Independent 10,982 by Morph

by

A no-show by the scheduled blogger so here is an analysis of the clues with no further commentary.

Across
6 River bend with profundity (6)
DEEPLY – DEE (river) PLY (bend)

7 Fail to secure enough support (8)
UNDERPIN – UNDER PIN (fail to secure enough)

9 Georgia’s blue, ahead of independent Republican (9)
GARIBALDI – GA (Georgia) RIBALD (blue) I (independent)

11 Old money football club’s managed to invest (5)
FRANC – RAN (managed) in (to invest) FC (football club)

12 Dull waterway’s beginning to be upgraded? (5)
BANAL – cANAL (waterway) with its beginning upgraded from c to B

13 Sheep and lamb straying displease Lord? (9)
BLASPHEME – an anagram (straying) of SHEEP LAMB

14 Rome turned over by invading monarch (7)
EMPEROR – PER (by) in (invading) ROME reversed (turned over)

16 Judge, one on circuit’s acting for nothing (7)
ARBITER – oRBITER (one on circuit) with A (acting) replacing o (nothing)

18 Flaws in deal, perhaps – parts can be described so negatively (9)
KNOTHOLES – sounds like ‘not wholes’ (parts can be described so negatively)

20 Must dash, ta-ta – about to go (5)
GOTTA – GO (dash) T[a]TA (ta-ta – about to go)

22 Love backless new dress (5)
ADORN – ADOR[e] (love backless) N (new)

23 Where animals can be seen wild, e.g. in trees (9)
SERENGETI – an anagram (wild) of EG IN TREES

24 On a roll with navel piercing? (8)
TUMBLING – TUM BLING (with navel piercing)

25 Ringing up here is not toll-free (6)
BELFRY – cryptic def.

Down
1 It transmits news about currency (6)
NEURON – N N (news) around EURO (currency)

2 Like balls leaders of Greater London Labour spun (8)
GLOBULAR – G[reater] L[ondon] (leaders of) plus an anagram (spun) of LABOUR

3 Pro-PC idiot’s not half arsy – protection needed for chair (12)
ANTIMACASSAR – ANTI-MAC (pro-PC) ASS (idiot) AR[sy] (not half arsy)

4 Boozer holding price after rise gets boost (4,2)
BEEF UP – PUB (boozer) around (holding) FEE (price) reversed (after rise)

5 Father and mother perhaps coming from opposite directions? That’s clear (8)
APPARENT – PA (father) reversed (coming from opposite directions) PARENT (mother perhaps)

6 E.g. setter’s tight post-holiday state (4,9)
DOGS BREAKFAST – DOGS (e.g. setter’s) BREAK (holiday) FAST (tight)

8 Power relations? (7,6)
NUCLEAR FAMILY – cryptic def.

10 I’ll get into free grass, becoming enlightened (12)
LIBERALISING – I in (‘ll get into) LIBERAL (free) SING (grass)

15 Invoice between lecturer and postgrad? (3,5)
PRO FORMA – PROF (lecturer) OR MA (postgrad)

17 Non-binary Lilliputian disputant? (8)
BIGENDER – BI-GENDER (non-binary)

19 Manage to get a grip (6)
HANDLE – double def.

21 Bug drive (3,3)
TEE OFF – double def.

12 comments on “Independent 10,982 by Morph”

  1. I enjoy Morph’s puzzles and this was (almost) no exception. I normally find them very challenging, although this one was mostly straightforward.

    I arrived smoothly at an almost filled grid with only two answers, 20a & 17d, unsolved. Those two steadfastly refused to yield and I even resorted to a crossword solving programme using the checking letters with no success. Finally in desperation, I “phoned a friend” and got a hint for each to enable me to solve both. I have to say that I think both are dreadful clues and answers, and totally incongruous as part of what was otherwise a superb puzzle. What a shame!

    Thanks to Morph for 92.3% of the puzzle and to Gaufrid.

  2. Shame this has arrived so late as Morph is such an excellent setter who doesn’t appear that often. I tend to agree with Rabbit Dave that the SE quadrant is at odds with the rest. Wasn’t mad keen on BELFRY either. My favourite was UNDERPIN which had me guessing for ages before the penny dropped.

  3. Lovely to have a Morph crossword which I found trickier than I expected. My top favourite was 18s

    Thanks to Morph and Gaufrid. Seasons greetings to you both

  4. I do hope people pop back in to look at the blog, Morph always has a few smiles up his sleeve.
    There were certainly a couple of blips in the SW corner but some delights to be found elsewhere.
    Star on the tree for me was TUM BLING and I also really liked UNDERPIN, BANAL & DOGS BREAKFAST.

    Thanks to Morph and best of festive wishes to you & yours – likewise to Gaufrid for stepping into the breach.

  5. I had exactly the same experience as Rabbit Dave. I entered GOTTA without understanding it, but was completely stumped by 17D. Even after seeing the answer here I had to check the Wikipedia entry for Gulliver’s Travels, which I have never read. Can’t blame the setter for that! The rest I thought was really good, and quite satisfying to work through. Perhaps EMPEROR my favourite.

  6. Isn’t it odd? I thought 17dn was so obvious I didn’t even think about it, I put it in and then parsed it. And it must 30 years since I read the book.

    20ac, however, defeated me and I had to guess it and that gve e 21dn.

  7. Alliacol @5 and Dormouse @6. The characters in Gulliver’s Travels are Big-Endians not Big-Enders which means the clue doesn’t work for me (not even with the question mark).

  8. Thanks Morph and the ex boss Gaufrid for standing in as he did for me once or twice too often. Love a morph puzzle but half expected a topical end of year puzzle somehow.

  9. Enjoyed the puzzle. Completed but couldn’t parse 20a &17d. Can’t remember when I last used antimacassar in real life, and I surely don’t know who still use macassar oil on their hair. Thanks Morph and Gaufrid.

  10. RD@7: Well, I did say it was a long time since I read it.

    However, googling, I find that BIGENDER (all one word) does mean someone who is non-binary, and I postulate that was the intended definition part of the clue.

  12. 18a and 17d were my favourites.
    I hope whoever was meant to be blogging this was held up by good times, not bad. Thanks to Morph and thanks to Gaufrid for stepping in

Comments are closed.