Comments on: Independent 8189 / Morph (Saturday Prize Puzzle 12/01/13)

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:11:32 +0000

Thanks Graham, it’s what we meant but we underlined too much of the clue for the definition!

By: Graham Pellen

Graham Pellen — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 06:20:04 +0000

25A the definition is simply “drought-hit”. “Region’s first” is there to signal the “r” in “aid”.

By: flashling

flashling — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 11:17:36 +0000

Re 2d I just took R as the wing i.e. edge of R(ight) , the clue being written to help with the surface reading.

A lot easier I felt than many recent Saturday puzzles.

Thanks B&J and Morph.

By: scchua

scchua — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:34:54 +0000

Thanks BertandJoyce and Morph.
As it was a prize puzzle, I was prepared for the worst, but it turned out to be a relaxing and enjoyable solve.
Favourites were IMHO, with its very disguised defn., MACHO, which raised a smile when I finally figured out the parsing, and UPWARDLY MOBILE for its multi-layered defn./wordplay.
I think the R in 2down might refer to a US Republican, reputed to be more right-wing than a Democrat.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:57:32 +0000

Thanks, B&J. It’s very seldom I buy the Saturday Indy, but for some reason I did last week and I was pleased to find a Morph puzzle there. Not sure what the ‘expected’ difficulty level is for these crosswords, but I didn’t find this too tricky and there were some pleasing clues. I always find there’s a contemporary feel to Morph’s crosswords, and I liked IMHO and perhaps the slight nod to the CofE’s recent travails in SYNERGY.

Needed you to explain MACHO though! Sheltered life I’ve led and all that.