A crossword from Monk is always a challenge and this was no exception. One or two clues did appear to be recycled, however this was offset by some fine, and sometimes misleading, cluing elsewhere. It took me a little while to determine the wordplay in places (25a and 20d in particular) but I like to be stretched and Monk invariably provides this mental stimulation.

Across

1 GARAGE  cd - ‘estate’ as in ‘estate car’ - a nicely misleading clue for those that haven’t met it before

5 CONTESSA  CON (teach) TESS (literary heroine) A - there are many books in which the heroine is called Tessa but I assume Monk is referring to Macbeth’s niece

Edit - the literary heroine is Thomas Hardy’s Tess (of the D’Urbervilles). Thanks Smiffy for pointing out my error (see comments)

9 FIT OUT  OUTFIT (clothes) with the two halves swapped around - this clue reads as if it was originally intended to be a ‘down’ rather than an ‘across’

10 LYNCH MOB  CH (companion) in *(NOBLY M) - back to cricket again, ‘M’ being the abbreviation for a maiden over

11 QUIPSTER  *(ERUPTS IQ)

12 PARSEC  ARSE (fool) in PC (copper, policeman) - a ‘parsec’ is about 19 billion miles so it could be said to be ‘a long way’!

13 MAYO  dd - Virginia Mayo, the American actress who starred in many films during the middle part of the last century, and County Mayo, a county in the province of Connacht on the west coast of Ireland (in Irish, Contae Mhaigh Eo)

15 DEATH-BED  dd - ‘choke’ is slang for ‘die’ but ‘hay’ isn’t defined as ‘bed’ in any of the recognised dictionaries other than in the context ‘hit the hay’ meaning ‘to go to bed’

18 JOB SHARE  JOB (prod) S (small) HARE (animal) - I can see the ’split post’ but cannot determine the reason why ‘tied’ has been included

19 ROSE  [p]ROSE

21 STAGEY  EG (say) reversed in STAY (guy, as in guy-rope)

23 APERITIF  homophone for Cockney ‘a pair of teeth’

25 FAREWELL  EWE (Cheviot female) in FAR L (communist, far left) L (long?) - a Cheviot is a hardy breed of short-wooled sheep reared on the Cheviot Hills. I cannot find ‘L’ as an abbreviation for ‘long’ in any of the recognised dictionaries

26 EGGNOG  EG (say, again!) GONG (medal) reversed

27 TESTATOR  TEST (check) ROTA (back list) reversed

28 THRUSH  TH (the short) RUSH (grass)

Down

2 ADIEU  DIE (peter) in AU (gold) - ‘peter’ in this sense means ‘to dwindle away to nothing’. The definition is ‘25′

3 AMORPHOUS  PRO (for) MA (master) reversed HOUS[e] (most of property) - ‘MA’ is an abbreviation for ‘Master of Arts’

4 ENTITY  ENTI[re]TY

5 COLERIDGE-TAYLOR  RIDGE (rib) in *(CLEARLY TOO) - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), an English composer

6 NENUPHAR  *(UNHAPERN) - anagram of ‘unchaperoned’ with ‘coed’ removed - apparently a nenuphar is common water lily, not that I knew this before today

7 ETHER  hidden word in nETHERlands - I liked the inclusion of ‘neighbours’ which made for a smooth surface and was also apt in that the answer letters were adjoining

8 SMOKELESS  dd - I’ll keep my thoughts about the ‘nanny state’ to myself and just light another cigar

14 ABOUT-FACE  cd - ‘about-face’ being a military order or command

16 HARBINGER  H (bottom of Triumph) *(BEARING) R (runs, more cricket!)

17 EASY MEAT  EASY (piece of cake) A in MET (satisfied)

20 RECENT  CENTRE (moderate party) with RE (about) moved to the front (put forward)

22 GWENT  G (end of gerrymandering) WENT (left) - a county in Wales

24 IRONS  dd - that old favourite ‘de-creases’ and a type of golf club - another one that was easy if you have met it before

Something of a rarity for me: a Nimrod puzzle where I understand every clue!

Another great crossword from The Don. I find he pitches them just right for daily cryptics - this wasn’t really tough but did require switching on the rusty old brain cells for some very elegant clueing.

Across

1 SCHEMA  S+CHEM+A

4 CIRCULAR  cryptic/double def.

9 OSCAR  O+SCAR

10 ARCHITECT  A+R(CH)ITE+CT  this took me a while to work out the wordplay, writing down all the possible combinations until something popped up!

11 DINING CAR  cryptic/double def.

12 SPAWN  S+PAWN  with ‘man’ being ‘pawn’

13 WAYS AND MEANS  SWAYEDMAN*+ANS  from Chambers: ” Committee of Ways and Means - the House of Commons sitting in the character of a committee to consider methods of raising money supplies”

17 STANDARD ROSE  sounds like past improvement

20 REPRO  REPRO(OF)

21 POINTLESS  cryptic def.

23 PANTALOON  PAN+TA(LOO)N  who was a character in Italian comedy, a feeble old man

24 TRAIN  to school is to train, and a train is also an alternative to a bus - I like this clue.

25 PULITZER  UP(rev)+LIT+ZER(O)

26 THETIS  THE+TIS  the memoir is ‘Tis” from Frank McCourt, the rather disappointing follow-up to Angela’s Ashes

Down

1 SHOWDOWN  ie show the county, part of Ulster

2 HACKNEYS  HACK+NEYS (knees)

3 MORAN MO+RAN  Churchill’s doctor friend and confidant, which makes this an &lit!

5 INCARCERATION  IN+CAR(C)E+RATION  nicely misleading - the whole thing is porridge - slang for jail, under custody is ‘in care’ with fixed portion of food being ‘ration’ with a ‘c’ for cold in. 

6 CRIMSONED  CRIM(SON)E+D

7 LEEWAY  L(WEErev)AY

8 RATING  RA(TIN)G

10 ACCIDENT-PRONE cryptic def

14 ASTRONAUT  UNTOASTAR*  another &lit

15 FOREPART  FOR(RAPErev)T

16 PEASANTS  P(EA+S)ANTS

18 TRIP UP cryptic/double def.

19 S(PIN)AL

Solving time, 16 mins

* = anagram  < = reversed

ACROSS

1 COME TO LIGHT     Definition: be revealed  Moths seek the light

7 A MASS  Mass is another Indy setter

8 COUNT LESS

10 MONTEGO BA Y (Boatmen go)*  y = unknown

11 DAIL(y)   The Irish parliament

13 DAC HAS   Cad<

15 ENORMOUS  (us no more)*

17 S CREAMER

18 GEN ERA  (are neg)<

20 O PEN

21 PAL (IMPS) EST    Manuscript with writing over older writing

24 TAIL PIECE   “tale peace”

25 PATER Hidden

26 GARDEN PARTY   Cryptic definition

DOWN

1 CHA IN

2 MO (SHE DAY) AN  Israeli General

3 TUC SON

4 LA US (ANN) E

5 GOT H  Rock music

6 TREMATODE   (to red meat)*

7 ARMED ESCORT  (Rectors made)*

9 SELF-STARTER   Cryptic definition (ref motor cars, I think)

12 GREEN PAPER  (Prepare gen)*

14 CARPETING  (Can trip e.g.)*

16 LE (BANES) E

19 SLIP-UP  E (ecstasy) in (pupil)*

22 ENT RY (first letters)

23 SPAR Double definition

From FT Saturday Prize Puzzle on 16 August 2008
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

Not so difficult for a prize puzzle

Across
1 FIFERS Fife (somewhere in Scotland) RS (the extremities of rigorous)
4 SCHOONER dd
9 TENET palindrome
10 FLAPJACKS Cha of FLAP (stew or state of panic) JACKS (children’s game)
11 SHAMPOO *(has mop) + O (middle letter of JOB)
12 BACARDI BA (rev Able-Bodied) Cardi (gan, a garment)
13 EATS E (first letter of England) ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service)
14 ESPRESSO ESPR *(reps) + ESSO (oil company)
17 CENTAURS *(Etruscan)
19  NERO ha
22 DILEMMA Ins of L (left) in Di & Emma (two girls)
24 APPLAUD Cha of A PP (a very quiet) LAUD (William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645)
25 LUCRETIUS Cha of LUCRE (money) TIUS (rev SUIT, clothes) Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 BC- ca. 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher
26 ERICA Ins of IC (99. a number) in era
27 DETESTED Ins of TEST (trial) in DEED (legal document)
28 ADAGES Cha of AD ages (modern times)

Down
1 FETISHES *(his feet) + S (Davies ultimately)
2 FANTASTIC *(in fat cats)
3 RETYPE ha
5 CHAMBER ORGANS Ins of OR (gold) GAN (rev of nag or jade - see Chambers jade2) in CHAMBERS (dictionary)
6 OBJECTS dd
7 NICER Nice + R (middle letter of Paris)
8 RUSKIN Rusk (something to chew on) IN (at home) John Ruskin (1819-1900), an English author, poet and artist, most famous for his work as art critic and social critic, and for his writing on the architecture of Venice.
10 FOOL’S PARADISE Fool’s (for sap) paradise (ideal)
15 OPERATING *(an ego trip)
16 CORDIALS Cha of Cor (blimey or crikey) + *(is lad)
18 NUMBERS dd
20 ADDLED *(dad) LED (light-emitting diode)
21 SPREAD dd
23 LICIT Ins of I C (one chapter) in LIT (literature)