i Crptic 998 by Morph

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/