After taking a battering from Vlad in the January Genius, I was hoping for something a little gentler this time, but it was not to be. There are no special instructions for this one, which has often happened by mistake in the past, but it turns out that it’s just a “plain” puzzle, albeit a hard one, and one that seemed at first sight to consist almost entirely of cross-referenced clues. (There was originally a small typographical error in 4,28. subsequently corrected).
There’s a Shakespearian theme, with references to characters in two of the plays, which are cryptically given by cross-references. Thanks to Enigmatist for the challenge.
| Across | ||||||||
| 9. | REEVE | Turn over realm’s second most prominent magistrate (5) Reverse of VEER + second letter of rEalm. One of the meanings of REEVE is “chief magistrate of a distict”. It also occurs in “sheriff” = “shire-reeve” |
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| 10. | ADENOSINE | A letter describing numbers having entered compound (9) NOS (numbers) + IN (having entered) in (described by) DEE (the letter D) |
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| 11. | MOONLIGHT | Perform other work, a piece for piano (9) Double definition, the second referring to Beethoven’s so-called (not by him) “Moonlight” Sonata, Op. 27 No 2. |
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| 12. | KERRY | A piece of Ireland bishop’s kept in locker (5) RR in KEY |
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| 13. | WHETTER | Keeping time, women playing there who will give you the edge? (7) T in W + THERE* |
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| 15. | PROTEUS | With roll of fat for one of 27 2 23 (7) PRO (with, as in “are you with me or against me”) + reverse of SUET – Proteus is one of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, who might be described as “a couple of Veronese swells” |
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| 17. | NIECE | A bit short of power for new member of the family (5) N + [P]IECE |
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| 18,24. | THE SEA AIR | As endlessly inspired by hearties in resort? (3,3,3) A[s] in HEARTIES* &lit – the definite article is a bit odd as part of the phrase, but it comes in handy for some other clues |
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| 20,29. | ALICE FORD | One of 18 13 down 29 26 across coal-fired fans (5,4) COAL-FIRED* – the referenced clues give THE WINOS FORD VIEWS, and the last three are an anagram of WIVES OF WINDSOR, so we have The Merry (i.e. drunk) Wives of Windsor, in which Alice Ford is a character. Interesting that the answer itself provides fodder for the anagram |
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| 22. | SISTERS | Mum missing let me think these females could be from flighty mistress (7) MISTRESS* less MUM without UM (“let me think”) |
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| 25. | ANTONIO | 7’s 24 1 8 5 17 after 18, one hundred and ten? (7) AN (one) + TON (100) + IO (10) – the numbers give PIERRE’S SEA AIR FROM VERY BEAT-UP NIECE after THE, which is THE MER CHANT (“sea song/air” in French + OF (from) + V[ery] + ENICE (anagram of NIECE). Antonio is the title character of The Merchant of Venice (not Shylock, as sometimes erroneously thought). |
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| 26. | VIEWS | What climbers seek to contend with, rivals holding hands? (5) VIE + W S (two opponents in a game of Bridge, etc) |
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| 27,23. | A COUPLE OF SWELLS | Song from Fred and Judy too, extra piece of brilliance by Delibes — fine soprano (1,6,2,6) A COUP (piece of brilliance) + LEO (Delibes) + SWELL (fine) + S[oprano] – this famous song |
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| 30. | VALENTINE | One of 27 2 23 somewhat prevalent in Eden (9) Hidden in preVALENT IN Eden, Valentine being the second Gentleman of Verona |
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| 31. | GABOR | What Blarney Stone and Midas give an actress? (5) The Blarney Stone gives the gift of the GAB, and Midas turned everything to gold or OR. For the actress, take your pick from the sisters Zsa Zsa, Eva and Magda |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | FROM | Out of class, suffering heart flutter (4) FORM (class, in school) with its “heart fluttering” |
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| 2. | VERONESE | Poetry about a painter (8) ONE (a) in VERSE |
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| 4,28. | MARGARET PAGE | Looking up 109 kg messenger, one of 18 13 down 29 26 across (8,4) Reverse of TERAGRAM (1012 grams, or 109 kg) + PAGE (messenger). The original version didn’t show the superscript, so it just read 109 kg, which was a bit confusing.. Another Merry Wife of Windsor |
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| 5. | BEAT-UP | Worn out, but lively when cycling (4-2) UPBEAT with its two parts “cycled” |
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| 6. | WORKS OF ART | The Elephants, Blue Horses etc, being ordered in 2s for ark (5,2,3) (TWOS FOR ARK)* – “The Elephants” and “Blue Horses” are paintings by Salvador Dali and Franz Marc respectively |
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| 7. | PIERRE | The Rock of Marseille in connection with south of quay (6) PIER (quay) + RE (in connection with). Pierre is French for rock or stone |
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| 8,3. | VERY WELL | Fit, I agree (4,4) Double definition |
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| 13. | WINOS | Prevail over 8 big drinkers (5) WIN (prevail) + OS (outsize, “very big”) |
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| 14. | THE SEASONS | Their fathers naval officers? Changing times! (3,7) THE SEA SONS |
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| 16. | SEE TO | Deal with mounting problem for drivers on a course? (3,2) Reverse of O (zero) TEES, which would be a problem for golfers |
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| 19. | ENAMORED | American in love? Dear me, no — how awful (8) (DEAR ME NO)*, with the definition pointing out the American spelling |
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| 21. | IF NEED BE | In an emergency, belting female’s jumping in bed with earls (2,4,2) F in anagram of (IN BED + two E[arl]s) |
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| 26. | VIVA | 65, or 54? (OAP’s essential verbal test) (4) VIV, which can be split as VI V = 6 5, or V IV = 5 4, + [O]A[P]. To be picky, a Viva is an oral (spoken) test, not verbal (using words). |
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Thanks Andrew. 27,23 seems to be AS WELL (too) containing coup + leo + f and then Soprano. I don’t think it really works though.
Had to cheat by looking up the song, but phew what a slog even so. Didn’t twig the Veronese ref at all, d’oh, which left the merry wives correct but unparsed and me unsatisfied but too battered to ponder. Antonio too was a ??!, missing the chestnuttish cue to translate, ie Pierre, d’oh again. Hey ho, it’s the first Genius I’ve got near to completing, so plenty of loud groaning but no complaints iykwim. Thanks Andrew and Enigmatist.
… and missing Pierre as cue even after getting 7d was doubly thick! Oh well…
I needed a substantial amount of investigation to get the grid filled, and still had a couple of
swellsquestions remaining. I didn’t understand the “definitions” of ANTONIO or of ALICE FORD and MARGARET PAGE and see now that instead we actually have a second wordplay. Argh!Thanks (I think) to Enigmatist, and thanks and well done to Andrew for untangling everything.
A mutual friend of mine and our setter suggested that I should have a go at this Genius “because it didn’t have any instructions”
It took me several goes but I’m delighted to report that I filled in the grid correctly (having checked the blog) and even submitted an entry
Thanks to the friend, the setter and Andrew
Thanks to Andrew and Enigmatist
Relatively gentle for this setter.
I parsed 27,23 as sidey@1 with EXTRA = OUTSIDE as in extramural etc.
7d I arrived at via “Thou are Peter and upon this rock”(which I quiet enjoyed). I wasn’t aware of the more direct PIERRE = STONE.
Is there an extra Venetian lurking in the grid? Antonio VIVA(ldi) whose best known work is THE (four) SEASONS. Seems too much to be coincidental, but I can’t spot any extra corroboration.
Took me a long time to complete the puzzle (and especially to parse Pierre’s sea airs!) but, for me, a very enjoyable and satisfactory tussle. Thanks to Enigmatist and Andrew.
We found this hard, even for a Genius – spent most of the time in a metaphorical fog, the mechanism of the thematic clues didn’t reveal itself until the grid was practically complete. I googled Alice Ford quite thoroughly (or so I thought) without coming across the Shakespeare character, so didn’t put it in until it really couldn’t have been anything else.
A change is as good as a rest, though I suppose!
In the Merry Wives of Windsor, (Mr) Ford spies on (views) two women, including his wife, ALICE FORD being attended on by Falstaff, so you didn’t need to (and I didn’t) solve the anagram to get 20, 29. I did wonder why they were described as winos, but thought that might be something not covered by the synopsis I read.
I got ANTONIO just from the wordplay and crossers, but I can’t quite remember whether I worked out what THE PIERRE’S SEA AIR FROM VERY BEAT-UP NIECE might mean.
I parsed 27,23 as AS WELL (too) extra (outside) COUP (piece of brilliance) by (next to) LEO (Delibes) +F (fine), then S (soprano) on the end, which (pace sidey) seems to me to work. The parsing given leaves out the F, while wrongly including “too” in the definition.
I read 22 as meaning MUM minus (missing) UM (let me think), plus the answer (these females) could be an anagram (flighty) of ‘mistress’.
Very happy to complete this after last month’s total failure. Thanks for pointing out what I missed, Andrew.
One of the (very, very) few Genius crosswords I’ve succeeded in completing – felt really chuffed to see the connections – although I did need to seek the first merry lady’s name in Google (and there is another of the same ilk who comes up first, misleadingly). Once that emerged, it helped greatly. Very clever work, as expected, from Enignmatist!
I was surprised by how straightforward this one seemed because the combination of Genius and Enigmatist would normally put a puzzle well beyond my solving ability. I got the couple of swells and Veronese fairly easily, and once the theme was established the rest fell pretty steadily. I will admit to Googling some missing Shakespeare GK, and it did take a while to disentangle a couple of the more intricate parsings, but I have seen more difficult Enigmatist puzzles in the normal Guardian cryptic slot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was submitted for that. I enjoyed this one!
Thanks to Enigmatist and Andrew
It’s interesting to see the difference of opinion on how hard this was. I think this is only the third genius I have completed, though I don’t look every month. It wasn’t easy though, it took me several sessions over about 3 weeks. Maybe some people are better at understanding the special instructions and get a head start, and therefore found this more challenging due to the lack of special instructions. Personally I often find I can only get two or three clues in the genius and the special instructions mean nothing.