Independent 11,679 by Monk

by

A varied mixture of clue difficulties in this offerring from Monk

A simple clue at 1 across to get us going.  Not that it helped me properly get 2d where I thought the answer was going to be EXCLAVE and could not see what “subject” was giving us.
I have been fascinated by enclaves and laugh at the hilarious “borders” between Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, as well as the odd splodges in the swirl of borders between Kyrgyz-, Tajiki- and Uzbekistans.  What’s the difference between an enclave and an exclave anyway?  I suppose it’s the same place but depends who’s talking.  Not funny in the Caucasus though, qv. Nagorno-Karabakh.

Among the clues I found hard:
17:  ISN’T  – is it sufficient to clue this with just “contraction” as the definition?  I’m not sure
20:  That wordplay took me ages to unravel
5:  Just reference by “food”, comestible always brings to mind Cleese & Palin in the Cheese Shop sketch
and in particular
25:  With references to three other lights for both definition and wordplay I was surprised this wasn’t the last one in.

Favourite Clue:  27 – The exact anagram DISTENTION/TENDONITIS fooled me and gave me the best PDM when spotted

I started with 1A and I ended with the last, tiny, down light: 26D whose wordplay still confuses me – maybe you folks can resolve that in the comments.

All good fun and thanks to Monk.
If you are looking for a Monkian NINA, I suggest you move along …

Across
1 NEXT Nearest neighbours exemplify tact, initially holding vote (4)
N[eighbours] E[xemplify] T[act] around (holding) X (vote). First Read First In
4 PECCADILLO Police deployed around pound arresting rogue for minor sin (10)
(POLICE)* AInd: deployed, around L (pound) to make PECILLO, around (arresting) CAD (rogue).
9 OCTANT One month besieging Brown Sector (6)
OCT (a month) around (besieging) TAN (brown)
10 MISTRESS Bit on the side in Paris very inspired by escape (8)
TRES (very, in Paris, i.e. in French), inside (inspired by) MISS (escape)
11 TAILLESS Docked in unusually still sea (8)
(STILL SEA)* AInd: unusually.
13 MAGPIE Hoarder‘s minute silver dish (6)
M[inute] AG (silver, Element symbol Ag) PIE (dish) Magpies are known to collect and hoard shiny trinkets like black & white feathered gollums
14 HELPING OUT Sharing cost of portion alfresco? (7,3)
HELPING (portion) OUT (al fresco)
16 LUGE Sport gun Republican avoids (4)
LUGER (gun) – R[epublican]
17 ISNT Contraction of insanity intermittently observed (4)
Regular letters of InSaNiTy
19 SPIROGRAPH Toy hippos loosely stuffed with twisted rag — that’s about right (10)
(HIPPOS + RAG)* AInd: loosely, around R[right]
22 NAPOLI Layman apolitically embraces a vision to die for? (6)
Hidden inside  laymaN APOLItically. Referencing the phrase “Visit Naples and die” – apparently because it’s so beautiful you just curl up and fade away
23 POSTPONE Put off after page 1 (8)
POST (after) P[age] ONE (1)
25 GUERILLA 7 band member tipped 3 to cavort with 16 (8)
([t]RAIL + LUGE)* AInd: to cavort. Definition from the answer to light 7d IRREGULAR, and TRAIL and LUGE derived from answers to 3d and 16a.  Very, very tricky
26 BOATER Braggart turns out second hat (6)
BOASTER (braggart) – S[econd].
27 TENDONITIS Distention following injury causes tissue inflammation (10)
(DISTENTION)* AInd: following injury. I did not see this exact anagram for a very long time, until after getting the answer from the def. and crossers.
28 KITE Equipment located by English and Scottish corporation (4)
KIT (equipment) E[nglish].  KITE is a Scottish term for the stomach.  I needed a dictionary check.
Down
2 ENCLAVE Isolated group subject turns son into Conservative (7)
ENSLAVE (Subject) Swap S[on] for C[onservative]
3 TRAIL Run into train track (5)
R[un] inside TAIL (train)
4 PIT Withdrawn hint is mine (3)
TIP< (hint, withdrawn)
5 COMES TO Stirs just over half of food round? (5,2)
COMEST[ibles] (food, just over half) O (round) Stirs in the sense of awakens e.g. after a faint.
6 ASSUMPTIONS Suppositions Maoists spun freely (11)
(MOAISTS SPUN)* AInd: freely.
7 IRREGULAR Disorderly old tax collectors going as predicted? (9)
IR (old tax collectors. IR Inland Revenue, now HMRC, thus “old”) REGULAR (going as predicted = regular, in a bowel movement sense)
8 LESSING Doris, say, arguably more “out” before end of evening (7)
LESS IN (more out, arguably) [evenin]G  Definition is referring to Doris Lessing Wiki
12 ENNISKILLEN Unbounded sport expertise starts to enrich new county town (11)
[t]ENNI[s] (sport, unbounded) SKILL (expertise) E[nrich] N[ew].  County town of Fermanagh
15 PETROGRAD Old place name red-top rag reprinted (9)
(RED TOP RAG)* AInd: reprinted.   1703 St Petersburg – 1914 Petrograd – 1924 Leningrad – 1991 St Petersburg
18 STATUTE Law takes time to block representation (7)
T[ime] inside (to block) STATUE (representation)
20 IMPLANT Mike, flexible, fully promotes one prosthetic filler (7)
M[ike] PLIANT (flexible) with the I (one) “promoted” to the front.  Very tricky wordplay
21 PUNGENT Sharp play on words chap supports (7)
PUN (play on words) GENT (chap)
24 PLANK Exercise strategy that goes up to 11? (5)
PLAN (strategy) K (11th letter of the alphabet)
26 BIS Brother or sister pops up twice (3)
If the B is from B[rother] how to get IS from “sister”?
Maybe from (SI[ster])< with “pops up” as a reversal indicator, and “twice” indicating two letters used.
But “twice” will then be doing double duty – which is appropriate maybe!
Most tricky – Last one in
Edit:  SIB[ling]< (Brother or sister, popping up)
(Thanks KVa @ comment #1)

There is a NINA in the left and right-most unches.  I presume this is a tribute to Frank Drebin

20 comments on “Independent 11,679 by Monk”

  2. If you are looking for a Monkian NINA, I suggest you move along …
    LOL
    Oh! Yea. NOTHING TO SEE HERE

    Thanks Monk and beermagnet!
    Loved GUERILLA and COMES TO.
    MAGPIE
    A person who hoards or steals objects (figurative). Must have been derived from what the bog describes as a magpie’s routine.

  4. That’s a tricky one, Ian @3. Chambers gives both spellings with no preference indicated. The NHS website gives it as TENDONITIS.

    TAILLESS and IMPLANT were my favourites today. PLANK also made me smile. A nice Nina: remarkably – I have actually seen that one done before. I once met the inventor of SPIROGRAPH in a Lake District Youth Hostel.

    Thanks Monk and beermagnet

  5. Top half easy, bottom half hard – for me anyway. Spent too long looking for some nothings in the grid, but found nothing!
    Ian SW3 @3: Tendonitis and tendinitis are given as permitted alternatives in dictionaries, but the former seems more logical as it’s inflammation of a tendon, not a tendin.
    Thanks Monk and Beermagnet.

  7. For 5d COMES TO – I parsed the COMEST as “just over half” (6/11) of COMESTIBLES – rarely seen in the singular to mean “food”.

  9. Thanks KVa @ #1 – for the correct explanation for 26d: SIB[ling]<
    I knew I must be missing something. It is so obvious when it is pointed out.

    FrankieG: I agree about COMESTIBLES – I have added an “s”.

    Magpies often hang around our garden together with crows and jackdaws cawing together. Seemingly incredibly intelligent birds.
    I swear I saw, some years ago, a gang of magpies taking turns to slide down the small child’s slide we had in the garden then.
    They also seem to work together. Once, there was a fox scoffing some largish piece of carrion and a magpie was making a noisy fuss attacking it to the extent of nipping its tail. The fox turned to chase off the bird leaving the food long enough for another magpie to get in and have a go at it.

  10. Thanks Monk and beermagnet.

    Loved this. Nina helped with a few on RHS.

    Still a DNF, as I was messing with BLOWER / BOWLER to be 24a and could get PLANK, with P???K.

    Btw, Has , ‘NOTHING TO SEE HERE’ been used before? Sounds familiar.

  11. Thanks both. Found this tough, but gradually got there. NAPOLI intrigues me – our guide in the city told us the expression relates to the neighbouring town of Mori which translates as die; a bit like ‘see Manchester and Salford’ but less romantic.

  12. Thanks Monk, great stuff. My picks were NEXT, MISTRESS, POSTPONE, TENDONITIS, and LESSING. I missed NAPOLI and therefore I missed the nina. Thanks beermagnet for the blog.

  13. And I always thought the Naples thing was because of organised crime, reckless drivers and questionable hygiene in dining establishments. Now I know better.
    If I ever spot a nina it’ll be the day the ravens abandon the Tower of London.
    Thamks Monk and beermagnet.

  14. I tried MANAPO for 22ac (before getting 12dn) but that wasn’t in Chambers, and I totally missed the hidden NAPOLI and guessed SATORI instead.

    I used to have a SPIROGRAPH back in the sixties and I was surprised to see they were on sale in the museum shop in the San Francisco Exploratorium when I was there a few years ago, bur Wikipedia tells me the toy was relaunched in 2013.

  15. Took ages and still DNF. County town was too tough for me (and it was in Ireland) and the former name was nho although it seemed obvious what was happening with the anagrind. Kudos to Monk for trouncing me and thanks to BM for unpacking the clues mainly in the bottom right where I was stumped. A vision to die for? I guess everyone knows except me.

  16. I too loved my Spirograph set when I was small in the sixties. I didn’t think it had ever gone away! I’m sure I dug it out for the first few kids in the eighties. Of course these days everything is online – a few years ago I found an online version and spent far too long playing, and, err, I have found it again (and spent far too long playing) here:
    https://sciencedemos.org.uk/spirograph.php
    [ Favourite so far: “26 to 36” multiple pens ]

  17. I think I might still have the family spirograph somewhere.

    I found this very tough but nothing I would say was unfair – just not meshing well with my mental Cogs. I missed the Nina of course.

    Thank Monk and Beer magnet.

    And now off to spirograph electronically

  20. FrankieG
    Yes.
    Those magpies looked very much like that Russian crow. It was frosty, no real snow, but the slide was slidey.
    There was a lot of flapping on the way down which drew my attention to it. At first I thought the bird was having trouble taking off to fly, then I realised there was more than one taking turns. No equipment (coffee-cup lid/snowboard) involved, just feet.

Comments are closed.