Independent 9,138 / Morph

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This was my first Morph in quite a while, so I was keen to get my teeth into it.

Morph’s puzzles are always a special treat and this one was no exception. That I found this one entertaining, and appreciated the humour and/or topicality of some clues (at 9, 19, 28, …), will surprise no one, of course; as for difficulty, I thought that it was towards the harder end of the spectrum. That said, it was one of those puzzles where some of the answers almost wrote themselves in from the definition and crossing letters; parsing their wordplay, however, proved infinitely trickier. 1 was perhaps the best example of this for me: the definition suggested an obvious (and ultimately correct) answer, but it was actually the last clue that I managed to parse, having googled William the Conqueror and found his alternative name. I also found 2 hard to parse, not recognising the slang term for “money”.

My favourite clues are almost too numerous to mention today, but here are some of them: 6 and 7 for surface; 20 for concision; the & lit. at 18; and 17, 19, 21 and 28, all for making me smile.

(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 STAR Public figure like William I, say, not outwardly evil

<ba>STAR<d> (=like William I, say, i.e. William the Conqueror or William the Bastard); “not outwardly evil (=bad)” means letters “bad” on the outside of the word are dropped
     
04 DRIFTWOOD What beachcomber found washed up did for two

*(DID FOR TWO); “washed up” is anagram indicator
     
09 HEADING Action of footballer // aiming for // title

Triple definition – the heading of a document is a title
     
11 DERIVES Draws queen in clubs

ER (=queen) in DIVES (=clubs, joints)
     
12 TAKE INTO CUSTODY Cop stayed out to nick crook

*(STAYED OUT TO NICK); “crook” – i.e. bend – is anagram indicator
     
13 HARBINGERS Signs of future damage mostly associated with those overdoing it

HAR<m> (=damage; “mostly” means last letter dropped) + BINGERS (=those overdoing it, e.g. binge-drinkers)
     
15 ASKS Fool entertaining king’s demands

K (=king) in ASS (=fool)
     
18 ROTE By which books in bible class may be learned

OT (=books in bible, i.e. Old Testament) in RE (=bible class, i.e. Religious Education); & lit.
     
20 SLUMBERING Brown support’s caught napping

UMBER (=brown, i.e. colour) in SLING (=support)
     
23 TONGUE-AND-GROOVE Board’s joint venture a no-go – DG sacked, nothing in it

O (=nothing) in *(VENTURE A NO-GO DG); tongue-and-groove is a system of joining boards by fitting a projection along the side of one into a groove in the next
     
25 CURRENT Stream secured parental content

<se>CUR<ed> <pa>RENT<al>; “content” means central groups of letters only are used
     
26 PERSIST Keep on American expelled by Iran’s holy man

PERSI<a> (=Iran; “American (=A) expelled” means letter “a” is dropped) + ST (=holy man)
     
27 TOM SAWYER American hero’s verbal warning to Jerry?

Homophone (“verbal”) of “Tom saw you (pronounced yer)” (=warning to Jerry, i.e. in the cartoon Tom & Jerry)
     
28 PIGS Initiations of Piers Gaveston Society involve one of these?

I (=one) in P<iers> G<aveston> S<ociety> (“initiations of” means first letters only); the Piers Gaveston Society is a men-only dining club at the University of Oxford, the initiation rituals of which allegedly involve pigs!
     
Down    
     
02 TRACKER Trustee pinching one sixth of money in fund

TR (=trustee) + ACKER<s> (=money, in slang; “pinching one sixth of” means one of six letters is dropped); a tracker is an investment fund that aims to follow a stock market index
     
03 RHINITIS In stir, I got busted in possession of heroin, meaning trouble with the beak

H (=heroin) in *(IN STIR I); “got busted” is anagram indicator; rhinitis is inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose, hence “trouble with the beak”
     
04 DIGIT Appreciate Italian’s figure

DIG (=appreciate) + IT (=Italian)
     
05 INDECORUM Running round, mice behaving badly

(ROUND MICE); “running” is anagram indicator
     
06 THRASH Tottenham Hotspur forwards reckless in defeat

T<ottenham> H<otspur> (“forwards” means first letters only) + RASH (=reckless, as adjective)
     
07 OBVIOUS Unaware of having taken out lithium patent

OB<li>VIOUS (=unaware of); “having taken out lithium (Li)” means letters “li” are dropped
     
08 DISHY Attractive as one who ran off with cutlery?

Cryptically, “dishy” could mean “like the dish” in the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle, which ran away with the spoon (=cutlery)
     
09 THATCHER Former leader who created Boris’s hairstyle?

Cryptically, Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s thatch of thick blond hair could have been created by a thatcher! The reference is to former British PM Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)
     
14 GALLANTRY Bravery shown by everyone in tower

ALL (=everyone) in GANTRY (=tower)
     
16 SUGGESTS Crazy set – singer comes out and proposes!

*(SET) in SUGGS (=singer, i.e. Graham McPherson, formerly of Madness)
     
17 TEARDROP Result of Scottish greeting parroted foolishly

*(PARROTED); “foolishly” is anagram indicator; “to greet” is “to cry” in Scottish dialect
     
19 TANTRUM Donald finally loses it after function, throwing this?

TAN (=function, i.e. tangent in trigonometry) + TRUM<p> (=Donald, i.e. US presidential hopeful; “finally loses it” means last letter dropped)
     
21 IRONING Decreasing action on board?

Cryptic definition: people iron creases (“de-crease”) out of clothes on ironing boards
     
22 EUREKA European manufacturer without initial backing for great discovery

EU (=European, as in EU law) + REKA (<m>AKER=manufacturer; “without initial” means first letter dropped; “backing” indicates reversal)
     
23 TACIT Silent diplomacy I’ll enter into

I in TACT (=diplomacy)
     
24 DOPER Prosecute a drugs cheat

DO (=prosecute, as in I was done for burglary) + PER (=a, each)
     
     

 

8 comments on “Independent 9,138 / Morph”

  1. Thanks for a great blog, RR – and especially for the preamble, which I could echo practically word for word.

    I find I have nothing to add – a super puzzle which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.

    Many thanks to Morph – a brilliant start to the day.

  2. I agree that parsing the wordplay was difficult with plenty of answers ultimately correct but unparsed. STAR and TRACKER were my last in as well and were both little more than a guess. Among many good clues, THATCHER was my favourite. A worthy and enjoyable Thursday challenge.

    Thanks to Morph and RatkojaRiku.

  3. What Eileen said (yet again) apart from the fact that I used my own personal ‘Google’ Mr CS who when I said William the Conqueror he immediately replied “William the B…” thus enabling the penny to drop loudly to the floor.

    Thanks to Morph (days with one of your crosswords are always the best) and RR too.

  4. As an architect in the days when we wrote specifications, I would always have written tongued and grooved for the floor boarding, but that is being pedantic.
    A great puzzle and blog. Thanks Morph and RR.

  5. Thanks, RR.

    I failed on the last two – TRACKER and STAR. Couldn’t see either of them (and unlike crypticsue I don’t have a Mrs KD to call on …)

    But with a Morph puzzle you’ll always get some topicality and some smiles. THATCHER and DISHY were my favourites today.

    Thanks to Mr More 4. We don’t see enough of him in the Indy these days.

  7. A great puzzle- but I’m concerned about the suggested answer DOPER for 24d. I’d written DUPER not with much confidence. admittedly. But where’s the definition for ‘cheat’ and why does ‘a’ suggest ‘per’?

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