Financial Times 17,851 by MONK

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A brilliant challenge from Monk.

Monk had me on my toes with this one. Some witty longer anagrams which certainly helped keep things moving. I enjoyed the cryptic definition clues as well – misleading and clever. A very enjoyable challenge, so thank you to Monk!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Chaotic electronic pop is rank (6,9)
POLICE INSPECTOR

(ELECTRONIC POP IS)* (*chaotic)

9. Recent works by European dramatist (7)
TERENCE

RECENT* (*works) by E (European)

10. I caught aquatic bird going over floating mass (7)
ICEBERG

I + C (caught) + GREBE< (aquatic bird, <going over)

11. Split orchestra, one left downsized by 90%? (5)
HALVE

HAL[L]E (orchestra, one L (left) downsized by 90%)

L is 50 in Roman numerals, and to downsize that by 90% leaves us with 5 – or V in Roman numerals

The Hallé is an orchestra based in Manchester

12. Pound store ruined instantly (4,1,4)
LIKE A SHOT

L (pound) + IKEA (store) + SHOT (ruined)

13. Jerk is decked by felon’s stick (9)
CRITICISM

TIC (jerk) + IS decked by CRIM (felon)

15. Composer’s catalogue picked up (5)
LISZT

“LIST” (catalogue, “picked up”)

16. Waste from Cornish river (5)
OFFAL

OF (from) + FAL (Cornish river)

18. Peter and David almost shuffling deck (4,5)
TAPE DRIVE

(PETER + DAVI[d] (almost))* (*shuffling)

20. British bore, chasing king and queen, that could make folk cross? (4,5)
KERB DRILL

B (British) + DRILL (bore) chasing K (king) and ER (queen)

23. Car manufacturer backed promo agreements (5)
SKODA

(AD (promo) + OKS (agreements))< (<backed)

24. Monetary unit of Ghana I forged, netting fine (7)
AFGHANI

(GHANA + I)* (*forged) netting F (fine)

25. He superficially reads second Kipling work right after setter (7)
SKIMMER

S (second) + KIM (Kipling work) + (R (right) after ME (setter))

26. Camera shake OK in fixed audiovisual gear? (7,8)
KARAOKE MACHINES

(CAMERA SHAKE OK IN)* (*fixed)

DOWN
1. Reduce two to one on a timely basis (3,3,5,4)
PUT THE CLOCK BACK

Cryptic definition

2. Femme fatale sorely needing clothing dons garland (7)
LORELEI

[s]OREL[y] (needing clothing) dons LEI (garland)
[edited twice – apologies – just me not paying careful attention]

3. Pleasant dance briefly advanced in reverse sequence (9)
CONGENIAL

CONGA LINE (dance); briefly advance in reverse sequence: for a few letters, bring them forwards and in reverse order
Or a better way to parse, thanks to Hovis:
CONG[a] (dance, briefly) + A (advanced) in LINE< (sequence, <reverse)

4. Perfect example of croupier’s running commentary? (5)
IDEAL

Cryptic definition

A croupier might, among other things, say “I DEAL”

5. Bank statement preceding dodgy cash withdrawal? (5,2,2)
STICK EM UP

Cryptic definition

The ‘dodgy cash withdrawal’ referring to a bank heist, so the ‘statement’ being what the robber would say

6. Evacuation of English army’s top soldiers in retreat (5)
ENEMA

E (English) + (A[rmy]’s (top) + MEN (soldiers))< (<in retreat)

7. Gets canines, perhaps from leader of hunt beset by support group from the south (7)
TEETHES

H[unt] (leader of) beset by TEE (support) + SET< (group, <from the south)

8. In which you’d find users/authors get alternative? (6,9)
ROGET’S THESAURUS

(USERS AUTHORS GET)* (*alternative) – &lit

14. After time among Arctic people, setter’s understood immediately (9)
INTUITIVE

After (T (time) among INUIT (Arctic people)), I’VE (setter’s)

15. Mistress meets maker in South African town (9)
LADYSMITH

LADY (mistress) meets SMITH (maker)

17. Hunter, pro, suppressing anger (7)
FORAGER

FOR (pro) suppressing RAGE (anger)

19. Tough guy, smooth, wanting threesome in romance (4,3)
IRON MAN

IRON (smooth) wanting [ro]MAN[ce] (threesome in)

21. Severe legislator once pulled up old comic (5)
DRACO

(O (old) + CARD (comic))< (<pulled up)

22. Rabies rampant in grassy land (5)
LYSSA

[gr]ASS YL[and], (<rampant, in)

15 comments on “Financial Times 17,851 by MONK”

  2. Liked LIKE A SHOT, P T C BACK, IDEAL, STICK EM UP and ROGET’S THESAURUS.
    CONGENIAL
    Parsed it as Hovis@1 (CONG+A in reversed LINE).

    Thanks Monk and Oriel!

  3. Thanks for the blog, I was expecting IO Wednesday but this was an excellent puzzle itself. Many fine clues , I will pick out HALVE for my favourite orchestra , the clever 90% reduction and the precision of “one left” .
    PUT THE CLOCK BACK is also very accurate .
    I think Hovis@1 has it right for CONGENIAL .

  6. In 2018, in Guardian 27,437 Crucible used the same three words (“but not necessarily in the same order”) for the anagram of 8d ROGET’S THESAURUS:
    ‘16a Users get authors to change one of their sources (6,9)’
    [Thought 1a POLICE INSPECTOR could’ve been “Busy” instead of “Chaotic”. Then we’d’ve had a combined definition / anagram indicator at either end of the clue.]
    Thanks M&O

  7. This was a fine puzzle . I agree that it was relatively easy for a Monk.

    I had LORELEI for 1d as the correct spelling for the German sirens and LEI is the Hawaiian Garland.

    Thanks to Monk and Oriel

  9. I do not understand the A for 2Down ?? I agree with SM @7 it is LORELEI , a very old crossword favourite for that combination of letters in a grid, and lei is the garland from Hawaii .

  10. I had no idea what was going on with HALVE, so I just guessed from the definition. Thanks for the explanation.
    I am not sure what got “corrected” before I arrived, but LORELEI is the right spelling/solution.

  12. This was a chewy crossword that would be great for the weekend when I have more time to appreciate it. As it was I had to finish with a couple unparsed

    There were several great clues, and I had ticks for CRITICISM, the fantastic anagram in POLICE INSPECTOR, LIKE A SHOT, ENEMA, and STICK EM UP

    Thanks Monk and Oriel

  13. Either this was easy for a Monk puzzle or we were on his wavelength as we solved this without help apart from confirming our guess in the dictionary for LYSSA. We weren’t sure if younger solvers would get KERB DRILL – wasn’t it replaces by the Green Cross Code (which may itself have been superseded by something more ‘modern’)? Anyway, there was lots to enjoy, including the four perimeter entries; favourite, though, was HALVE, which went in as a guess but which we subsequently parsed when we spotted the Roman numeral sustitution trick
    Thanks, Monk and Oriel.

  14. Found this very difficult. Got a few then had to reveal several to make any progress. A few obscurities for those under 60 not brought up in the UK as well.

  15. Really enjoyed this – solved on the tube, partly with my daughter, on our evening peregrinations. Mostly in and parsed – I actually remembered LYSSA from somewhere A,mused by PUT THE CLOCK BACK

    Thank you to Monk and Oriel.

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