A really tough puzzle from Monk, as hard as you will find in any of the UK daily papers. I got there in the end.
Many thanks Monk for yet another super mental workout. Around the outside of the grid we have opposites: MONO and POLY, YES and NO, CAT and IRON. Why cat and iron would be opposites I have no idea, maybe I am barking up the wrong tree completely. MONOPOLY NO IRON, YES CAT. I have clearly missed out on the news story of the year: Monopoly Ditches Iron Counter In Favour of Cat.
| Across | ||
| 5 | NAPIER | Log producer demands area on new wharf (6) |
| A (area) on N (new) PIER (wharf) – John Napier, produced the first book of logarithms | ||
| 7 | GEOFFREY | Beginning to edge away when introduced to dull man (8) |
| E (beginning of edge) OFF (away) inside (introduced to) GREY (dull) – man’s name | ||
| 9 | ORNAMENT | Adorn famous books with gold facing (8) |
| NAME (of name, famous) NT (books of bible) with OR (gold) in front (facing) | ||
| 10 | EMPIRE | Multinational republic welcoming army regulators? (6) |
| EIRE (repulic of) incuding (welcoming) MP (militay polics, army regulators) | ||
| 11 | INFLATIONIST | Backer of the Big Issue is into wrestling after getting in uniform (12) |
| (IS INTO)* wrestling=anagram following (getting after) IN FLAT (uniform) – a monetary theorist proposing devaluation by printing currency. Might it have something to do with the Big Bang? | ||
| 13 | REUSES | Declines to skip following exercises yet again (6) |
| REfUSES (declines) skipping F (following) – to exercise is to use | ||
| 15 | TISWAS | Press returned having learnt about commotion (6) |
| SIT (press) reversed (returned) and SAW (learnt) reversed (about) – definition is ‘commotion’. |
||
| 18 | STEREOPHONIC | Transported round Chinese port through two channels (12) |
| anagram (transported) of O (round) CHINESE PORT | ||
| 21 | OTTAWA | Almost get off on too much capital (6) |
| AWAy (off, almost) on OTT (too much) – capital of Canada | ||
| 22 | TANZANIA | Reportedly beats a neighbouring republic (8) |
| TANZ A NIA sounds like (reportedly) “tans a near” (beats a neighbouring) | ||
| 23 | NATURIST | One exposed truants, I fancy (8) |
| (TRUANTS I)* anagram=fancy | ||
| 24 | ARARAT | Famous dry spot in Sahara? Rather (6) |
| in sahARA RATher – |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MIRACLES | Dodgy claims re law-breaking events? (8) |
| (CLAIMS RE)* anagram=dodgy – breaking the laws of nature | ||
| 2 | ORIENT | Obtain the bearing of sunrise (6) |
| double definition – the sun rises in the East, Orient | ||
| 3 | NOVELIST | After half a month, tip author (8) |
| NOVEmber (half a month) LIST (tip, lean) | ||
| 4 | OFF PAT | Not wanting a stroke remembered (3,3) |
| OFF (not wanting, eg ‘off my food’) PAT (a stroke) | ||
| 6 | ARRANGED | After Universal’s departure, debated about Kurosawa flm set (8) |
| ARGuED (debated) missing U (universal) about RAN (Kurasawa film) – definition is ‘set’ | ||
| 7 | GUTROT | What might give you endless fit and diarrhoea, almost? (6) |
| aGUe (endless fit) TROTs (diarrhoea, almost) – definition is &lit. |
||
| 8 | EZRA | Old book for a pound? (4) |
| double definition, book of The Bible and Ezra Pound the writer | ||
| 12 | BASILICA | Man about to tour frst Roman cardinal’s church (8) |
| BASIL (man) CA (about) going round (to tour) I (first) | ||
| 14 | SCENARIO | Outline of a semicircle one’s represented (8) |
| anagram (representation) of A CIRcle (semi=half of) and ONE’S – definition is ‘outline’ | ||
| 16 | STOWAWAY | One in a hold ultimately has to pull continuously (8) |
| S (ultimate letter of has) TOW AWAY (to pull continuously) – one in a ship’s hold | ||
| 17 | SEXTET | Three couples want it before start of a festival (6) |
| SEX (it) before TET (start of festival, the Vietnamese new year) – three twos are six. Start refers to either new year’s day being the start of a holiday period, or else a shortened form of the full name Tet Nguyen Dan. | ||
| 18 | SNAP UP | Eagerly purchase bowls, perhaps? (4,2) |
| PANS (bowls) UP (reversed) – bowls and pans refering to lavatories? | ||
| 19 | PEN PAL | Stall China’s foreign correspondent? (3,3) |
| PEN (stall) PAL (china plate, mate, rhyming slang) | ||
| 20 | ETNA | Mountain petunias in prime locations (4) |
| pETuNiAs (2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th letters) – the prime numbered locations | ||
*anagram
Monopoly, no iron, yes cat.
I agree it was tough, but really enjoyable. I also don’t really understand TISWAS.
Thanks PeeDee
As you say, tough!
In 15ac, press=sit is confirmed in Chambers. The GU in 7dn comes from [a]GU[e] (endless fit).
I think the ‘famous dry spot’ in 24ac is referring to the Mountains of Ararat where Noah’s ark came to rest.
As Muffyword has pointed out, the perimeter needs to be read so that it reflects the recent changes made to the board game Monopoly.
Thanks Gaufrid and Muffyword. Noah’s Ark of course! How did I miss that?
Another fantastic puzzle by Monk.
Did I find it tough? Well, er, toughish.
I made quite a bright start with solutions “all over the place”, literally, meaning that I had a lot of crossing letters.
Finding the last bits was tricky.
I found STEREOPHONIC, but couldn’t see why. Was wrongfooted by the clue – looking for a Chinese port inside a word for transported.
Last in was REUSES, with many thanks to the Nina.
I found 20d (ETNA) really really clever. I think this must be a novel use of choosing regular letters in a puzzle?
Only in 8d (EZRA) I was a bit surprised to see Monk using false decapitalisation. There is a question mark of course, but still. I know some people can’t be bothered, but many cruciverbalists are against it. For some reason I thought Monk would be an anti.
But as I said, a fantastic puzzle full of ingenious constructions (6d, 14d, for example).
Many thanks to PeeDee for the blog.
Whilst getting the flavour of this puzzle – far beyond me – I notice that in 14d I believe you need to add the ‘a’ from the clue to give you the 8th letter for the anagram.
Thank you TonyP, fixed now.
Like Sil @4, I was enamoured of 20d. “Wow!” was actually what I jotted in the margins. I’d be curious to know if this device (i.e., using prime numbered letters) has been used before.
7a was a different story. In general, I am not a fan of clues where the definition is man/woman/boy/girl and the answer is a (first) name. I’m fine, however, if a specific person of that name is suggested by the clue. In this case, the clue could have ended “…dull man of Monmouth” or “…dull poet” (i.e., Chaucer). Or even “…dull giraffe mascot” (i.e., of Toys “R” Us fame).
Keeper, I agree with you about the first names as definitions, though in this case George is a very straightforward example. The rest of the puzzle is tough so I guess he did not want to give too much away.
Re 20dn: I happened to know Monk is a professor of mathematics in his day job, so when I saw ‘prime’ in the clue that is the first thing I looked for. A very nice clue.