Morph is this week’s Thursday compiler and offers me my first Morph solve/blog of 2015.
I found this puzzle a tough one to get into, although I knew that my perseverance would be rewarded if I got a foothold in it. In the end, the longer entries provided the gateway clues, followed by the four 9-letter entries clustered around the centre.
Nothing would have pleased me more than to have been able to say that I had completed the whole of such a quality puzzle unaided, but needing to finish the puzzle to blog it, I ended up looking at the solution to the online puzzle for the intersecting 22 and 23. I had convinced myself that these were to be TIGHT and GRIPE respectively, which of course they were never going to be, and could see no further. Having seen the correct answers, I really kicked myself, as they were both excellent and fair clues.
I think that I have parsed everything to my satisfaction, although I did wonder if there was something subtler at 5 that had eluded me. Otherwise, my favourite clues today were 15, for its eerie topicality, and 26, for its smooth surface and PDM.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | COSIGNATORY | Company to hire a Conservative partner?
CO (=company) + SIGN (=hire, e.g. a footballer) + A + TORY (=Conservative) |
| 09 | PERMANENT | A chap in front of hospital department is not going anywhere
PER (=a, as in 6 times a/per week) + MAN (=chap) + ENT (=hospital department, i.e. ear, nose and throat) |
| 10 | EX LIB | From the books of divorcees rights group?
Cryptically, along the lines of Women’s Lib(eration), the “Ex Lib” would fight for the rights of divorcees! “Ex lib” is an abbreviation of “ex libris” |
| 11 | ERATO | Lover at Olympus inspiring her? The reverse
Hidden (“inspiring”) in “lovER AT Olympus”; in Greek mythology, Erato is the muse of lyric love poetry and would thus be the source of inspiration to lovers, rather than being inspired herself |
| 12 | ANOMALOUS | Bum pocketing dodgy moola is against the rules
*(MOOLA) in ANUS (=bum); “dodgy” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | SACRED COW | South African company landing iffy cod – it’s not for roasting!
SA (=South African) + [*(COD) in CREW (=company, of e.g. sailors)]; “iffy” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | DREAD | Internally in turmoil, faced up to fear
D-ARE-D (=faced up to); “internally in turmoil” suggests that all but first and last letters are displaced |
| 17 | PEEVE | Vice-president backed European complaint
PEEV (VEEP=vice-president, in US; “backed” indicates reversal) + E (=European) |
| 18 | LARGHETTO | Republican in US city barrio gets instruction to take it slowly
R (=Republican) in [LA (=US city) + GHETTO (=barrio)] |
| 20 | SKI JUMPER | Sportsman, one cutting corners perhaps around the first half of July
JU<ly> (“first half of” means first two of four letters only) in SKIMPER (=one cutting corners) |
| 22 | TRUST | BBC governing body firmly attached to the listener
Homophone (“to the listener”) of “trussed” (=firmly attached) |
| 25 | BLINI | Pancake roll ending in trash can with second portion of rice
[<rol>L (“ending” means last letter only) in BIN (=trash can)] + <r>I<ce> (“second portion of” means second letter only) |
| 25 | ANNEALING | Woman at comedy studio getting tough
ANN (=woman) + EALING (=comedy studio, i.e. home of the Ealing Comedies) |
| 26 | MANTELPIECE | Hilary’s article, that’s under fire? On the contrary!
MANTEL (=Hilary, i.e. English writer, 1952-) + PIECE (=article) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CIRCA | It’s a pain in the neck interminably being up and about
A + CRIC<k>=a pain in the neck; “interminably” means last letter dropped; “being up” indicates (here full) vertical reversal) |
| 02 | STAY OF EXECUTION | Terminal delay on EU toxic safety overhaul
*(ON EU TOXIC SAFETY); “overhaul” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | GRETA | Woman involved in Watergate cover-up?
Reversed (“up”) and hidden (“involved”) in “WATERGate cover” |
| 04 | ACTS OF WAR | No end of software hacked by a country opening hostilities
A + C<ountry> (“opening” means first letter only) + *(SOFTWAR<e>); “no end of” means last letter dropped from anagram, indicated by “hacked” |
| 05 | OPEN-AND-SHUT CASE | It’s simple packing A-Z?
Cryptically, packing an A-Z would involve no more than opening and then shutting one’s case |
| 06 | YELLOWEST | Call of cowboy country for brave? Quite the opposite!
YELL (=call) + O (=of) + WEST (=cowboy country) |
| 07 | UPPERS | You’ll be in a bad way if on these // drugs
Double definition: to be on one’s uppers is to be in a bad way, destitute AND uppers are drugs producing a euphoric effect |
| 08 | ABASED | Put down first son in an appropriate place
[A (first) + S (=son)] in A BED (=an appropriate place, i.e. for putting someone down to sleep) |
| 14 | CRETINISM | Conservative minister’s crashing stupidity
C (=conservative) + *(MINISTER); “crashing” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | CALIPHATE | Islamic state video featuring leader of army’s extreme dislike
[A<rmy> (“leader of” means first letter only) in CLIP (=video)] + HATE (=extreme dislike) |
| 17 | PASS BY | Don’t stop spy grappling with diminutive saboteur
*(SPY + SAB<oteur>); “diminutive” indicates that an abbreviated form is required; “grappling” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | OUTAGE | Loss of power as anger sees ousting of Right
OUT<r>AGE (=anger); “sees ousting of Right (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped |
| 21 | RUN-UP | Possible indication of former transport union’s approach
RUN up, i.e. vertically reversed, gives NUR (=former transport union, i.e. National Union of Railwaymen) |
| 23 | URINE | Small model refusing fruit for water
<fig>URINE (=small model); “refusing fruit (=FIG)” means letters “fig” are dropped |
I am partial to a Morph puzzle, and this was a good one which I really enjoyed. Bit of puerile humour, bit of politics, sound clueing throughout. What’s not to like?
There were a few I couldn’t parse, so thanks for those, RR. I think OPEN-AND-SHUT CASE is just a whimsical way of saying that packing a case from the beginning to the end would involve opening and shutting it. Any road up, it worked for me.
Thanks to S&B.
I think an A-Z here is a manual explaining how to do something (though in London, it’s generally a map). But perhaps there’s a hint of the idea that A and Z respectively open and shut (close?) the alphabet, too?
Hurrah! I managed this one unaided. Why is that, one wonders. Thanks to both setter and blogger.
Thanks RR & Morph,
I couldn’t work out 23d – I was thinking of ‘miniature’ and didn’t see how the ‘fruit’ came into it after the letters for the answer were removed, so thanks for the explanation. I had 5d as a triple def with ‘It’s simple’, ‘packing’ (involving opening and shutting a case) and ‘A-Z’ (beginning (opening) to ending (shutting), as suggested by K’sD@1 and Jason@2), all giving the answer. Well, sort of works anyway.
I guessed urine straight away, done too many Indy crosswords I suppose. Took forever to see AZ clue and then was looking for more into it.
Thanks morph& RR.
Some great clues, as usual. But I did a double take on 14d – stupidity to define cretinism is passe, I’d think – not in today’s newspapers.
Thanks for the blog and comments. K’s D at 1 is right about OPEN-AND-SHUT case – I just meant it as the first and last steps of the process.
Apologies re 14d, GN – to be honest I’m more familiar with cretin as a (perhaps old-fashioned) synonym for idiot that cretinism as a medical condition, which didn’t even occur to me.
Fashionably late to the party, but if anyone’s still reading… I was surprised by the comments about 5D, especially when Morph confirmed. I thought ‘case’ could also be read in the sense of lettering / fonts (upper or lower case), and therefore a and z would be the opening and closing letters of a case. I guess I over-thought it 🙂