Financial Times 17,704 by MONK

by

A most enjoyable challenge from Monk.

Monk can by quite tricky and this puzzle is no exception! However, the clues are tightly composed and all makes sense once untangled. The few slightly obscure terms perhaps betray that Monk is trying to hide a message in the grid – have you found it? A great mix of clue types in a very witty and entertaining puzzle, so many thanks to Monk!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
7. Dotty, Sue, Meg and Mo like diamonds etc. (8)
GEMMEOUS

(SUE MEG and MO)* (*dotty)

9. Slow publicity linked to currency- exchange fee (6)
ADAGIO

AD (publicity) + AGIO (currency exchange fee)

10. Lawyer drops fine soft cheese (4)
BRIE

BRIE[f] (lawyer, drops F (fine))

11. Simplistically conveys extraordinary DIY finesse (10)
DISNEYFIES

(DIY FINESSE)* (*extraordinary)

12. Formerly burning unopened station one enters (6)
USTION

[e]USTON (station, unopened), I (one) enters

An archaic term, hence ‘formerly’

13. Metropolis director left with gold following sport (8)
LANGLAUF

LANG (‘Metropolis’ director) + L (left) with AU (gold) + F (following)

15. End of idle chat about going on baby carrier (4,3)
TOTE BAG

[idl]E (end of) + GAB< (chat, <about) going on TOT (baby)

17. Old coin press nicked with difficulty (7)
CRUSADO

CRUS[h] (press, nicked) with ADO (difficulty)

20. Oblivious state of retreating sibling on extremely pricey heroin (8)
HYPNOSIS

(SIS (sibling) + ON + P[rice]Y (extremely) + H (heroin))< (<retreating)

22. Notice brand on both sides of rawhide (6)
REMARK

MARK (brand) on R[awhid]E (both sides of)

23. National Theatre’s last Judas regularly engaging Charlie Gray, say (10)
ECUADORIAN

([theatr]E (last) + [j]U[d]A[s] (regularly) engaging C (Charlie)) + DORIAN (Gray, say)

25. Smuggled boxes round bay (4)
ROAN

RAN (smuggled) boxes O (round)

26. Become confused by wife’s clumsy gait? (6)
WADDLE

ADDLE (become confused) by W (wife)

27. Excessive current consumes last Italian electrical engineer (8)
OLIVETTI

OTT (excessive) + I (current) consumes LIVE (last)

DOWN
1. Stiff examination (10)
NECROSCOPY

Cryptic definition

Play on the word ‘stiff’

2. Fool in stream scratching backside in 1609m or so (8)
IMBECILE

BEC[k] (stream , scratching backside) in 1 MILE (1,609 m or so)

3. Worn-out small honey bears stop! (4,2)
HOLD ON

OLD (worn out), HON (small honey) bears

4. Composer turned on after pub (8)
TAVERNER

RE< (on, <turned) after TAVERN (pub)

5. Stick with sadness, maybe losing face (6)
EARFUL

[t]EARFUL (with sadness maybe, losing face)

6. Bog roll initially held in air when wiping bottom (4)
MIRE

R[oll] (initially) held in MIE[n] (air, when wiping bottom)

8. Juvenile’s escort holds up plant (6)
SESELI

[juven]ILES ES[cort]< (holds, <up)

14. Hunted rare bats in cave, perhaps (10)
UNDEREARTH

(HUNTED RARE)* (*bats)

16. Vulture loves odd bits of Graham on the rocks (8)
AASVOGEL

(LOVES + G[r]A[h]A[m] (odd bits of))* (*on the rocks)

18. River mostly divides lush county (8)
SOMERSET

MERSE[y] (river, mostly) divides SOT (lush)

19. English superficially read old northern language (6)
ESKIMO

E (English) + SKIM (superficially read) + O (old)

21. Tarantula in hand usually bites (6)
NHANDU

[i]N HAND U[susally] (bites)

22. Managed senior police officers, gaining rank (6)
RANCID

RAN (managed) + CID (senior police officers, Criminal Investigation Department)

24. Pick up food for so long (4)
CIAO

“CHOW” (food, “pick up”)

22 comments on “Financial Times 17,704 by MONK”

  1. I saw the nina once I looked at the blog. Too late to help me! I enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks to Monk and Oriel.

  2. I only got less than halfway in and realised that this was full of words no-one’s heard of, so I abandoned ship. Not my idea of fun.

  4. Thanks for the blog, I can see the perimeter now, it is the last sentence in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Is there anything else?
    A severe case of the tail wagging the dog.

  5. Several levels above my pay grade . . . gemmeous, ustion, langlauf, aasvogel . . . say no more . . .

  6. To be frank, too hard to be enjoyable for me. Six new words in GEMMEOUS, DISNEYFIES, USTION, CRUSADO, SESELI, AASVOGEL and NHANDU and some other hard clues as well, eg TOTE BAG and ECUADORIAN. Finished unaided after a v. long time (>2 hours) and only noticed the Nina (no idea what it meant) after completion, too late to help in solving.

    Anyway, some reward with the grid filled correctly and six new entries (a record for one puzzle) for my “Words I’ve Forgotten From Cryptics” file.

    Thanks to Monk and Oriel

  7. I agree, Oriel – most enjoyable and tightly composed. USTION and LANGLAUF took a fair bit of teasing out but I got there eventually. Might have got there sooner if I’d spotted the Nina! Thanks, Monk and Oriel.

  8. Could someone kindly help me understand the def of NHANDU. I saw the lurker but Chambers told me it’s a rhea or ostrich. I scoured entries for rhea and for tarantula but could not find the link. What am I missing?

    ECUADORIAN was very satisfying to put together. Ditto HYPNOSIS, OLIVETTI and SOMERSET.

    I found this just a bit too tough to complete and retired hurt with half a dozen to go in the North so many thanks to Oriel for explaining everything – except tarantula.

    Thanks both

  9. I figured the extraordinary selection of oddball words was in the service of some nina, but I still did not see it, and now having seen it, do not find it illuminating. Oh, well. The clues were fine but a bit of a slog. I will blame my tired brain.

  10. Ah! Have now discovered the missing link. I don’t know how I’ve gone for so long without knowing of the nhandu tarantula. Mistake of relying on Chambers.

  11. Thanks Monk and Oriel.

    Certainly some lesser-spotted vocabulary on show here, but all fairly clued. Well worth the more than usual effort to solve it.

  12. What GDU said. Not my cup of tea. Thanks anyway, Monk, and thanks for the much needed and illuminating blog, Oriel.

  13. I don’t mind a ‘new’ word or two in a crossword but did feel there were too many in this one

    Thanks to Monk and especially to Oriel

  14. Thanks Monk. What an odd collection of words that was but at least most of them were clued with anagrams or hidden indicators making them accessible to mere mortals. I saw the nina developing and that helped a good deal. My favourites were ECUADORIAN, OLIVETTI, and SOMERSET. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  16. Managed only four answers in over an hour, but at least they were all correct. Felt like a 2d today. Thanks anyway to M and O.

  18. Had to do too many reveal-squares at the end, and then come here and discover words I’d never seen before. And I thought I was fairly wordy… Sorry, not a fun hour for me too.

  19. My brain died trying this one. My chambers was thumbed through and gave up the ghost equally for me. It’s good to know that as far as I’ve gotten on this little hobby, I’m still yet a beginner. Thank you for the parse!

  20. Oh, apologies – I was lacking manners. While I did not enjoy the puzzle, I appreciate Falcon’s effort and I particularly admire Oriel’s explanation of so many odd clues.

    So thanks to Falcon, and thanks and congratulations to Oriel

  21. Enjoyed the challenge. Knew there would be a Nina, but managed to carefully ignore it till the end.
    Dave Bowman returns to Earth as an immortal Star-Child god and sets off an orbiting nuclear weapon by the power of thought. What will he do next?
    https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel) ‘
    VI. Through the Stargate – Chapter 46, “Transformation” – He was back, precisely where he wished to be, in the space that men called real.
    Chapter 47, “Star Child” – There before him, a glittering toy no Star-Child could resist, floated the planet Earth with all its peoples…A thousand miles below, he became aware that a slumbering cargo of death had awoken, and was stirring sluggishly in its orbit…He put forth his will, and the circling megatons flowered in a silent detonation that brought a brief, false dawn to half the sleeping globe. Then he waited, marshaling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers.
    For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something.’
    Thanks M&O

  22. Took us ages but finally got there and thoroughly enjoyed the struggle. A bit like an AZED, definitely our favourite type of crossword ( but no interactive AZED s which makes it difficult to access)
    Didn’t spot the perimeter message and wouldn’t have understood it’s import if we had.
    Great crossword, thank you Monk, and Oriel for the blog.

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