Guardian Genius 230 – Pangakupu

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Another Genius from the easier end of the spectrum, with the special instructions affecting a relatively small number of clues, and no modification of grid entries.

BREATHE and THEATRE were my first thematic answers, and it was apparent that they had a number of letters in common. It didn’t take long to see that the central letters from the extra words [shown in square brackets below] spelt out BROKEN HEARTS: all the thematic words contain an anagram of HEART, and that anagram is also at the exact middle or HEART of the word. From there it was easy to fill in the three unclued answers. Sadly the anagrams are not all different, with WEATHERED and LATHERY having the same one.

So, not a huge challenge (maybe an advantage for a blogger), but fun while it lasted. Thanks to Pangakupu.

 
Across
1. CHARTED Unclued (7)
5. FARTHER Unclued (7)
9. DISPENSER Detective going to poet as source of drugs? (9)
D[etective] I[nspector] + [Edmund] SPENSER
10. BESOM Happen a few will ditch latest simple household accessory? (5)
BE (happen) + SOM[e]
11. INAPT I drop off last of post, not in the right place (5)
I + NAP (drop off) + [pos]T
12. APARTHEID Article amongst standard documentation linked to a [hybrid] system of discrimination (9)
A + THE (article) in PAR ID
13. MONTEZUMA Former Mexican leader introducing Spanish card game to former African leader (9)
MONTE (a Spanish-American card game, also known as Monte Bank, the name also possibly related to Three-card Monte, aka the con-trick “Find the Lady”) + [Jacob] ZUMA (former president of South Africa)
15. CAMEL Type of ship turned up late? Not worried (5)
CAME (turned up) + LATE less ATE (worried) – the camel is the “ship of the desert”
17. CIRCA Knocked over a pain in the neck, almost roughly (5)
Reverse of A CRIC[k]
19. EXHIBITED Once hurried to seize piece put on display (9)
EX (once) + BIT (piece) in + HIED (hurried)
22. WEATHERED Unite to secure [hooked] article yonder, eroded (9)
A (another article) + THERE in WED (unite)
25. EUROS Unhappy about universal backing for currency (5)
Reverse of U in SORE
26. EAGLE Standard energy line installed in time (5)
E + L in AGE
27. HOWITZERS Intelligence shown by last character amongst gardeners — they use shells (9)
WIT + Z (last character of the alphabet) in HOERS
28. LATHERY Unclued (7)
29. STEAMED Horse carrying a male moved fast (7)
A M in STEED
Down
1. CADMIUM Chemical element found in borders of Cleveland? (7)
The “borders of Cleveland” are Cd which is the chemical symbol for Cadmium
2. ABSTAINER Non-drinker mostly tarnished, entering wild bar (9)
STAINE[d] in BAR*
3. THEATRE Arena [events] in that place involving a tug-of-war to begin with (7)
A T[ug-of-war] in THERE (making its second appearance)
4. RASTA Imperious leader picked up a follower of emperor (5)
Reverse of TSAR + A
5. FERMANAGH County force boss with hesitation promoted Henry (9)
F (force) + MANAGER with ER (hesitation) moved to the top + H[enry]
6. ROBOTIC Bishop engaged in cause, I see, on an automatic basis (7)
B in ROOT I C
7. HASTE Expedition keeps heading for the East (5)
HAS (keeps) + T[he} + E, with expedition in the sense of speed
8. REMODEL Change a lot of fashion in dance (7)
MOD[e] in REEL
14. UNEARTHLY Unionist almost accepting 40% of these [bigheads]? Weird (9)
U + TH[ese] in NEARLY
16. MITHRAEUM Place of worship possibly [starts] making him mature (9)
(HIM MATURE)*
17. COWBELL Source of ringing that hurts bomber held in prison (7)
OW (that hurts!) + B[omber] in CELL
18. ATHLETE Runner, say, allowed in running heat (7)
LET in HEAT*
20. BREATHE Inspire origins of Baton Rouge early, at the [outset] (7)
Initial letters of Baton Rouge Early At + THE – although it’s over 55 years ago, I will always remember my Biology teacher being very insistent that breathing in/out should be called inspiring/expiring rather than inhaling/exhaling
21. DISUSED Was contemptuous about retaining university that’s no longer operational (7)
U in DISSED
23. ANGST Distress grammar school induced in soldier (5)
GS in ANT (soldier)
24. DOWNS Upland country will do for swallows (5)
Double definition

8 comments on “Guardian Genius 230 – Pangakupu”

  1. Thanks Andrew and Pangakupu.
    The unclued ones were the last three.
    By then the common element was known.
    The redundant word was easy to spot.
    ‘Br ok en he ar ts’ was a nice touch.

  2. I remember the previous Genius puzzle by this setter, and this one progressed in a similar way – rather slow to get going, but, once I had entered a few solutions, becoming much easier, helped also in this case by the friendly grid.

    I filled the grid, except for the three unclued entries, before I sussed what the theme was. I had the pairs BR OK EN AR TS, from which I clearly needed to pick up HE from somewhere – UNEARTHLY as it turned out.

    Thanks to Pangakupu and Andrew.

  7. I surprised myself and solved this. I don’t normally attempt it because it means printing something out, but because the Maskerade Prize had to be, I looked at this one.

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