Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

After yesterday’s Monk, this is like an anticlimax althought there are some interesting clues and imaginative play on words. As they say, Monk is a hard act to follow

Across
1,17 CONTROLLING INTEREST I suppose you can call this a dd although strictly one of the functions of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is to control interest rates
7 TOP dd
9 PARTY Removal of L (lead of Left) from partly (to some extent)
10 BALALAIKA Bala (Welsh lake) Laika (Scandinavian dog)
11 CHARLATAN charlat (sounds like Charlotte, one of the Bronte sisters) AN
12 PIOUS Ins of I O (one leader in Oman) in PUS (matter) ugh !
13 TODDLER *(red told)
15 SAGE S (son) age (mature)
18 SNAG S (second) NAG (horse)
20 ABSTAIN *(it as ban)
23 VICAR VIC (e) AR (A Rightwing initially)
24 OUT OF LINE Ins of Of (old fellow) in outline (sketch)
26 ARRIVISTE *(rare visit)
27 CREWE Crew (gang) E (last letter of leavE)
28 EVE eve (n)
29 RED CRESCENT Red (Communist or old Russian) Crescent (street)

Down
1 CAPACITY cap (outdo) a city
2 NORMANDY N (name) Ormandy: Eugene Ormandy (1899–1985) was a Hungarian-American conductor and violinist.
3 ROYAL dd
4 LOBSTER L (pound) *(sorbet)
6,5 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS *(as a gang lads spoil) - part of Ecuador’s national park system and famed for their vast number of endemic species and the studies by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle that contributed to the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.
7 TRIPOD trip + OD (rev do, party)
8 PRAISE P (power) Raise (lift)
14 LAND ROVER L (left) A N (a new) Drover (cowherd)
16 BALINESE Ins of LINE (queue) in base (camp)
19 GROUSED G + roused (woken up)
20 ANTBEAR ant (worker) bear (carry)
21 AVIATE ha
22 ACCRUE A C (a cold) *(cure)
25 FACTS F (favourite) Acts of the Apostles

Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

Quite some time ago, a good friend, Dave Tilley introduced me to Monk,  then only compiling for the Independent, a paper not carried by my Club in Kuala Lumpur, I was immediately taken to his devious style and his clever clues. Thus, when I saw an FT by Monk not being blogged, I thought that would be a shame.

So here I am, blogging an excellent and challenging puzzle which saw me resorting to on-line assistance like One-Look and Wikipedia with frequent reference to my in-house Chambers (worth every penny I paid - nowadays, I used it to complete an Azed within the hour)

Across
1 DIATRIBE DIA (rev of AID, help) tribe (race)
5 EVICTS EVI (rev of I’ve) CTS (first letters of ….)
9 DAGUERRE D (dead) A Guerre (war in French, indicated sneakingly by Napolean) Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851) was a French artist and chemist, recognized for his pioneering work in photography. “First to shoot” What a crafty definition! My clue of the puzzle
10 OSTMEN I actually constructed the word by ins of ST (street) in OMEN (sign) and then went to Chambers and hey presto, would you believe it - Ostmen n pl the Danish settlers in Ireland. Another new word for me
12 CLEAN c (circa or about) lean (bank)
13 AGINCOURT AGIN (against) court (judges & officials) This 1415 battle has been immortalised by Shakespeare as the centrepiece of his play Henry V.
14 HATBOX Clever cd
16 CLOBBER Ins of L in COBBER (this Aussie slang for friend was so slyly disguised using Sydney which initially got me to try and remember the friends of Sydney Carton, a character in Dicken’s ATOTC. Chambers #2 got me the clothing definition (another new word)
19 AVENGER Ins of Eng (English) in RENT
21 GHYLLS This was my last word and a new one, too. Apparently this is a homophone for gills (piscean lungs so deviously disguised as ‘fish partly’)
23 CHA-CHA-CHA That was fun fun fun
25 CRETE Ins of T in Cree
26 NARKED Ins of R (rex or king) in naked (nude)
27 DISRAELI One king is I Lear and Sid James of “Carry On…” fame. Reverse the whole lot to get Disraeli, a British PM
28 YANKEE *(Kenya) E
29 REDOLENT Ins of DOLE (handout) in rent

Down
1 DEDUCE Ins of D (diameter) in deuce (2 in a pack of cards)
2 AGGREGATE *(Jagger minus J) GATE (exit)
3 RHEIN Ins of H (horse) in REIN (strap) Aletrnate spelling for the more familiar Rhine
4 BUREAUX Ins of UR (half hour) in BEAU *Dandy) X (times)
6 VASECTOMY *(a cyst move) sounds so medical
7 CYMRU C (circa or about) YM (rev my) RU (Rugby Union)
A Welshman will easily accept this as &lit
8 SENATORS S (small ) E (European) NATO (alliance) R (run) S (Sweden)
This cha is too formulaic for me
11 DISC “discerns” 50% off
15 BIG CHEESE Big (major) CH (church) EESE (many points)
17 BELVEDERE *(be led ever)
18 FALCONRY Very clever cd especially when Falcon follows the next day
20 RACH Rac (k) H (hot) - another new word for me for a dog that hunts by scent.
21 GRANITE Gran (old lady) I TE (TeasE heartlessly)
22 DEPICT ha
24 APRON A (area) PRO (for) N (new) At least this formulaic clue reads well on the surface
25 CARGO What a lovely &lit C + Argo (Greek mythology ship)

A sound puzzle by Falcon this week. I particularly like 8D.

I am going on holiday and so will not be blogging this puzzle for the next three weeks. Maybe someone else on the team will step in. I will be back with the puzzle of August 2nd.

Across
1. WASTE PAPER - STEP (walk) + APE (primate) in WAR (conflict)
7. SOWN - W (wicket) in SON (boy)
9. FREE - double definition
10. PALINDROME - PALIN (presenter) + D (departs) + ROME (European capital)
11. VANDAL - VANDA (museum, “Victoria AND Albert”) + L[ondon]
12. CUL-DE-SAC - anagram of ACCUSED + L (learner)
13. TEASPOON - anagram of ONE SO APT
15. ELSA - hidden word
17. ASHE - A (A) + SHE (female). What a nicely contorted clue!
19. RINGSIDE - RING (circle) + SIDE (area). When I first solved this, I thought it poor because the clue could be read as non-cryptic. Then I realized that that means one can read it as a semi &lit. Now I cannot decide if it’s a really good clue or not. Any comments?
22. SOURPUSS - anagram of POURS US + S (seconds)
23. ENDEAR - END (intent) + EAR (listener)
25. BRAINCHILD - BRAIN (hit) + CHILD (youngster)
26. NEON - anagram of N (name) + ONE
27. BEST - double definition
28. ENGAGEMENT - double definition

Down
2. ACREAGE - RE (about) in A CAGE (an enclosure)
3. TWEED - T[oil] + WEED (feeble person)
4. PAPILLON - PA (father) + PILL (tablet) + ON (on)
5. PELICAN CROSSING - PELICAN (bird) + CROSSING (interbreeding)
6. RANKLE - [strippe]R + ANKLE (joint)
7. SORCERESS - anagram of recrosses
8. WOMBATS - MOW (cut) backwards + BATS (bananas)
14. SPEARMINT - anagram of MAN PRIEST
16. UNDERDOG - anagram of GROUNDED
18. SCOURGE - SCOUR (search) + EG (say) backwards
20. DRAGOON - double definition
21. QUICHE - QUIC[k] (short short) + HE (male)
24. DENIM - MINE (belonging to me) + D (daughter) all backwards

ACROSS

Much of this puzzle was ‘instant’ but I had some problems with 24a and 26a, and would welcome
comments.

1.    TEMPLE -  (dd - Shirley Temple, adored child star of the Thirties, later an Ambassador for her country)
4.    ALARUM - (< m-ural-a)
8.    BARRAGE - ( bar-ra-ge)
9.    PROVIDE  - ( pr-ovid-e - PR for public relations of course)
11.  DERMATITIS - (* tardis time)
12.  LOUT -  C(lout) - having some clout is to have influence.
13.  omitted
14.  MEANTIME- ( me-anti-me - or me against myself.   The other Dogberry was from Shakespeare’s Much    Ado.  He was noted for his Malapropisms)
16.  CAROUSEL - (carouse-l)
18.  STEER - (dd)
20.  ALMA - (Alma was the beautiful  wife of  Mahler - he had psychological hang-ups about his love for his mother, which plagued their relationship)
21.  MAGISTRATE - *megistar it)
23.  INDIANA -(in-<aid-na)
24.  PARODIC - (<c-i do-rap- this held me up for a while, as I think of ‘crap’ as a dice game, not cards)
25.  EASTER - (e- aster)
26   STREET  - (st-reet - ‘reet’ the Northern word for right, and reference to street-wise?)
DOWN

1.    omitted  
2.    MARIMBA - (ma-ri-mba - RI abbreviation for Republic of Indonesia - marimba an African instrument,
                              adopted and much loved by Central America)
3.    LIGHTNESS -(*hit singles)
5.    LARKS  -( Bevy is the collective noun for larks - and also quails and beauties!)
6.    RIVULET - (riv-ul-et)
7.    MIDSUMMER - ( m-ids -ummer - I suppose December is mid-summer in the Southern Hemisphere.)
10.  ETYMOLOGY ( *gloomy yet - the linguistic study of word derivation, not to be confused with  entymology , study of insects.)
13.  AT A GLANCE ((a-tag-lance)
15.  ASSISTANT (dd)
17.  OVARIES-(o-varies - the female  reproductive glands)
19.  EARHOLE - (ear-ho-l-e - the slightly less inelegant version of ‘lughole’ as in ‘pin back your-’
21.  MANGE - (mange-(R) - usually used for animals when they have a skin complaint allied to human
                          dermatitis)
22.  TWIST - dd

I downloaded the crossword and solved most of it quickly. However, I was called away from home and was back only at about 7 p.m. IST. At that time the bottom left corner had some holes. Am writing this in a brief interregnum before going to the temple for a committee meeting. Typos have since been fixed.

Across

1 BUBBLY - two def.

4 MACHISMO - Mac, his, mo - the second component is gratis and the third one is an obvious abbreviation.

9 (Elementary, my dear) WATSON - anag. of ‘was not’

10 ADVOCATE - two def. - ‘brief’ does a switcheroo as v. as a def.

12 TROPICAL - anag. of ‘cop’ and ‘trial’ ‘Tropical’ is ‘fervidly hot’ - Whether ‘heated’ is an apt def. for word reqd. I am not sure.  

13 SWERVE - s(w)erve - as ‘put’ can also be a verb in the past tense, one first thinks of ’served’ as the answer before further inquiry.

16 HA HA - The ‘boundary’ part I don’t get.

20 STET - A good cryptic def. for a word frequently used. But nowadays there is little chance for this impression to be made; proofreaders are an extinct tribe in newspapers.

23 APEMAN - rev. of ‘name, pa’ - I shouldn’t have taken as much time as I did. The left bottom corner, which proved difficult in my first foray, was filled in during a car ride.

25 BELL ROPE - CD

28 REPAIR - re-pair

30 ANTHEM- Nice CD, eschewing the usual anag. ploy.

Down

1 BEWITCH - b(E W)itch

2 BETROTHAL - anag. of ‘Harbottle’

3 LOOK IN - I am not sure whether the second def is quite apt.

4 AIDA - aid, a

6 HOODWINK - Hood, wink

14 ANISEED - an(I see)d - The word within word indication is not quite satisfactory.

17 OSTEOPATH - Anag. of ‘a stoop the’ - nice surface reading.

18 SEE AHEAD - see, a, head - Until we see that ‘divine’ does a switcheroo as a verb in def. for word reqd., the answer is delayed.

21 THEOREM - anag. of ‘me to her’ - nice surface reading but weak anag. ind.

22 CLUE IN - anag. of ‘nuclei’ - good anag. fodder but an anag. clue after an anag. clue may have been avoided.

24 EXTRA - two def - seamlessly merged

28 TIER - rev. of ‘re it’