A change in format for me this week as I experiment with PeeDee‘s rather nifty blog post maker. I’ll have to try out the various options, but so far I like it as it looks like I’ve put far more effort into the post than I have! Many thanks to PeeDee for making this tool available to us.
Anyway, on to the puzzle. I’d recently completed a Morph puzzle in the “i”, and had found it rather challenging, but had eventually completed it successfully, which was pleasing. As a result I was more than happy to draw another Morph puzzle to blog.
I found I made steady progress at first, then had to return to the puzzle a few times to nail the stragglers. Actually 5dn beat me, but I’m not sure why as it seems perfectly reasonable.
Finally, I’m not sure if I’ve spotted a theme, but on blogging I notice that there’s a lot of MAN, GIRL, WOMAN stuff going on in there, so I wonder if I’m missing something further.
| Across | ||
| 6 | AMISS | Wrongly thought to equal 1 mile? (5) |
| From the proverb “a miss is as good as a mile” | ||
| 8 | ENNOBLING | Entitling one to return, if note is retained, jewellery (9) |
| (N in ONE<) + BLING | ||
| 10 | SANGRIA | Performed revolutionary tune that’s found in Spanish bars (7) |
| SANG + AIR< | ||
| 11 | MEDDLED | Got involved, and won prize in audition (7) |
| hom. of “medalled” | ||
| 12 | TIME TRIALS | Tests rate limits under duress (4,6) |
| (RATE LIMITS)* | ||
| 14 | ORAL | Unwritten rule in backward Southeast Asian language (4) |
| R in LAO< | ||
| 15 | FEMME FATALE | 20’s heavy rock noise ultimately holds nothing for attractive woman (5,6) |
| FE (chemical symbol for iron) + M (maiden) + (F.A. in (METAL + [nois]E)) | ||
| 19 | OMIT | Leave out overheard appeal to Romney (4) |
| hom. of “oh Mitt” | ||
| 20 | IRON MAIDEN | Presswoman in a suit, very sharp underneath the surface (4,6) |
| IRON (press) + MAIDEN (woman) | ||
| 21 | WOLFMAN | Female left fellow inside – he may be affected by the moon (7) |
| (Left + Fellow) in WOMAN | ||
| 23 | TAKE AIM | Fire’s said to follow this and make it a mess (4,3) |
| (MAKE IT A)* | ||
| 25 | LADLEFULS | More than one helping in duel falls injured (9) |
| (DUEL FALLS)* | ||
| 26 | NIECE | Withdraw article in German about English member of different generation (5) |
| EIN< + Circa + English | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GIRN | Facial expression with a twist in it (4) |
| I think this is from GRIN, with the IR twisted, and then &??lit | ||
| 2 | RELATIVE PRONOUN | Say which arrangement of Beethoven’s last piano overture includes cello in the middle (8,7) |
| The definition is “say which”, meaning that “which” is an example of a relative pronoun. It’s an anagram of ([beethove]N + PIANO OVERTURE + ceLlo)* | ||
| 3 | ANIMAL MAGNETISM | Zoo attraction? Polar bears might exert such a pull (6,9) |
| I think this is sort of a dd., with two somewhat whimsical definitions | ||
| 4 | IBID | Setter tries in the same place again (4) |
| I BID | ||
| 5 | GIRLFRIEND | Fix up advance rent by day and date (10) |
| RIG< + (FRIday in LEND) | ||
| 6 | ASSETS | Establish in rear property (6) |
| SET in ASS | ||
| 7 | STRATUM | Problem outside restaurant for rock band (7) |
| TRAT in SUM | ||
| 9 | GADFLY | Guard’s folly, regularly missing provocative pest (6) |
| GUARD‘S FOLLY | ||
| 13 | MY FAIR LADY | Musical West End girl’s self-description pre-elocution lessons? (2,4,4) |
| at a guess, I’d say this implies a dodgy – hence “pre-elocution lesson” – pronunciation of “Mayfair Lady”. | ||
| 16 | ALASKAN | A woman may sound in a state (7) |
| hom. of “a lass can” | ||
| 17 | GO AWOL | Run off with ball between posts? (2,4) |
| (With + O) in GOAL. Someone who’s in goal is between the football posts. | ||
| 18 | ANOMIE | I am one broken by loss of purpose (6) |
| (I AM ONE)* | ||
| 22 | MEEK | Setter and moose, left out among inheritors of the earth? (4) |
| ME + E[l]K | ||
| 24 | APEX | Summit of Asia-Pacific forum’s talked about (4) |
| hom. of “APEC’s” | ||
* = anagram; dd = double definition; hom = homophone; [] = removed
Thanks Simon. Unusual to for me to complete a Morph, I usually struggle. Especially this time with 6 and 15 across and 24 down, so thanks for explaining them. I note the top row unches spell GRAIG which I think is Welsh for ‘rock’, also a major international shipping group, but I expect that’s completely coincidental.
Couldn’t quite finish this this week. I can’t believe I missed 6ac, which now seems so obvious once you pointed it out. And without the ‘i’ in that answer, I couldn’t work out whether 1dn was “grin” or “girn”. Is there anything in the clue which decides this? They are both facial expressions and I see Chambers gives the first definition of “girn” as “grin”.
Can’t parse Iron Maiden at all, though got answer ok from press/woman. What on earth is it about??
Kenneth @3
This will explain all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden