Independent 7,289/Morph

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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

9 comments on “Independent 7,289/Morph”

  1. 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!

  2. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. NealH
    As nms indicated in comment #2, ‘vocally upset’ indicates the reversal of the vowels in ‘daily’ (vocal = of or relating to a vowel).

  7. 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)

  8. 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.

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