Monk throws down the gauntlet today
We found this to be quite a challenge, mainly due to some fairly obscure (to us) synonyms in the wordplay in several clues and one or two entries which we had not come across before.
Towards the end we were struggling but looking at the grid we realised that there was a four-letter nina repeated in the unches. Thankfully, this helped us to solve the remaining clues revealing six SPAMs overall – quite an achievement and a great reminder of the Monty 19d sketch from 1970. Thanks Monk!
PEELS (strips off) reversed or ‘around’ + ROt (rubbish) without the last letter or ‘endless’ + UGH (it’s horrible)
cOWES (yachting centre) without the first letter or ‘heading off’ – we weren’t sure about OWES = BEARS, but perhaps as in ‘bears a grudge’?
COL (officer – colonel) OBI (fetish)
OP (work) after or ‘by’ a homophone (‘said’) of MALE (masculine) DR (doctor)
CLAUS (Santa) + an anagram of HABIT POOR – anagrind is ‘terrible’
E (last letter of leave) ASIDE (privately) after or ‘by’ S (first letter or ‘head’ of state)
OUT (known) M (male) round SW1 (Whitehall area postal district)
An anagram of PURPOSE IS/IS NOT – anagrind is ‘unusual’
We think that this must be: A (answer) SIT (press) WE’RE (all of us are), but we can’t think of a situation where SIT = PRESS
POW (prisoner of war – ‘chap caught in conflict’) W (with) O (old) W (wife)
MO (not much time) round or ‘tackling’ US (American) – we’d not come a cross this word for a musician before
SPIKE (nail) GRASS (one who informs) – another new phrase for us
Hidden in (‘contribution to’) RoyAL SOciety
DEALS (transactions) round or ‘involving’ POSt (job) without the last letter or ‘unfinished’ – a new word for us
An anagram of SPREAD IT – anagrind is ‘about’
We think that this is: a homophone (‘say’) of SUMMERY (close), but can ‘summery’ weather be generalised as ‘close’? Yes……… according to Chambers Thesaurus close and summery are synonyms for hot.
Double definition
HOOD (violent criminal) O (over) O (nothing)
CITIES (London and New York perhaps) after or ‘below’ VELO (French for bicycle – ‘Parisian transport system’)
LEAR (Edward Lear – ‘old poet’) with C (caught) AS (while) outside or ‘circulating’ + MUD (slander)
UN (French for ‘a’) SAPPEr (miner ‘as it were’ (21ac) – apparently a soldier who lays mines) without the ‘r’ (run) + D (daughter) – another new word for us
STEWARd (foreman) without the last letter or ‘almost’ round or ‘cut by’ M (minute) + E (English)
gROPEr (searcher) without the first and last letters or ‘exposed’ + SIN (offence)
H (husband) in NOT reversed or ‘about’ following PithY (first and last letters or ‘extremes’) – there doesn’t seem to be an inclusion indicator, unless ‘about’ is doing double duty for both reversal and inclusion? Apparently this is a computer language.
This seems top be: T (last or ‘final’ letter of night) SETS (directions) E (Spain), but again, we couldn’t think of an instance of SETS = DIRECTIONS but after checking, Chambers definition no 10 under noun has set = a direction.
OK (fine) round or ‘secreting’ MS (manuscript)
Six SPAMS and a PYTHON
Oill give it FOIVE
Thanks all.Monk rocks
Well, it had to happen. A Monk crossword which I didn’t enjoy at all. I like to learn new words and unusual meanings but there were just too many here for me making it too much of a slog. Other, more knowledgeable solvers, will no doubt differ in opinion.
I also cannot see how 19d is supposed to parse. Having “about” doing double duty does not strike me as something Monk would do (or, indeed, any reasonable setter).
Did like the SPAM PYTHON though.
After seeing the Nina I thought it might be celebrating the exact 50th anniversary of the Spam sketch, but it was actually first shown on 15 December 1970. I remember it well, as the next day for school dinner (no choices or healthy options in those days) we were given… spam fritters!
I parsed PYTHON differently, though still with a quibble. I took ‘about’ as anagrind for H (husband) + NOT giving THON to follow the PY. But then why the apostrophe and ‘s’? If they were dropped, the clue would have worked, albeit not the smoothest. VELOCITIES and CLAUSTROPHOBIA were excellent. Is SHRIMP a recognised colour? I solved from crossers but not from the double definition. The SPIKE in the grass was also the snake in the grass for me. nho. (And the same word defeated me in another puzzle this morning!)
Thanks Monk (brilliant NINAs) and Bertandjoyce
More challenging than many a previous Monk, although I did spot the Nina. I’d never heard of 24 or 25a either which didn’t help
Thanks to Monk for the crossword (I particularly liked 12a) and to B&J for the blog
I can’t see how owes = bears, you would never say ‘owes a grudge’. Perhaps Monk would kindly elucidate? Otherwise very much enjoyed and I agree the insertion of so many spams and a python is brilliant. Thanks Monk and B&J.
Tatrasman @6: I wondered too but Chambers Online gives “4 to hold or bear in the mind (a feeling, etc) against another person • owe a grudge”. It does seem odd and I can’t imagine using it in that way myself but, if it’s in Chambers…
Too hard! Treated it as a training session and learned a lot from the blog and comments so thanks to B&J and all.
Thanks Jayjay. We don’t think we have had a comment from you before – glad that the blog was helpful.
What Hovis said.
Gave up half way through as not enjoying and having come here I’m glad I did!
A couple (8a, 15d) where I gave up on the parsing, and another couple (9a, 21a) where the synonyms seemed a bit dodgy, and I needed a word wizard to help me finish the SE corner.
Also, 3 solutions were new words to me, so I struggled somewhat. Failed to spot the 6 spams, and didn’t know of the connection with PYTHON. Not a fan.
I thought there would be some kind of Nina when I came across a couple of fairly obscure words in a row. Despite the symmetric spam locations, these obscure words were the exception not the rule, so I’m highly impressed. The computer language wasn’t obscure to me but I got it before I noticed any spam and didn’t pick up the full beauty of the Nina until the end, which was a delightful reveal. I definitely skipped a couple without fully parsing them and they were pretty tricky in places seeing the blog. Well done for getting them all explained Bertandjoyce. But for such a beautifully placed theme I’m highly impressed with Monk’s setting.
ah well… you see those clever spam/nina items dont really strike home on a small phone screen when ur moving it around all the time… shame that it was an effort wasted on me.. there’s always next time…
thanks for the parsing Bertand joyce – i think i could feel ur pain? it was definitely shared..
thanks Monk
Took a while to get started on this and I did need word searches for the last couple.
As an ex-programmer I knew of PYTHON but I’ve never used it. When I got that I wondered if there’d be any other Python references but totally failed to spot all that spam.