So we have a preamble, as was to be expected, and one with no apparent ambiguities:
“Fourteen solutions need to be partially amended before entry into the grid in a consistent manner by undergoing either a hundredfold increase or a hundredfold decrease. Resulting grid entries are not real words. Definitions in these clues refer to the original solution, while the wordplay and numbers are for the amended form.”
That seemed clear enough so I worked my way through the clues, entering those solutions which were obviously not part of the fourteen in need of modification and marking the clues that appeared as if they might be, for example 1ac.
The result was that I had nearly half the grid filled in with normal entries (actually 13 out of the 14) so it was time to look at the ‘amended’ entries. After a couple of false starts elsewhere, 1ac was my way into the required revisions, having determined the definition and worked out the wordplay – currency changes. After that it was pretty much plain sailing until my last two entries, 19dn and 4dn.
An entertaining and rewarding solve so thank you Picaroon.
Across
1 Female fairy I see eating seaweed, afraid to go out (12)
AGORAPHOBIC
SHEKELPHOBIC – SHE (female) HOB (fairy) IC (I see) around (eating) KELP (seaweed)
1 shekel = 100 agora (Israel)
9 Amazing sight in Switzerland, not initially over there (7)
WONDER
CHONDER – CH (Switzerland) [y]ONDER (not initially over there)
1 chon = 1/100 won (Korea)
10 Forage / somewhere in Switzerland (7)
LUCERNE – double def.
11 No rest with Sky broadcast in parts of building (9)
STOREYS
STKRONEYS – an anagram (broadcast) of NO REST SKY
1 krone = 100 ore (Denmark & Norway)
12 Element of idiomatic language judge rejected (5)
ARGON – [j]ARGON (idiomatic language judge rejected)
13 Agreement about new drug’s taste, say (5)
SENSE
YENSE – YES (agreement) around (about) N (new) plus E (drug)
1 yen = 100 sen (Japan)
14 So a decent novel provides stories (9)
ANECDOTES – an anagram (novel) of SO A DECENT
16 Sentence with old writing tool shows how people exist (9)
LIFESTYLE – LIFE (sentence) STYLE (old writing tool)
18 Play cricket, stripping off Mike’s coloured cloth (5)
BATIK – BAT (play cricket) [m]IK[e] (stripping off Mike)
20 Michael Stipe was / like certain legal actions (2,3)
IN REM – double def.
21 Argentinian music-maker’s fight over bulb (9)
BANDONION
LEUDONION – DUEL (fight) reversed (over) ONION (bulb)
1 leu = 100 ban (Romania & Moldova)
22 Taste butter or jam? It’s a puzzle (7)
TANGRAM – TANG (taste) RAM (butter or jam)
23 It girl’s ditching English appearance some characters may have (7)
ITALICS – IT ALIC[e]’S (girl’s ditching English)
24 A son eats, scoffing giant varieties of green stalks (12)
ASPARAGUSES
ASDINARGUSES – A S (son) DINES (eats) around (scoffing) ARGUS (giant)
1 dinar = 100 para (Yugoslavia)
Down
1 Supplying castles, carrying home little gifts (8,7)
STOCKING FILLERS
STOCKING FORINTS – STOCKING (supplying) FORTS (castles) around (carrying) IN (home)
1 forint = 100 filler (Hungary)
2 School dinner oddly thrown up? This provides explanation (7)
ENDNOTE – ETON (school) D[i]N[n]E[r] (dinner oddly) reversed (thrown up)
3 Celebration of longevity you’re near, partying (9)
CENTENARY
EUROENARY – an anagram (partying) of YOU’RE NEAR
1 euro = 100 cent (France etc)
4 Ancient Greek city winning over the Spanish (5)
THEBES
PULAS – UP (winning) reversed (over) LAS (the Spanish)
1 pula = 100 thebe (Botswana)
5 Source of fruit, if not vegetable (7)
ORCHARD – OR (if not) CHARD (vegetable)
6 Odd things? I regret it is true, unfortunately (15)
IRREGULARITIES
IRREGUTETRITIES – an anagram (unfortunately) of I REGRET IT IS TRUE
1 tetri = 1/100 lari (Georgia)
7 Playwright only disheartened about police matter (6)
O’CASEY – O[nl]Y (only disheartened) around (about) CASE (police matter)
8 Writers around US city could be beats (6)
POUNDS
PENNYS – PENS (writers) around NY (US city)
1 penny = 1/100 pound (UK)
15 Old European money, money government’s producing (9)
EXECUTING – EX (old) ECU (European money) TIN (money) G (government)
16 Drink like rum, drinking pint (6)
LATTE
LKIPTE – an anagram (rum) of LIKE around (drinking) PT (pint)
1 kip = 100 at (Laos)
17 Monkey holds kind of lily up for eastern warrior (7)
SAMURAI – SAI (monkey) around (holds) ARUM (kind of lily) reversed (up)
18 Book service for kind of fuel (7)
BIOMASS – BIO (book) MASS (service)
19 Guts of skunk had used enzyme (6)
LIPASE
KUNASE – [s]KUN[k] [h]A[d] [u]SE[d] (guts of skunk had used)
1 kuna = 100 lipa (Croatia)
21 Play with Scottish smoker and non-drinkers (5)
DRAMA
LUMAA – LUM (Scottish smoker) AA (non-drinkers)
1 luma = 1/100 dram (Armenia)
Thanks Gaufrid. We found this tough to get going, but fun once the penny (pound?) finally dropped, which took longer than it might have – the special instructions were clear, but didn’t give too much away.
The combination of some hard clues, some obscure solutions, and some very obscure currencies made it quite a challenge. (Obviously obscurity is in the eye of the beholder – an international financier might have found this plain sailing!). I think 8d (Pounds/Pence) was our way in.
Once (literally, this time) the penny dropped, things became a lot easier. With a puzzle like this, there’s always that mental tug-of-war between what you know you should put in however daft, and what you want to put in, and that for me was the challenge.
Tough but fair, I thought.
Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid
Another very well balanced puzzle – it came together a little quicker than many previous puzzles but it still had that distinct satisfaction of solving a puzzle as well as a crossword, and also each clue was pretty definitively right once you saw what needed seeing. In that way each clue was like a mini puzzle in its own right, and very satisfying as a result. I can’t remember my way in, but I know I was held up by the At/Kip substitution as I could only find justification for att online and was struggling to lose the extra “t”.
It must’ve been a devil to set though! Many thanks to Picaroon for the hard work and for making it oh so much harder to just go and use a word finder! And thanks to Gaufrid for the blog and the website.
Thanks Gaufrid and Picaroon.
My first complete solve of a Genius and I am delighted.
Thorough-going enjoyment.
I’d been put off Genius puzzles for years as ‘way too hard’, but now have got 2 under the belt, and actually find them not (impossibly) harder than (say) Prize puzzles and usually with a bit more meat behind them.
As TheZed @3 put it very nicely , many of the themed clues were like solving a puzzle within a puzzle.
It took a while to get going as I entered KUNASE for 19D, since rather remarkably there is actually an enzyme called kinase. It was only after solving the AGORA—>SHEKEL at 1A that I realised the device and then some trawling in the wiki page for currencies revealed LIPA—>KUNA swap. Not sure if picaroon realised this extra bit of cunningness ?
I thought the 15-letter nonce-words created by the currency unit swap were fabulous. STOCKING FORINTS, ASDINARGUSES both seem like they might be real words. And I wouldn’t be surprised to find SHEKELPHOBIC is actually used as a humorous jibe implying mean-ness in countries where the shekel is currency. IRREGUTETRITIES — just love the sound of it.
I got held up on STOREYS/STKRONEYS for ages because of looking for SLEEPLESS and then SNORERS as the definition (‘No rest with’) — it was a delightful surprise to realise the definition was at the other end of the clue.
No complaints at all, loved every minute of this!
Hearty thanks Picaroon, and to Gaufrid for the great and lucid explanation.