As is often the case with Genius puzzles, the instructions were not particularly helpful at first glance, so it was just a case of trying to solve some clues, with or without the help of definitions and/or missing letters.
Luckily it didn’t take too long before I hit on TRIANGLE at 1a, with a possible definition of “figure” from 9a, and then ALTERING at 7d, defined by “Perhaps taking in” at 17d, leading to a theory that the six “related” solutions were all anagrams of each other, as indeed turned out to be the case, with TRIANGLE, INTEGRAL, RELATING, ALTERING, TANGLIER and ALERTING. Each of these acts as a definition for one of the clues with no definition. This also clarified the point of the “single letter from one of the original six” that was to be added to or removed from the wordplay in two lots of eight clues. Although it’s not explicitly said, each of the eight letters of the six anagrams is used in this way exactly once for each set.
Altogether, an enjoyable puzzle; not too hard once the penny had dropped about the gimmick, though tabulating and cross-checking all the details took a while. A small gripe would be that there are rather too many -ING words in the anagrams and the words defined by them. (Incidentally, I looked into “letter sequences with lots of anagrams”, and the record seems to be held by ADEINR, which has 52, though with a rather liberal interpretation of “word”: almost all of them are archaic or very obscure, “rained” being a rare exception.) Thanks to Boatman.
In the explanations below I’ve added a letter in brackets to indicate the type of clue: A for anagram. S for synonym (i.e. defined by one of the As), and + and – respectively where a letter has to added to or removed from the wordplay. I’ve also coloured the six anagrams in the text and in the image of the completed grid.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | TRIANGLE (A) | Attempt, say, to use line, getting more twisted (8) Homophone of “try” + ANGLE (to use a [fishing] line). Definition “figure” from 9a |
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| 5. | ARRACK (+) | Accepted anguish of spirit (6) A[ccepted] + RACK with R added |
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| 9. | INTEGRAL (A) | Big returns on international figure (8) INT + reverse of LARGE. Definition “built in” from 16d |
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| 10. | BLOTTO (+) | Well-oiled automaton, excessively lacking in love (6) BOT (automaton, short for “robot”) + TOO less 0 (“love”) with L added |
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| 11. | ONCE-OVER (-) | Casual assessment of former partner (4-4) ONCE (former) + LOVER (partner) with L removed |
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| 12. | ATTRIT (+) | Wear down disagreeable trait (6) TRAIT* with T added |
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| 13. | DISSONANCE (+) | Combination of clashing sounds is very much part of performance art (10) IS SO in DANCE with N added |
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| 18. | HEADLIGHTS (+) | Suffered with lungs — said to be nemesis of rabbits (10) HAD (suffered with, as in “had a cold”) + LIGHTS (lungs, as food) with E added. For the definition, think of the proverbial “rabbit in the headlights” |
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| 22. | FUGARD (-) | Source of money conceals newspaper’s backing for African writer (6) Reverse of RAG (newspaper) in FUND with N removed |
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| 23. | ALARMING (S) | Marginal movement after reorganisation (8) MARGINAL* – missing definition is ALERTING |
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| 24. | IRIDIC (-) | Ignoring regular indications in diagnosis is concerning, principally relating to part of the eye (8) Initial letters of Ignoring Regular Indications In Diagnosis Is Concerning with I removed (could be either the third or fourth) |
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| 25. | LIONS’ DEN (-) | Daniel’s no stranger here (5,3) (DANIELS NO*) with A removed, &lit, with reference to the biblical story |
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| 26. | GARAGE (-) | Where vehicle may be left in gear a long time (6) GEAR + AGE, with E removed |
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| 27. | RECITING (S) | Taking on union ringleader, dismissed (8) RECRUITING less U[nion] and R[ing] – missing definition is RELATING |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | TRIGON (S) | Therapy starts with doctor in operation (6) T[herapy] + RIG (to doctor) + ON (in operation) – missing definition is TRIANGLE |
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| 2. | INTACT (S) | Assured of success with diplomacy (6) IN (assured of success) + TACT (diplomacy) – missing definition is INTEGRAL |
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| 3. | NIGH ON (-) | Almost nothing is resolved (4,2) NOTHING* with T removed |
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| 4. | LEAVENING (-) | Permeating in general with irony — very ‘in’ (9) V in anagram (“with irony) of IN GENERAL, with R removed |
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| 6. | RELATING (A) | Former German currency rises on bank warning (8) Reverse of TALER + ING (former Dutch bank). Definition “linking” from 7d |
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| 7. | ALTERING (A) | Linking fabricated tale with criminal bloc (8) TALE* + RING. Definition “perhaps taking in” (as in altering clothes) from 17d |
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| 8. | KNOTTIER (S) | Maybe granny goes on stage (8) KNOT (e.g. granny) + TIER (stage) – missing definition is TANGLIER |
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| 14. | SATELLITE (+) | Perhaps earth slab illuminated within (9) LIT in STELE, with A added: the Earth is a satellite of the Sun |
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| 15. | SHIFTING (S) | If things are not as they should be (8) (IF THINGS)* – missing definition is ALTERING |
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| 16. | TANGLIER (A) | Built in African city, providing setting for library’s foundation (8) L[ibrary] in TANGIER – definition “more twisted” from 1a |
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| 17. | ALERTING (A) | Perhaps taking in drink, leading to foolish grin with time (8) ALE + anagram of (GRIN T) – definition “warning” from 6d |
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| 19. | BRUNEI (+) | Coffee perhaps produced in French former Asian protectorate (6) BRUNE (French for brown, coffee-coloured) with I added. Brunei was a British protectorate until 1984 |
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| 20. | BINDHI (-) | Beauty spot found by search engine covering several outlying parts of Delhi (6) BING (Microsoft search engine) + D[el]HI with G removed |
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| 21. | EGGNOG (+) | With a final twist, encourage to drink (6) EGG ON, with the last two letters “twisted” round, and with G added |
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Hi Andrew
You have missed out the parsing for two clues; 19D and 20D.
I rather liked this puzzle and thought it was well crafted. I had not come across the word Attrit before, although the connection with attrition is obvious, nor the author Fugard, not Taler as an old coin, nor the unusual spelling of Bindhi.
I did have one ‘answer’ very early on before I got the linkages between the various clues. I decided the answer to 11A was LAID-BACK, with ‘Former partner’ defining someone you were very ‘intimate with’ in the past! Laughable as that now seems for a few hours I seriously thought that was the answer, if a little risque.
Thanks Boatman and Andrew.
Sorry about the missing 19d and 20d – now restored.
Taler (or Thaler) comes up occasionally: it’s the origin of the word “dollar”.
Surprisingly few comments on what I thought was a clever puzzle that rewarded persistence. Once the penny dropped about the key anagrams, the rest fell into place like a jigsaw, though I did have to keep a tally of the missing or added letters to make sure what was what.
Enojyable and rewarding.
Thanks to Boatman and Andrew.
I found this very enjoyable and satisfying to solve. I was kept working to the very end when I finally worked out the parsing for my LOI, RECITING.
Getting TRIANGLE straight off helped enormously, though it took a while before I worked out how the special six were related and I did have to keep tables of my answers to keep track of what was what.
I understood ‘Perhaps earth’ for SATELLITE to refer to an ‘earth satellite’ (something mentioned in Chambers} rather than Earth as a solar satellite. I also spent a long time reading about a Star Wars character called Satele, trying to establish whether she could be characterised as a ‘sab’ (saboteuse). I don’t think she can. I had met the word ‘stele’ before (in a crossword, probably) but not often and not that recently.
23a was misleading, with its double anagrind. I had “after reorganisation” marked up as a misplaced definition before I understood what the special six were.
Andrew, in the parsing of 24a, IRIDIC, I think you meant to say “second or third” rather than “third or fourth” (I to be removed).
[I think ‘attrit’ is an ugly back-formation probably invented by the US military to use as a euphemism for killing. Having written that and checked, it seems I may be wrong but am in good company with the Guardian, apparently alleging more or less the same thing in 2003: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/attrit.html ]
*… am in good company, with the Guardian alleging …*
(Put the comma in the wrong place)
Hi Tony@4
In my pedantic northern grumpy mood I say that you are also wrong about Iridic.
Andrew probably meant the leading “I” from the 3rd or 4th WORD.
You clearly meant to point out it was the leading “I” from the second or third word beginning with an “I”. That is not what you said though! You simply mentioned the letter, NOT the word.
There are two “I” letter in each of the words Ignoring and Indications alone.
OK, I’ll get off my high horse now and go and pour myself an early whisky as it is just 7.00 pm in Connecticut.
Cheers
Gordon
@Gordon, yes, I see now Andrew meant (but didn’t quite say) the “third or fourth” leading letter of those words, while I meant (but didn’t quite say) the “second or third” leading I in the sequence. So in fact I think Andrew and I were both right and you wrong! Slàinte mhath!
Tony is right that I didn’t quite say what I meant: the initial letters give IRIIDIC, from which we have to remove either the third or fourth letter, or the second or third I. Sorry for the imprecision and resulting confusion, and thanks for the corrections.
I like Genius puzzles which reward careful persistence – for an average solver like me I think one should take no less than a few hours and ideally five to ten. This was one of them – lots of components all coming together. Thanks, Ashley.