKER ROOM

ROCKER (old biker) + LOOM (menace) – according to Spooner

15. Similar characters offer hatred and bias freely (5,2,1,7)
BIRDS OF A FEATHER

(OFFER HATRED and BIAS)* (*freely)

18. Councillor having viewed housing put back court’s conclusion in recording of trial? (6,4)
SCREEN TEST

(CR (councillor), SEEN (having viewed) housing) + SET< (put, <back) + [cour]T (conclusion)

20. Man and wife beset by depression (4)
PAWN

W (wife) beset by PAN (depression)

Man in the sense of a chess piece

22. Old filmmaker, note, brought back yellow parrot (8)
IMITATOR

(TATI (old filmmaker) + MI (note)) <brought back + OR (yellow)

24. Volunteers to pack McIlroy’s club (6)
ROTARY

TA (volunteers, Territorial Army) to pack RORY (McIlroy)

25. Chief in China crossing border (6)
PRIMAL

PAL (china) crossing RIM (border)

26. Calamity as sliver of glass found in fresh cat food (3,2,3)
ACT OF GOD

G[lass] (sliver of) found in (CAT FOOD)* (*fresh)

DOWN
1. Assumed extremely new floor should be included (4,2)
TOOK ON

(TOO (extremely) + N (new)), KO (floor, knockout) should be included

2. Put into service uniform, is wearing hat upon commencement of duty (8)
UTILISED

U (uniform) + (IS wearing TILE (hat)) upon D[uty] (commencement of)

3. Maybe publishing revision of urban novel (6,4)
VERBAL NOUN

(URBAN NOVEL)* (*revision of)

4. Hear a low-pitched shot somewhere in the East End (11,4)
WHITECHAPEL ROAD

(HEAR A LOW-PITCHED)* (*shot)

5. Christian city in China (4)
XIAN

Double definition

X is sometimes used as a symbol for Christ, e.g. Xmas

6. Novel caught up in your outcry (6)
YAMMER

EMMA (novel) caught <up in YR (your)

7. Raised left side of base in girl’s Victorian toy (8)
ZOETROPE

(PORT (left) + [bas]E (side of)) <raised in ZOE (girl)

14. Core Attlee stirred? (10)
ELECTORATE

(CORE ATTLEE)* (*stirred) &lit

16. Artist arrived secretly (2,6)
IN CAMERA

IN CAME RA (artist arrived)

RA meaning artist (Royal Academician)

17. Bailiff dashed past, breaking up squabble (8)
TIPSTAFF

(PAST)* (*dashed) breaking up TIFF (squabble)

19. Bury old medic beneath hospital department? (6)
ENTOMB

(O (old) + MB (medic, Bachelor of Medicine)) beneath ENT (hospital department, Ear, Nose & Throat)

21. Hawk makes turn to pull up (6)
WARDOG

(GO (turn) + DRAW (to pull)) <up

23. Powder line inhaled by soaring jazz fan (4)
TALC

L (line) inhaled by CAT< (jazz fan, <soaring)

9 comments on “Financial Times 17,454 by MONK”

  1. Second Monk of the day and no complaints. The Nina made this a little gentler than the one in the Indy but even with the help of the first letter XIAN, YAMMER and ZOETROPE were still quite tricky. I don’t know if there’s anything to FORTIETH IN A ROW across the second row of the grid.

    Favourite was TINSMITH which I almost gave up on at the end before it came to me; a great clue.

    Thanks to Oriel and Monk

    PS Touch wood, but the site access problems appear to have been fixed; here’s hoping anyway.

  2. Thought I’d finished this, but when I looked again I’d only done less than half. Now that I remember, I spent quite some time staring with no use of the pen. Monk was on my “Don’t attempt” list, and I daresay will stay there.

    Haven’t read through the blog yet, but will. Thanks Oriel.

  3. My PS @1: Looks like I spoke too soon. I’m able to get through on my laptop (using Edge) but not on the iPad (Safari).

  4. His Indie puzzle was a great first course and when I saw the jigsaw grid
    (or whatever its called ) I knew we were in for a great main dish
    Two MonKs in one day? OK by me
    Thanks Mark

  5. I’m wondering whether the two Monks should be taken together. They seem to be linked by an East End place – or is that just a coincidence?
    ENTOMB = INTER
    I solved the bottom half first and noticed the Nina. I think the top half would have been nigh on impossible without it.
    There may be a FORTIETH anniversary theme of some kind.

  6. The friendlier of today’s equally enjoyable crosswords from Monk, Spotting the bottom row Nina did help finding letters for the clues at the top

    Thanks to Monk and Oriel

  7. Agree with Geoff – must remember: do not attempt Monk.

    There were far too many remote synonyms for my brain. As a result, I finished without fully understanding a large number of clues. Thanks to Oriel for explaining them and thanks Monk

  8. Thanks Monk for a super crossword. I needed a nudge or two but most of this made sense to me. Top picks were SKYLAB, PRIMAL, ACT OF GOD, and ELECTORATE. Liked the helpful nina. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  9. Billy Bragg’s song A New England(1983) celebrates its FORTIETH anniversary this year. I prefer Kirsty MacColl’s version from 1984.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3RzkH8l-B0
    The lyrics include:
    “I saw two shooting stars last night | I wished on them, but they were only satellites
    It’s wrong to wish on space hardware | I wish, I wish, I wish you’d care”
    Thanks M&O – C/r=2pi

Comments are closed.