Financial Times 18,072 by MONK

by

Thanks to Monk for an entertaining challenge.

I found this to be a smooth solve, but no dull moments at all. Monk has set a pangram, with some very artful anagrams in the long crossers. Most enjoyable!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Page from book, the first Bobby turned over (5)
BLEEP

B (book) + PEEL< (the first Bobby, <turned over)

Robert Peel created the first professional police force in Britain, who were known first as ‘Peelers’ and later ‘Bobbies’. More here.

4. Crikey, judge cleared on revolutionary practice (5,4)
JESUS WEPT

J (judge) + (SWEPT (cleared) on USE< (practice, <revolutionary))

9. Efficiency-maximising income deployed around odd bits of region (9)
ERGONOMIC

INCOME* (*deployed) around [R]e[G]i[O]n (odd bits of)

10. Praise subgroup of next oligarchy (5)
EXTOL

[n]EXT OL[igarchy] (subgroup of)

11. Spanish gypsies collected metal— aluminium and iron, primarily (7)
ZINCALI

ZINC (metal) + AL (aluminium) + I[ron] (primarily)

12. Mesh protecting small spar where layers may accumulate annually? (4,3)
NEST BOX

NET (mesh) protecting S (small) + BOX (spar)

13. County’s rights essentially stopping diverted Cumbrian hikes (15)
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

[ri]GH[ts] (essentially) stopping (CUMBRIAN HIKES)* (*diverted)

16. Plant hybrid with floret cut off (9,6)
BUTTERFLY ORCHID

(HYBRID with FLORET CUT)* (*off)

19. Cradling head of injured bishop, sets back bone (7)
STIRRUP

Cradling (I[njured] (head of) + RR (bishop, Right Reverend)); PUTS< (sets, <back)

20. Best chestnut picked up (7)
CONQUER

“CONKER” (chestnut, “picked up”)

22. Cold character abroad about to host unknown old person (5)
AZTEC

(C (cold) + ETA (character abroad))< (<about) to host Z (unknown)

23. Love harangue on publicity (9)
ADORATION

ORATION (harangue) on AD (publicity)

24. Courage shown by spy group that controls impulses? (5,4)
NERVE CELL

NERVE (courage) shown by CELL (spy group)

25. Tailor left crushed by impediment to vision (5)
STYLE

L (left) crushed by STYE (impediment to vision)

DOWN
1. Large ox blocking channel—it’s a devil (9)
BEELZEBUB

L (large) + ZEBU (ox) blocking BEEB (channel)

‘Beeb’ is a colloquial term for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)

2. Half-hearted worry over Scottish town (5)
ELGIN

NIG[g]LE< (worry, half-hearted, <over)

3. Indian quip with punch and essence of wit (7)
PUNJABI

PUN (quip) with JAB (punch) and [w]I[t] (essence of)

4. Starting point—new office plan finally emerging after spring (7-3,5)
JUMPING-OFF PLACE

(OFFICE PLAN [emergin]G (finally))* (*new) after JUMP (spring)

5. Not the first place you’d typically be grounded (9,6)
SECONDARY SCHOOL

Cryptic definition

A play on the meaning of ‘grounded’. If you receive a ‘grounding’, you are taught the basics of a subject.

6. Glasses raised, one has brief philosophical doubt (7)
SCEPSIS

SPECS< (glasses, <raised) + I’S (one has, brief)

7. Found prime tipped scrap, missing nothing (9)
ESTABLISH

[b]EST (prime, tipped) + AB[o]LISH (scrap, missing O (nothing))

8. Electronic messaging service discharged late in US state (5)
TELEX

L[at]E (discharged) in TEX (US state)

14. Can of American toms? (3,6)
CAT LITTER

Cryptic definition

A ‘can’ is a toilet in the US, informally, and toms are male cats of course

15. Patient suffering from acne under cast (9)
ENDURANCE

(ACNE UNDER)* (*cast)

17. Anguish when first husband leaves, taking time off for complaint (7)
EARACHE

[h]EAR[t]ACHE (anguish, when first H (husband) leaves, taking T (time) off)

18. Flights avoiding an area where they’d land? (7)
RUNWAYS

RUN[a]WAYS (flights, avoiding an A (area))

19. Produce power that’s cut externally (5)
SPAWN

P (power) that’s SAWN (cut) externally

21. Number one college today on vacation (5)
UNITY

UNI (college) + T[oda[Y (on vacation)

In mathematics ‘unity’ is the number one

17 comments on “Financial Times 18,072 by MONK”

  1. I found this difficult. There were several terms I had not encountered before and I also found it difficult to spot the type of clue in several places. There are a couple of iffy definitions too.

    Thanks Monk for a good challenge and thanks Oriel for the blog

  2. CAT LITTER remained unparsed so I needed the blog for that. Not 100% convinced by that particular def but that’s the way with CD’s. Everything else was good for me and I agree the long anagrams were well constructed. I did spend some time worrying about what the second word in BUTTERFLY ORCHID was going to turn out to be. ZINCALI is a new word but sympathetically clued. JESUS WEPT made me smile – first time I think I have seen that phrase in a puzzle. That is joined by ENDURANCE as clues of the day for me.

    Thanks Monk and Oriel

  3. I’ve struggled sometimes with some of Monk’s puzzles but, thankfully, that was not the case today and could complete this pangram grid without aids.
    I was puzzled over the parsing of some down clues, however, so I’m grateful to Oriel for lifting the mist on those (1d and 2d). I was also thankful for the lengthy anagrams across the grid’s centre which really got the ball rolling.
    My favourites were JESUS WEPT and CAT LITTER.
    Very satisfying.
    Thanks Monk and Oriel

  4. An entertaining challenge as we have come to expect from Monk. My favourite was 14d

    Thanks to Monk and Oriel

  5. Excellent pangram with some interesting entries. Whether or not one should draw the line at ZINCALI is perhaps up for discussion! Nonetheless, I especially enjoyed the longer entries, plus 4A, which is presumably based on the old ‘Jesus swept’ joke. I first heard it at 5D.

    Thanks Monk for a great puzzle, thanks Oriel for a super blog.

  6. I also enjoyed this with the four long clues being very helpful.

    I needed help to parse a few – particularly where you had to find a synonym and then remove one or two letters.

    Thanks Monk and Oriel

  7. I agree with all the plaudits for puzzle and blog.
    Did not know that number one is UNITY.
    Thanks Monk and Oriel

  8. Thanks for the blog , I agree with SM@7 but I did know UNITY .
    The ZINCALI is a book by George Borrow , my mother gave me a very old copy of his work “Wild Wales” which I loved , so I found his other books in the library .

  9. PostMark @2, you’re right – it should technically be ‘litter box’. Cat litter = the granules that go inside the litter box. For what it’s worth!

  12. Thanks Monk for a difficult but very rewarding crossword with my top picks being STIRRUP, NERVE CELL, EARACHE, and SPAWN. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  13. We got most of this unaided, needing help only in the SW corner. We were also flummoxed by ZINCALI; we only knew of ‘Gitános’ as Spanish for ‘Gypsies’, being unaware of George Borrow’s book, so thanks to Monk for extending our education.
    Thanks also to Oriel.

  14. I found this difficult and it took a long time to get the finishing line.

    I didn’t like the answer to 4A, which is swearing and inappropriate. Certainly not language you would use in a vicarage and poor form for the FT

    A few of the definitions were also a bit iffy – as Martyn @1 says ( a commenter with whom I invariably agree)

    These grumbles aside, there were also some wonderful clues. But overall, a second curate’s egg in two days for me.

    Bottom left hand corner was the one that took all the time

  15. Moly @14 – “Jesus wept” is well-known in church circles, so presumably vicarages, as the shortest verse in the Bible, it’s John 11:35 – when Jesus hears about Lazarus’ death.

    I loved this when I completed it this morning.

    Thank you to Monk and Oriel.

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