It only occasionally I think falls to me to blog a crossword by Morph, but it is always enjoyable: by no means a write-in, but all his crosswords seem to contain one or two remarkably nice clues. A couple of clues go some way towards defeating me in their parsings, but no doubt all will be made clear.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
This is based on the brilliant, but not all that difficult — as should be the case with a gateway clue — 15ac, so there are a number of synonyms for ‘nix’ in the grid. I lamented the absence of ‘cypher’ and ‘nought’ but Morph has managed to fit seven of them in.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ZILCH | Taylor perhaps repulsed by chapter 15 (5) |
| (Liz)rev. ch. — Elizabeth Taylor | ||
| 4 | DUCKS’ EGGS | More than one potential hunter’s target is avoiding projectiles when shelled? (5,4) |
| I haven’t quite got this: the potential hunter’s target is a duck; more than one of these is ducks; is avoiding is also ducks; eggs can be shelled and can also be used as projectiles. But how it all hangs together I can’t really see. And this term isn’t apparently in Chambers or Collins. | ||
| 9 | RAVED | Was flipping way in also way out? (5) |
| Another that I don’t fully understand: if you flip you rave (?); the first ‘way’ is ave., ‘also way’ is rd; but what is ‘out’ doing? Is it that the first one is on the inside, the second one on the outside? | ||
| 10 | DUBIETIES | Besuited, I dispelled doubts (9) |
| (Besuited I)* | ||
| 11 | ONE NIL | Narrow victory against back line (3,3) |
| on (line)rev. — a close-run thing in soccer | ||
| 12 | RAT RACE | Artist to describe life’s futile struggle (3,4) |
| RA trace | ||
| 13 | BIDETS | Bedsit’s unconventional washing facilities (6) |
| (Bedsit)* | ||
| 14 | ELAPSED | Turning white, section editor slipped away (7) |
| (pale)rev. s ed | ||
| 15 | NIX | 0.9 (3) |
| N [= point] IX — very clever clue which initially totally bewildered me, then became clear once some of the other clues made the theme obvious | ||
| 16 | SECONDI | Bass parts of disc one remixed (7) |
| (disc one)* | ||
| 18 | UNUSED | Union tended to eschew right for left (6) |
| u nu{r}sed — I couldn’t at first see how unused = left, but I suppose that if something is not used then it is left unused | ||
| 21 | MARATHI | French revolutionary greeting in Indian language (7) |
| Marat hi | ||
| 22 | URANIC | University conducted informal classes for beginners and elementary (6) |
| u ran i{nformal} c{lasses} — elementary in the sense that it is to do with the element uranium | ||
| 24 | NULLIFIED | Made invalid fill in due forms (9) |
| (fill in due)* | ||
| 25 | ALTHO’ | Informally allowing singer to tour hotel (5) |
| alt(h)o | ||
| 26 | SLAUGHTER | Killing Joke’s aim’s to follow show’s headliner (9) |
| s{how} laughter | ||
| 27 | See 4 Down | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ZERO | Zimbabwe, gutted, run out for 15 (4) |
| Z{imbabw}e RO | ||
| 2 | LIVENED | Haunt of vice and iniquity done up and made brighter (7) |
| (den evil)rev. — I think it’s not ‘den of evil’ with the ‘of’ missing, rather den = haunt of vice’ and ‘evil’ = ‘iniquity’ | ||
| 3 | HIDING TO NOTHING | Putting on covers finally at 0-15, on which defeat’s guaranteed (6,2,7) |
| hiding [= putting on covers (?)] {a}t 0 nothing [an example of 15ac] | ||
| 4/27 | DIDDLY-SQUAT | 15 quid sadly lost in middle of acid trip (6-5) |
| (quid sadly)* in {aci}d t{rip} — I couldn’t remember the term, thinking it was ‘tiddly squit’, but that was what we used to call someone at school — and at first I thought that my drug knowledge was so thin that possibly delirium tremens not only happened in alcoholic trips but also in drug ones | ||
| 5 | CYBERSEX | Brexit Secy losing it, confusing ‘it’ with IT? (8) |
| (Brexit Secy – it)* — I wasn’t sure about who Secy was, never having heard of him or her, but it’s anagram fodder thank goodness — it rather stands out as being so | ||
| 6 | SWEET FANNY ADAMS | Candy-ass leading man’s 15 (5,5,5) |
| sweet [= candy] fanny [= ass] Adam’s — this is not the first time that I’ve said this: the word is arse; ass is an Americanism — perhaps the fact that the term ‘candy-ass’ is also American justifies it a bit | ||
| 7 | GUITARS | Axes third of Rugby Union international pitches (7) |
| {Ru}g{by} u I tars | ||
| 8 | SUSPENDED | Took action about outlay deferred (9) |
| su(spend)ed | ||
| 13 | BASEMENTS | Mammals hiding seedy stuff in underground chambers (9) |
| ba(semen)ts | ||
| 15 | NIHILIST | Supporter of 15 from Northern Ireland getting one heel past goal in rugby? (8) |
| NI H 1 list — a goal in rugby is in the shape of a capital H | ||
| 17 | COROLLA | Company to start operating a part of plant (7) |
| co. roll a — roll as in start rolling the cameras | ||
| 19 | SHIH-TZU | Silencer on cocked sub-machine gun muffling hit – one taken out is man’s best friend (4-3) |
| sh (uzi)rev. round h{i}t — this breed of dog — should there be a question mark? It looks as if the definition is in two stages: man’s best friend = dog; dog = shih-tzu. Is this all right? | ||
| 20 | JUDDER | Japanese milk producer makes shake (6) |
| J udder | ||
| 23 | NOWT | Northern 15 at present time (4) |
| now t — a northern version of ‘nothing’ | ||
*anagram
Thanks to Morph for another great puzzle and to John for the blog.
If I’ve ever seen a finer 3-letter clue than 15, I can’t recall it to mind. Brilliant.
I struggled to parse DUCKS EGGS; my take is “more than one potential hunter’s targets”=def (the eggs have potential to produce ducks, eventual target for hunters)
/is avoiding =ducks (dodges) projectiles when shelled =eggs (ask John Prescott)
oh, and this time there is a “F” in pangram!
Coupla things a about DUCKS EGGS.
An ‘egg’ was in WW1 one of those (almost affectionate) soldier’s term for a mine, bomb or shell, which might explain a lot.
And a ‘duck egg’, from its rounded shape, is the origin of the word ‘duck’ as meaning ‘nought’ or ‘zero’. So it’s thematic as well, I think.
Duck’s egg. Having nothing better to do I Googled this expression and it appears that ‘duck’ in cricket for a score of zero is a shortened form of “duck’s egg” so it is thematic. See Wikipedia “Duck (cricket)”
Morph on good form today, I thought. I didn’t get the gateway clue until I’d twigged the theme elsewhere, so then it was good fun to tease out all the other ‘negative’ answers.
NIX was a bit obscure, but with two crossing letters out of three, we mustn’t grumble. SWEET FANNY ADAMS was my favourite, and the clue is fine: of course it’s ASS for the American version of ARSE, because CANDY is the American English version of ‘sweet’.
Thanks to John for the blog and to Morph for the puzzle.
Morph always produces good crosswords and this themed offering was no exception
Thanks to him for the entertainment and John for the blog
I spotted 9 synonyms for ‘nix’.
1a,1d,4/27,6d,23d,plus parts of 4a,11a,24a,and 3d.
And I meant to say that ONE NIL might just be a reference to ONE NIL TO THE ARSENAL, ONE NIL TO THE ARSENAL, the song sung by fans at Arsenal, which is where I believe Morph’s allegiance lies. Although when they play Sunderland, it’s normally not that close.
Nothing(!) to add, except thanks to Morph and John.
Thanks Morph and John
Excellent puzzle, and 15 is indeed outstanding.
NNI @ 7: to which you can add the first five letters of 15D.
Actually there is something to add. Re 5dn: ‘Secy’ is in Chambers as an abbreviation for ‘secretary’.
Thanks John, and to all of you for your comments. The story here is, I was racking my brains trying to think of a theme, and nothing came to mind.
DUCK’S EGGS is just as Baerchen describes – I did put the word in with the intention of doing something thematic around duck=0, but decided it wasn’t working – and I wasn’t even aware of the derivation pointed out by Grant and trenodia!
And K’s D, I have had occasion to sing the 1-0 song this season, but not usually for very long!
Coming to this late — anyone still there? Sorry, Morph et al.,there is no way that the symbol for a decimal point can define the abbreviation for a compass point. They are not synonymous and you may as well define a zebra by a vacuum cleaner. Hate to say it, but the clue for NIX scores nix in my book!