Thanks to Monk for this morning’s puzzle.
This was a very enjoyable challenge with a good range of simpler and more tricky clues. Monk often has a hidden nina or theme – has anyone found one?
SQUEEZE (Holland et al once) facing S[evere] (onset of)
Jools Holland was a founding member of the British new wave band, Squeeze
(DD (darling daughter) in IR (Ireland)) arrested by A COP (a policeman)
FIB (whopper) + UL[n]A (one, i.e. bone, from forearm, with no N (name))
Double definition
Left-footer is a derogatory term for Catholics in UK and Ireland, rooted either in the types of spades they used historically (requiring the left foot for digging) or because of their genuflecting, depending on which source you consult
C-LISTER (third-rate celeb) welcomes O (old)
[f]LIERS (leaflets) delaying appearance of F (female)
GRAND (chief) gets past PA (old man) – &lit
M (mass) + (RAM (strike) and NAY (vote against))< (<backing)
J[uvenil]E (case of) entering IN + CT (court)
VAMPIRE* (*stirring) + L[ust] (hint of)
VACUUM (clean) + PUMP (grill)
REED (thatcher’s material) + IT
INGENUES* (*will be corrupted)
AGE (generation) following ENV[o]IS (author’s final words, loveless, i.e. excluding O (love))
BB (books) + L (left) among QUIE[t] (rest, nicked) on [ma]R[ch] (3rd of)
NIECE* (*unfortunately) supporting E (base, mathematical) + BULL (nonsense)
A LOT (frequently) pursing Z[ombi]E (discharged)
Linking S (small) + AL (past mobster, Capone) with FORD (past president)
WILY (sly) about FULL (drunk)
Heralded by WRIT (legal document); HE (ambassador, His/Her Excellency)
(PAPERS and [d]I[a]R[y] (regularly))*( *forged)
COOL (fan) + LETTERS (landlords) – cryptic definition
(VIRU[s] (for the most part) + GOES)* (*horribly)
MINKE* (*swimming) under POT (vessel)
I know this from the 1925 silent film, a staple of film students
(GAS MAINS)* (*broken)
SPL (Scottish Premier League) + URGE (press)
JOSE (Spaniard) entertains CO (company)
I’M (setter’s) + PRO (for) + V (against, versus)
The double lights are all double letters.
Thanks B & S.
Thanks Monk and Oriel. The double unchecked letters in eight of the answers are repeated letters. Singles of these letters can be rearranged to spell DOUBLETS. I spotted the fact that they were all double letters on completing the left hand side, and it helped with the right hand side.
I also spotted the ‘doublets’ and it helped me with LEFT-FOOTER as I didn’t know the RC slang or that Messi was such.
Thought it was going to be a pangram but can’t find an X. LEFT-FOOTER might raise a few eyebrows, though Chambers labels it as slang rather than derogatory. Thanks Monk and Oriel.
15ac: Chambers 2016 p 1103 has pa. abbrev: past. I think the clue works in the standard clue format with “Chief (GRAND) gets past (PA)” as wordplay and “old man” as a definition.
PB@5: I agree on the parsing. You don’t have to be particularly old to be a grandpa. A current Labour politician was a grandmother at 37.
Love the doublets. Agree left footer is slang rather than offensive but I’d only use it among friends. Some vg clues such as cloister along the way. Btw Jools Holland gets way too much credit for his brief spell in squeeze who I think did most of their best stuff after he left. Thanks both.
Couple of dnk bits, eg the Scots creditor, and new wave too new for me, the only Jools I remember is Driscoll. Otherwise pretty smooth, ta both.
One of Monk’s best. Learnt the origin of LEFT-FOOTER and the meaning of APPRISER in Scotland.
Thanks Monk and Oriel.
Thanks Monk for a great set of clues with the added bonus of DOUBLETS. My favourites included RE-EDIT, UNSEEING, EBULLIENCE, FAN LETTERS, and SPLURGE. I couldn’t parse SQUEEZES and ENVISAGE; thanks Oriel for the blog.
I ticked IMPROV and ZEALOT. I must be so focussed on individual clues, as I missed this obvious doublet theme!
NHOs in the clues meant I could not parse ENVISAGE, FIBULA or SQUEEZES. NHO SALFORD either, but solved it easily once I had the F.
I agree with others’ positive comments – a nice puzzle
Thanks Monk and Oriel
Chewy in places but all solvable as one expects with Monk. We had to check APPRISER and LEFT-FOOTER in the dictionary, and didn’t understand 1ac. No real problems otherwise, but we were so intent on looking for a pangram that we missed the double letters feature – d’oh!
Thanks, Monk and Oriel.
I don’t know if it’s significant that the doubled letters can be arranged to spell BLUE DOTS…
Couldn’t quite finish today. I couldn’t parse ACID DROP as I’ve never come across DD for “darling daughter”. Is it a crossword standard?
I don’t recall ever seeing DD for “darling daughter”. Don’t know where it is found either but assumed some reference source exists and shrugged it off.
I understand from Mrs P that dd = darling daughter is well established on mumsnet
9ac: DD for darling daughter was used in FT 17.947 by Moo (13 January 2025), and there is quite a substantial discussion of this abbreviation in the comments related to that puzzle
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2025/01/13/financial-times-17947-by-moo/
Andrew@14. There are of course four logical possibilities:
DOUBLETS was deliberate and BLUE DOTS is just a coincidence;
BLUE DOTS was deliberate and DOUBLETS is just a coincidence;
Monk only used those letters because they fit both BLUE DOTS and DOUBLETS;
BLUE DOTS and DOUBLETS are both coincidental.
Yet another FT whose appearance date I forgot 🙄, so a belated thanks to Oriel for yet another superblog and to all bloggers for the positive comments, and the coverage of all queries. If I recall correctly, when setting this I arranged BLUE DOTS with some sort of symmetry in the hope that solvers would spot DOUBLETS, so all went according to plan 🤪 (sound of fiendish cackling from the monastery).
Thanks Monk for dropping in. Does BLUE DOTS have any special meaning apart from being an anagram of DOUBLETS? I can only think of it as a squash ball. (For the avoidance of doubt, I have no playing ability whatsoever at Squash or any similar game.)
Thanks for the blog , I was surprised by the consecutive unchecked squares but it was all for a good reason.and each entry still had half checked . Very good set of clues .
Pale BLUE DOT is the Earth as seen from Voyager and named by Carl Sagan .
BLUE DOT Festival is at Jodrell Bank but not for a few years . I have performed there in the past , not musically but the more important Physics workshops .
Very late for this but the weather too nice to stay out of the sea .
Thanks Roz@20 for the information relating to BLUE DOT.