A great way to start the day.
Thanks to Monk for a reliably entertaining puzzle, full of clever devices.
Do comment if you’ve found a pattern in the grid – Monk usually includes something extra, but I don’t see anything.
CROWN (victory award) presented before DERBY (local match) – EDITED, thanks Roz
X (times) introduces SAM[uel]< (bible books, shortened, <around)
WING (flight) containing (D,D (two Democrats) pursuing E (European))
(LO (see) + LEI (garland)) around [f]RE[e] (unconfined)
[w]RETCH (miserable person, that’s knocked off first)
(LOT EVER SO)* (*corrupt)
I (India, NATO alphabet) + (PL (place) in MODE (fashion))
KIDS (hoaxes) involving [pho]NEY (fake, semi)
IRE< (anger, <about) + TREA[sure] (riches, being halved)
RESUME* (*playfully) chasing B (black)
[s]IZZLING (very hot, leaving S (sierra, NATO alphabet)) on DR (drive)
‘DR’ in the sense of an address abbreviation
DE[a]TH (murder, using heart transplant)
The central letter is the ‘heart’ and we are told to ‘transplant’/replace this
Double definition
He = helium
TAVE[r]NER (publican, first R (run) away from)
[war]NER B[rothers]< (somewhat, <taken aback)
‘Bren’ is a famous light machine gun used in WWII
(ANNELIDS DO)* (*ground)
[n]C[o] [t]OWARD[s] [v]ICE[s] (that are fully exposed)
ON (working) with D (daughter) + IT
From the French, meaning ‘one says’
(ROBIN HUGE)* (*stray)
[gard]EN GARDE[n] (two identical planted areas, section of)
(U (university) + L (learner)) part way through BLOCK (obstruction)
“MILLY PEED” (girl weed, “picked up”)
SIFT (sort) frames W (wife)
([snak]E [normall]Y [bolde]R)< (at last, <retreats)
PRI[g] (puritan, mostly) + VILE (shameful) + E.G.< (say, <withdrawing)
D[e]AR (beloved, dropping E (ecstasy)) + LIVED< (was, <upset)
‘Dropping’ tells us to move the letter E to the end of the word)
SHE (female) + (PHDS (doctors, PhDs) checking ER (emergency room))
ARIE[s] (sign, brief) north of TT (completely dry, teetotal) + A (area)
‘Air’ as in an aria/song
I + GOT into (entered, viewed cryptically) BED (plot)
D (departs) + WEE (number one) + B (bishop)
O[bes]E (extremely) following Z (unknown)
‘Unknown’ as Z might be used in an algebraic equation
P (quietly, musical) + ON [the] GO (very active, dropping THE (article))
1 Ac the definition is porcelain .
Thanks for the blog , really enjoyable set of neat clues with many nice touches .
ZOE is new to me , the clue and grid were very fair .
PONGO are the orangutans , the dictionaries may be out of date here and give the setter support , will check later .
Yes, a neat set of clues. ZOE also unfamiliar to me though it vaguely lurks somewhere in the subconscious and sent me off to check t’internet which confirmed it. I was relieved to remember TAVENER. EN GARDE, an amusing construction.
Thanks both
Strangely, (John) Taverner was also a religious composer, albeit of an earlier age.
Oh! That’s interesting.
Good puzzle. Good blog.
Liked the heart transplant idea in DEPTH.
Thanks Monk and Oriel.
Thanks Monk and Oriel
25dn: Chambers 2016 p 1204 has pongo “an anthropoid ape orig probably the gorilla, but transferred to the orang-utan; a monkey; a soldier (milit sl); an Englishman (Aust inf)”. Setters are, of course, entitled to use any of these definitions.
Agree with Roz that the clues were a tidy bunch, and also remembered that pongo pygmaeus is the orang utan though an ape surely, not a monkey as it has no tail.
I very much liked the (gard)en garde(n) idea and ELEMENT which, for once, I spotted though it’s still a smooth surface.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel.
ER for emergency room was new to me. I guess it may become more common as use of “the queen” becomes somewhat outdated/inaccurate. Zoe was also unknown to me as I don’t use apps much – except this one of course.
Quite a few I couldn’t parse today so special thanks for the blog, which was very useful.
Comment #9
Nice to see a different form of “doctor”. Many thanks Monk and Oriel. Also CRUADH across the middle is Irish (Gaelic), possibly a given name.
TAVENER was a spelling JORUM, because until today, I thought he was spelled like the publican. In my ignorance I thought PONGO was just the name of a famous or fictional monkey. I agree with Macmorris about the PhD.
Petert@11: There was a composer called John Taverner, who died in 1545 having played an important part in the development of English Church music. John Tavener (without the first R) lived from 1944 to 2013. The definition “religious composer” fits both of them.
Lots of neat clues here – so very enjoyable. I particularly liked EN GARDE. Took a bit of getting used to the only partially included synonyms eg in XMAS, KIDNEYS, ERITREA and several others. But it’s a clever device which I’ll watch out for in future
I ticked EN GARDE
All parsed and ON DIT was my new expression for the day. My research on PONGO led to the same conclusion as Diane@7, that the word means orang utan which is not a monkey. But, per PB@6, as Chambers lists monkey in its definition the setter can use it. Thanks Monk and Oriel.
To echo everyone else, interesting set of clues.
I was signed up to ZOE during the pandemic when it was free, tracking symptoms of COVID and advising when they changed – they were a large part of the advice changing as time went on. It’s now a paid for nutritional tracker for the worried well. I gave up when they were testing if extended fasting periods works (before the fees came in) the 16/8, 18/6 or 20/4 fasting/eating periods. Extending how long I fast overnight just made me feel rotten, so there didn’t seem any point to continuing.
Thank you to Monk and Oriel.
The unches in the middle row spell CRUADH which, Google tells us, is a Gaelic word meaning ‘tough’ or ‘hard’ – often a description of Monk’s puzzles.
Actually, this wasn’t too tough – we only needed help with KIDNEYS and MILLEPEDE; we thought of the latter early on but we would spell it with a second i instead of the first e.
Thanks, Monk and Oriel.
Thanks Monk for a satisfying challenge. I revealed the clever DARE DEVIL and the unknown PONGO but managed all else except for the parsing of CROWN DERBY and ELEMENT. Favourites included RYE, SHEPHERDS, and KIDNEYS. I saw CRUADH but didn’t know what it meant if anything. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
I finished this in a substandard, haphazard way. The blog definitely filled in some gaps today.
Thanks Monk and Oriel .
Love a Monk crossword. Tough, fair, and I always learn something new. I liked IMPLODE and BURMESE. 6a I couldn’t see XMAS, we’re having a heatwave in Ireland and that particular holiday is far from my mind. In desperation, I entered AMOS for the biblical reference. Cruadh agus cóir.
This was my first Monk puzzle, and I very much enjoyed it. Thanks to Tony S for the recommendation. I had to reveal MILLEPEDE and benefited from some word-checks. A challenging (for me) and very satisfying puzzle. Thanks to the setter and blogger.