Great puzzle from Monk. The last couple of puzzles I blogged from Monk had some easier sections and I was beginning to wonder if Monk was mellowing a little.
No so! We are back to the full-on Monk treatment here- only two clues solved after 15 minutes. I did start to make faster progress eventually but some Googling (cheating?) was required to get the Japanese dogs and African gangters etc.
In the centre of the grid we have VOTE WITH ONES FEET. Does the refer to something topical or is it just a random phrase?
I had the pleasure of meeting Monk last weekend, a very friendly man who clearly cares very much about setting puzzles.
Thank you Monk.
| Across | ||
| 7 | BAREFOOT |
Lost fare in back of cab, say, showing a clean pair of heels? (8)
FARE* anagram=lost in BOOT (back of cab, say)
|
| 9 | TOERAG |
Tramp of a certain age wearing dress (6)
EAR (a certain age) inside (wearing) TOG (dress, slang)
|
| 10 | RUMINANT |
Strange, mostly mindless time to be meditative (8)
RUM (strange) INANe (mindless, most of) T (time)
|
| 11 | ESCHEW |
Avoid small children in middle of freeway (6)
S (smal) CH (children) in frEEWay (middle of)
|
| 12 | LIGETI |
To some extent, will I get into this man of note? (6)
found in (to some extent) wilL I GET Into – Gyorgy Ligeti, modern classical composer
|
| 13 | OFFENDER |
Pirate, perhaps one who walked the plank? (8)
definition/cryptic definition (someone who goes off the end)
|
| 14 | SWANEE |
River to go down in Kent? (6)
WANE (to go down) in SE (Kent?, the SE of England)
|
| 16 | ECHOED |
Slavishly followed job, losing right to interrupt media boss (6)
CHOrE (job) losing R=right inside (to interrupt) ED (editor, media boss)
|
| 19 | LACROSSE |
Like this clue in extremely likeable game (8)
ACROSS (like this clue) in LikeablE (extremes of)
|
| 21 | ANGLED |
Biased descendant of German duke (6)
ANGLE (descendant of German) then D (duke)
|
| 24 | TSOTSI |
Drinks passed round sons by one African gangster (6)
TOTS (drinks) containing S (sons) by I (one) – name of the lead character in the South African film Tsotsi, a gangster
|
| 25 | NECKWEAR |
Possibly tie contract to introduce sport (8)
NECK (contract) coming before (to introduce) WEAR (sport)
|
| 26 | ONLINE |
Where bass could finally be connected? (6)
definition/cryptic definition – a bass is a fish and could be caught
|
| 27 | STAR TREK |
Programme beginning about king (4,4)
START (beginning) RE (regarding, about) K (king)
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | SALUKI |
British, rather than American, sausage dog (6)
SALamI (sausage) with AM (American) replace by UK (British) – old breed of tall swift keen-eyed hunting dogs resembling greyhounds; from Egypt and southwestern Asia
|
| 2 | DEVICE |
Plan to expurgate immorality? (6)
DE-VICE (expurgate immorality)
|
| 3 | VOCATIVE |
It’s sent back in very old hollow case (8)
IT reversed (sent back) inside (into) V (very) O (old) CAVE (hollow) – the case (in some inflected languages) used when the referent of the noun is being addressed
|
| 4 | ITSELF |
Stifle cast – object emphatically (6)
STIFLE* anagram=cast
|
| 5 | BEL CANTO |
Is unable to stop in hell endless singing (3,5)
CAN’T (is unable) inside (to stop in) BELOw (hell, endless)
|
| 6 | TAKE HEED |
Be careful of vacant anorak having a laugh in front of daughter (4,4)
AnoraK (vacant, no middle letters) TE HEE (a laugh) before D (daughter)
|
| 8 | TATTOO |
Make lace and also hide design (6)
made from TAT (lace) and TOO (also) – hide is skin
|
| 14 | SWAN-SONG |
Gloria’s grand finale (4-4)
Gloria SWANSON (acrtess) has G (grand)
|
| 15 | AIRSTRIP |
Makes public journey in land here? (8)
AIRS (makes public) TRIP (journey)
|
| 17 | CHARCOAL |
She does regular slots in scholarly form of art (8)
CHAR (cleaner, someone who “does” for you) then sChOlArLy (regular slots in)
|
| 18 | TENNIS |
Court action held up by witness in network (6)
found reversed inside (held up) witnessS IN NETwork
|
| 20 | SWIVEL |
Liberal partners swapping clothing in turn? (6)
L (liberal) WIVES (partners) with the outside letters exchanged (swapping clothing)
|
| 22 | GO WITH |
Leave wife having appeal over husband in court (2,4)
GO (leave) W (wife) having WIT (appeal) then (over) H (husband) – to go out with
|
| 23 | ENAMEL |
Call into East London, initially for hard stuff? (6)
NAME (call) in E (east) London) (first letter of)
|
*anagram
definitions are underlined
definitions are underlined
Phew! The majority of the clues were a real tussle for me – but very enjoyable and a sense of achievement to nearly get there (20d required a brute force word search and wordplay justification later which was past the bounds of acceptable electronic aid for me!).
Excellent challenging puzzle, thanks Monk.
Thanks PeeDee for further clarity.
In a lovely day for challenging crosswords, this one did take a while to sort out, but I enjoyed myself and did spot the Nina.
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee too.
This one took me much longer than usual.
I particularly liked 14A where Monk no doubt had the expression ‘to go down the Swanee’ in mind when writing the clue.
Thanks to Monk & PeeDee
Swanee! How I love that clue. The whole puzzle, really, though the Nina was lost to me. Thanks to Monk and PeeDee for a really nice challenge.