Comments on: Independent 7916/Morph

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:19:41 +0000

Brilliant crossword. Hard work but enjoyable – and that’s what it’s all about right? I’m with Richard – Lily of the Valley is genius.

By: Morph

Morph — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:44:09 +0000

Sorry if you don’t share Richard’s ardour,
Or if you’d like them easier or ‘arder.
Agree about TE so I will bin it.
And no, there wasn’t any Nina in it.

Thanks for all the comments.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:42:00 +0000

We would agree with KD’s as to the overall impression of the puzzle! As with crypticsue though, we can’t see why it took so long to finish.
26a brought a smile but that maybe because we thought that ‘Little Ted’ was a character in ‘Super Ted’ that our son used to watch! He drew a fantastic picture of him when he was at Nursery (too long ago to remember- oh dear, we just did!)
Thanks to John and Morph.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:45:06 +0000

Nope, Richard, I beg to differ. LILY OF THE VALLEY was fun but far from brilliant for me. The other two you mention were only ordinary.

By: Richard Heald

Richard Heald — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:03:26 +0000

Wot no praise for LILY OF THE VALLEY?! Why, this is the most brilliant clue I’ve seen this year so far! (Admittedly, it’s only February …)

I thought the PECCADILLO clue and DARTBOARD defn were inspired too.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:26:51 +0000

Gaufrid, dear heart, thank you. I must admit that I expect to know the words in weekday puzzles without having to resort to the dictionaries.

I have now had time to look up LILT as well – to hum! Would you believe it?

Morph, please give us an everyday puzzle which doesn’t depend on obscure definitions.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:04:43 +0000

Enjoyable puzzle, in which I found the LHS much harder than the RHS. 16D GARIBALDI was clever and amusing. Re PEEKABOO I think the defn ‘containing minor revelations’ might (also) refer to fashion style where small amounts of skin are visible. I was not aware before now of the AMBIANCE spelling but the anagram clue made it bullet-proof and dict confirmed it. Thanks, Morph, and John.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:46:02 +0000

Jan
“How does ‘typo’ = literal?”

From Chambers under literal: “A wrong letter in printed or typed material. A misprint of a letter in a word (printing)”.

From Chambers under typo: “A typographical error, a literal”.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:13:21 +0000

I knew that I had time for only one crossword today and chose Morph over the others available. I wish I hadn’t!

Thanks for the blog, John, but I didn’t like the puzzle at all. For me, the clues were far too long and contrived without even the benefit of a smooth surface in some.

There are many discussions about homonyms so I won’t mention the obvious (ardour does not sound like ‘arder!). OK, I mentioned it – sorry. And I am probalby being extremely dim but how do we get from, 10. ‘Typo picked up in strip’ to LITTORAL? How does ‘typo’ = literal?

As for 26. LILTED – must I confer with Chambers to confirm that it means ‘humming’? Despite having L-L-E- I would never have got that!

I have now added Morph to the short list of compilers to avoid when I am short of time.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:56:50 +0000

Another nice one from Morph. I’m with you, John, about the absence of a nina; it’s not even a pangram despite the presence of k, v and x.

I’d not heard of a peccary before, but armadillo was pretty obviously the other mammal in 1a and from the definition the answer had to be PECCADILLO.

FLY TIPPING raised a smile, remembering all those awful ‘fly in my soup’ jokes – but I won’t invite Gaudfrid’s wrath by repeating any of them.

One or two minor grumbles; for instance isn’t the use of ‘Lawrence’ to clue the letters ‘te’ becoming a bit of a cliché?