Financial Times 17,905 by MONK

by

Thanks to Monk for the challenge this morning.

I enjoyed the long crossers which really helped fill out the grid. Monk offers a combination of quite simple clues, and then some cryptic and more complex gems. A lovely mix of pace to keep us on our toes. Many thanks to Monk.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Fool plugs openings of mortars in firing range (6)
MASSIF

ASS (fool) plugs M[ortars] I[n] F[iring] (openings of)

5. Monk toils with spades in mine (8)
TRAPPIST

TRAP (toils) with S (spades) in PIT (mine)

For trap/toils: think ‘caught in the toils of the law”
Monk has set a TRAP for us with the use of MONK

9. Fractious teen let slip line “I’ll do what I like” (3,1,4,7)
ITS A FREE COUNTRY

(FRACTIOUS TEEN)* (*let slip) + RY (line, railway)

10. Rich bore wants fuss (4-2-2)
WELL-TO-DO

WELL (bore) wants TO-DO (fuss)

11. With-it younger man? (3,3)
TOY BOY

Cryptic definition

‘It’ referring to sex, i.e. the sexual nature of the relationship that defines such a man

12. Perhaps crack pipe from back of cistern in loo (4)
BONG

[cister]N (back of) in BOG (loo)

13. Put out pet found in badly soiled end of bed (10)
DISLOCATED

CAT (pet) found in SOILED* (badly) + [be]D (end of)

15. Philosophy of Art teaches its faults (10)
AESTHETICS

(TEACHES ITS)* (*faults)

17. Front of seasoned wood window frame (4)
SASH

S[easoned] (front of) + ASH (wood)

19. Flight from Ireland checked by curt secret police (6)
STAIRS

IR (Ireland) checked by STAS[i] (secret police, curt)

21. Perverse hoax heralds delay, article appearing late (8)
CONTRARY

CON (hoax) heralds T[a]RRY (delay); A (article) appearing late

22. Stewed pears nauseating for some senior citizens (15)
SEPTUAGENARIANS

(PEARS NAUSEATING)* (*stewed)

23. Chaps say “shit”, maybe, when eg “shirt” is required (8)
MENSWEAR

MEN SWEAR (chaps say shit maybe)
There’s a lateral/cryptic element to this clue

24. Drain blocked by the ultimate in thick spit (6)
SKEWER

SEWER (drain) blocked by [thic]K (ultimate in)

DOWN
2. Little boy, one month old, shows a certain style (3,4)
ART DECO

ART (little boy, Arthur abbreviated) + DEC (one month) + O (old)

3. Jolly insult wraps up stellar transmission (9)
STARLIGHT

TAR (jolly); SLIGHT (insult) wraps up

4. Abandon benefit cuts — really?! (3,8,4)
FOR GOODNESS SAKE

FOSAKE (abandon); GOODNESS (benefit) cuts

5. There’s no danger Carol will be upset with 15 (3,5,2,5)
THE COAST IS CLEAR

(CAROL + AESTHETICS (from 15d))* (*will be upset)

6. Mason has found tiny hollow cracks for quite some time (1,5,2,7)
A MONTH OF SUNDAYS

(MASON HAS FOUND T[in]Y (hollow))* (*cracks)

7. Trace of paint, very dark reddish (5)
PINKY

P[aint] (trace of) + INKY (very dark)

8. Turn up to stop despicable sort, having no time for miser (7)
SCROOGE

GO< (turn, <up) to stop SCRO[t]E (despicable sort, having no T (time))

14. Overbearing mule runs into sea loch (9)
ASSERTIVE

ASS (mule) + R (runs) into ETIVE (sea loch)

16. Strict unopened message concerning the setter (7)
EXTREME

[t]EXT (message, unopened) + RE (concerning) + ME (setter)

18. Way to classify rum (7)
STRANGE

ST (way, street) + RANGE (to classify)

20. Stroke, cut wildly, is making the boundary (5)
ICTUS

CUT* (*wildly); IS making the boundary

21 comments on “Financial Times 17,905 by MONK”

  1. Things that befuddled me …

    Range/classify
    Jolly/tar
    Etive/sea loch
    Trap/toils

    Couldn’t parse SCROOGE.

    I was more successful with today’s than with another of Monk’s fairly recently. Quite enjoyable, and thanks, Oriel.

  3. Absolutely loved this puzzle. My favorite was TRAPPIST, which was both the order of monks and a description of Monk’s job as a setter. Thanks to Monk and to Oriel for a great blog.

  5. Some impressive long anagrams, but like GDU @1 Jolly/Tar and Trap/Toils was a step too far although Etive was known to me from climbing the nearby Buachaille Etive Mòr in my teenage years.

  6. [For 8d, SCRO[T]E debuted in a Porridge script (spelt scroat) by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, and in Joseph Wambaugh’s Choirboys, both in 1975.]

  7. Lots of fun. For whatever reason, this turned out to be less daunting than it appeared at first glance.. I forgot to go back to parse CONTRARY, so thanks for that explanation.

  8. I am with GDU @1 as I didn’t know any of these. I would also add 20D – ICTUS and 12A: “bog” = “loo”?

    11A – ahh, I wish. I’m still waiting…

  12. Thanks Monk and Oriel

    18dn: For range as a verb, Chambers 2016 p 1291 gives “to assign a place among others to; to classify; to arrange”, and Collins 2023 p 1651 has (as number 22), “to put into a specific category; classify: she ranges herself with the angels“.

  13. Oriel’s intro summed it up nicely for me.

    I had loads of ticks and a long list of favourites. I will just highlight SEPTUAGENARIANS – a great surface and a brilliant anagram.

    I am afraid I still do not understand “etive” in 14 down. Is it a generic name for a sea loch, or is it the name of a specific loch?

    Thanks for a really top-notch puzzle, Monk and thanks for a nice blog Oriel

  14. 14dn: I took this on trust when solving, but have found Loch Etive in a World Atlas. It reaches the sea on the west coast of Scotland, just north east of Oban, and is about 56 and a half degrees North of the equator and 5 to 5 and a half degrees West of Greenwich.

  15. Heavens, what is next? Monk cluing “a narrow street in the town where I live”?

    Thanks PB@14. No wonder “etive” was not in my dictionaries.

  16. I’m another for whom Loch Etive was new. Otherwise lots of fun, all five long entries in particular.

    I’ve more often heard “boy toy” than TOY BOY, but maybe that’s another transatlantic difference of idiom. Anyway, I needed to wait for A MONTH OF SUNDAYS (well, not literally–I had to wait to solve that one) before I could be confident of which was needed.

  17. some really great clues.
    not heard the word “scrote” since my schooldays.
    Not heard of loch Etive before either.

  18. I had never heard of ETIVE but now that I have I am surprised it’s not used more often. We are all expected to know the OUSE because it is useful for setters and I can see ETIVE being just as useful, obscure as it is.
    Worth remembering.
    Thanks to Monk for a great puzzle and to Oriel for the blog :thumbup:

  20. @mrpenney
    Very good 🙂
    I now realise that there are not that many words actually ending in -ETIVE, so not quite as useful as OUSE.
    Watch this space for an inventive setter clueing ‘och for TIVE 😆

  21. Just starting my Cryptic Crossword journey (addiction) am so glad I found this blog! A plain answer doesn’t actually help – the explanation is what I really need.

    Thanks to all who take the time to write these up 😊

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