i Crptic 998 by Morph
April 22, 2014
I like to see Morph as a setter and this, although admittedly challenging, was also brilliantly intricate and lots of fun.
As soon as I saw ‘eight answers here’ in 17ac it was frankly obvious there was a theme (whatever the 2009 bloggers thought) and that helped enormously. The eight French towns which eventually emerged were all also English words – Orange, Nice, Tours, Condom, Lens, Ales, Nancy and Dole. ‘Cross them off’ and you’ve ‘de-villed’ the puzzle, so to speak. Brilliant!
Loads of ticks by the clues. COD has to be 17ac. Here it is in full: Seasoned fellow went first – crossed off eight answers here? (8)
The 2009 blog is complete here: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/04/13/independent-7017-by-morph/