I have been unable to contact the scheduled blogger to find out why a blog for this puzzle hasn’t been posted so here is an analysis of the clues (I can’t remember the solving process, it was over a month ago!).
The five undefined solutions, often nonsensical, were approximate homophones of famous actors.
| Across | ||
| 8 | USED ENOUGH | cryptic def. – Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov |
| 9,3 | YOGI BEAR | Spoonerism of ‘bogy yea’ (that gets up your nose, certainly) |
| 11 | RIPER | RIP[p]ER (half-hearted killer) |
| 12 | GUIDEBOOK | anagram (off) of DUO GO BIKE |
| 13,27 | GHEE ALL GOOD | cryptic def. – Sir Arthur John Gielgud |
| 15 | SCALPEL | SCALP (trophy) [wif]E L (left) |
| 17 | YET | YET[i] (monster not entirely visible) |
| 18 | THIRTY | THIR[s]TY (dry, missing sherry for a start) |
| 19 | ACTORS | unclued |
| 23 | GAY BULL | cryptic def. – |
| 24 | EYESORE | hidden in ‘unattractivE, YES – OR Execrable’ |
| 25 | BRAN DOUGH | cryptic def. – Marlon Brando |
| 27 | GREEK | [twiste]R in GEEK (dork) |
| 28 | SLIP | double def. |
| 29 | THEOLOGIAN | anagram (boob’s) of GOLIATH ONE |
| Down | ||
| 1 | OUTRIGHT | OUT (old hat) RIGHT (one side) |
| 2 | PERPLEXITY | PER (for each) EXIT (doorway) in PLY (work) |
| 4,20 | ROUGHLY SPEAKING | anagram (appearing reckless) of GLORY, SHAKEN UP, GI |
| 5 | AGAINST | A GAIN (a victory) ST (way) |
| 6 | SOLO | homophone (heard) of ‘so low’ (basso profundo) |
| 7,21 | NICKEL SUN | cryptic def. – John Joseph “Jack” Nicholson |
| 10 | DEMARCHE | M[ilitia] in DEAR CHE (Alberto Granado’s letter opener) – Alberto Granado was a friend and travelling companion of Che Guevara. |
| 14 | ASTOUNDS | A SOUNDS (a number of noises) around T (tea, say) |
| 16 | PHOTOGENIC | HOT (sexy) OGEN (melon) in PIC (image) |
| 21 | SLEUTHS | S[enegalese) LEU (European currency) TH[i]S |
| 22 | NEPHRON | P (power) HR (little time) in NEON (element) |
| 23 | GO BUST | BUS (something people catch) in GOT (understood) |
| 26 | AXIS | A SIX (number) reversed (from below) |
Thanks for stepping in. It was fun, and probably at the easier end of the “Genius” spectrum. I’d say Paul can afford to make them harder – as I think he used to.
You have a small typo in 10d – DEMARCHE – and the wrong actor in 23a – Clark Gable (Gay bull), surely, not Betty Grable?
Thanks, Gaufrid.
I agree with what Thomas has said.
Some of the homophones caused a chuckle. ‘Gay bull’ for maccho Rhett Butler and ‘Bran dough’ for the big fat controller of Apocalypse Now. There must have been times when we felt that Peter Ustinov had been ‘used enough’.
Thomas99
Thanks, typo now corrected. I’m sure I thought of Clark Gable when I solved the puzzle over a month ago but when I was writing this post before breakfast, in somewhat of a rush, my brain was obviously not in gear. I kept thinking that GAY BULL should give Gable, not Grable, but Clark just did not come to mind. Doh!
Thank you for the analysis. I very much enjoy Paul’s playfulness in the Genius slot — for me, GHEE ALL GOOD was the best example of it here. For some reason it reminded me of his exchanged-body-parts puzzle of a few months back where he gave us the RING OF THE NIBELIVER, among other delights.
My first actor was GAY BULL, by which time I had _C_O_S for the unclued 19. The word which came to mind was ACROSS. ‘Roughly speaking, a cross.’ And sure enough, there is such a thing as a gable cross… I then spent some time looking for a Nicholson cross before the penny dropped.
Thanks Paul & Gaufrid.
Although I got most of this right, the ‘Alberto Granado’s letter opener’ gave, I thought a starting ‘l,’ so I put in legalese. This gave ‘heroes’ for the undefined 19 (doh!)
Never mind, I’m learning.
Thanks Gaufrid for stepping in again.
I have to agree with Jan and Thomas99 that this must have been a bit easier as I managed to finish it with two weeks to spare, so without my normal sweat of hanging on to the last minute as I usually find I need.
I also liked Ghee All Good, and I learned a new word – Nephron.
My favourite clue was 10d. If anyone has not seen the film ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ I can strongly recommend it, whatever your political persuasion.
Good entertainment all round.