A tricky challenge from Monk.
But enjoyable as ever. And a pangram to boot. Thank you Monk!
EDITED: As some commentators have noted, the pangram is neatly arranged in the grid’s perimeter, but Monk has also hinted to us to find it there, as highlighted in green (Thanks to Ken and Nina for pointing that out).
D (Germany) before A + GUERRE (Napoleonic war?, i.e. in French)
Shooting in the sense of a camera
OUP (press) plugs LES (French articles)
OUP = Oxford University Press
[Samsun]G (finally) + TAKES* (*recycled)
TABLE (spreadsheet item perhaps) check N (new) + G.I. (private overseas)
[raf]FLE A[rtefacts] (in)
IS in DAY (24 hours) + CHINA* (*transforming)
Cryptic definition
From the collective noun: a parliament of owls
“TENOR” (singer, “delivered”)
PEAL (series of changes) including (R.I.P. (epitaph) by HER (that woman))
‘Ringing the changes’ refers to traditional English bell ringing
RUT (tedious course) associated with H (heard)
Ruth from the Old Testament of the Bible
BET (wager) on ALPHA (dominant)
A (answer) + IS< (<about) + MOV[ies] (films, being cut by 50%)
[f]UNFAIR (amusement park, opening late)
A[p]P[al]ACHIA[n]S* (*desperate, without PLAN)
ZONE (belt) spread by (A BIG L[inguine] (starter of) and A)* (*crumbly)
([h]UNK[y] (naked) + M (male)) in JAIL (prison)
EXTRA* (*disturbed) + D (duke)
KIN< (family, <turned up) after BEAT (blow)
DONKEY* (*poor) supporting K (king) + L[og] (‘s head)
Klondyke is a form of the game of patience/solitaire
QUAI[l] (tiny bird, mostly) + C (cold) standing on H (hot)
A[lcoho]L (cleared out) after M[isadventur]E (case of)
IR (old tax collectors) + A[rtfu]L (extremely) limiting RATION (allowance)
Inland Revenue preceded the current HMRC in the UK
BUTCHERS* (*works)
(I + SIC (so, Latin) + RAN (managed))< (to be upset) about S (small)
F (female) + WASTER< (ne’er-do-well, <picked up)
[w]RATH SI[mmering]< (somewhat, <shown up)
(CLAY HE)* (*pounded)
IN[struction] (covers of) + [bo]O[ks] (essentially) bearing L (large)
Hmm yes quite a bit of bung and pray in this one. I’ve been examined through loupe glasses but dnk what they’re called. And tangible as noun, is that businessspeak? For 28ac, always thought the adjective was aphasic. And 5 and 6 down were guesses too. Enjoyed it ntl, thanks Monk and Oriel.
This was tricky. I managed all but QUAITCH and it was then that I realized that the 26 letters of the 24A were neatly arranged around the perimeter.
Liked DAGUERRE for the surface, ZABAGLIONE and DAISY CHAIN.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel.
Thanks Monk and Oriel. I was lucky to spot the Nina early on. As Diane@2 has already said, the pangram is not just in the grid as a whole, but in its perimeter.
9ac: I hesitated before entering this one, but eventually decided that LES can refer to multiple occurrences of the French article LE.
28ac: Chambers 2016 p 66 allows aphasiac as noun and adjective, and aphasic just as an adjective.
Not a simple pangram – a perimeter pangram. Beautifully done – thanks Monk.
Mitz@#4, you might even say a 20ac 24ac 🙂
Thanks for the blog , well spotted Diane@2 , must have been very difficult to set and accounts for the higher number of unusual words although they were fairly clued . It barely matters but I had the outer letters for covers of InstructioN to give LINO .
Yes Grant@1 , actual physical assets , although it is nearly always plural .
Thanks Monk for a satisfying challenge. I spotted the peripheral pangram about halfway into my solve and it certainly helped knowing what letters I had left to use. I used the guess-then-check method for QUAICH and LOUPES but all else eventually came to light. My top picks included DAISY CHAIN, ALPHABET, JUNK MAIL (liked the surface imagery), SCHUBERT, and LINO, the latter taking me far too long to see. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
What Tony said @7 (although the pangram only helped me at the end with Q).
Thanks Monk and Oriel
Only managed about half. This felt more like an IO challenge.
Good to see that some of you mastered it.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel.
Same here Lem (#9)
Are quails tiny? They’re not big, but I wouldn’t have described them as tiny.
At first I saw the clutch of consonants in the top left unches and thought ‘pangram’, wondering if there was something more. And indeed there was. Extraordinary piece of work. And quite astonishing to be able to fill in the grid under such a constraint while still providing (mostly) reasonable words and clues. Very impressed. Thank you Monk. Thanks also to Oriel and other earlier commentators.
Recognising what others have said, yes there may well be some minor quibbles. But this is a fantastic feat of crossword setting. Superb! Thank you Monk.
Simply fantastic
This was difficult for me. I put my pen down after 6d: ‘wrench’ was all I could come up with.
I gave up at 50%.
As a single malt fancier I naturally thought of QUAICH for 6d, but rejected it because a quail is not a tiny bird. (Wikipedia calls them mid-sized.)
Still, I also didn’t get 9a LOUPES, so I can’t claim a 27a unfair DNF. Favourite was the ripping pealing woman at 20a PERIPHERAL.
Thanks Monk for the fine puzzle and 9a TILT, and Oriel for the excellent blog.
Very impressive construction from Monk. I also struggled with quail being tiny and thought it might refer to “qua..” meaning for a very short version of quail on top of “ic” meaning mostly cold for “icy”.
Thanks to Oriel and everyone else for their helpful comments.
Great fun challenge. However, Mr Monk could learn from the late, great Zamorca that it is possible to create a pangram without including words like QUAICH.
Funsize@18: Can you please explain what you mean by “words like QUAICH”, that makes this category of words objectionable?