Monk’s customarily efficient and elegant crossword today. I get the impression that he is appearing in the Indy more often than he has, which is good news.
One or two are beyond me a bit, but no doubt someone will come to the rescue.
This seems to contain a personal message: read down the unches on the left, then the horizontal unches in the middle, then the unches on the right.
Definitions underlined.
Across
1 They accommodate friends penning a single poem (12)
MAISONNETTES
ma(1 sonnet)tes — was a little unsure of the spelling of this word, but I see it can be either single or double n, although which is the more common you can’t tell
8 Resignation from small company? Miss it terribly (8)
STOICISM
(co miss it)*
9 Put away after first hour in solitary (3-3)
ONE-OFF
I think this is one [first hour, somehow …] followed by off [put away, somehow …] — as you can see I’m very uncomfortable here
10 New store introducing a type of culinary delicacy? (6)
OSTREA
(store)* a — Ostrea is the oyster genus
11 A bird needs a pint at the end of the evening (8)
NIGHTJAR
night [= evening] jar [= pint]
12 Clichéd attributes of female who might catch you out? (3,5)
LEG SLIPS
Legs and lips are clichéd attributes of females — leg slip is a fielding position in cricket
14 Capital time — excellent, extremely productive one (6)
TAIPEI
t A1 p{roductiv}e 1
15 Assassin was out to stop veteran (6)
OSWALD
(was)* in old — ref Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin
18 Close bank, having left part of estate in England? (8)
NEARSIDE
near [= close] side [= bank], and the nearside is the left-hand side of the estate car when you are driving in England
21 No reaction in the presence of this imposing western flag (5,3)
NOBLE GAS
noble [= imposing] (sag)rev. — a noble gas is an inert gas
22 Asian initially fled African country, east to west (6)
AFGHAN
f{led} Ghana with its easternmost letter moved to the westernmost part of it all
24 For blocking yard briefly, fine vehicle (2-4)
GO-KART
OK [= fine] in gart{h}
25 Excited cat perhaps getting tail cut off by old lout (8)
ANIMATED
anima{l} Ted [Teddy boy]
26 Head appreciated boundary rigger’s heartless trickery (12)
SKULLDUGGERY
skull dug ge{r}ry — not quite sure about this last part — I think it has something to do with gerrymandering — although Chambers doesn’t give gerry = gerrymander it comes close to doing so and I expect some other source does
Down
1 Artist having piece of paper leaving university after degree (7)
MATISSE
MA tiss{u}e
2 Circuiteers regularly having a more frigid outlook (5)
ICIER
{C}i{r}c{u}i{t}e{e}r{s}
3 Wherein folders hold paperwork (7)
ORIGAMI
CD
4 Literary quote that’s contradicted in part of the British Isles? (2,3,2,2,6)
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
A quotation from Meditation XVII by John Donne, and a contradiction in that The Isle of Man is indeed an island
5 Heart’s broken in unlucky, ultimately poignant idea (7)
THOUGHT
t(h)ough {poignan}t — the word ‘broken’ doesn’t indicate an anagram, but together with ‘in’ is an inclusion indicator
6 Cleric set out potentially shocking things (9)
ELECTRICS
(Cleric set)*
7 Recently aloft, high on drug (2,4)
OF LATE
(aloft)* E
13 Walk, stopping to follow gossip (5,4)
SMALL TALK
s(mall)talk
16 Golf club squashing tee? Exactly (4-2)
SPOT-ON
spo(t)on — the old golf club the spoon
17 Contemptible person getting in face of cardinals? (7)
DIGITAL
di(git)al — digital is of numbers and the reference is to cardinal numbers
19 Awesome internet giant finally connecting with binary exchange (7)
AMAZING
Amazon {connectin}g, with the o altered to i — binary exchange, 0 for 1
20 Yearned to convert official residence (7)
DEANERY
(Yearned)*
23 Favour good stock (5)
GRACE
g race
*anagram
I’m guessing that the nina is addressed to Mac, who appears in the middle. If so a poignant tribute.
Gerrymandering was named after Elbridge Gerry, who rigged election boundaries and whose surname “heartlessly” is Gery.
So long friend – It’s there!
3dn: I am dense today, and am still struggling with ORIGAMI. Could someone explain?
People who fold have in their hands paper that’s being worked, I guess.
A very nice puzzle here.
Thank you, hedgehoggy and Monk. I am truly dense not to have realised the significance of folders in the clue. I sometimes look for more complexity than there is.
Indeed a personal nina; this was the dreaded but inevitable post-script to Indy 8552. 🙁 The setter’s bespoke blues-harmonica version of 19dn 23dn terminated Mac’s recent farewell.
In 9ac, put is an imperative instruction to the solver, who has to put away(=off) after the first hour(=one [a.m.]). Apart from that, John’s blog is both complete and 16dn 🙂 Thanks to all.
This one again only for professional solvers,