A fantastic puzzle from Monk.
Monk is on top form, with cleverly crafted clues. Did you pick up the connections in the perimeter solutions?
Many thanks to Monk
ACROSS
1. Etonians, laid off, put under state control (12)
NATIONALISED
8. Boring thing, extremely eager — a promising catch? (5)
BITER
BIT (boring thing (drill bit)) + E[age]R (extremely)
9. Reckless bore pinching large flock of sheep (9)
BLINDFOLD
BIND (bore) pinching L (large) + FOLD (flock of sheep)
11. Punctilio, somehow indiscreet (9)
UNPOLITIC
12. Stamp gold covers for so long (5)
ADIEU
DIE (stamp), AU (gold) covers
13. Looping component of weekend lessons (7)
ENDLESS
[week]END LESS[on] (component of)
15. Poet’s line inspired by wonder (7)
MARVELL
L (line) inspired by MARVEL
‘Inspired’ meaning taken in by so the L for ‘line’ is the first L
17. Burden borne by curt geek, one shunning drugs (3-4)
NON-USER
ONUS (burden) borne by NER[d] (geek, curt)
19. Apocryphal book finally seen in South America and North America (7)
SUSANNA
[see]N (finally) in S USA (South America) and NA (North America)
21. Tailless parasite eats tip of tobacco plant (5)
LOTUS
LOUS[e] (parasite, tailless) eats T[obacco] (tip of)
23. Fruit from out-of-bounds area checked by 9 (9)
NECTARINE
[h]ECTAR[e] (area, out of bounds) checked by NINE (9)
25. Unfortunately, I urged withdrawal of regret required by etiquette (2,7)
DE RIGUEUR
(I URGED)* (*unfortunately) + RUE< (regret, <withdrawal of)
26. In prime locations, manages vast anxiety (5)
ANGST
[m]AN[a]G[e]S [vas]T (in prime locations)
Mathematically prime, so letters in positions 2, 3, 5, 7, 11
27. Purifying process that might render barnacle bare? (12)
DESALINATION
Cryptic definition
Barnacles develop a shell made of limestone salts
But more cleverly, as pointed out by Hovis @1, if we remove NACL (i.e. salt) from BAR[nacl]E we are left with BARE
DOWN
1. Secretary marked boxes for small computer (7)
NOTEPAD
PA (secretary), NOTED (marked) boxes
2. Shorter broadcast censoring nothing about sick page-turners (9)
THRILLERS
(SH[o]RTER)* (*broadcast, censoring O (nothing)) about ILL (sick)
3. Old boy clutching right eye socket (5)
ORBIT
O (old) + BIT (boy) clutching R (right)
Not certain of this, although Bit is a boy’s name. Better ideas? EDIT: Monk stopped by to explain that this clue has an editing error (see comments).
4. Perhaps Fawlty Towers starts to evoke smiles in any way whatsoever (2,2,5)
AS IT COMES
A SITCOM (perhaps Fawlty Towers) + E[voke] S[miles] (starts to)
Fawlty Towers is an example of a sitcom, indicated by ‘perhaps’
5. Country showing how diva embraces Victor? (5)
INDIA
Cryptic definition
DI[v]A embraces V (Victor) IN ‘DIA’
6. Author audibly breathed dejectedly for destruction of life-support systems? (7)
ECOCIDE
ECO (author, Umberto Eco) + “SIGHED” (breathed dejectedly, “audibly”)
7. 25-50% sector of pie is so old, suet began disintegrating (6-6)
OBTUSE ANGLED
(OLD SUET BEGAN)* (*disintegrating)
25-50% sector of pie gives you an angle between 90 and 180 degrees (the full pie is 360)
10. Where men may go after, say, anti-aircraft spies? (6,6)
DOUBLE AGENTS
GENTS (where men may go) after DOUBLE A (say, anti-aircraft (AA))
14. Plain, calm girl initially stops before appeal overthrown (9)
SERENGETI
SERENE (calm), G[irl] (initially) stops before IT< (appeal, <overthrown (sex appeal/’it’))
16. Militants following a Russian monarch northwards for former emperor (3,6)
RAS TAFARI
(IRA (militants) + F (following) + A + TSAR (Russian monarch))< (<northwards)
18. Fool oversees republic backing informal club (7)
NITERIE
NIT (fool) oversees EIRE< (republic, <backing)
20. Old lady holds fruit over piercing tool (4,3)
NAIL GUN
NAN (old lady) holds UGLI< (fruit, <over)
22. No time to spot Greek letter (5)
SIGMA
S[t]IGMA (spot, no T (time) to)
24. Approximately two thirds of band beginning to argue (5)
CIRCA
CIRC[le] (band, two thirds of) + A[rgue] (beginning to)
barNACLe.
I agree that this was a great puzzle. Clever that the two opposite perimeters were anagrams of each other. I only noticed when I had finished .
Thanks to Monk for a stimulating puzzle and Oriel for an immaculate blog.
Thanks Hovis @1 – missed that reference. I’ll add it in to the blog.
Very good Hovis@1 Wonderful clue!
DESALINATION
Could this be called a cryptic CAD (of course +the de-NACL-ing WP)? Superb clue!
ORBIT
Waiting to see what others say. I have no better ideas.
SERENGETI (a minor point)
SERENE-G stops (G in SERENE) before TI. Probably, that’s what the blog says. If so, sorry to repeat it.
Thanks Monk and Oriel!
1a – “Etonians, laid off, put under state control” – sounds like a plan
Didn’t notice the perimeter anagrams, but twigged the BARNaClE trick – very cute – as was INDIA
For 3d ORBIT the wordplay only seems to give O(R)B – The IT is missing – How would IT be clued in a crossword? Something sexy, like Information Technology?
[Being very pedantic 7d OBTUSE-ANGLED should have been “26-49% sector of pie is so….”]
Thanks M&O
For ORBIT could it be OBIT(short for obituary) plus R? Many obituaries are about old boys.
FrankieG@6
ORBIT
As you say, probably, the BIT of the clue to lead us to IT is missing OR are we missing something?
Is BIT a boy’s name? Short for some longer name?
OBTUSE-ANGLED
I didn’t see it. Let’s fine-tune it…
25.0000000…..1% to 49.9999999….%
It’s the same as 25-50?
Having been (rightly) characterised by Monk as “nitpicky” for my comment on the last Monk puzzle, I should say that I had no quibbles with this admirable challenge. Some terrific clues, with a special mention for INDIA and DOUBLE AGENTS.
Nothing to add about ORBIT, however – I don’t find the “obit” suggestion convincing and it seems more likely to be just an accidental omission – unless Monk can convince us otherwise.
A bit can be a girl, perhaps it was changed somewhere in the pipeline?
Thanks Monk and Ariel.
An absolutely brilliant puzzle. Best of the year so far.
Good to see I’m not alone in failing to parse ORBIT. Apart from that, I was defeated by the FOLD element of BLINDFOLD. I learned today that a fold can be a flock of sheep as well as the enclosure in which they might be found. I had reached an impasse with the first part of DOUBLE AGENTS but, following that reveal, the crafty anti-aircraft = DOUBLE A resolved itself. DESALINATION is my COTD – I was delighted to spot the NACL – though I was helped by playing with that construction before: there are relatively few words that contain the salt – barnacle, pinnacle, manacle, tabernacle – though three of them do provide helpful containers.
Agree with all the praise for this excellent crossword. Thanks Monk and Oriel
Splendid crossword – I spotted the NACL straight away and I did like the edgy anagrams
Many thanks to Monk and Oriel
I loved DESALINATION and DOUBLE AGENTS. Another who failed to get it in ORBIT. Thanks.
I have it as old boy=OB, right =RT and eye=I though I can’t see a homophone indicator
Thanks Monk and Oriel
3dn: The parts indicated by Ong’ara@15 could indeed fit together to make ORBIT, but the clue would need indicators for how they are to fit together.
7dn: As indicated by KVa@8, the percentage of a full circle could be anything from just over 25% to just under 50%, so we can (quite legitimately) interpret 25-50 as what mathematicians call an “open interval”, excluding the two ends. We certainly do not need to leave out eight percent of the possible values by restricting to the range 26-49. I would respect the argument that it may have been better for Monk to write “Between 25 and 50%”, but personally I do not think it is necessary.
A splendid puzzle indeed. The “prime locations” phrase in 26ac was very ingenious and a new one on me although I am not really sure about NITERIE in 18dn.
Beak@17
NITERIE
An informal word for a nightclub. The def ‘informal club’ seems fine.
Have I not understood your doubt?
Thanks for the blog, very impressive set of clues here . I liked the AA for DOUBLE-AGENTS , it is usually indicated by Alcoholics Anonymous . Neat use of NaCl . ANGST is clever but the “prime locations ” is becoming too obvious with use, it is difficult to see how setters can avoid prime and still have the same meaning.
ORBIT , perhaps a late edit has spoiled the clue.
Thanks Monk for a brilliant set of clues. There was a bit I couldn’t parse and I needed a nudge to get RAS TAFARI but most of this fell into place. My top picks included ANGST ( ‘prime locations’ is a giveaway but the surface impressed me), DESALINATION (after Hovis explained it), OBTUSED-ANGLED, AS IT COMES, INDIA (nice trick), ECOCIDE, and NAIL GUN. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
Many thanks once again to Oriel for a trademarkly-super blog, and to posters for the overwhelmingly very kind comments.
However, mea culpa re ORBIT. As Blackadder would have said: “I prepared a bed for Mr Cockup”. As has been correctly suggested, ’twas indeed the result of a late change following a (correct) editorial niggle. This excerpt from my comment to the editor should explain it:
“…. a wrong clue for ORBIT that both of us missed. Alas it was a result of one of the late changes. My original clue “Died clutching right eye socket”, intended as [R in OBIT] was, as you spotted, incorrect, because ‘died’ is OBIIT. Alas, by looking at only the email and not the source puzzle, I misunderstood that you’d wanted only OB(=died) changed, so we ended up with “Old boy clutching right eye socket”, which of course gives only ORB. With hindsight the replacement clue should have been, eg, “After one leaves, died clutching right eye socket”. The 11th-hour-tweak curse strikes again.
Sorry for any confusion/anger/fury caused. If your solving journey was delayed by more than 15 minutes, please send an SAE to Northern Rail (my local network), quoting reference “FT/17679/orbit”.
PS Lest we forget: thank you very much Pelham Barton@16 for your “open-interval” explanation, which sums it up more succinctly/accurately than I could have done. Indeed, your comment saved me from writing an ‘epsilon-delta’ counterargument 😉
Thanks for stopping by to explain ORBIT, Monk! I’ll amend this in the blog for future visitors.
3D aside, that was a brilliant puzzle. Thank you Monk and tip of the hat to Oriel for a great blog. I especially loved 27A; what a fantastic clue!
Thanks Monk and Oriel. Had to have a look after Oriel’s intro to the blog “a fantastic puzzle…” And it was.
Loved Double A gents and Desalination for such clever cluing. I tend to be lax with my parsing if obvious so missed the orbit faux pas. The amazing paired anagrams on edges were unfo not a help as I always miss things like that
I think that was my favourite puzzle for quite a few weeks. Many thanks