It was good to see that we had a Monk puzzle to blog today.
There was one word – EXSERT (27ac) that we had to check – a new word for us. Monk usually has more going on in his puzzles and once we had filled the grid we noticed the ninas – CHICKEN across the middle with APE, BULL, HOLY and EAT down either side. Initially we couldn’t see any connection, but then, unfortunately, we realised that all these words and TOUGH (4d) and HORSE (22d) could be followed by SHIT – if that is the common factor, we are rather disappointed in Monk opting to use excrement as a theme. As far as we are concerned it lowers the tone of an otherwise excellent puzzle, but maybe we’re being a bit prudish…..or maybe there is an alternative less controversial link that we have missed?
Thanks Monk – despite the above comments, we enjoyed the puzzle – it was anything but S**T.
A (answer) DROIT (French for right)
bEiNg (alternate or ‘regular’ letters only) + R (first letter of rant) inside or ‘boarding’ COACH (bus)
PRESS (media) sURE (certain) losing first letter or ‘face’
RomeO (first and last letters only or ‘exhausted’) CO CO (company or ‘firm’ twice)
An anagram (‘busy’) of MEP + ATHlETIC (strong) without L (liberal)
mETAL (possibly lead) – missing the initial letter or ‘away from the front’. This had us foxed as we both read it as LEAD (as in at the front) but we think it just about works in the way that we eventually parsed it. Thanks to those who noticed that ‘and’ was not underlined.
An anagram (‘converts’) of AGAIN and FH (initial or ‘primary’ letters of finance house)
A cryptic definition – you use your fingers or digits when using the ALT KEY on a computer keyboard to access other functions
Double definition
An anagram (‘redesign’) of BridLEWAYS without ‘rid’ (clear)
Alternate letters or ‘ignored intermittently’ in pUsH hUgH
COACH (train) H (hard) OUSE (river)
UV (ultra-violet – ‘radiation’) inside an anagram (‘broadcast’) of LIVE
An anagram (‘wavering’) of OUR K (first letter in kid) followed by SAW (recognised) A (American). Kurosawa was a Japanese film director – well known for directing The Seven Samurai.
L (first letter or ‘introduction’ to lending) +an anagram (‘changed’) of RATE + SET (fixed). This brought back memories – Bert used the transfer system in his early years as an architect. He even used the letters to label all our spice and herb jars.
S (second) X (cross) inside TREE (palm perhaps) all reversed or ‘about’
DRUM (barrel) containing U (not quite the last letter or ‘bit’ of bulgUr)
ONS (official UK statisticians – Office for National Statistics) LAUGHTer (chuckling ) without ‘er’ (sign of hesitation)
ThOUGH (however) without or ‘suffering loss of’ ‘h’ (first letter of husband)
Cryptic definition – the ‘kippers’ are people who are asleep
C (caught) inside or ‘breaking’ COR (my) N (new) RAKE (tool) Thanks Hovis
U (university) inside or ‘cutting’ ONCE (former)
An anagram (‘reordered’) of CANCELS MY
AnaemiC (first and last letters only or ”extremely’) and an anagram (‘canned’) of HIDEOUS. We don’t remember seeing ‘canned’ as an anagram indicator before. We suppose that if you put things in a can they may not be in the same position as they were it was before they went in!
AIR CREWS (pilots and navigators perhaps) around or ‘packing’ S (small)
sEAHOUSES (Northumbrian village) with a new letter (T) at the front.
sHAVERs (razors) losing first and last letters or ‘uncovered’
R (runs) in HOSE (tights)
EWER (water carrier) underneath S (first letter or ‘opening to’ Storm)
Enjoyable puzzle! Great blog! Thanks both!
ET AL
Should the def be ‘and elsewhere’?
ACID HOUSE
Chambers says canned=drunk(slang). Did Monk have this sense in mind?
Hmm. If our bloggers are right, it is indeed a bit of a crappy theme. Seahouses to TEA HOUSES will be a tough one for our overseas solvers, I suspect. It’s not a phrase I am familiar with in a UK context – they are restaurants in China and Japan; I see Wiki has an entry for TEA HOUSES and lists the likes of Betty’s in Harrogate and Lyons, though those establishments refer/referred to themselves as tea rooms. I shared B&J’s raised eyebrow at ‘canned’ as an anagrind: it means fired and/or stopped in the US but I’m not convinced that the sense of disruption is there in either the US meanings or in the UK’s preserving/packing sense. Those quibbles aside, a solid puzzle with ELECTRIC BLANKET being my favourite for the smile.
I, too, recall using LETRASET – and can anyone recall those (Dyno, I think) guns that produced embossed letters on sticky-backed strips of plastic?
Thanks Monk and B&J
@postmark №2. I still have my elder brother’s tape printer. My parents bought them for my three elder brothers before I was born. All three are still in use by children or siblings. Something very pleasing about them.
Missed the theme – which would have explain why exsert included in grid. Oh well.
I found the last few very tough but through no fault of Setter – just wrong wavelength.
Thanks Monk and Bert and Joyce
Definitely a puzzle “overwhelmed by poo”. Hang on a second that was in the other place.?!
PM@2 DYMO® — these days described as a ‘heritage’ and ‘retro’ product.
Good to see some memories being stirred. I remember being impressed by a student pal who drove an open topped MG with a Dymo-printed reminder on the dashboard saying ‘Overtaking is a manoeuvre, not a gamble’.
A pal has pointed out to me that whilst ‘can’ doesn’t really have a synonym meaning disrupt, ‘canned’ does appear in its own right in Chambers as slang for ‘drunk’. Objection withdrawn.
TEA HOUSES not so much of an issue because I had enough crossers to see it’s possibility and only to check the map and find the village to confirm. The GK that got me was nho HAVER. I had HIVER as in beekeeper and I though maybe shiv (er) as in knife for razor. Thanks to the blog also for ‘ONS’ which I had unparsed. Otherwise fine and missed the theme as usual and therefore nothing hit the fan for me. Thanks to Monk.
12a ET AL– agree with KVa@1: The “and” = ET needs to be part of the definition. But the AL doesn’t mean “elsewhere”, It’s not short for ALIBI.
oed.com still has the abbreviatory dot – “et al. PHRASE — Abbreviation of Latin et alii (masculine), et aliae (feminine) or et alia (neuter), ‘and others’.”
FrankieG@7
ET AL
Chambers says
‘Et alibi (Latin), and elsewhere’
(Luckily, copy+paste works across all
languages)
Had no problem with ‘canned’ meaning ‘drunk’.
The blog is missing N for ‘new’ in 6d.
In 4d, I take ‘first husband’ to refer to the first H in THOUGH.
KVa@8 – Yes, of course, “It’s in Chambers“. It would be. Chambers is just plain wrong, as is too often the case.
[There’s another misuse of a Latin plural in 9a PRESSURE, too – “media” ‘…often reinterpreted as singular or mass noun’.]
Liked the puzzle – What a load of sugar
Thanks M & B&J
Great puzzle, but as has so often happened recently I haven’t had time after completing to look for ninas or themes. Now that I know what it was, I have no problems with shit, and I dislike asterisks being used for vowels in so-called rude words that are common parlance nowadays – that does seem a tad prudish. Thanks Monk and B&J.
Frankie@10: et al for et alibi is also in Collins 2023 p 679 and the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 2007 p 868. While I do not claim that the teams of professional lexicographers who compile the various dictionaries are infallible, I am quite sure that they have a more representative sample of how words are used in the English language than any commenter on these pages can possibly have. Your statement about Chambers is simply unwarranted.
If Monk is Harpo I’ll take this all day long over today’s G.
I had to reveal the N in 6d before I realised I was reading the clue the wrong way around.
EXSERT a new one for me. Not really sure how I’ll use it in a sentence, but I’ll give it a try.
Another one here who had Dymos and used a 26a, also on herb jars.
Missed the theme as always.
Thanks Monk and B&J.
Slightly more approachable than some Monk offerings… altho struggled with EXSERT, and put down the village first, rather than the shop, which slowed down the Alt key..
I’ve long given up questioning any anagram indicators, which appear to be legion, so accepted canned.. however was mildly perturbed with ET AL.. which, notwithstanding Pelham Barton@12.. is standard shorthand throughout the academic globe for “and others” … I suspect they outnumber lexicographers.. I’m wondering whether a typo has slipped into common usage.. ah well
Thanks to Monk n Bertandjoyce
Undrell@14, to clarify my earlier remark, the three dictionaries cited all give et al as standing for either et alii or et alibi.
Thanks both. A few unknowns in here, allowing that some I have simply forgotten. ALT KEY took an age for which I offer two excuses; one that I only use Apple these days, so the process is different: two, that the only ‘board’ I associate with computers is a circuit board, not a keyboard, but I never doubt the definition will be fair and accurate.
Thanks to those people who have commented so far. We are now back home after a long walk and have amended the blog.
Surprised to have correctly pieced together LETRASET, and EXSERT, neither of which looked like real words to me. CYCLAMENS was also a cause for concern, although that was partly because I initially had KEY PAD for 15A – correcting that dredged up the plant from somewhere or other. Didn’t know Seahouses, but did know TEAHOUSES, so in that went.
I saw that something was going on in the grid but didn’t twig the theme. I’m clearly too innocent. Further confused myself by spotting IS THE in the 5th column and ROLL in the 11th, which appear to be simple coincidence.
Thanks Monk & B&J
If something IS THE SHIT it’s deemed to be good as opposed to something being just SHIT which is bad.
I wonder if SHIT ROLL is used as toilet paper, or equivalent to a shit sandwich. We’ve also got TOUGH SHIT at 4d. But the last clue of the grid removes all the shit.
Thanks Monk. I missed TOUGH and ALT KEY but solved the rest with PRESSURE, ROCOCO, BITTER, KUROSAWA, DURUM, and ON CUE being favourites. I forgot to look for a theme and I was amused when I read the blog. (rocket @19: I wonder if SEWER being the final clue was intentional?) Thanks B & J for the blog.
I suppose there’s HAVER SHIT, too.
Thank you B&J for the blog, and to all commenters/solvers, and apologies if any delicate sensibilities were perturbed.
But the main reason I’m posting at this late hour is to thank endwether@21 with all my heart for giving me what is certainly the longest and loudest LOL I’ve had in yonks. Bless you.