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Always a great pleasure to see Monk on a Wednesday.
Monk is playing word ladders down the grid (changing one letter at a time to make a new word). What fun! The very last word being ‘nina’ might have given a hint to look out for one.
A fabulously fun puzzle with a few head scratchers, but nothing too difficult in my opinion. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and many thanks to Monk of course!
ROW< (argue, <over) + D (daughter)
ARK (old boat) + W[as] (originally) + RIGHT (correct)
Richard Arkwright is known as the ‘father of the factory system’
BI (swinging both ways) + TINGLY (aquiver)
S[l]I[p] (regularly) by LENT (fast)
(LAD)* (*upset) in HARBOUR (refuge)
OR (choice) between W and E (west, east: diametrically opposite points)
W (with) + [h]IRE (rental, uninitiated)
SIDE (team) + SAD (blue) + (LED)* (*off)
(TO LABEL FOR)* (*moving)
George Best was a renowned footballer
[s]WINE (pig, decapitated)
[s]IX
Two thirds of the word ‘six’ gives you the Roman numeral for nine
[s]OUTH (losing S (seconds)) in (BAD (unfavourable) + MED (sea))
RAF< (flyers Royal Air Force, <returning) + O (over) + ES (El Salvador)
(RESISTED)* (*sports)
(SON (boy) + IS) into ARTS (creative subjects)
[mo]ANIN[g]< (hugs, <about)
Cryptic definition
R (Romeo, NATO alphabet) having DIED (popped off) outside
([c]ANA[l] (interminable) + SEE[p]AGE (disheartened))* (*foul)
Y (unknown) interrupting (KE (energy, kinetic energy) + WORD (signal))
Word = signal in the sense of ‘just say the word’
(RE (concerning) + SIR (gent))< (<in a spin)
A riser is part of a stair
Cryptic definition
Links is the name of a famous golf course
EDIT: Links is a type of golf course
DRIL[l] (bore, not quite) following TEN (10)
[c]ENTRE (focus, tipped) ahead of NOUS (common sense)
(RUSSIA[n] (scratching backside) + TOR[e] (almost))* (*damaged)
OK (satisfactory) + IN A WA[y] (to some extent, unending)
Referring to WWII’s Battle of Okinawa
L (large) + ADDERS (snakes)
From the game ‘Snakes and Ladders’
([p]ENNILES[s] (uncovered))* (*desperate)
BONUS (extra pay); NUS< (final 60%, <rises)
TURIN[g] (mathematician, shunning G (grand))
Very enjoyable indeed. For once, I completed this but couldn’t parse “keyword”.
Didn’t spot the ‘word ladder’ but forgot to even look for a nina.
By the way LINKS isn’t “a famous golf course” but is a type of golf course. Set on a coast line and mainly in Scotland.
This was good fun and I even spotted the clever word-nina ladder (with all 3 words featuring as answers in their own right) – it was, perhaps, my favourite thing about the puzzle.
I very much liked GOLF WIDOW, FOOTBALLER, DRIED and BADMOUTHED too.
I needed Oriel’s blog to parse a couple, including KEYWORD, and was glad that ARKWRIGHT could be gleaned from the wordplay.
Thanks to the layers of fun, Monk, and Oriel for a great blog.
I agree with Hovis@1 about the enjoyment.
Sartorius is rhs longest muscle in the human body. It comes from sartor , Latin for tailor, and refers to the cross legged position adopted by tailors as I learnt today.
Thanks to Monk for a great puzzle and to Oriel for a clear blog.
Oops – thanks Hovis on LINKS. All I know of golf, I know from these puzzles…
Also, on closer inspection, I think “WORD LADDERS” for the nina should be composed of the “WORD” element of “KEYWORD” with “LADDERS” below it (i.e. I’ve highlighted the wrong bit in red). I’ll try correct this shortly.
Another lovely thing from our Brother.
Thanks Monk for the excellent puzzle (as usual I didn’t spot the theme though I suspected one looking at the word NINA)!
Thanks Oriel for the great blog!
WORE
Nothing significantly different but I thought of saying this:
Considered the whole block ‘Choice between…points?’ as equivalent to W OR E.
TURIN
The Enigma Code Man has some connection with the theme?
Liked GOLF WIDOW a lot. Then KEYWORD & NINE.
loi 5d KEYWORD – 😐
Liked SARTORIUS for its Latin etymology – ‘the longest muscle in the human body.’
4d AEGEAN SEA – could have been clued without the “c”
An enjoyable solve, especially after I spotted the word ladder
Thanks to Monk and Oriel
We all could’ve shortened our solving times with LINKS to this handy little Word Ladder Solver
https://ceptimus.co.uk/wordladder.php?w1=WORD&w2=NINA&d=CSW
…won’t work because, it says, ‘NINA is either not in the dictionary or cannot be transformed into any other word.’ but…
https://ceptimus.co.uk/wordladder.php?w1=WORD&w2=NINE&d=CSW
…solves it perfectly WORD, WORE, WIRE, WINE, NINE
Good fun. I spotted the one letter change at a time trick but didn’t know WORD LADDERS were a thing; who ever knew there would be an associated website – thanks FrankieG @9. All in OK but missed the NINE parsing which seemed the wrong way round for a fraction of ‘six’, so obligingly fell into the trap.
Particularly liked GOLF WIDOW.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel
What Diane@2 wrote except I did not spot the word ladder and I probably had more unparsed words at the end. I too fell into the NINE trap mentioned btw WP@10
Enjoyable but I am sure I recently swore off Monk puzzles during the week because they typically take too much time. I fell into the trap of having a peek at this one before leaving work, and was drawn in after quickly solving the first 4 or 5 I looked at. So much for resolution…..
Thanks Monk and Oriel
Thanks to Monk for a very enjoyable solve. Didn’t spot the word ladder/nina, as usual, but all clear enough, with what I thought was one exception: the answer to 28a could perfectly reasonably be “INGA”, so the clue is not quite up to Monk’s usual standard of precision. Only resolved with the checked letters.
Really enjoyed this puzzle despite not finishing it, or being able to parse 4D (obvious when seen in the blog…Doh!)
One small niggle: El Salvador is ususally recognized as SV rather than ES.
Failed to spot the Nina and the word ladder (new term to me) despite it being one of the answers.
Thanks Monk and Oriel.
Thanks Monk and Oriel
25ac: ES is the international vehicle registration code for El Salvador, as noted in both Chambers 2016 and Collins 2023.
Lovely puzzle, lots of fun and very clever. Despite my perennial theme blindness, I did actually spot the word ladder. Thanks, Monk and Oriel.
I srated this at quite agallop, thinking ‘this is easy for Monk’ – then ground to a halt with about 40% still blank and needed wordfinder help to finish although I was able to parse everything. Favourite was NINE, but I nevertheless failed to spot the word ladder.
Thanks, Monk and Oriel.
Thank you, Oriel, for a super blog and to all for (so far) positive comments. Comments (so far) to address:
Oriel@4 — yes, WORD LADDER was hidden in the central column, and not interwoven with the actual, err, word ladder! ;
FrankieG@7 — the identical c-less observation revealed itself during setting 😉 ;
FrankieG@9 — your m/o matches exactly that used to set the puzzle;
Perplexus@12 — seems a bit nitpicky; had the resolution been only via the nina, there’d have been cause for concern, but resolving an ambiguous entry by checking letters is hardly an issue, and I’m certain I’ve done it (as a solver) in the past without batting an eyelid;
Pelham Barton@14 — thank you for taking the words out of my mouth! Your duet is augmented by the ODE and the (go-to) online Clue Clinic. I’d add that none of these sources confirm El Salvador’s ISO “alpha-2” code SV, hence the use of ES.
Phew.
Missed Satorius
Missed word ladder
At tough end of my ability
Thanks.
Monk@17 – I think you showed admirable restraint in not using the c-less version, perhaps inappropriate at breakfast time, although it would have made a nice
lift-and-separate