Guardian Genius 126 / Crucible

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Given the “Special instructions: 16 is displayed in all other solutions. All clues lack definitions.” my first step was to look at 16ac but I could not parse the clue other than to think of a synonym for ‘perfume’. It was therefore time to look at the remaining clues.

During my first pass through them I had five definite entries and a couple of possible ones. Fortunately, two of the definites crossed with 16ac which I was then able to parse and so determine the theme. All the grid entries contained one or more occurrences of I, ME or EGO.

Solving was not made any easier by Crucible’s decision to indicate the length of the grid entry rather than the more usual enumeration *. This was particularly true for 19ac, my last one in, which only came to me following a break for some breakfast. I also had to keep reminding myself that there were no definitions in the clues because it was far too easy to fall into normal clue-parsing mode.

A pleasant distraction on a bleak and cheerless December Monday morning.

* Edit: Sometime after I had finished the puzzle and written this blog, the on-line and print versions were edited to show the actual enumerations. Solving would have been somewhat quicker had this been done from the outset!

Across

9  Home Office head occupied Blair’s room (9)
HOI POLLOI – HO (Home Office) POLL (head) in (occupied) 101 (Blair’s room)

10  English race (5)
EMILE – E (English) MILE (race)

11  Champagne’s drunk, I think (7)
MOMMETS – MOET’S (champagne’s) around (drunk) MM (I think)

12  Old record I’m carrying to Spain (7)
EPITOME – EP (old record) IM around (carrying) TO E (Spain)

13  Bumped into a pair at Old Trafford (5)
ME-TOO – MET (bumped into) OO (a pair at Old Trafford)

14  Silent actors screened exotic tale (9)
MEALTIMES – MIMES (silent actors) around (screened) anagram (exotic) of TALE

16  Perfume masks small man’s embarrassment (15)
SELF-CENTREDNESS – SCENT (perfume) around (masks) ELF (small man) REDNESS (embarrassment)

19  County police picked up broadcast (9)
COME THIRD – CO (county) MET (police) homophone (broadcast) of ‘heard’ (picked up)

21  Writer’s passing round music magazine (5)
IN MEM – IM (writer’s) around (passing round) NME (music magazine)

22  Wild iguana bites cat’s tail (7)
ANTIGUA – anagram (wild) of IGUANA around (bites) [ca]T (cat’s tail)

23  Topless ladies in mountains (7)
MOMENTS –  [w]OMEN (topless ladies) in MTS (mountains)

24  Leading lady defends short fitting (5)
EMEER – ER (leading lady) around (defends) MEE[t] (short fitting)

25  Controversial artist hides her last in gallery (9)
TERMINATE – EMIN (controversial artist) around (hides) [he]R (her last) in TATE (gallery)

Down

1  Chemist foolishly hugs Oz bird (10)
THEME MUSIC – anagram (foolishly) of CHEMIST around (hugs) EMU (Oz bird)

2  Glutton at dinner, say, eats tons (8)
PIG-METAL – PIG (glutton) MEAL (dinner, say) around (eats) T (tons)

3  Force state to scrap base (6)
FOREGO – F (force) OREGO[n] (state to scrap base)

4  In Paris they keep left (4)
ILLS – ILS (in Paris they) around (keep) L (left)

5  Raise issue about boring poet (10)
TIME-BARRED – EMIT (issue) reversed (raise) RE (about) in (boring) BARD (poet)

6  Father on TV supports press etc (8)
MEDIATED – MEDIA (press etc) TED (Father on TV)

7  Low girl nearly given a lift (6)
SIMOOM – MOO (low) MIS[s] (girl nearly) reversed (given a lift)

8  13, say? (4)
MEME – a homophone (say) of 13 {me-too} is ‘me two’ so it’s ME twice

14  Two lots of soldiers round police up (10)
MENDICANTS – MEN ANTS (two lots of soldiers) around CID (police) reversed (up)

15  Identical look but classical clothes (10)
SESAME SEED – SED (but classical) around (clothes) SAME (identical) SEE (look)

17  Bloody Blanchett’s on top! (8)
CATEGORY – CATE (Blanchett) GORY (bloody)

18  Big space in the head (8)
EMMENTAL – EM (big space) MENTAL (in the head)

20  Middle East row (6)
METIER – ME (Middle East) TIER (row)

21  Now and then Isaac holds computer up (6)
IAMBIC – I[s]A[a]C (now and then Isaac) around (holds) IBM (computer) reversed (up)

22  Regret getting stripped (4)
AMEN – [l]AMEN[t] (regret getting stripped)

23  A little bedtime reading (4)
MERE – hidden in (a little) ‘bedtiME REading’

16 comments on “Guardian Genius 126 / Crucible”

  1. I won’t say what I scrawled across this after finishing. Really left me wondering what it was for. I don’t think that “self-centredness” is displayed by ILLS just because there’s an I in it for example, many others similarly fail imho.

    Thanks for blogging it Gaufrid.

  2. Thanks, Gaufrid. I usually enjoy Crucible’s output, but I felt shortchanged by an entire puzzle bereft of definitions. Seeing how a setter cleverly weaves the definition and the wordplay into a single clue is perhaps what I enjoy most about cryptics. Sadly, that aspect was absent here.

    Like sidey@1, I didn’t think all the solutions displayed “self-centredness,” which, if taken literally, would require I/ME/EGO to appear in the precise centre of each solution, but that only occurs 6 times. So I’m guessing Crucible is asking us to embrace more liberal applications, possibly to include “all about [I/ME/EGO],” i.e., I/ME/EGO occurs somewhere in the not-precise-middle of the solution (12 times), or “[I/ME]-first” (10 times).

    The only solution left, I believe, is FOREGO. If someone does something FOR [his] EGO, he is displaying self-centredness. Anyway, that’s how I managed to reconcile the solutions with 16.

  4. Thanks Gaufrid.

    After getting 16a and a few other answers I realised the I/ME thing (noticing the EGOs took a bit longer), but I kept thinking “surely there must be more to it than that”: apparently not. As others have said, rather an unsatisfactory puzzle: I don’t think that “having I/ME/EGO” somewhere (not “centred”!) in the answer really compensates for the lack of a definition.

  5. I also had MUMMERS for 11a, I think this works slightly better than MOMMETS but the fact that there are two different plausible entries is another reason why this completely definition-less style is less satisfactory.

    As others have said I felt self-centredness was applied rather loosely. For ILLS, I rationalised it by thinking that the centre had two letters the same. Animals whose coat is coloured the same all over can be said to be ‘self’-coloured, so I thought this might apply to letters in the solution. Sort of.

    It was certainly hard enough to qualify for a Genius – but maybe not for the right reasons!

  6. Thanks Gaufrid.

    Fully agree with other comments – some of the solutions (eg ILLS) do not satisfy the instructions. i cannot recall a comparable failure in a Guardian crossword. Very surprising and disappointing. Like Keeper (not my namesake though it could be!) I usually enjoy Crucible’s crosswords, including the recent Prize one.

  7. Thanks Gaufrid. I completed this before they published the enumerations, too & together with the lack of definitions it was quite a grind to get all the answers. My LOI was EMILE – although it fits the wordplay I was very unsure that a French name was right until I found it couldn’t really be anything else.

    I echo other comments in finding this Genius rather unsatisfying. However I think all the entries do show 16a at least in a way – most have ME or I (somewhere) in the middle, others show 16a in a more cryptic fashion eg me too, me me, for ego, I’ll(s). I think the theme was pretty tenuous for a Genius, but all the entries do fit it.

  8. A very unsatisfactory and unsatisfying solve. I gave up as l did not see any point in trying to finish it. I hope we do not get this type of puzzle again.

  9. Thank you, Gaufrid.

    I only discovered the note about incorrect letter counts, hyphens and bars when I came to submit the puzzle. It would have saved some time when solving, particularly at 13a and 21a. Those two kept me thinking far too long with the incorrect number count.
    However, … Grauniad notwithstanding … I eventually enjoyed the puzzle.

    Many times I have grumbled because a solution has been obvious from the definition and the only conundrum was the parsing. This puzzle said, “Yah -boo to that!” What a refreshing change.

    I don’t understand the OO of ME TOO – why is this ‘a pair at Old Trafford’?

  10. Hi Jan
    Old Trafford is a cricket ground and if a batsman is out without scoring a run in both innings he is said to have a pair (of ducks), ie his scores were 0 0.

  11. Funny, Gaufrid, I was thinking of a different Old Trafford, namely, the football stadium, and that OO represented a pair of, well, balls.

    (Since I’m posting again, I’ll go ahead and acknowledge my fellow keeper, Stumper @6. However, I suspect Stumper is a keeper of the wicket- variety, whereas I am one of the goal- variety. Cheers.)

  12. Cheers, Gaufrid – my cricket-mad (non-crossword-loving) husband was no help when I read him the clue and the answer!

  13. Just checked the annotated solution on the Guardian site – MUMMERS is the answer given for 11ac. I wonder if both alternatives will have been accepted?

  14. Thank you DuncT. This should be interesting. How will Hugh explain it, since both answers appear acceptable. I didn’t realise that MUMM was a champagne until I looked it up just now while I am sure that most of us would have heard of MOET.

    Mm – er – oo – er – missus. It would appear that I have to join those who have doubts about this clever puzzle.

  15. I seem to be in a minority who really liked this.

    I can remember Auracaria presenting many [and I do mean many] crossword puzzles over the past 50 years where there was no definition. I do not recall any complaints about these then. Maybe we forget about the quirks when it is Auracaria [who had lots of annoying habits and wordplay on occasions that I really disliked] but bemoan others who are not seem as venerable and therefore give them less latitude.

    I had Mummers too, and frankly had never heard of mommets, which is a blessing!

    I also don’t see any issue with 16a as referenced to other clues. I think it just means a word that reflects someones self-centredness, i.e. always referring to themselves. I did not take it to refer to centres of answers.

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