Great fun from Monk.
A most enjoyable and relatively gentle challenge from Monk this morning. Many thanks to the setter!
ACROSS
1. Risk modification after Conservative steps in for good (6)
CHANCE
CHAN[g]E (modification), after C (Conservative) steps in for G (good)
4. Web designer’s documentation kept by retiring salesmen (6)
SPIDER
ID (documentation) kept by REPS< (salesmen, <retiring)
9. Mutual allusions in angry testimonials (5-10)
CROSS-REFERENCES
CROSS (angry) + REFERENCES (testimonials)
10. What offers a point that could keep Derby on top? (6)
HATPIN
Cryptic definition
Derby being a type of hat, and pin being pointed
11. Observing one insulating current going round engine starter? (8)
IGNITION
(NOTING (observing) + I (one) insulating I (current))< (<going round)
12. All that is poetry introduced by eg Oxford (8)
UNIVERSE
VERSE (poetry) introduced by UNI (e.g. Oxford)
14. Snub Polish once more (6)
REBUFF
RE-BUFF (polish once more)
15. Getting larger, songbird loses heart (6)
WAXING
WAX[w]ING (songbird, losing heart)
18. Overseer, ours very dodgy (8)
SURVEYOR
21. Far from the coast, bury French king after revolution (8)
INTERIOR
INTER (bury) + ROI< (king, French, <after revolution)
22. Unusable snooker cue may have this warning (3-3)
TIP-OFF
Cryptic definition
The tip is a vital part of the cue
24. Service external to the NHS unusually appreciative about CT scanner finally being installed (7,8)
PRIVATE PRACTICE
(APPRECIATIVE)* (*unusually) about CT; [scanne]R (finally) being installed
25. Wandering tirade on former monarch (6)
ERRANT
RANT (tirade) on ER (former monarch, Elizabeth Regina)
26. Laugh inspires street clown (6)
JESTER
JEER (laugh) inspired ST (street)
DOWN
1. Confident first recorded murderer hides regret, off and on (7)
CERTAIN
CAIN (first recorded murderer, biblical) hides [r]e[g]R[e]T (off and on)
2. Old tale-teller’s first-class attitude brought up (5)
AESOP
A (first class) + POSE< (attitude, <brought up)
3. My expert public functionary (7)
CORONER
5. Catch up with Republican associate (7)
PARTNER
ENTRAP< (catch, <up) with R (Republican)
6. Bedfordshire town’s bridges essentially wobbly (9)
DUNSTABLE
[bri]D[ges] (essentially) + UNSTABLE (wobbly)
7. Recite without effort, having feel for performing (4,3)
REEL OFF
(FEEL FOR)* (*performing)
8. American female — delicate relation by marriage (6)
AFFINE
A (American) + F (female) + FINE (delicate)
13. Volume on zero? Perhaps freeze background narration (5-4)
VOICE-OVER
V (volume) on O (zero) + ICE OVER (perhaps freeze)
16. Head of academy revamped entire course (7)
AINTREE
A[cademy] (head of) + ENTIRE* (*revamped)
Referring to the Aintree Racecourse, horseracing
17. Knitted singlet to sparkle (7)
GLISTEN
18. Rubbish buried in Home Counties causes conflict (6)
SCRAPE
CRAP (rubbish) buried in SE (home counties)
The ‘home counties’ are the South East areas of England. This comes up quite often in puzzles.
19. Hectic routine of artist having to go over existing work? (3,4)
RAT RACE
RA (artist) having TRACE (to go over existing work)
20. Maybe cop off with nice topless Romeo (7)
OFFICER
OFF with [n]ICE (topless) + R (Romeo, NATO alphabet)
23. Small piece of advice that could be given to puppy owner? (5)
PETIT
PET IT (piece of advice that could be given to puppy owner)
Quite an easy Monk but enjoyable. Not sure about oner as an expert. Web designer is becoming an old chestnut.
Many thanks to Monk and Oriel.
Thanks Monk and Oriel
3dn: oner is defined explicitly as “an expert” in Chambers 2016 p 1076.
Thanks PB @2
A relatively gentle puzzle from Monk but no less enjoyable for that.
Favourites included SURVEYOR, PRIVATE PRACTICE, VOICE-OVER, GLISTEN and RAT RACE.
Re 2d, I should have perhaps kept a log over time of the many and various clues I have solved to arrive at this answer.
Thanks both to Monk and Oriel.
Yes very enjoyable. NHO oner but I didn’t let it spoil my day. Liked spider, universe, interior, Dunstable and quite few others. Thx both!
I like the way Monk has spread the word play over the two parts of VOICE-OVER and RAT RACE. Diane@4 but how many of them were fabulous?
I saved DUNSTABLE for the end; I was afraid I’d have to go look up a list of towns in Bedfordshire, as my knowledge of UK geography doesn’t extend far enough. But then once I circled back round, the wordplay suddenly became clear. Clever clue.
Anyway, I was on the wavelength with this. I don’t keep track of my times, but it was over quite quickly by my standards. Not a complaint; I’ve always said that I prefer elegant to difficult any day of the week, if choice between them there must be. Thanks to Monk for the fun.
Fairly easy for Monk and most enjoyable. We had encountered ONER before, but AFFINE was NHO – easily got from tyhe clue, though, and confirmed in the dictionary.
Thanks, Monk and Oriel
Thanks Monk, that was excellent as expected with my top picks being WAXING, TIP-OFF, PARTNER, AINTREE, and SCRAPE. I spent an inordinate amount of time searching for some ‘meta’ aspect to the puzzle; I saw CROSS-REFERENCES and INTERIOR TIP-OFF as clues that something might be afoot. I also spotted ‘AIN’ ending 1d and beginning 16d as well as ‘OFF’ ending 7d and beginning 20d but I could go no further. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
Many clever surfaces today. I particularly liked UNIVERSE, INTERIOR, AINTREE, and JESTER. It is rare that I like a cryptic clue, as they often feel like the setter is trying too hard. But HATPIN and PETIT hit the spot and were just right
Only three NHOs, a record low for Monk perhaps. I thought Cain as the first recorded murder did not quite pass the sniff test.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel
Thanks Oriel at al. Just popping in to point out that a rather large (hint: cyclic) Nina lurks within … 😉
I liked HATPIN. My initial understanding was that a Derby is what I would call a bowler hat, and that in the unlikely event of the wearer wishing to secure it with a hatpin, it would be unlikely to penetrate the hat without snapping, but I see from the internet that flimsy, bowler hat-shaped ladies’ hats are also called Derbies.
Sorry Monk, I’ve looked in vain for your nina.
I can see that, in the cycle 1dn-16dn-7dn-20dn-1dn the last three letters of each word are the first three of the next word. Is that part or all of the Nina?
The OED shows ONER as “British English informal, archaic a remarkable person or thing.” Not sure I see that as being an “expert”, but I worked it out (read: guessed). I enjoyed today’s Monk, I had NHO AFFINE either, but parsed it easily enough. Loved TIP-OFF and INTERIOR.
Try as I might I can’t find the Nina, cyclical or otherwise.
Please end this torture monk@11!
3dn revisited in response to Spurious@14: I should perhaps have noted that the definition “an expert” given for oner in Chambers is part of a list marked “(all meanings inf or sl)”. I see no reason why a word marked as informal or slang needs special indication in a clue. In case it is necessary, let me add at this point that I have never seen any justification for the view that OUP dictionaries are somehow more naturally correct than those produced by Chambers or Collins. I hold to the view, both as a matter of principle and as a matter of practical necessity, that setters are entitled to treat any definition in any of those dictionaries as valid.
For the Nina, let me expand on comment 13:
1dn ends with AIN and 16dn begins with AIN (as noted by Tony S@9;
16dn ends with REE and 7dn begins with REE;
7dn ends with OFF and 20dn begins with OFF (again as noted by Tony S);
20dn ends with CER and 1dn begins with CER (which makes the whole thing cyclic).
That convers 24 squares on the grid, so could meet Monk’s definition of “rather large”. However, I agree with James@15 that we need Monk to tell us for sure.
Ever-redoubtable PB has explained the Nina, arguably “rather large” as it effectively ties together all across answers. This Nina was a minor variation on the ‘usual’ ABC123 123DEF DEF456 456ABC that I’ve previously used here and elsewhere.
Thanks Monk for dropping in again. The tying together of all the across answers is a nice feature which had not occurred to me. I cannot remember ever seeing the version with six letter words, but I know better than to say that I have never heard of something when I could easily have forgotten a previous example of it.
In what sense is that a Nina? I don’t get it.
Re #19, I think it just means there is an extra feature in the puzzle.