Preamble : All clues are normal and all solutions are single words. However, the solutions are in no particular order and you must discover some other way of deciding where the solutions should be entered in the grid.
We sat and looked at the puzzle for ages and began to wonder whether we would ever be able to enter anything – always a worry when you are blogging.
Our route in was solving OPPOS and ORANGERY although we entered it first at 14ac and 14d.
As we steadily solved some of the clues we thought about the puzzle being alphabetical but kept on wondering about the method of entry. We had considered them being in alphabetical order but discounted that as being one step too far. We were so wrong!
Picaroon has compiled quite a tour de force. The clues have good surfaces but there were some very unusual answers caused no doubt by the grid construction. Once we saw what was going on though, it was possible to narrow down the possibilities and we were able to finish the puzzle quicker than we first thought.
We find it helpful to arrange answers in groups by word length when solving this type of crossword although we were able to abandon this method fairly quickly when we realised what Picaroon was up to.
Thanks Picaroon – quite a tricky Genius this month – but very enjoyable.
| CITADELS | Keeps elastic pants worn by date
D (date) inside or ‘worn by’ an anagram (‘pants’) of ELASTIC |
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| RUSSET | PM briefly losing face and energy, finally put on the shade.
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| NEURONES | Nationalists figure’s admitting regret, put back in cells
N (Nationalist) ONE’S (figure’s) around or ‘admitting’ a reversal (‘put back’) of RUE (regret) |
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| NEEPS |
Go back in contradictory directions, getting fare from Glasgow A reversal (‘back’) of PEE (go) in N S (contradictory directions as in North and South) |
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| QUINTET |
Group still welcoming conservationists QUIET (still) around or ‘welcoming’ NT (National Trust – ‘conservationists’) |
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| DOCENTS |
Social change in America for museum workers DO (social) CENTS (change in America)- a new word for us |
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| IRONSMITHS |
Current friend of Harry’s accompanying eg Maggie and Delia and old artisans I (current) RON (Friend of Harry Potter) and SMITHS (Maggie and Delia) |
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| ESTEEM |
Judge gathers decree ultimately must be reversed MEETS (gathers) E (last letter of decree or ‘ultimately’) all reversed |
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| KORA |
It’s played in Africa either side of Kenya K OR A (either end or ‘side’ of Kenya). Apparently a Kora is a West African instrument similar to a harp. |
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| XENOGENOUS |
Retreating European left cross, with sense this is caused by foreign agents A reversal (‘retreating’) of E (European) GONE (left) X (cross) + NOUS (sense). We had to check this – Chambers defines it as ‘ due to an outside cause’ |
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| HUGO |
English abandoning great love for 19th-century writer HUG |
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| MANDIR |
Bishop possibly free to go around holy building MAN (Bishop possibly as in a chess piece) + reversal (‘to go around’) of RID (free) – another new word for us |
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| AURORA |
Yellow colour seen in atmosphere? It might be this OR (yellow colour) in AURA (atmosphere) |
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| VAUNTS |
See family members making boasts V (vide – ‘see’ in Latin -Vide) AUNTS (family members) |
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| LAIRIEST |
Most vulgar fan of Labour PM uncovered stealing French art
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| GHARRIES |
Leader of government bothers to get hired vehicles G (first letter or ‘leader’ of government) HARRIES (bothers) – another new word |
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| ORANGERY |
Simian really losing head in area with many trees ORANG (simian) |
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| ZITI |
Spot starter in Italy, which may be this ZIT (spot) I (first letter or ‘starter’ to Italy). Ziti is a type of pasta shaped like large macaroni |
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| OPPOS |
Counterparts rejected concession on work A reversal (‘rejected’) of SOP (concession) after or ‘on’ OP (work) |
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| PETUNTZE |
Stroke outside of barrel Zoe emptied for mineral used to make porcelain PET (stroke) around or ‘outside’ TUN (barrel) + Z |
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| TAXERS |
They demand money in a day, holding monarch up SAT (day as in Saturday) around REX (monarch) all reversed or ‘up’ as it is a down clue |
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| JOURNALESE |
Drinks described by short passage in cliched style ALES (drinks) inside or ‘described by’ JOURNE |
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| WONT |
Reversal of the present time’s custom NOW (present) ‘reversed’ + T (time) |
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| BOURTREE |
Scot’s elder brother, extremely urbane, dropping Henry off An anagram (‘off’) of BROT |
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| SHTETL |
Community of Jews left Hebrew letters around A reversal (‘around’ of L (left) TETHS (Hebrew letters) – this took some unravelling as we do not know the Hebrew alphabet and we hadn’t heard of the community |
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| UNACTIVE |
Idle, posh and artless court bores U (posh) NAIVE (artless) round or ‘bored by’ CT (court) |
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| FIRKIN |
Fellow, irritating, putting away gallons, several of them F (fellow) IRKIN |
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| YESTERYEAR | Persian queen sans husband hosted by reportedly wise listener in the past
EST |
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Great puzzle. I had about half the answers cold-solved with no idea how they would fit in the grid beyond deducing that it must be alphabetical. I was focusing on trying to get the middle pairs with shared first letters but then I noticed that ZITI would fit nicely in the bottom right with PETUNTZE crossing it…
I don’t recall a penny-dropping moment making me laugh so much. Brilliant.
All pretty plain sailing after that.
Thanks, Picaroon and B&J.
I was keeping a list of the solutions as I got them and spotted they were all beginning with different letters. But I decided that fitting them into the grid was somehow going to involve the perimeter squares – there being 26 of them. Kicked myself when I realised that it was actually simpler than that. My other problem was that I didn’t write the solutions down next to the clues, so when I came to submit the entry (a couple if weeks later) I had to work out which was which – not as easy as you might think.
Thanks to Picaroon for the excellent puzzle and B&J for the equally excellent blog.
Another enjoyable puzzle, and a fitting sequel to the previous two excellent Genius puzzles by Picaroon (nos. 223 and 231). The theme was expertly and cleverly executed, and the clues were top class.
Without any enumerations, and without any order to the clues, it was quite hard at first to make any inroads, but noticing there were exactly 26 clue numbers, and noting the words ‘must discover another way’ in the preamble, I guessed that the letters A to Z, in order, would go in the numbered cells. On that basis, I solved, and pencilled in, XENOGENOUS and BOURTREE first, followed by some crossing entries in the bottom right, confirming the order of the entries, after which the journey to a finish became a little easier.
The pitch of the clues was very well judged, I thought. I noticed particularly the (ever more popular) use of very general, almost vague, definitions such as ‘group’ for Quintet, ’19th-century writer’ for Hugo and ‘fare from Glasgow’ for Neeps, but there were many others that were tighter or otherwise more amenable.
Thanks to Picaroon and Bertandjoyce.
We were immensely chuffed to have finished this, as I thought it was extremely hard as you had to solve without the length, or any crossers (until at least half-way through) AND there were a lot of obscure words.
The penny about the solutions being in alphabetical order took a very long time to drop, although we did spot A – G along the top row, but didn’t make the logical next step. Truly a work of genius in construction, but demanding in solution too!
PS – I think FIRKIN was our first answer, which raised a smile. As did NEEPS.
I solved the only two five-letter clues early, and this, along with ORANGERY, fortunately began locking in other pieces of the jigsaw. Once I figured out the alphabetical pattern, the last dozen clues were solved in short order. I think this would have been very hard to finish without understanding the pattern, given that some of the unfamiliar words I had to work out solving backwards from the crossers plus “must begin with B,” or whatever. Nice job on the blog, and a very satisfying puzzle.
I managed to finish this without spotting the alphabetical pattern at all! Do I get a (booby) prize?
TonyG – definitely. Cannot imagine how you managed it!
Thanks Picaroon and Bertandjoyce.
DNF.
Way above my pay-grade.
Had un-parsed SHERRIES (drinks) in place of GHARRIES (unknown)
Had SUNSET (yellow) in place of RUSSET and RUSSET in place of AURORA (didn’t get it).
With these boobs, tied myself into knots in NW.
JOURNALESE, LAIRIEST and BOURTREE are unknowns, and didn’t get them either.
Suspected that grid had a message and wished that Picaroon would give some other hint; well he had, but I didn’t see the alphabetic order of the grid entries. Was sure it was a pangram but didn’t look for missing letters.
So, other than A, B, G, J and L got the rest and in the right place, except R in the wrong place.
I know, I know, you don’t care, I’m just licking my wounds.
If it’s any consolation, ilippu, I also had SUNSET for a while, until I finally realised the alphabetic order and saw that I had two Ss and no R
Just when you think you’re getting quite good at crosswords, something like this happens. We started late but only managed seven answers. Kudos to those of you that finished it. It taught me how much word length and crossers help and now I’ve read the Blog it’s also taught me a lot of new words. Congratulations to Picaroon on the toughest crossword I’ve ever seen.
Like TonyG I had pretty much all the answers in like a normal jigsaw before the blindingly obvious hit me. I mean, I knew each one started with a different letter but I’m sure the gridfill would’ve gone quicker if I had not been so blind!
Just as well I have a sense of humour about my own stupidity or I suspect I’d no longer have a computer or a study window!
Karen at 11, I agree. I’ve been humbled. Got nowhere with this one. The only solutions I could get were russet, lairiest, and wont. Knew one clue was something ‘smiths’, but couldn’t get it. I wasn’t thinking of Harry Potter; otherwise I would have. Heaps of words here that I’ve never heard of, and so unfamiliar that I didn’t know how to look them up.
I’ve been doing Genius for a good few years now and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
I started cold-solving and the phrase “… you must discover some other way …” kept racing across my mind. What can Picaroon possibly mean by that? It then struck me that there might be 26 clues to match 26 letters of the alphabet but, of course, there were 28. I nearly abandoned the “alphabetical jigsaw” idea until I realised that there were 2 pairs of answers that each shared the same starting letter.
Then discovering that the grid was actually in alphabetical order was sheer delight.
Thanks to PB&J
(peanut butter and jelly??)