David Alfred Bywaters's Crossword Cavalcade & Fortnightly Victorian Novel Recommender. Every Saturday! Either a new language-torturing puzzle or an old novel by an unjustly neglected Victorian author. Why waste time on other amusements?

Crossword 055: Monkey in the Middle

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, The Travelled Monkey
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, The Travelled Monkey

I never construct a puzzle without exhaustive research of its origins and implications.  For this puzzle I looked up the etymology of the word “monkey” in the OED.  Apparently it derives either from “monk,” on the theory that the unknown coiners of the word found some satirical resemblance between the animal and the religious community member, or from “Moneke,” the name of the son of Martin the Ape in the 1498 Middle Low German classic version of “Reynard the Fox.”  Next time you find yourself at a dinner party at which conversation falters, mention these two possibilities: lively debate is certain to ensue.

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055 Monkey in the Middle