Monk celebrates a particular clue type today.
Great fun to start the day. Many thanks to Monk!
(I BECALM)* (*criminal)
An ‘alembic’ is a historical (hence ‘once’) distillation tool/still used in alchemy
ARSE (bottom) + [thespia]N (at last) + IC (in command)
‘As’ is the chemical symbol for arsenic
CON (prisoner) + SIGNED (authorised paperwork)
G[romit] (‘s initiator); READ* (*wrong) trousers
Edgar Wallace was a prolific thriller writer in the early 20th century
PARENTS* (*bickering)
About (C (clubs) and IT (sex)) is REAL (genuine)
DARTS< (suddenly hurls, <back)
Strad = Stradivarius, the violin
INTEGRALS* (*cracked)
LIVER (one who resides) in DEER (bucks)
Double definition
H (Henry) introduced to SELLER (vendor)
ADO (trouble); IS + RE (concerning) clothes
[priv]ATE IN[come] (some)
O (Oscar, NATO alphabet) + PEN (writer) introduces DREAM* (*novel)
REST (others) outside (CE (church) + P (quietly, musical))< (<reflecting)
SH[o]RT[l]IST* (*revised, after 3rd and 6th placed drop out)
[m]ARCHERS (walkers, shunning top)
EST (in France: ‘is’) holding RN (service, Royal Navy)
Max Ernst, the German surrealist artist and pioneer of the Dada movement
BAND (gang) nabbing RIG (equipment)
CAN (is able to) + (URGES A)* (*rank)
[m]ADDER (increasingly frantic, starting late)
S (small) + T (time) + [p]ENCIL (writer, denied opening)
(WITH + G[roup] (foremost in))* (*running) in NEAR (tight)
[Cuiras]S (ultimately) included in COR (my) + LET (permitted)
[o]VER (excess, missing O (nothing)) in RELIES (banks)
RADIO* (*broadcast) on TEST (cricket match)
DES (‘some’, French) + PAIR (couple)
VANCE (US vice president) accepts L (large) + E (European)
(GRAHA[me] (not ME, the writer) + B[ohemia]N (vacuous))* (*eccentric)
Kenneth Branagh is one example of a Kenneth, referring to the actor
Cryptic definition
Speedos are swimming briefs. Tackle being slang for male genitals.
O (old) + [score]S (finally) stopping ROT (nonsense)
[f]ORMER (first of two, with no top)
In a choice of two successive things, you would have a ‘former’ and a ‘latter’
I didn’t know either ORMER or CORSLET, and ALEMBIC was dragged reluctantly back from memory.
“EDGAR WALLACE mysteries” was a TV BW series when I was a kid.
Some nicely-compiled surfaces, nothing too abstract, very enjoyable. Though I will repeat my gripe, ” MAN” = “man’s name” always annoys me (ISADORE).
Good show, Monk & Oriel
Thanks for the blog and good spot with the grid .
Very good set of clues and a very friendly grid , so many letters checked including all the first . EDGAR was very neat , the old TV series is often shown on TPTV .
I am always suspicious of As and several others , ARSENIC is the most crosswordy element , its only stable nucleus contains 225 quarks .
Overall not too tricky, but I was held up by putting in (g)AMBLERS at 1d.
Thanks to Monk and Oriel
A brilliant, enjoyable, challenging puzzle with some tough parsings to work through. I missed the nina. Well-set and well-blogged!
Many thanks to Monk and Oriel.
Fairly easy for a Monk crossword, and most enjoyable. I didn’t spot the nina, but I did notice a sprinkling of scientific/maths references – ALEMBIC, ARSENIC and, in the clues, integrals. Favourite, though, was ORMER.
Thanks, Monk and Oriel.