Guardian Genius No.68 / Paul

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I am standing in at the last moment so it is now over a month since I completed this puzzle and therefore I don’t remember too much about the detail, though writing the blog has brought back some pleasant memories. What I do recall though is that, as usual, it was an enjoyable puzzle from Paul.

In four answers, four consecutive letters had to be omitted before grid entry and the clues were simply the wordplay of the entry, with no definition (they were all places in Wales).

In four more answers, the same four letters had to be inserted before grid entry and the clues contained a definition and the wordplay of the entry before this addition.

*(XXXX) – anagram
[xxx] – letter(s) cut
{llan} – letters removed before grid entry
{LLAN} – letters added before grid entry

Across
1 TRIMMER  MM (tiny measurement) in TRIER (one striving)
5,9 {llan}DRINDOD WELLS  DR (doctor) IN (at home) DO (fix) DWELLS (lives)
10 {llan}TWIT MAJOR  TWIT (idiot) MAJOR (one who ran the country)
11 CREPE PAPER  P (page) in CREEP (inch) APER (one might copy)
12 ECHO  [tw]E[lve] CHO[sen] (picked, half discarded)
14 SLALOM  A in MOLLS (girls with hoods) reversed
16,23 AYERS ROCK  A *(SORCERY) K (king)
19 TWAIN  dd
20 BODILY D (died) in BOIL (appropriate thing, for lancing) [deca]Y
24 ILKLEY MOOR  I (one) ROOMY (large) ELK (animal) L (left) reversed
27 INAMORATA  O (love) in AT ARMANI (fashion icon) reversed
28 INEPT  IN EP (record) T (time)
29 GA{LLAN}T  GAT (gun)
30 ONE-EYED  O (monocle) YE (you) in NEED (requirement)

Down
1 THWACK  *(WHAT) C[ricket] K[ept]
2 {llan}IDLOES  O (nothing) in IDLES (bums)
3 MISCE{LLAN}Y  S (spades) in ICE (diamonds) in MY (Paul’s)
4 RATIA  hidden in ‘gujaRAT I Assume’
5 DRIVEN MAD  D (daughter) RIVE (split) DAMN (rats) reversed
6 IAMB  A in [l]IMB (leg doesn’t begin)
7 DEJECTED  D (down) EJECTED (put out)
8 DORMOUSE  RM (service) O (old) in DOUSE (put out)
13 BARLEY WINE  LEY (magic line) WIN (acquire) in BARE (empty)
15 LIBE{LLAN}T  L (LARGE) I BET (I expect)
17 STIRLING  dd
18 CATCH-ALL  H (hospital) in CATCALL (jeer)
21 {llan}DOVERY  DO (act) VERY (so)
22 GRATED  dd
25 {LLAN}O  O (ring)
26 FORA  FOR (in which) A[ugustus]  TOGA   A[ugustus] GOT reversed (rose = ‘got up’) – Edit: Thanks Andrew for this correction

7 comments on “Guardian Genius No.68 / Paul”

  1. Thanks Gaufrid. I found this one very hard, and was pleased with myself when I managed to finish it (still no £100 though…). 26dn is actually TOGA (confirmed by the online solution): this took me a long time to get. I think the logic is “leader in Augustus rose” = “leader in Augustus got up” = “A GOT up” = TOGA, &lit. I nearly put FORA, which is certainly very plausible, but wasn’t quite convinced so kept looking.

    I thought the rubric was nicely misleading, with its reference to “places in the grid” meaning place-names rather than (or as well as) just locations in the grid.

  2. Andrew
    Thanks for the correction to 26d. Like you, I was not totally convinced by ‘fora’ when I solved the puzzle but I couldn’t see an alternative.

  3. Thanks for the blog Gaufrid
    Andrew I had TOGA too reading it as being “got up” or dressed in something.
    I didnt quite finish but got closer than any previous Genius efforts and thought there were some nice clues typical of Paul.
    Stiofain

  4. Not able to make anything of this for 10-15 minutes so wrote in VERY for ‘so’ at 21d as nothing else was on offer, and it was easier after that. Still didn’t get the justification for 26d TOGA, and it’s my favourite type of clue!
    ‘Container for the thing contained’ collectors might like to know, or be reminded, that LLAN was another ‘enclosure’ word, like ‘garth’ etc. Then, as the most commonly enclosed building was a church, it came to mean church. Hence all these place-names and the further meaning of ‘village’.

  5. [Somehow I missed this post when it came out – it would be great if we could have a separate category for the Guardian Genius.]

    I’m most annoyed about TOGA, having entered FORA as well – that was my last entry and considered both possibilities, not spotting the “A GOT reversed” construction. I think this is the first time I’ve submitted something wrong to one of the prize puzzles for a very long time 🙁

    I thought the rubric was somewhat unfair for this puzzle, as well – it would be normal to indicate when themed answers are missing the definition part, as the LLAN place name clues were here. This did waste quite a bit of time for me.

  6. Mhl
    “[Somehow I missed this post when it came out – it would be great if we could have a separate category for the Guardian Genius.]”

    Your wish has been granted.

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