Gemelo presents his fourth Observer Sunday cryptic crossword and gives me my first opportunity to blog his Sunday work. I have, however, blogged a number of puzzles under his alter ego, Twin, in the Independent series.
I enjoyed this even though it took me a while to solve the puzzle completely. Looking at the parsing, I’m not quite sure why it took me so long to solve the puzzle.
As is normal for crosswords of this type, we have a mix of everyday and more obscure words. One difference I notice from Azed is the lack of quirky Scottish words. Will we only get those once a month now?
On a very minor point, I don’t think the Environment Agency (EA) at 11 across has ever been known as the Environmental Agency, although it does have an environmental focus.
I liked the construction of the clue for MICO with its use of SEMICOLON as a starting point. The use of 200 monkeys in the clue for PLUM was entertaining.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Lover of language cheers (8)
IDOLATER (besotted admirer; lover) IDO (an auxiliary international language developed since 1907, from Esperanto) + LATER (see you! goodbye; cheers) IDO LATER |
| 6 | Retired campfire song was mad (4)
SPAT (was furious; was mad) TAPS (a song often sung around a campfire to end the day) reversed (retired) SPAT< |
| 9 | Stake fortune on spades (5)
SPILE (stake) S (spades) + PILE (a lot of money; fortune) S PILE |
| 10 | Teachers may use these unearned powers to ignore government (6)
REALIA (realities or objects used as teaching aids to relate classroom work to real life) REgALIA (royal [inherited or unearned] privileges or powers) excluding (to ignore) G (government) REALIA |
| 11 | Capital backing Environmental Agency detailed with great speed (12, 4 words) – originally this clue was shown as generating just 2 words online
A MILE A MINUTE (uttering one’s words with great speed) LIMA (capital city of Peru) reversed (backing) + EA (Environment Agency) + MINUTE (exact, detailed) A MIL< E A MINUTE |
| 15 | Move to and fro, avoiding hot light that’s been abandoned (6)
SUTTLE (obsolete (that’s been abandoned) word for LIGHT (esp of weight when tare is subtracted) ShUTTLE (move to and fro) excluding (avoiding) H (hot) SUTTLE |
| 16 | New rubber involving clubs, secondly diamonds, and hearts (6)
NUCLEI (central masses; hearts) N (new) + (ULE [Central American rubber tree] containing [involving] C [clubs]) + I (second letter of [secondly] dIamonds) N U (C) LE I |
| 18 | Part not initially on record (4)
EVER (on record) sEVER (separate; part) excluding the first letter S (not initially) EVER |
| 19 | Continental club tracking comeback of the Italian substitute (4)
LIEU (in place of; substitute) IL (Italian for ‘the’) reversed (comeback) + EU (European Union; continental club) LI< EU |
| 20 | Fish that is out of time (4)
IDES (fish of the same family as carp) ID ESt (that is) excluding (out of) T (time) ID ES |
| 21 | Primate Mark losing south-east and half of London (4)
MICO (a marmoset; a primate) seMICOlon ([punctuation] mark) excluding (losing) SE (South East) and LON (first three of the six [half] letters in LONdon MICO |
| 24 | Like notable lion’s old relative, swallowing another one? (6)
NEMEAN (descriptive of the lion killed by Hercules as told in Greek mythology) NAN (pet name for grandmother [old relative]) containing (swallowing) EME (obsolete [old] term for an uncle) N (EME) AN |
| 25 | Rogue twist ending’s cut from comedy performance? (6)
IMPROV (IMPROVisation. a form of comedy performance without preparation) IMP (rogue) + ROVe (to twist cotton or wool) excluding the final letter E (ending’s cut) IMP ROV |
| 28 | Wild Bunch beating the gallows back in the day (12)
NUBBING-CHEAT (the gallows in former times [back in the day]) Anagram of (wild) BUNCH BEATING NUBBING-CHEAT* |
| 29 | Behold interior to clipped front claws (6)
CHELAE (prehensile claws of arthropods such as crabs) LA (behold!) contained in (interior to) CHEEk (impudence; front) excluding the final letter K (clipped) CHE (LA) E |
| 30 | Between the eye and the nose, left of the mouth (5)
LORAL (the side of the head between eye and bill [nose] of a bird) L (left) + ORAL (of the mouth) L ORAL |
| 31 | What goes around, they had said once, ultimately comes around (4)
EDDY (a current running back against the main stream, so causing a circular motion in the water; what goes around) EDDY (last letters of each of [ultimately] theY, haD, saiD and oncE) read in reverse (comes around) (E D D Y)< |
| 32 | Perhaps olive stuffed with herb for amusement of a crowd? (8)
TREDILLE (a card game for three [crowd, reference the phrase ‘two’s company, three’s a crowd”) TREE (an OLIVE is an example of a tree) containing (stuffed with) DILL (a herb) TRE (DILL) E |
| Down | |
| 1 | Abandon tense cabin in storms (12)
INABSTINENCE (lack of temperance or self-restraint in one’s appetites; abandon) Anagram of (storms) TENSE CABIN IN INABSTINENCE* |
| 2 | Irrational number had to follow round number (6)
OPIATE (something that dulls or numbs the senses; number) O (a round shape) + PI (an irrational number) + ATE (had) O PI ATE – PI ATE follow O |
| 3 | Air rifle regularly carried by diminutive army officer (4)
LILT (a cheerful song or air) IL (letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of rIfLe) contained in (carried by) LT (abbreviation for [diminutive] LieutenanT) L (IL) T |
| 4 | Card game’s mark is hedging so far (5)
TEASE (to comb or card wool) TEE (the mark aimed at in the game of quoits or curling; game’s mark) containing (hedging) AS (so far) TE (AS) E |
| 5 | Opposition means to expel peer for his costume? (6)
ERMINE (fur attached to the robes of the nobility [peers of the realm]) countERMINE (to make an excavation in opposition to; means of opposition) excluding (to expel) COUNT (example of a peer) ERMINE |
| 6 | Short notch in willow plant (7)
SANICLE (a woodland umbelliferous plant with glossy leaves) NICk (notch) excluding the final letter K (short) contained in (in) SALE (alternative spelling of the Spenserian word SEAL [willow or wicker]) SA (NIC) LE |
| 7 | Choice of 200 monkeys no longer adopted (4)
PLUM (something choice that may be extracted or attained to, such as one of the best passages in a book) PLUM (formerly [no longer adopted] a sum of £100,000 (=200 * £500 [monkey is slang for £500]; 200 monkeys) double definition PLUM |
| 8 | Mutative idea to battle ennui (12, 2 words)
TAEDIUM VITAE (obsolete spelling of tedium [weariness; ennui]) Anagram of (to battle) MUTATIVE IDEA TAEDIUM VITAE* |
| 9 | Second crumble to remain hidden (8)
SMOULDER (to linger in a hidden state; to remain hidden) S (second) + MOULDER (crumble to MOULD) S MOULDER |
| 12 | Ascendant prophet adjusting position of university theologians (6)
ULEMAS (members of a body of professional theologians) SAMUEL (prophet referenced in the Old Testament of the Bible) reversed (ascendant; down entry) with the letter U (university) changed in position (adjusting position) ULEMAS< |
| 13 | Politician’s feud exposed by Sport (6)
EURO-MP (Member of the European Parliament; politician) EU (letters remaining in fEUd when the outer letters F and D are removed (exposed) + ROMP (sport) EU ROMP |
| 14 | Take up stuffing duck, not having the sauce? (8)
TEETOTAL (abstaining from alcohol [sauce is an American informal term for an alcoholic drink]) TOTE (carry; take) reversed (up; down entry) contained in (stuffing) TEAL (small freshwater duck) TE (ETOT<) AL |
| 17 | Blue, say, worked in a functional way (7)
USEABLY (in a functional way) Anagram of (worked) BLUE SAY USEABLY* |
| 22 | Some maintain an error that’s increasingly senseless (6)
INANER (increasingly senseless) INANER (hidden word in [some] maintIN AN ERror) INANER |
| 23 | Test circuit board (6)
ORDEAL (severe trial or test) OR (logic circuit that has two or more inputs and one output, the output signal being 1 if any of its inputs is 1, and 0 if all of its inputs are 0) + DEAL (pine board of a standard size; table) OR DEAL |
| 25 | Hearth and home, say, head over heels about lake (5)
INGLE (fireplace; hearth) IN ([at] home) + (EG [for example] reversed [head over heels] and containing [about] L [lake]) IN G (L) E< |
| 26 | Rising shortly, remove trousers from under the covers (4)
ABED (in bed; under the covers) DEBAg (remove trousers from) excluding the final letter G (shortly) and reversed (rising; down entry) ABED< |
| 27 | Keen to cut lines for Bollywood title? (4)
SHRI (in India, home of Bollywood, a title of great respect given to a man, but now generally used as the equivalent of Mr) SHRIll (high-pitched and piercing; keen) excluding (to cut) LL (lines) SHRI |
Nice blog as always. It seemed to take me forever to finish the central chunk of this one. I got ERMINE from “his costume,” but I usually do not do well with extended subtraction clues of that type (although the parsing for MICO popped into my head straightaway, oddly enough). Similarly, I could see PLUM from “choice,” but it took a deep dive into Chambers to figure out what in the world the rest of the clue was about. But, yes, it’s all in there if you read down far enough.
This is the Gemelo puzzle I’ve had least success with. There were many I just couldn’t get.
Looking at the explanation in the blog for SPAT (one I couldn’t get), I knew of taps meaning a bugle call but not a campfire song. Chambers says it’s associated with the Guides. I was never in the Guides and I don’t recall it from the Scouts.
I struggled a bit with this one, not helped by an early error. A few quibbles: 6ac, Taps is traditionally a signal for lights out or a tune played at military funerals; I couldn’t find any support for it being a campfire song (but my Chambers is admittedly elderly). 6dn: Sale is Spenserian, but there was no indication for that. 25ac: “from” doesn’t really make sense in the wordplay. The ending is cut from ROV(e) (= “twist) and “comedy performance” is the definition, as the blog says. It seems “from” is used purely for the surface, which is rather loose clue-writing; I think “in” would have been better.
MunroMaiden @3, C2016 for Taps has
….
6. (in pl) a signal (esp a bugle-call) for putting lights out, also used at military funerals (orig US military)
7. (in pl; in the Guide movement) a song sung at the end of a meeting or round a campfire
For Sale it on has “wicker” not willow as Spenserian…
1. Willow
2. Wicker (Spenser)
Maybe with IMPROV the “from” belongs with “cut” rather than being just purely surface. In other words “ending’s cut from” is the last letter deletion indicator.
I found this the hardest one to date.
I also found this to be the hardest Gemelo puzzle so far, or at least it took me the longest. I can’t really blame the incorrect number of words given at 11a because I managed to work it out once I knew its first three letters.
I really wanted to complete the grid without reference to Chambers and managed to do so, but spent quite a bit of time afterwards making sure I understood every clue.. In particular, I had entered 32a from the wordplay alone and had a laugh when I realised why it was an amusement of a crowd, and had entered PLUM at 7d when I had all of the checking letters and assumed ‘Choice’ must be the definition, so it was fun to find out what the 200 monkeys had to do with anything.
I agree with everything Tim C@4 said.
Nothing much to add, but I will be blogging today’s Gemelo next week. We are still waiting for the Azed slip for July….
It was tough! Took me half the week, some wonderful clues and very satisfying to finally finish it. The bottom half was easier than the top (not helped by me confidently filling RILL instead of LILT for 3d). I miss Azed and his wonderful obscure Scottish words (I still have my 1980s Chambers Scots Dictionary) but Gemelo is excellent. NUCLEI MICO EURO-MP PLUM ULEMAS stood out for me
Very much enjoyed this. Not much to add other than that Dr Clue over on the Clue Clinic has set up a rating system for Gemelo puzzles where you can register your perceived difficulty rating out of 5. Last Sunday I entered a 4 and I note that after 45 votes it now shows an average score of 4.2 so it seems it was generally perceived at the higher end of difficulty.
I for one don’t miss clues to obscure Scots words as they used to irritate me, but the irony is that I could solve those, but Gemelo’s puzzles, though free of them, regularly defeat my efforts to finish them!
Thanks, Tim C@4. I still think you’re being generous over Improv, though….