Financial Times 17,923 by MONK

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A wonderfully tricky challenge.

Some very creative clueing from Monk makes for a very enjoyable solving experience. Many thanks to Monk!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8. Poor orphan cut by old spear (7)
HARPOON

ORPHAN* (*poor) cut by O (old)

9. Stuffed by lying about permit before end of leave (7)
REPLETE

PER< (by, <lying about) + LET (permit) + [leav]E (end of)

10. Rapidly produces runs, sadly dismissed after catch on the boundary? (6,3)
CHURNS OUT

RUNS* (*sadly) + OUT (dismissed) after C[atc]H (on the boundary?)

11. Partners work with office that closes early (5)
OPPOS

OP (work) with POS[t] (office, that closes early)

12. Discharge international soldiers around Switzerland (5)
ICHOR

(I (international) + OR (soldiers)) around CH (Switzerland)
Common in crosswords, ‘CH’ is the ISO code for Switzerland from its Latin name

14. One appointed to control fighter, say, in the making? (4,5)
TEST PILOT

Cryptic definition
A test pilot controls aircraft (such as a fighter) when they are still new (in the making)

15. Harder to get caught wearing what puts off birds? (7)
SCARCER

C (caught) wearing SCARER (what puts off birds?)
A ‘scarer’ is a human effigy to scare birds, i.e. a scarecrow 

17. Pals battalion finally burned cloaks by terminus in Calais (7)
FRIENDS

[battalio]N (finally); FRIED (burned) cloaks + [Calai]S (terminus in)

19. Mass over, filmed OU student grabbing a drink (9)
MARGARITA

GRAM< (mass, <over) + RITA (filmed OU student) grabbing A
From the film ‘Educating Rita’, where Rita attends the Open University

20. Drums used in Costa Blanca (5)
TABLA

[Cos]TA BLA[nca] (used in)

22. Psalm writer, one following bible carried by learned theologian (5)
DAVID

I (one) following AV (Bible) carried by DD (learned theologian)
AV is a specific version of the Bible (Authorised Version); DD is a Doctor of Divinity

23. Carefully attentive voters ban liberal (9)
OBSERVANT

(VOTERS BAN)* (*liberal)

25. Elegant gold unknown plant (7)
CHICORY

CHIC (elegant) + OR (gold) + Y (unknown)

26. Sticky sucker pulled back rodent, breaking off tail (7)
GUMMOUS

MUG< (sucker, <pulled back) + MOUS[e] (rodent, breaking off tail)

DOWN
1. Vocal pair among cowards swapped registrations of new arrivals? (5-3)
CHECK-INS

E; I (vocal pair, vowels) swapped among CHICKENS (cowards)

2. Good right that hurts bellyacher (6)
GROUCH

G (good) + R (right) + OUCH (that hurts)

3. Trick US ladies or gents (4)
JOHN

Double definition
The first in the sense of a person using a prostitute

4. Indian admin division, one checking on gaffe involving sex industry’s closure (5,9)
UNION TERRITORY

UNIT (one) checking ON + ERROR (gaffe) involving IT (sex) + [industr]Y (closure)

5. Not wholly how many pyramids were built? (2,2,1,5)
UP TO A POINT

Cryptic definition
HOW many pyramids were built? – Pyramid building would start from the base and work up to the tip/point

6. High-flyer very quietly crowning priest in branch of Buddhism (8)
ZEPPELIN

PP (very quietly, pianissimo from music) crowning ELI (priest) in ZEN (branch of Buddhism)

7. Plots held up by computing room (6)
BEDSIT

BEDS (plots) held up by IT (computing)

9. Dealt with spies for ages at customs (5,2,7)
RITES OF PASSAGE

(SPIES FOR AGES AT)* (*dealt with)

13. Hod carrier battered anonymous defendant (7,3)
RICHARD ROE

(HOD CARRIER)* (*battered)

16. Valediction from intermittently vague wanderer crossing island from the south (2,6)
AU REVOIR

[v]A[g]U[e] (intermittently) + (ROVER (wanderer) crossing I (island))< (from the south)

18. Know-it-all brooded on stuff about boarding ship (8)
SMARTASS

(SAT (brooded) on RAM (stuff))< (<about) boarding SS (ship)

19. Doctor snubbed merchant family over nothing (6)
MEDICO

MEDIC[i] (merchant family, snubbed) over O (nothing)

21. Danger sign in advice to offend? (6)
BEACON

BE A CON (advice to offend?)

24. Mark’s assuming blame for negative inclination? (4)
RAMP

M (Mark, currency unit) assuming RAP (blame)

21 comments on “Financial Times 17,923 by MONK”

  1. I’ve not encountered JOHN as trick before or, if I have, it was long enough ago for me to have forgotten it. So that clue defeated me. And I had to look up both UNION TERRITORY (I didn’t get to parse the ‘one checking on’ element) and the nho RICHARD ROE. The ‘vocal’ element of CHECK-INS is new to me but I was able to work that one out.

    REPLETE, SCARCER, UP TO A POINT and RITES OF PASSAGE my favourites today.

    Thanks Monk and Oriel

  2. Lots of CHs in the grid, especially in the CHewier clues.
    Knowing that vocal is the Spanish for vowel helped with 1d CHECK-INS.
    As a noun in English, though, it’s “1. c1570–1921† A vowel; a vocalic sound or letter. Cf. sense A.II.9. Obsolete.”
    Merry CHristmas, Everybody (1973, and every year since)

  3. …but as an adjective it’s still alive: “…II. Senses relating to vowels. II.9. 1589– Of the nature or character of a vowel; consisting of a vowel or vowels; vocalic.”

  7. This was quite hard, with a lot of guess first/parse later for me. I got to the end with no ???s left, even conjuring up the obscure Rita reference (thanks, Google). Missed the theme. Well done blogging this.

  9. Too much of a schoolday for me to pretend that I enjoyed Monk’s puzzle, ( ICHOR/TABLA/ UNION TERRITORY/GUMMOUS ), but I can appreciate it as a skilful piece of work.
    Bird scarers (15 across) are often automated cartridge dischargers, which intermittently produce loud bangs and flashes; in practice, the birds soon get inured to them. At best, they fly off to the nearest telephone wire, have a laugh at each other for being fooled, and fly right back.

    Great spot by Hovis & PostMark @ 4 and 5. Went completely over my head. My day to be Thicko, obviously.

    Thank you Monk & Oriel

  10. Thanks Monk and Oriel

    12ac: As well as being an ISO code, CH is also the international vehicle registration (IVR) code for Switzerland. IVR codes are the most likely to be used in crosswords: they are the ones that can be seen on the streets and that usually appear in dictionaries.

  11. As one who carries the name, I hate that it is used for “TOILET” and “A WHORE’S CLIENT” (the “trick” in this {3 down} case).

  12. I should qualify my earlier statement about the relative frequency in crosswords of ISO and IVR codes for countries. It is my opinion, or, better, my judgement based on observation and, strictly applicable only to Azed and FT puzzles. It is not a proven fact applicable to all crosswords and I should have used a form of words that makes that clear.

  13. I omitted say, @9, that younger birds stay on the telephone line, longer than the older birds.
    It has baffled the likes of Peter Scott and Bill Oddie.

  15. A true Goldilocks puzzle with the added Marx Brothers Easter eggs. Thanks Monk for a very enjoyable solve. BTW, John is a quite common term in the states for a prostitute’s client (as well as a bathroom). Great blog by Oriel as always!

  17. Only just remembered that this appeared yesterday, so the usual thanks to Oriel for their usual great blog, and to all who took the time to comment.

    What with Monk’s real name being Mark, the Marx Brothers theme ran in parallel with a Mark’s brothers theme, hence the appearance of proper names JOHN and DAVID in the grid, and the implicit nod to Mark’s in the final clue 🙂

  18. Very enjoyable thanks, though I got my last two answers wrong perhaps out of desperation, and because in several that I got right I could spot the word but did not know why. ICHOR was especially difficult given that I knew 3 out the 5 letters (got CH straight away) for a long time – discharge is a very obscure meaning, and why does OR mean soldiers? I was fixated on the UN for a long time but could not make it work of course.

  20. Brendan @18: OR means ‘other ranks’, the enlisted men in the British Army. It is a very common abbreviation for ‘men’ or ‘soldiers’ in crossword clues.

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