Guardian Genius 206 — Qaos

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The instruction “the wordplay in each clue leads to a solution where two letters require an elementary substitution before entry in the grid” may have been intended as cryptic , but I guessed straightaway that it was referring to chemical symbols, and the clues soon confirmed this.

I was slightly confused at first as to which of the two words was to be entered in the grid, but on careful reading it’s clear that it’s the defined word, not the result of the wordplay. There are four clues that consist of two definitions, so I needed some crossing letters to confirm which of these counted as ‘wordplay’. It isn’t stated that both answers are real words, but this became clear after I’d solved a few. I was going to complain about a couple of places where the two words are very closely related (MAILING/MAILBAG and EPISODAL/EPISODES), but in retrospect it’s actually quite remarkable how few of these there are.

The gimmick was slightly familiar, so I did a bit of research and found that Qaos had done something similar in Genius 102. In that one the instructions were more explicit but there was no definition for the entry, leading to some possible ambiguity. As one might expect, some elements are used more than once in the substitutions: In for Indium four times, and Al, As, Cu, Po, Ra, Re, Si, Te three times each.

Quite a gentle one by Genius standards, I thought, but a clever construction that was fun to work out the details of. Thanks to Qaos.

In the explanations below I’ve shown the grid entries first in bold, with the modified words below them and the two elementary symbols to their right.

 
Across
1. SIMULATED
CUMULATED		 Si
Cu		 Endless clouds worried Darwin at first — fake? (9)
CUMUL[I] + ATE (worried) + D[arwin]
6. ASPS
CUPS		 As
Cu		 Containers for snakes (4)
The first “double definition”
8. MARINARA
MARINATE		 Ra
Te		 Royal tucked into course and consumed sauce (8)
R (royal) in MAIN (course) + ATE
9. SCOURS
AMOURS		 Sc
Am		 Cleans with outcries — there’s no chlorine! (6)
CLAMOURS (outcries) less Cl
10. SNAILS
SPOILS		 Na
Po		 They move slowly to move easily around old square, backwards (6)
Reverse of O[ld] SLIP (move easily) + S[quare]
11. HAIRIEST
HANDIEST		 Ir
Nd		 Criminal then said it’s most dangerous (8)
(THEN SAID)*
12. FORGED
FORBID		 Ge
Bi		 Made crossing over British India (6)
B I in FORD (crossing)
15. RESPECTS
INSPECTS		 Re
In		 Spin doctor has therapy to gain special honours (8)
SPIN* + ECT + S
16. MINISTER
MAGISTER		 In
Ag		 Mother captures soldiers for official (8)
GIS (US soldiers) in MATER
19. SOREST
SORBET		 Es
Be		 Most tender group catches ball (6)
ORB in SET
21. CORNERED
GARNERED		 Co
Ga		 Trapped nerve in back? Pull 5 out (8)
NERVE less V (5) in reverse of DRAG (draw)
22. ASTRAY
BETRAY		 As
Be		 Gamble with Winstone and lost (6)
BET + RAY (Winstone, British actor)
24. PINNIE
PINTLE		 Ni
Tl		 Before, the French measure short dress (6)
PINT (measure) + LE, with a misleading comma
25. EPISODAL
EPISODES		 Al
Es		 Does pie, mash and salad starter come delivered in pieces? (8)
(DOES PIE)* + S[alad] – my first guess for the entry was EPISODIC, but there is no Ic in the Periodic Table (and it would have clashed with 23d)
26. PSIS
PALS		 Si
Al		 Overseas letters from friends (4)
Another “double definition”, with the plural of the Greek letter psi (ψ) as the entry
27. TASTINESS
RUSTINESS		 Ta
Ru		 Abbot holds parts of fork, the quality of being yummy (9)
TINES in RUSS (Abbot, comedian). I was rather surprised to see that Russ Abbot is still alive, a mere youngster of 72. Somehow I thought he was older…
Down
1. SPAIN
STAIN		 Pa
Ta		 Saint moved country (5)
SAINT* – with only one letter changing, and an “only just” anagram, this seemed too obvious to be right, but there’s a slight sting in the tail, as neither Sp nor St is an element, so we have to used the second pair instead. Not that it matters for filling the grid
2. MAILING
MAILBAG		 In
Ba		 Gallagher’s upset to talk about posting (7)
Reverse of LIAM (Gallagher, of Oasis fame) + reverse of GAB (talk)
3. LOADS
LOATH		 Ds
Th		 A great many curse after 50 (5)
L (50) + OATH
4. TEACHER
POACHER		 Te
Po		 Overwork and long for start of recess – does she? (7)
Reverse of OP (work – hence “over work”) + ACHE + R[ecess], with an &littish definition
5. DISMISSES
DISMISSAL		 Es
Al		 Like an actress ‘carrying on’, I had lifted large sacks (9)
Reverse of AS SIMS (Joan S, actress who appeared in 24 of the Carry On films) + I’D, plus L[arge]
6. AGONISE
LIONISE		 Ag
Li		 Cat is initially eager to wrestle (7)
LION (cat) + IS + E[ager]
7. PARASITES
PARANETES		 Si
Ne		 Soldier seen climbing over tense leeches (9)
PARA (soldier) + T[ense] in reverse of SEEN
13. OLITORIES
ORATORIES		 Li
Ra		 Old artists and conservatives have kitchen gardens (9)
O + RA (Royal Academy, artists) + TORIES. I’d never hear of Olitories as a name for kitchen gardens – it’s from the Latin holitor or olitor, meaning a gardener, which doesn’t seem to have given us any other words, as far as I can see
14. DETERRENT
DECURRENT		 Te
Cu		 It prevents discontented druggie getting in (9)
D[ruggi]E + CURRENT (fashionable, in)
17. INNINGS
CANINGS		 In
Ca		 Knock from lots of punishment (7)
A third “double definition” – “knock” is cricketing slang for a batsman’s innings
18. REDNESS
BADNESS		 Re
Ba		 Incompetent head causes embarrassment (7)
BAD (incompetent) + NESS (head, geographically)
20. RATHOLE
POTHOLE		 Ra
Po		 No money raised by shabby hotel, a squalid place (7)
Reverse of 0P (zero pence – no money) + HOTEL*. Chambers gives no definition for RATHOLE, presumably thinking its meaning is obvious: online sources give “a particularly squalid human residence” as well as the literal meaning
22. ALIBI
ALIAS		 Bi
As		 Boxer’s stopped by advanced defence (5)
A[dvanced] in [Muhammad] ALI’S
23. AMASS
BRASS		 Am
Br		 Money to hoard (5)
A fourth and final “double definition” to finish off, brass being slang for money (as in “where there’s muck there’s brass”)

7 comments on “Guardian Genius 206 — Qaos”

  1. Hi Andrew

    After a slow start, like you, I found the crossword slightly easier than recent ones, with the exception of some words I did not know: Olitories and Paranetes.  For some reason I put Cups in at 6A very early on, without seeing that it obviously could be Asps as well.  Only when I was down to the last couple of clues did I notice my mistake – thankfully.

    I am grateful to Andrew for his extensive knowledge of ‘Carry On’ films that he could confirm there were 24.  I have seen probably about 9 or 10 of them.  ‘Infamy, infamy they all have it in for me”

    When I submitted my solution I got an error message telling me that I had already submitted, which is nonsense as I only ever put my e-mail address in last, just before I submit.  The error message also said something along the lines of ‘If you wish to resubmit then refresh your browser and submit again’.  I did so and it worked.  I had thought that the Guardian only accepted the first attempt at submission, but I have never seen that error message before.

    This happened just three days ago, so it was possibly just a recent glitch, but I do want to know that I did a valid submission.  Does anyone else have similar experience and does anyone have the editors e-mail now, which I have not seen for a while?

    Thanks for the blog Andrew, and for Qaos too.  I think we forget sometimes that no matter how easy/difficult a crossword is, that to create a complete grid of substitutions in this way takes some skill.

  2. crossword.editor@theguardian.com

    I recently had a prompt and kind reply from Mr. Stephenson himself, so that address works.

    I was likewise pleasantly surprised to stumble across PARANETES and OLITORIES. I found the SW baffling for the longest time, gettings stuck on “ruddies” and “reddens” for “causes embarrassment” before finally hitting on REDNESS for just “embarrassment.” PINNIE I knew, but not a word we use in the US, and the phantasmagoria of bizarre cricket jargon is, as ever, a source of bewilderment. Otherwise, a slow and steady solve. Thanks, Andrew and Qaos.

  3. Hi Cineraria @2.  Thanks for the e-mail address.

    Just to put you right on Pinnie.  It is the name used for the smock/dress used by female lacrosse players for one.  I think that makes it a US word!  I have never come across that spelling in UK.  For a start the word scrimmage is never used in UK, but scrummage is.  I cannot but commiserate re: cricket.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimmage_vest

  4. Same definition answer, different wordplay:

    1D SATIN (anagram of “saint”) to SPAIN — AT changes to PA

    The work you do to provide this information is fantastic! It helped clarify some things for me. Thanks Andrew!

     

  5. That was fun, only my second “special instructions” crossword so pleased to have all present and correct. I also parsed SPAIN like Johawn. Thanks to Andrew and to Qaos, one of my favourite setters.

    I’m looking to try a crossword with more of an endgame. Enigmatic Variations puts me off with all the strange words. Anybody able to recommend a simpler one that nonetheless provides a satisfying penny drop?

  6. Thanks Andrew. We enjoyed this; as you say it was obvious from the start that two-letter element symbols were involved, which helped.  It’s always tricky working out the wordplay when it doesn’t match the definition, it was often a case of spotting the definition and working backwards to what the wordplay must have been, but satisfying nonetheless.

    We hesitated over SPAIN thinking, like you, that TA in stain was being swapped for PA, which didn’t seem quite right, but Johawn’s solution removes even this slight imperfection.

  7. Thankyou. All well explained. I’m fairly new to the Genius cryptics and have not fully completed one yet. SW corner of this one gave me trouble. Olitories was not in my Oxford dictionary nor in my thesaurus which was surprising. Not being a cricket fan, I had no idea that knock was a term for an innnings. I could kick myself that I didn’t get pinnie or psis.

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