I’m very glad to see a Monk puzzle again on my blogging day. It has been a long time. Super puzzle as always, thank you Monk.
A quick look shows the word VOWELS down the middle of the grid. I will keep looking to see what else might be in there.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BATISTA | John, for one, a powerless former president (7) |
| BApTIST (John, for one) missing P (power) then A | ||
| 5 | DOG-ENDS | Butts or tails? (3-4) |
| definition and cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | ITALIAN VERMOUTH | It expanded into hate mail with virtue – oddly perverse (7,8) |
| anagram (perverse) of INTO HATE MAIL with ViRtUe (oddly) – ‘It’ is short for for Italian Vermouth, as in the drink Gin and It. Expanded indicates that we have to write the full name not the abbreviation. A well concealed definition! | ||
| 10 | ISSUE | Profits from paper when leader is cut (5) |
| tISSUE (paper) missing first letter (leader) | ||
| 11 | SOTTO VOCE | Drunken old coves keeping too much aside (5,4) |
| anagram (drunken) of O (old) and COVES containing OTT (too much) | ||
| 12 | FALSE DAWN | It will disappoint very little wife in large chair (5,4) |
| FA (sweet FA, very little) then W (wife) inside L (large) SEDAN (chair) | ||
| 14 | SISAL | Fibre glass one broke – that’s no good (5) |
| anagram (broke) of gLASS and I (one) missing G (good) | ||
| 15 | BANAL | Tired bishop’s obstinate and obsessive (5) |
| B (bishop) has ANAL (obstinate and obsessive) | ||
| 16 | RESTRICTS | Southern critters chewed hampers (9) |
| anagram (chewed) of S (southern) and CRITTERS | ||
| 18 | GRATICULE | Ligature getting caught damaged part of sight (9) |
| anagram (getting damaged) of LIGAURE and C (caught) – the cross-hairs in a gun sight perhaps | ||
| 21 | EVOKE | Call up first lady to accept fine (5) |
| EVE (the first lady) contains OK (fine) | ||
| 22 | RAIN CATS AND DOGS | Pets commonly on lead caught in sheet (4,4,3,4) |
| CATS AND DOGS (common pets) on RAIN sounds like “rein” (lead) – to “rain cats and dogs” is to rain very heavily, to sheet | ||
| 23 | ANNOYER | One teasing old queen, perhaps, about obesity in a heartless manner (7) |
| ANNE R (Anne Regina perhaps, old queen) contains (about) ObesitY missing middle letters (in a heartless manner) | ||
| 24 | EARLY ON | After not much time, noble French city joined by commoner? (5,2) |
| EARL (noble) and LYON (French city) joined together by their common letter, L | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BAILIFF | Bond – finish off dodgy agent (7) |
| BAIL (bond) and IFFy (dodgy) missing last letter (finish off) | ||
| 2 | TRANSPLANTATION | Operation tails one having left estate (15) |
| TRAiNS (tails) missing I (one) then PLANTATION (estate) | ||
| 3 | SPIKE HEEL | Second fish stabbed with hard stiletto (5,4) |
| S (second) PIKE EEL (fish) contains (tabbed with) H (hard) | ||
| 4 | AGNES | Disengaged, to some extent, about girl (5) |
| found inside (to some extent) diSENGAged reversed (about) | ||
| 5 | DUETTINOS | Simple performances, not duties made complex (9) |
| anagram (made complex) of NOT DUTIES – a duettino is an unpretentious duet with a concise form | ||
| 6 | GUMBO | Stick with barrel of Irish stew (5) |
| GUM (stick) with B (barrel) and O (of). I can’t explain Irish here, gumbo comes from Louisiana. Update: see BillyK @6 and declan @7 | ||
| 7 | NEUROPSYCHOLOGY | Study nervous matter when astride potty (15) |
| NEUROLOGY (nervous matter) containing (when astride) PSYCHO (potty, insane) | ||
| 8 | SCHNELL | In a way, schoolgirl’s quick in Germany (7) |
| SCH (school) and NELL (girl). I think “in a way…” indicates that schoolgirl has to be split in two | ||
| 13 | AIR GUITAR | Whereon plucky action occurs in one’s mind (3,6) |
| cryptic definition – this made me smile. One could be a pedant and point out that the essence of air guitar is that the plucking action is performed physically rather than just mentally, albeit missing an actual guitar. But I won’t do that… | ||
| 14 | SURRENDER | More certain to secure split yield (9) |
| SURER (more certain) contains REND (to split) | ||
| 15 | BEGORRA | Ask for brief pointer about god! (7) |
| BEG (ask for) then ARROw (a pointer, briefly) reversed (about) | ||
| 17 | STETSON | Small offensive boy in hat (7) |
| S (small) TET (the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam war) and SON (boy) | ||
| 19 | ITCHY | Restless and malicious, blowing cover (5) |
| bITCHY (malicious) missing first letter (blowing cover) | ||
| 20 | EVADE | Regularly serve Audrey’s duck (5) |
| regular selection from sErVe AuDrEy | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand please ask a question; chances are there are others wondering the same thing.
Another setter we haven’t seen for a while returns with a great crossword. Lots to enjoy and I’m pleased to report that I spotted the Nina.
Thanks to Monk (come back again soon please) and PeeDee too
Ref 10 across; in what context please can ‘Issue’ = ‘Profits’?
Bargra @2 One of the definitions of issue in the office dictionary is ‘the yield from or profits arising out of land or other property’
Many thanks to Monk for a stiff challenge and to PeeDee for the blog.
I’m at a loss to understand why SCHNELL is in Chambers (can’t just be all those postwar comics from which we all learned ACHTUNG etc.?)
Thanks crypticsue. I worked for 35 years in finance and never came across that one!
Re 6d – the O in an Irish name like Pat O’Grady means ‘of’, so ‘of Irish’ = O
I was a bit taken aback by the implication that O means “of” in Irish, and I hate to differ with BillyK @6, but the O’ in an Irish name is probably better translated as “from” or “descended from”. In the Irish language it would be written as Ó, the stroke over the O (known as a fada, pr. fodda) implying a lengthening of the vowel. Over time, and possibly to accommodate the limitations of the printing presses, the fada seems to have morphed into an apostrophe. Originally, there seem to have been two prefixes on Irish surnames, “Mac”, meaning son of, and Ó, meaning grandson of, although, strictly speaking, they were not prefixes, since in Irish they are separate words. More broadly in the Irish language, Ó means “from”. The concept of “of” is expressed in many ways, but most commonly using the words “na” or “de”, when used as a preposition. “Of” is also conveyed through the use of the genitive or possessive case, just as in English. In a sense like “free of”, as in “free of guilt”, it could be expressed using the ó; “saor ó” could mean “free of”, but may better be translated as “free from”. Nevertheless, I suppose we could see O’Grady as meaning “of [the clan] Grady”, and maybe it is not that big a stretch.
Thanks to Monk for a challenge that was too big for me this time, and to PeeDee for the explanations.
Thanks declan, very interesting indeed.
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
A meaty challenge from Monk who I don’t think that we’ve seen since last October. Was able to complete the grid OK (after longer than usual) but there were numerous clues in which I failed to parse properly – missed the FA (very little) in 12a, missed the homophone of REIN in 22a, didn’t understand the ‘commoner’ L character in 24d until coming here and didn’t bother breaking down the PSYCHO and NEUROLOGY parts of 7d. And then forgot to even look for the ninas ….
Lots of variation in the clues and some lovely misdirection in definitions and wordplay – the best being the ‘It expanded’ at 9a.
Finished in the NW corner with FALSE DAWN, BAILIFF and BATISTA the last few in.