Morph has provided us with a splendid cruciverbal challenge to ease us into the Christmas weekend.
The grid is an interesting one, accommodating four long down entries but no long across ones.
I found this to be very enjoyable but tough to finish, and in the end I needed to cheat to get 17 and 20. I don’t know what other solvers think, but I wondered if 17 might work better as (2-6), with “non-binary” as the definition, since I seem to remember that in Gulliver’s Travels they were actually called Big-Endians.
There is so much to enjoy and admire in this puzzle, as always in a Morph. Personally, I loved the surface at 22; I smiled when the penny dropped at 25, laughed out loud at the wordplay at 24 and positively guffawed when I realised why “Pro-PC” was “Anti-Mac” in the wordplay at 3.
| Across | ||
| 06 | DEEPLY | River bend with profundity
DEE (=river, in Chester) + PLY (=bend, fold) |
| 07 | UNDERPIN | Fail to secure enough support
UNDER PIN (=fail to secure enough, i.e. to use too few pins to fasten) |
| 09 | GARIBALDI | Georgia’s blue, ahead of independent Republican
GA (=Georgia, in US) + RIBALD (=blue, smutty) + I (=independent); the reference is to Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi (1807-82), the Italian republican who contributed to Italian unification |
| 11 | FRANC | Old money football club’s managed to invest
RAN (=managed) in FC (=football club); the franc was the former unit of currency in e.g. France and Belgium, hence “old money” |
| 12 | BANAL | Dull waterway’s beginning to be upgraded
CANAL (=waterway); “beginning to be upgraded” means the first letter changes from “C” to “B”, as if being given a higher grade in an exam |
| 13 | BLASPHEME | Sheep and lamb straying displease Lord?
*(SHEEP + LAMB); “straying” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | EMPEROR | Rome turned over by invading monarch
PER (=by, through, in Latin) in EMOR (ROME; “turned over” indicates reversal) |
| 16 | ARBITER | Judge, one on circuit’s acting for nothing
ORBITER (=one on circuit); “acting (=A) for nothing (=O)” means letter “a” replaces “o” |
| 18 | KNOTHOLES | Flaws in deal, perhaps – parts can be described so negatively
Homophone of “not wholes” (=parts can be described so negatively); the “deal” of the definition is a type of wood |
| 20 | GOTTA | Must dash, ta-ta – about to go
GO (=dash, rush off) + T<a>-TA (“about (=a) to go” means letter “a” is dropped) |
| 22 | ADORN | Love backless new dress
ADOR<e> (=love; “backless” means last letter is dropped) + N (=new); to dress is to bedeck, decorate, adorn |
| 23 | SERENGETI | Where animals can be seen wild, e.g. in trees
*(E.G. IN TREES); “wild” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | TUMBLING | On a roll with navel piercing?
Cryptically, navel piercing could be described as tum bling!! |
| 25 | BELFRY | Ringing up here is not toll-free
Cryptic definition: bells up in the belfry toll! |
| Down | ||
| 01 | NEURON | It transmits news about currency
EURO (=currency) in N + N (2 x N=new); a neuron is a cell that transmits a nerve impulse |
| 02 | GLOBULAR | Like balls leaders of Greater London Labour spun
G<reater> L<ondon> (“leaders of” means first letters only) + *(LABOUR); “spun” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | ANTIMACASSAR | Pro-PC’s idiot’s not half arsy – protection needed for chair
ANTI MAC (=Pro-PC) + ASS (=idiot) + AR<sy> (“not half” means 2 of 4 letters only are used); an antimacassar is a covering for a chair-back, protecting it from grease in the hair |
| 04 | BEEF UP | Boozer holding price after rise gets boost
FEE (=price) in PUB (=boozer); “after rise” indicates vertical reversal |
| 05 | APPARENT | Father and mother perhaps coming from opposite directions? That’s clear
AP (PA=father) + PARENT (=mother perhaps); “coming from opposite directions” means one is reversed, the other not |
| 06 | DOG’S BREAKFAST | E.g. setter’s tight post-holiday state
DOG’S (=e.g. setter’s) + BREAK (=holiday) + FAST (=tight, firm); a dog’s breakfast is an untidy condition, hence a “state” |
| 08 | NUCLEAR FAMILY | Power relations?
Cryptic definition: NUCLEAR (=power, form thereof) + FAMILY (=relations) |
| 10 | LIBERALISING | I’ll get into free grass, becoming enlightened
I into [LIBERAL (=free) + SING (=grass, report on)]; a society that is liberalising is becoming more enlightened |
| 15 | PRO FORMA | Invoice between lecturer and postgrad?
Cryptically, a choice between (a) PROF OR (an) MA would be “between lecturer and postgrad”! |
| 17 | BIGENDER | Non-binary Liliputian disputant?
Someone who is bi-gender identifies as both a man and a woman and is thus non-binary; the Bigenders in Swift’s Gullivers Travels maintained that boiled eggs should be cracked at the big end, not the little end! |
| 19 | HANDLE | Manage // to get a grip
Double definition: to handle is to manage a situation AND a handle is a grip, something that enables one to get hold of something |
| 21 | TEE OFF | Bug // drive
Double definition: to tee off is to annoy, to bug AND to drive off a tee in golf |
You appear to be a day late, RR. See Gaufrid’s post below.
Thanks anyway and Merry Christmas.
Well, I couldn’t get 20A, 17D and 21D, and now I’ve seen the answers I’m not surprised! I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle, so thanks Morph and RatkojaRiku.