Independent 7885 by Morph

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism

An enjoyable puzzle by Morph with no particular theme that I could see. It was mostly fairly straightforward, but there were a couple I couldn’t quite follow.
 

Across
1 Paparazzi: “Photographers follow Pope with shouted nickname?” This was one I didn’t follow. Possibly it’s something like P or pap or papa followed by something that means or sounds like a nickname.
6 Match: CD.
9 Novella: V[oice] O[ver] in (Woody) Allen, all reversed.
10 Risen up: (Pure + sin)*.
11 Index: DD.
12 Oven Ready: (O-V year end)*.
13 Sow Ones Wild Oats: &lit – sow (=dissipate) + (as not old + wise)*.
16 Annus Horribilis: (N Irish labour’s in)*.
19 Pussyfoot: DD with cryptic second def.
21 Nylon: “Stocking sterling in place of Swiss Francs?”.Definition is obviously nylon and l is probably sterling substituting for something.
23 Needles: Needles[s].
24 Rhubarb: Hom of rue + barb.
25 Rates: Ate (=was consumer) in Rs.
26 Mercenary: &lit – (my career)* around [mo]n[ey].
Down
1 Pencil Sharpener: (Cartridge) pen + silencer* around harp.
2 Paved: &lit – ped around av.
3 Relaxants: (Learnt sax)*.
4 Zealous: Initial letters of Arab League observers in Suez<.
5 Israeli: Hidden, rev in “while arsing.
6 Miser: &lit – Mr around I’s E(uros).
7 To No Avail: (Oval [St]ation)*.
8 Happy as a Sandboy: Not a 100% on this, but it looks like H(ot) + app + yas + NASA< + body*. Not sure about the phone=yas bit though.
14 Windswept: Winds + wept.
15 Debenture: Be in denture.
17 Opossum: Op on os + sum.
18 Retirer: R + er around tire.
20 Yells: Yes (one of either yes or no) around LL (Roman numeral 50).
22 Liana: (A nail)<.

18 comments on “Independent 7885 by Morph”

  1. For 1ac, the Pope is “Papa”, and the current Pope, Josef Ratzinger, is often called ‘Ratzi’ for short, which of course sounds like ‘razzi’.

  2. Thanks for the blog, Neal.

    I think 1ac id PAPA [Ecclesiatical Latin / Italian for Pope + RAZZI, a homophone [shouted] of a possible nickname from Pope Benedict’s surname Patzinger.

    Re 8dn: APP [download on phone] which leaves YAS as SAY [‘perhaps’ reversad.

    I haven’t compleely worked out 21ac either.

    Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle, Morph!

  4. I don’t want to big Morph up too much, but I really, really enjoyed this Monday puzzle – not too demanding, but lots of fun clues and clever constructions.

    I religiously start with 1ac, and when that makes you laugh you know you’re in for an entertaining half-hour. It’s PAPA for ‘pope’ and then RAZZI as a take on what the current pope – Cardinal Ratzinger – might have got called as a nickname in the schoolyard. ‘Hey Ratzi, cross it to the second stick!’ or something like that …

    ISRAELI was funny, as was SOW ONE’S WILD OATS. I too can’t see how NYLON works.

    Fine crossword and blog – thanks to Neal and Morph.

  6. I think NYLON is an insertion of L for ‘pounds’ or ‘sterling’ in the Swiss municipality of NYON.

  7. That could very nearly have been another cross, K’s D: I didn’t think before of looking up NYON – a nice misdirection, making us think there was a substitution.

  8. Apart from being in the ‘what’s NYLON all about’ corner too, I really enjoyed this one, thank you Morph. Thanks to Neal too.

  9. Thanks Morph for an enjoyable puzzle and Neal for the blog.

    8dn: I agree with Eileen @2. Thus the whole construction is H + APP + (NASA SAY)< + (BODY)*

  10. Thanks NealH and Morph. I too found this an enjoyable and fairly easy puzzle. BTW, I thought 6A MATCH was a double definition referring to matches used to light. I think Nyon is best known as the site of the headquarters of FIFA.

  11. I got virtually nothing on the first pass. Then I started filling in the longer answers on definition, without worrying about the convoluted wordplay. Then everything dropped out quickly. Retrospectively, I got the Sandboy wordplay and had no trouble with Ny(l)on but did not bother to go back and sort out the other wordplay. I particularly enjoyed Paparazzi and Pussyfoot although it did conjure up a rather unpleasant mental image.

  12. One of those crosswords where answers often fall into place without too much attention to the wordplay, as, inter alia, 8d for me today. Some smiles along the way, too, for example RHUBARB.
    Thought we might have been in for a pangram with Z and X appearing early on, but not this time.

  13. I found this a quick enjoyable finish, not sure why either, looking back some wordplay and definitions don’t seem to be trivial, but it was fun and no surprise to see morph get some ME influencies in. Unlike lenny I got loads on first pass, slightly stuck in SW corner until I realised I’d managed to mangle the spelling to opossum in my grid, I blame the alcohol or actually the lack of it and a lurching train. Cheers Morph & Neal.

  15. Hi Shirley

    I took this to be AV for ‘avenue’ or ‘road’ inside PED for ‘pedestrian’, with ‘enjoyed’ having the sense of ‘eaten’, in other words inserted; and an &littish kind of clue, where part of the surface is the definition. If that makes sense. Someone else can probably explain it better.

  16. I too was flummoxed by the ‘av’ in 2d, satisfying myself eventually that it must be a reference to the A5 (Roman road?). Amongst the many good clues I really liked the topical (and very &littish) ‘zealous’.

  18. An enjoyable solve although we needed some help parsing a number of clues. Thankfully all has now been revealed. After having walked over 15 miles today on part of the Robin Hood Way, 19a brought a smile to our faces!
    Just the right level for a Monday evening. We usually enjoy Morph’s puzzles but we don’t seem to have seen him for a while.
    Thanks to Morph and NealH plus the rest of you for the extra explanations.

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