Morph is occupying the Thursday slot this week, offering me the rare treat of blogging one of his puzzles.
I found this to be a highly challenging puzzle, at the upper end of the Indy spectrum of difficulty, but I relished every minute of the challenge. I certainly didn’t mind being stumped at 25 at the very end when I had had so much fun along the way. I look forward to hearing from fellow solvers how to parse 25 and I will amend the blog later today – now amended!
My favourite clues are almost too numerous to mention: 6D, for smoothness of surface; 11, for the misdirection around “did state”; 19, for sheer flair; and, above all, for both surface and humour, 8.
I would be grateful for confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing at 3, 15 and 23.
I am now going off to tackle the business of the day with a big smile on my face, for which thanks go to Morph, of course.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ACRIMONY | Left out of divorce payments, needing credit instead makes for bitterness
CR (=credit) replaces L (=left) in ALIMONY (=divorce payments) |
| 06 | STREAK | Cut and run inside, having run out of clothes
R (=run, in cricket) in STEAK (=cut, of meat); to streak is to e.g. run naked across a football pitch during a match, hence “run out of clothes” |
| 09 | FLORET | Worry about contents of aloo gobi portion?
<a>LO<o> (“contents of” means middle letters only) in FRET (=worry); a floret is piece of e.g. broccoli or cauliflower, hence “gobi portion” in Indian cuisine |
| 10 | RHINITIS | Dressed in shirt, I get running with this!
*(IN SHIRT I); “dressed” is anagram indicator; rhinitis will certainly give one a runny nose! |
| 11 | DIASPORA | Did state back meagre half-hearted aid initially for migrants?
DIAS (SAID=did state; “back” indicates reversal) + PO<o>R (=meagre; “half-hearted” means one letter “o” in middle is dropped) + A<id> (“initially” means first letter only) |
| 12 | THEMED | Sea informally styled
The Mediterranean Sea is informally referred to as the Med |
| 13 | VIAL | Victoria’s fourth, and her chap’s third bottle
VI<ctoria> (“fourth” mean 2 of 8 letters are used) + AL<bert> (=her chap; “third” means 2 of 6 letters are used) |
| 14 | COMPLICATE | Among guilty parties losing appeal with irritated snarl
COMPLIC<it> (=among guilty parties; “losing appeal (=it)” means letters “it” are dropped) + ATE (=irritated, irked); as a verb, to snarl is to knot, tangle, hence “complicate” |
| 16 | ANTARCTICA | A nationalist manoeuvre involving Republican on American continent
A + N (=nationalist) + [R (=Republican) in TACTIC (=manoeuvre)] + A (=American) |
| 18 | PERK | A king’s emolument
PER (=a, as in £1 a kilo) + K (=king, in chess) |
| 19 | BONOBO | Our cousin’s a singer and a half
BONO (=a singer) + BO<no> (“a half”, i.e. 2 of 4 letters); a bonobo is a species of chimpanzee considered to be the closest animal relative of human beings, hence “our cousin” |
| 21 | BOAT DECK | Drunken date getting stuck into beer where the floor may start to sway
*(DATE) in BOCK (=beer, i.e. a strong German beer) |
| 23 | GRAFFITI | Group of established artists in squabble over street art
G (=group, as in G7) + RA (=established artists, i.e. Royal Academy of Arts) + FFITI (I’=in + TIFF=squabble; “over” indicates reversal) |
| 24 | DEBUNK | Get out of bed and show up
Cryptically, to de-bunk could be to get someone out of (a bunk) bed!; to debunk is to disprove, show up as false |
| 25 | RED RAG | Socialist paper that – according to Spooner – doesn’t get Keir Starmer?
A red rag doesn’t get a “steer (=bull) calmer”, i.e. a spoonerism of “Keir Starmer”, as in the expression like a red rag to a bull! |
| 26 | FREE WILL | Choice to miss end of film
FREE WILL<y> (=film, from 1993 about a killer whale); “miss end of film” means last letter is dropped |
| Down | ||
| 02 | COLLISION COURSE | College that will charge accepting first of international students on programme that’s sure to have an impact
{I<nternational> S<tudents> (“first of” means first letters only) in [COLL. (=college) + ION (=that will charge, i.e. a charged particle)]} + COURSE (=programme, of study) |
| 03 | IDRIS ELBA | He plays up-and-coming talented gentleman detective
ABLE (=talented) + SIR (=gentleman) + DI (=detective, i.e. Detective Inspector); “up-and-coming” indicates vertical reversal; the reference is to UK actor Idris Elba (1972-), known for playing DCI John Luther in the BBC series Luther |
| 04 | OUTDO | Best garden party
Cryptically, a garden party is an out(door) do; as a verb, to best is to outdo or outwit someone |
| 05 | YARDARM | Distortion affecting my radar beam
*(MY RADAR); “distortion affecting” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | SCINTILLA | Trace where takings go in accounts subject to turnover
IN TILL (=where takings go) in SCA (A/Cs=accounts; “subject to turnover” indicates reversal); a scintilla is a trace, a hint of something |
| 07 | RAISE | Lift to get to ground level, according to announcement
Homophone (“according to announcement”) of “raze (=to get to ground level, demolish)” |
| 08 | ALIMENTARY CANAL | Mate carnally in a teeming lunchtime tube?
*(MATE CARNALLY IN A); “teeming” is anagram indicator; cryptically, the alimentary canal could be described as a “lunchtime tube”, as it is what conveys the food we eat to our stomach! |
| 14 | COCOONING | Murmuring softly together, perhaps, wrapping son’s bottom and protecting
<so>N (“bottom” means last letter only) in “CO-COOING” (=murmuring softly together, cryptically) |
| 15 | CUPID’S BOW | Lips with a drawback for love-making?
Cryptic definition: Cupid’s bow is used to describe human lips shaped like a double-curved archery bow (“with a drawback”), such as the one carried by Cupid (“for love-making) |
| 17 | IN BRIEF | Disastrous bin fire, put simply
*(IN BRIEF); “disastrous” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | OFFER | Tender assassin?
Cryptically, if to off is to kill, in US slang, then an “offer” could be a killer or assassin! |
| 22 | ADDLE | Turn bank payment into beer
DD (=bank payment, i.e. direct debit) in ALE (=beer); to addle is to turn, go off, of e.g. eggs |
25a
The spoonerism is in the clue not the solution – steer calmer/Keir Starmer. Red rag to a bull etc.
Very much enjoyed this. VIAL & RED RAG were my last ones to parse. Had a chuckle once I saw what the Spoonerism was.
As usual with Morph, I needed some word fit cheats to finish. CUPID’S BW was the first. Having checked there wasn’t a monkey called “soloso”, I used another to see who the singer might be.
Couldn’t parse GRAFFITI. Is I = “in” a cricket reference? Saw the TIFF & RA bits but not sure of G for “group” (apart from in combinations like G7, which doesn’t count IMO) and never seen I for “in”.
Great puzzle over all.
Apologies for typos @2. I now see that G for “group” is in Chambers. It seems to appear in a number of different group numbers of the form G? which is sufficient to give it a separate entry by itself (much like R for royal).
Things were going OK until I hit the proverbial brick wall about 2/3 of the way through. I sat staring at the grid for ages until I saw ALIMENTARY CANAL which then gradually opened up the difficult (eg CUPID’S BOW, BOAT DECK) SE corner, with the DEBUNK and ADDLE crossers my last two in. Ended up getting COMPLICATE (I had ‘complicity’) wrong.
I couldn’t parse RED RAG either (thanks to muffyword @1 for explaining this), VIAL or CUPID’S BOW and I for ‘in’ at 23a went through to the keeper. Favourite was the CO-COOING bit of 14d.
Thanks to Morph for a stern test (one of several lately) and to RR
I found this an extremely tricky crossword, especially on the RH side, which came as a surprise as I usually do well with Morph and his puzzles
Thanks to him for the brain-mangling and to RR for the blog
I always look forward to Morph puzzles but I’m afraid I really didn’t enjoy this one – maybe it was simply out of my pay grade. I did eventually fill the grid but was left with a good handful that were unparsed to some degree.
I did enjoy SCINTILLA & IDRIS ELBA although the latter probably more for his role as Luther!
Thanks nevertheless to Morph and to RR for the much needed review.
Exactly what Jane @6 said.
Yes, tricky. In the end, having spent too long on it, I came to the blog and just read the answers and parsing for the last few, so big thanks to RatkojaRiku for solving and sorting. Really enjoyed it, though. So many good clues and smooth surfaces. Thanks to Morph and also to muffyword @1 for explaining 25a. Excellent!
First of all, many thanks to muffyword for 25ac – I don’t think I’ve ever seen that device before. It had to be RED RAG so I just put it in and waited for the blog! (I’ve been out since before it was posted until now.)
A super puzzle, with lots of tricksy clues that I enjoyed unravelling, especially COMPLICATED, SCINTILLA and ALIMENTARY CANAL. I also liked the little gems VIAL, PERK and FREE WILL.
Like others I was foxed by the final I (in??) in GRAFFITI and then had a sudden thought that we find it in poetry and, sure enough, Chambers has i’, as ‘a form of in’.
Many thanks to Morph for the fun and RR for a fine blog.
Sorry, I thought I’d removed my surname. (I keep ticking ‘Remember me’!)
I am not sure “get” works in RED RAG, as “get steer calmer” doesn’t make sense. FLORET was my favourite today, when I finally imitated my grandchildren and separated the potatoes from the cauliflower.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to find this tough. Got about a quarter of it before giving up.
Very creative puzzle! I failed to parse VIAL (alas, looks so obvious now), couldn’t find the “I” in GRAFFITI, didn’t understand RED RAG, never heard of CUPID’S BOW and cheated to get it (LOI and was giving up by then). But I loved it all. Congratulations to blogger and setter.
Had to cheat several at the end of this one, but my favorite was 9a, and my bugaboo was 8d, which I did eventually get, but not before wracking my brain trying to think of tube-shaped foods. (Enchiladas? Ravioli?)
Sorry, not ravioli. What are the pasta shaped like tubes?
Thank you, muffyword @1, for the explanation of the spoonerism at 25. I was looking not at the clue for it, but rather at the solution. The blog has been amended accordingly.