Morph supplies the Thursday puzzle this week. It’s good to see a crossword where the definitions are not just lifted straight out of the dictionary.
I enjoyed this. There were a umber of clues that required a bit of lateral thinking and many of the surfaces were excellent.
Clues I liked included the Lambeth Walk one at 11 across. It took me a while to realise what was going on here. It wasn’t until I had A blank B blank E that the penny finally dropped and I could understand th’ blasted.
Also, it wasn’t until I wrote the blog that I saw that one of the definitions at 14 across was ‘casting one’ and not just ‘casting’. Another one where it took some time to home in on the exact definition was at 21 across where the definition was just ‘thoroughly’
I also enjoyed the ‘bottomless bottomless pit’ at 7 down .
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Ridiculous pseuds holding potty assumptions are like this (8)
|
Anagram of (ridiculous) PSEUDS containing (holding) PO (potty) SUP (PO) SED* |
SUPPOSED (assumed; assumptions are like this)
|
|
5
|
Middle Eastern agents surrounding pub backing west (6)
|
(CIA [Central Intelligence Agency; spies] containing [surrounding] BAR [pub]) all reversed (backing west [each word conveys the sense of reverse for an across clue, but together give a better surface for the use of CIA]) (A (RAB) IC)< |
ARABIC (Middle Eastern) There are Arabic speaking countries in North Africa as well as the Middle East
|
|
10
|
Society girl of one kind and another finding character with means to pay (5,4)
|
DEB (debutante; young woman making her first appearance in society) + IT (reference IT girls, young women who are, or makes it their business to be, noted in fashionable circles for their charisma, beauty and wealth) + CARD (comical or eccentric person; character)
|
DEBIT CARD (CARD used by a purchaser by means of which money is directly transferred from his or her bank account to the retailer’s.
|
|
11
|
Do in th’ blasted Lambeth Walk! (5)
|
Anagram of (do in) LAMBETH excluding (blasted) TH AMBLE* |
AMBLE (walk)
|
|
12
|
Main road mistakes – start off without using these! (7)
|
MI (M one; motorway; main road) + ERRORS (mistakes) excluding (off) the first letter (start) E
|
MIRRORS (things that should be used before moving off in a car, otherwise accidents can occur)
|
|
13
|
Carbon-free world is slowly filtering through (7)
|
COSMOS (world as an orderly whole) excluding (free) C (carbon) + IS
|
OSMOSIS (chemical term for diffusion of liquids through a semipermeable membrane; slowly filtering through)
|
|
14
|
Casting one less keen on performing? (5)
|
SHYER (one who throws [casts])
|
SHYER (less keen on performing) double definition
|
|
15
|
He’s responsible for kids getting grades in gym and religion overturned (9)
|
(RANKS [grades] contained in (in) PT [physical training; gym]) + (RE [religious education; religion] reversed [overturned]) P (RANKS) T ER< |
PRANKSTER (practical joker, one who hoaxes [kids])
|
|
17
|
Brand attracted that woman’s attention, ‘e said (9)
|
CAUTERISE (sounds like CAUGHT ‘ER EYES [attracted that woman’s attention] as spoken by a Cockney [‘e said])
|
CAUTERISE (burn; brand)
|
|
19
|
Watering hole‘s old and unchanged (5)
|
O (old) + AS IS (unchanged)
|
OASIS (watering hole)
|
|
21
|
Thoroughly useless husband restricting daughter (2,5)
|
(INEPT [useless] + H [husband]) containing (restricting) D (daughter) IN (D) EPT H |
IN DEPTH (extensively and thoroughly)
|
|
23
|
Start to finish, repeatedly enjoy success in pool where writers took a dip (7)
|
(SINK [enjoy success at pool by SINKing a ball] + POT [another term for success at pool], by POTting a ball) with the leading character [start] S moving to the end of [the finish] of POT INKPOTS |
INKPOTS (where a writer of old would have dipped his quill or pen)
|
|
24
|
Body‘s a ton, approximately (5) |
T (ton) + OR SO (approximately)
|
TORSO (trunk of the human body)
|
|
25
|
Throbbing ear – a lug in pain (9)
|
Anagram of (throbbing) EAR A LUG IN NEURALGIA* |
NEURALGIA (pain of a purely nervous character)
|
|
26
|
Noise of train overhead by coastal resident (6)
|
CHOUGH (sounds like [overheard] CHUFF [noise of a steam train])
|
CHOUGH (a passerine bird (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), of the crow family, inhabiting sea-cliffs and mountains; coastal resident)
|
|
27
|
Spooner says to say "pardon" is a failing (4,4)
|
WEAK SPOT (Spoonerism if SPEAK WHAT? [pardon])
|
WEAK SPOT (area in which one is not knowledgeable; failing)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Suffering so, a comic hits out, liking to dish it out as well as take it? (15)
|
SAD (suffering) + (an anagram of [out] SO A COMIC HITS) SAD OMASOCHISTIC* |
SADOMASDOCHISTIC (having a liking for sexual gratification, obtained by inflicting pain on another person and having pain inflicted on one by another; liking to dish it out as well as take it)
|
|
2
|
Tyre burned by local teens? (7)
|
PUB (local) + an anagram of TYRE PUB ERTY* |
PUBERTY (beginning of sexual maturity that usually occurs in ones teens)
|
|
3
|
Not batting well? Don’t rely on your team for help! (9)
|
OUT (no longer batting) + SOURCE (a well, for example)
|
OUTSOURCE (obtain [goods or part]) from, or contract work with, an outside supplier; don’t rely on your team for help)
|
|
4
|
Tests cut up manuscript (5)
|
AXE (cut) reversed (up; down clue) + MS (manuscript) EXA< MS |
EXAMS (tests)
|
|
6
|
Visit Arsenal, perhaps, to back French gentleman (5)
|
REAR (back) + M (Monsieur; French gentleman)
|
REARM (visit an arsenal to acquire new weapons to replaced used ones)
|
|
7
|
Take care of section wherein lies bottomless, bottomless pit (7)
|
BIT (section) containing (wherein is found) ABYSS (bottomless pit) excluding the final letter (bottomless) S B (ABYS) IT |
BABYSIT (take care of)
|
|
8
|
Avoiding batting, perhaps, and not wanting to be pressed (6-9)
|
CREASE (in cricket batsman take guard at the CREASE) + RESISTANT (wants to avoid)
|
CREASE-RESISTANT (not becoming CREASEd [pressed] in normal wear)
|
|
9
|
Promote advertisement about taking part in election (8)
|
AD (advertisement) + (CA [circa; about] contained in [taking part in] VOTE [election]) AD VO (CA) TE |
ADVOCATE recommend; (promote)
|
|
15
|
After pub, I drunkenly confess online fraud (8)
|
PH (public house; pub) + I + SHING (a drunken, slurred way of saying SING [confess])
|
PHISHING (The luring of an internet user to reveal personal details [like passwords and credit card information] on a fake web page or email form pretending to come from a legitimate company [like their bank]; online fraud)
|
|
16
|
Reject drink (5,4)
|
KNOCK BACK [reject]
|
KNOCK BACK [drink] double definition
|
|
18
|
Suffer in one language and therefore in an another (7)
|
UND (‘and’ in German [onel language]) + ERGO (‘therefore’ in Latin [another language])
|
UNDERGO (suffer)
|
|
20
|
Substitute shoots skyward before interval (7)
|
POTS (shoots) reversed (skyward; down clue) + GAP (interval) STOP< GAP |
STOPGAP (temporary substitute)
|
|
22
|
Republican in bad odour has a point (5)
|
R (Republican) contained in (in) PONG (bad smell) P (R) ONG |
PRONG (spike of a fork, for instance, something that has a point)
|
|
23
|
Nasal passages endlessly employed (2,3)
|
SINUSES (nasal passages) excluding the first and last letters (endlessly) S and S
|
IN USE (employed)
|
Great puzzle, particularly liked CAUTERISE, OSMOSIS, SADOMASOCHISTIC, PHISHING. A good workout.
I think “perhaps” is part of the definition in 6D, as one by no means has to go to an arsenal to do this and the word “perhaps” doesn’t fulfil any other real function.
Thanks to Math and duncanshiell.
I really enjoy Morph’s puzzles, which are always good for a few laughs and are at the same time full of excellent misdirection (eg “he’s responsible for kids”).
I noticed a few clues with bar,local,pub and knock back but probably not threatening the theme threshold.
Many thanks to Morph and Duncan
Agree with all the above. A satisfying, snigger-a-minute puzzle.
Thanks to Morph & Duncan.
Thumbs up from me
Some great clues here – too many to nominate a CoD. Needed the blog to explain some of the parsings, particularly INKPOTS and SHYER. I did manage to parse the latter rather unsatisfactorily as SHY [=cast(ing)] + ER (‘one’ is how the Queen might refer to herself) but the blog version is undoubtedly correct.
Thanks, Morph and Duncan
V. enjoyable with lots of wry humour along the way. I liked the defs at 14a, 15a and 6d (yes, I think ‘perhaps’ is part of the def as gwep @1 points out). My favourites though we’re the ‘Thoroughly useless husband…’ and the ‘Tyre burned by local teens?’ clues.
Thanks to Morph and Duncan
The best of today’s cryptics by a long way. would take me too long to list my favourites so I’ll just thank Morph for the entertainment and Duncan for the explanations
Absolutely wonderful puzzle ,,, I fell in love with the prankster surface 🙂 Phishing too.. Torso ! and bottomless bottomless pit of course !! could not parse inkpots.. thats rather complex.. Morph is great!
Much enjoyed this and plenty of good stuff here. But how does teens = puberty? Related of course but similar enough?
Too good for me. I’ve been doing cryptics for about 3 years now and I don’t often get DNF’s these days (although lots of DBS – “Did, But Slowly”) but this one defeated me. An excellent puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.
You can add me to the list of admirers of this. A belter from Morph!