Independent 7,289/Morph
Posted by Ali on February 25th, 2010
A nice puzzle from Morph with some great cryptic definitions and humourous touches, as appears to be his wont! I found the NW corner very hard, but overall a very satisfying solve.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | POLITICAL ASYLUM – Cryptic def. | |
| 9 | FUNCTION – A very neat double def. | |
| 10 | SPEEDY – PEED (went) for A in SAY | |
| 11 | EDICTS – CIDE[-r] rev. + T + [-herald]S | |
| 13 | TWILIGHT – WIL[-l] in TIGHT | |
| 15 | SAN ANDREAS FAULT – (LAND UNSAFE AS [e]ART[h])* – A brilliant anagram &lit. | |
| 17 | CASTRATO – [allergi]C + A(merican) + TARTS rev. + [coc]O[nut] – Quite a lengthy clue, but works very well I think | |
| 18 | ESSAYS – Initial letters of Evening Standard + SAYS | |
| 19 | HUNGRY – HUNG + RY. | |
| 21 | NICKNAME – Cryptic def and &lit. too I guess | |
| 23 | DEFINITE ARTICLE – (IF I ENTER CITADEL)* | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOFU – [-hos]T + UFO rev. | |
| 2 | WITCHCRAFT – “Which craft” | |
| 3 | SIRIUS – IRIS (Murdoch) rev. + U.S | |
| 4 | PAINT THE TOWN RED – (WINTER AT THE POND)* | |
| 5 | PARSNIPS – SPINS RAP rev. | |
| 6 | HYPE – HIdden in sHY PEople | |
| 7 | BUDDY HOLLY – Cryptic def. | |
| 12 | DRAMA QUEEN – Cryptic def. | |
| 14 | IN ABSENTIA – I + NAB + SENT + 1 + A(ustralia) | |
| 16 | DIALYSIS – DAILY ‘vocally upset’ + SIS | |
| 18 | ESCORT – OR in ESC + [-plo]T | |
| 20 | GLIB – G[-ay] +LIB | |
| 22 | MALT – M(aster) + ALT | |
February 25th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Yes, quite satisfying. I must admit I guessed 15 across without completely getting the wordplay (earth’s crust goes), and I didn’t understand MALT at all, being fixated on musical keys!
February 25th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Very inventive puzzle, and very hard, as Thursdays can be in the Indy. Esp liked POLITICAL ASYLUM, FUNCTION, TWILIGHT, DRAMA QUEEN, DIALYSIS, GLIB. In DIALYSIS I think the ‘vocally upset’ may mean you reverse the vowels in Daily = cleaner.
February 25th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I particularly liked NICKNAME.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
With Alt and Esc appearing, I wondered if there was going to be some sort of keyboard theme, but I can’t see any other keys mentioned. I had most trouble with 19 across – my usual mistake of over-complicating the clue, thinking stood around must mean a word for stood running backwards and that seeking was just a synonym for is, so the definition was a type of food. I think vocally upset in 16 down was a bit odd – verbally upset might have made more sense.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
NealH
As nms indicated in comment #2, ‘vocally upset’ indicates the reversal of the vowels in ‘daily’ (vocal = of or relating to a vowel).
February 25th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Thank you Ali. I wouldn’t have made much of a mark on this puzzle without your help.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:40 am
A most delightful and entertaining puzzle and a most informative blog.
The definition in 17A “without nuts” made that clue my favourite and 2Down was such a howler:-)
Eimi, this is what I meant by injecting humour in a puzzle (which Nimrod sometimes forgets to)
February 26th, 2010 at 10:16 am
10 & 17a take us back to the Indy’s polite drawing room again!
‘Key’ for ‘Alt’ has cropped up more than once. Must remember in future that ‘key’ might indicate not only ‘alt’ but ‘esc’, ‘del’, ‘end’, ‘home’ ‘ctrl’ and the like. Better stop there before I give our setters too many ideas.