It has been a long time since I have blogged a puzzle by Morph and I had almost forgotten quite how much fun his puzzles can be.
I found this to be towards the harder end of the Indy difficulty spectrum and for quite some time I had only about half a dozen entries filled in. The puzzle did eventually almost reveal itself to me, with lots of laugh-out-loud moments along the way. I say “almost reveal” in that I couldn’t quite remember the name of the amphibian at 27 and needed to search Chambers to find 12, which is perhaps not the most obvious synonym for “scouts”. I would appreciate confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing at 7 and 12.
Some might quibble over some of the more extraneous vocabulary in the puzzle – the salmon, the salamander, the title in Asia – but when the compiler affords the solver such entertainment, I at least could forgive him a lot more than a few obscure words in a daily cryptic.
My favourites are almost too numerous to mention: 13 and 23, for sheer ingenuity; 7, 14D and 18, all for smoothness of surface; 09/22, for topicality; and 16, for a rather yucky PDM. If I had to choose just one, then my absolute favourite would have to be 14D, for the unexpected definition as well as the smoothness of surface, and also for reminding me of the stodgy puds of my youth, much missed by expats such as myself.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 03 | ARAB LEAGUE | Fertile land’s fit for Middle Eastern nations
ARABLE (=fertile land, with “arable” used as a noun) + AGUE (=fit, of shivering) |
| 10 | PORTRAY | Depict harbour fish
PORT (=harbour) + RAY (=fish) |
| 11 | MADEIRA | Wine produced by armed group formerly
MADE (=produced) + IRA (=armed group formerly, in Northern Ireland) |
| 12 | PIONEERS | Supporters surrounding United scouts
ONE (=united, i.e. together) in PIERS (=supporters, i.e. supporting structures); presumably, pioneers are scouts in that they are on the lookout for new things |
| 13 | SEE TO | Look after return of deodorised baby shoes?
<bo>OTEES (=baby shoes); “deodorised” suggests that the letters “BO (=body odour)” are dropped! |
| 14 | JAILHOUSE | 51 in pilgrimage returning to river in San Quentin?
JAILH (LI (=51, in Roman numerals) in HAJ (=pilgrimage, in Islam); “returning” indicates reversal) + OUSE (=river); San Quentin is home to the oldest prison in California |
| 16 | RECTA | Cater in mess for processed food outlets
*(CATER); “in mess” is anagram indicator; cryptically, recta are “processed food outlets” in that it is through them that food is discharged from the body upon defecation!! |
| 18 | MERIT | Desert island east of French waters and west of Thailand
MER (=French waters, i.e. the French word for sea) + I (=island, on maps) + T (=Thailand, in IVR); desert is what is deserved, merited, normally in the phrase to get one’s just deserts |
| 20 | CULMINATE | Finish altering male tunic
*(MALE TUNIC); “altering” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | UPHEAVAL | Eruption on mount Etna’s summit featuring hot volcanic rock flowing west
{H (=hot, as on tap) in [UP (=on mount, i.e. on a horse) + E<tna> (“summit” means first letter only)]} + AVAL (LAVA=volcanic rock; “flowing west” indicates reversal) |
| 27 | AXOLOTL | Amphibian turning to salmon in Australian lake
XOLOT (TO + LOX (=salmon, when smoked) in [A (=Australian) + L (=lake)]; a axolotl is a Mexican salamander |
| 28 | POULTRY | Chicken perhaps like chickenfeed when grain kernel’s replaced with regular portions of tofu
PALTRY (=like chickenfeed, meagre, of e.g. income); “when grain’s kernel (=middle letter) is replaced with regular portions (=alternate letters) of tofu” means letter “a” is replaced with “ou” |
| 29 | STABLE DOOR | Courier’s head perhaps caught by flying bar stool – by which cowboy makes an entrance?
ED (=Courier’s head perhaps, i.e. editor of a newspaper called (The) Courier) in *(BAR STOOL); “flying” is anagram indicator |
| 30/01 | FREE LOVE | Sexual licence to explore finished, with right approaching lead
FEEL (=to explore, with one’s hand) + OVER (=finished); “with right (=R) approaching lead” means that letter “r” moves to nearly the first position in the entry |
| Down | ||
| 01 | LAPS | Error cut out electronic circuits
LAPS<e> (=error); “cut out electronic (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped; laps are circuits of e.g. a racetrack |
| 02 | VERSIFIER | Poet quavers if I erase extract
Hidden (“extract”) in “quaVERS IF I ERase” |
| 04 | RHYME | A song of praise is almost found, when engineers are gathered round?
HYM<n> (=a song of praise; “almost” means last letter is dropped) in RE (=engineers, i.e. Royal Engineers); the whole clue is a rhyming couplet, hence the solution “rhyme” |
| 05 | BOMBSHELL | Attacks place of vice and beauty
BOMBS (=attacks) + HELL (=place of vice); a very beautiful young woman can be described as a (blond) bombshell |
| 06 | END USER | Head of bid’s going to accept American client eventually
US (=American) in <t>ENDER (=bid, offer; “head of .. ‘s going” means the first letter is dropped) |
| 07 | GUISE | Alias Smith and Jones broadcast?
Homophone (“broadcast”) of “guys (=Smith and Jones, i.e. the surnames of two men presumably)” |
| 08 | ELABORATE | English and American workers chewed flesh out
E (=English) + LABOR (=American workers, i.e. US spelling of labour) + ATE (=chewed) |
| 09/22 | FRENCH LEAVE | What happens of Macron declares Frexit, going AWOL?
If President Macron declares Frexit (cf. Brexit), then (the) French (will) leave (the EU); to take French leave is to leave without permission, hence to go AWOL |
| 14 | JUMP LEADS | The French tucking into roly-poly jam puds for starters
LE (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) in *(JAM PUDS); “roly-poly” is anagram indicator; jump leads are used to start stalled cars, hence “starters” |
| 15 | UNCOUPLED | Released, one in Côte d’Ivoire perhaps took charge after takeover
UN (=one in Côte d’Ivoire perhaps, i.e. a French word for one) + COUP (=takeover) + LED (=took charge) |
| 17 | CHARACTER | Mark // of quality
Double definition: a character is a mark in printing AND the character of something is its quality, nature |
| 19 | TREFOIL | Plant‘s forbidden extract
TREF (=forbidden, not kosher, in Judaism) + OIL (=extract, e.g. oil of attar) |
| 21 | ICARUS | High-flier is acquiring estate, perhaps with title in Asia
[CAR (=estate, perhaps) + U (=title in Asia, i.e. Burmese title of respect)] in IS; the reference is to the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus |
| 23 | AROMA | Where tutte le strade lead – Cologne?
A ROMA (=where tutte le strade lead, i.e. “to Rome” in Italian, from the expression All roads lead to Rome); Cologne has to be understood as eau de Cologne! |
| 25 | HIPPO | Thick-skinned creature getting potty after joint
HIP (=joint, of body) + PO (=potty, chamberpot) |
| 26 | PYRE | Very probably contents’ll go up
Reversed (“go up) and hidden (“contents”) in “vERY Probably” |
7d. I presume Smith and Jones refers to Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones who are a couple of guys.
Thanks both
Pioneers were an equivalent of the scouting movement in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, as in the snappily named Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization.
Alias Smith and Jones was a TV series in the early 1970s, and ts title was parodied in Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones’s sketch show Alas Smith and Jones. I took the “guys” to be just men (why not women?) called Smith and Jones, but I suppose it could refer to either of the TV pairings.
I always enjoy Morph’s puzzles. I couldn’t finish this one though, failing on TREFOIL and PIONEERS (largely due to the obsession that I needed a U for united).
Thanks to Morph for the fun and to RR for showing me where I went wrong. Great stuff.
Best of the week so far for me and one of those “so many good clues, hard to pick a favourite” puzzles. Managed to finish by trawling the memory banks for TREF and by guessing the LOX (reversed) bit of AXOLOTL. RECTA was definitely the laugh out loud moment.
You know you’re getting old when… “Alias Smith and Jones” has to be explained.
Thanks to Morph and RR.
A feature of the agonizing slowness of the Indy website is that you can’t scan through the clues and cherrypick the easy ones to start. Having started in an odd place, I didn’t look at CULMINATE, PORTRAY, VERSIFIER until quite late. Anyway, not a bad thing to have to wrestle with the harder ones.
Favourites AROMA, JUMP LEADS, ARAB LEAGUE, RHYME, loads of good ones.
I think Smith and Jones as a pair suggests a couple of blokes, but guys in the plural is unisex in any event.
Thanks Morph, RatkojaRiku
rather good I thought-defeated by PYRE of all things
Thanks Morph and RR
Having struggled with a tough FT, I then came here to receive another battering. Fantastic fun but time-consuming. Didn’t parse TREFOIL and didn’t bother seeing why U was ‘title in Asia’ in 21d. Vaguely knew the salamander in 27a but didn’t know the salmon so had to use a word fit, live and learn. I was a bit lucky getting 3a. I thought of ‘able’ for ‘fit’ which led me to the answer and the realisation that ‘ague’ was ‘fit’. Lots of inventive clueing, such as 4d and thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks to all.
Thanks, RR.
A Morph puzzle is always a laugh, and I did enjoy this. It all went in gradually, although like others I struggled with a few, putting in TREFOIL on the basis of ‘nothing else fits’. The U bit for ‘Asian title’ I got from remembering U THANT, who was Secretary General of the UN in the seventies. I occasionally rejoice at the random crap that I still carry round in my head.
Alias Smith and Jones was a lovely reminder of Mel Smith, who was a very gifted comedic talent, and am surprised AXOLOTL confounded some others – they are practically a pest here in rural Derbyshire (in crossies at least).
Well done, Morph – some more like this, please.
A fun puzzle which I managed to complete without aids, although it took a while. I liked JUMP LEADS as I’ve just fitted a new battery to my car! I was puzzled when ARSES wouldn’t parse at 16a( I suspect it would’ve in a Hoskins puzzle), but got there eventually. Pioneers fell when I subsituted ONE for U. Loved ICARUS and AXOLOTL too. Didn’t know the TREF bit of 19d, but with oil being an extract it couldn’t be anything else. Too many good clues to mention them all. Thanks Morph and RR.
Nice to see Morph, a great compiler. I thought AXOLOTL, especially with LOX in the subsidiary parts, was a bit mad though, so I was glad to encounter RECTA from the rearmost parts by way of compensation. Laugh? I nearly farted. Fainted. I mean fainted.
It was only the other day that I remarked to the Apprentice that AXOLOTL hadn’t surfaced for quite some time (in the Indy, at any rate – a quick search of 15sq takes us back to Crosophile in 2014, although one appeared in the Graun as recently as December 2017), so we were mildly – and pleasantly – surprised to see it today. Although we did have to check in Chambers for the salmon – and for the forbidden (food) in 19dn.
We needed a wordfinder for ICARUS although it was a real facepalm moment once we got it! And we weren’t too impressed by the Courier reference in 29ac – are there many newspapers called Courier these days?
Lots of ingenious clues to enjoy. We particularly liked JAILHOUSE, UPHEAVAL, POULTRY, RHYME and JUMP LEADS.
Thanks, Morph and RatkojaRiku
Thanks RR for the blog and all of you for your kind comments. Apologies for some obscurities. I’m glad RECTA went down well, I was a bit disappointed as I want,ed the definition to be the topical ‘shitholes’, but the dictionaries only seem to allow the word to mean a place that’s full of shit, not the source of it. Morph.
I am not always on Morph’s wavelength and find his puzzles often very difficult.
Today’s, however, was sublime. Liked it very much, even though I couldn’t parse ‘trefoil’ and ‘see to’.
Nice to see a glimpse of Mick the Rhymer in 4d! 🙂
[and other inventive stuff]
Very late in but wanted to say how much I enjoyed this one. Had to look up a couple of things – the salmon in 27a (should have known that) and the TREF in 19d – and never did figure out where the ‘U’ came from in 21d, but none of that spoiled the pleasure of the solve.
16a earned an exclamation mark – funny though! – 14d got a big tick even though I don’t like the stuff.
Thanks to Morph and to RR for the blog.