I continue to find Gemelo quite a challenge, and I think this was one of the hardest yet, with several clues taking me a while to parse even after I was confident of the answer. Thanks to Gemelo for the puzzle.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | PINT | Measure sand grouse or guinea fowl, each without trouble (4) PINTAIL (either of two birds mentioned) less AIL |
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| 4 | FULGURAL | Fall out with guru of electric forks? (8) (FALL GURU)* |
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| 9 | WOOMERANG | Australian uses this to launch Beethoven’s unnumbered works, bungling German (9) WOO (Werke ohne Opuszahl, a classification of some of Beethoven’s works that have no opus number. They include the famous Für Elise, which is WoO 59)+ GERMAN* |
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| 10 | ROAD RAGE | Irish policeman retreating, covered in eggs, with violence on the way? (8, 2 words) Reverse of GARDA in ROE |
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| 11 | KAON | Particle of clay devoid of lithium (4) KAOLIN less LI |
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| 12 | ARRANGE | 100 sq m holding called to order (7) RANG (called) in ARE (unit of area) |
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| 14 | TIPTOE | There’s more to come in obligation to make digital advancement? (6) PTO (“there’s more to come”, at the end of a page) in TIE |
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| 16 | EAU | Water from Uganda (3) EAU is the international vehicle registration code for Uganda, one of several for east African countries , e.g. EAK for Kenya |
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| 19 | SAILER | Ship initially sunk by Ariel in tempest (6) S[unk] + ARIEL* |
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| 20 | RAMIFY | Branch liable to wither, having lost core following power of the sun (6) RA (sun god) + MI[f]FY (to wither away) |
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| 21 | AFT | Firmly establish missing lead is back (3) [h]AFT (to establish firmly) |
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| 25 | CABRIE | One that ruminates about cheese (6) CA (circa) + BRIE |
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| 26 | ROOKERY | Piece extremely lacking in volume causes disturbance (7) ROOK (chess piece) + VERY less V |
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| 28 | ERSE | Tongue River cutting border (4) [m]ERSE[y] |
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| 29 | TALIONIC | Unplanned movement to steal a coin of James VI, with corresponding punishment (8) A LION (Scottish coin) in TIC |
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| 30 | TWENTY‑TWO | Where you’ll find firing line in sport (9) I think this is a double definition: the first referring to a .22 rifle; more confidently, the twenty-two is a line in Rugby, 22 metres from the goal line (it was the 25-yard line when I was an unwilling participant in the game at school) |
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| 31 | DERRIÈRE | Broadcast example of Irish folk leaving London behind for Paris (8) As homophonically in the LondonDERRY AIR |
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| 32 | FOGY | Old person to confuse year (4) FOG + Y |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | PIRATE | Bonnet, say, or crown worn by Irish (6) IR in PATE. Stede Bonnet was a famous pirate |
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| 2 | ISODIA | One provided help to mount feast (6) I + SO + reverse of AID |
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| 3 | TODY | Small bird currently losing acceleration (4) TODAY (currently) less A[cceleration]. The Tody is a colourful West Indian bird, related to the Kingfisher |
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| 4 | FOR TOFFEE | Keep measuring livestock, no longer used at all (9, 2 words) FORT (keep, as in a castle) + OF (measuring, as in “a distance of five miles”) + FEE (obsolete word for cattle) |
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| 5 | LEG-REST | Support for members running St Leger (7) (ST LEGER)* |
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| 6 | UAKARIS | Monkeys from this country biting a Cockney’s backside (7) A in UK + ARIS (Cockney “arse”) |
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| 7 | À GOGO | Short musical sequence with love in abundance (5, 2 words) AGOG[e] (musical sequence, shortened) + O |
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| 8 | LINEAR | Writer of nonsense about home of One Direction (6) IN (home) in (Edward) LEAR |
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| 9 | WAMPUMS | Old American jacket filled with a thousand Algonquian beads (7) M (1000) in WAMPUS (a US cardigan or jacket) |
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| 13 | REAGANITE | About period involving comeback of conservative political viewpoint? (9) RE (about) + reverse of TINA (There Is No Alternative, as attributed to Margaret Thatcher) in AGE, &lit |
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| 15 | CLARINO | Trumpet call from Oban welcoming head of local navy into port (7) L[ocal] in CA’ (Scots “call”) + N in RIO |
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| 17 | PICKEER | Scout who chooses to tour Spain (7) E (Spain) in PICKER |
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| 18 | HYDRATE | Water too long delayed through what turned up (7) Reverse of TARDY in EH (what?) |
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| 20 | REREAD | Lost Red era interpreted again (6) (RED ERA)* |
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| 22 | FIRING | Ignition provided that spins round (6) Reverse of IF (provided) + RING (a round) |
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| 23 | TETCHY | Carve through skin of turkey, tending to beef (6) ETCH in T[urke]Y – “beef” as in “complain” |
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| 24 | TORTE | Carry around recipe for dessert (5) R in TOTE |
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| 27 | WOWF | What one needs to bowl over, dismissing player with bats from Perth (4) WOW FACTOR (what bowls someone over) less ACTOR – it’s a Scots word for “crazy”, so this Perth in Scotland, not Australia, as the cricket-based surface might suggest |
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I came pretty close but failed to complete the grid without looking things up. I used Chambers to find REAGANITE, which I probably should have been able to work out, but I didn’t think it was &lit so I thought I wanted a four-letter word for ‘conservative’, and even though I knew Chambers had TINA for ‘there is no alternative’, I was very young and half a world away when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. This helped me to see TALIONIC which I should have solved earlier even if I didn’t know the coin, but it probably didn’t matter since I don’t think I would have worked out WOWF without finding it in Chambers, after first finding several other Scottish words that would fit the checking letters.
For 1a, I think the sand grouse PINTAIL is without AIL, but the guinea fowl PINTADO is without ADO, but I originally entered this from the definition alone.
For 30a, I think the ‘Where you’ll find firing’ is referring to FIRING being the answer to 22d.
Thanks, Andrew and Gemelo.
TWENTY-TWO’s “where you’ll find firing” is a reference to 22 down.
Thanks Gemelo and Andrew. This was my first attempt at a Gemelo puzzle and it took me two sessions each of about the maximum time an Azed takes.
I had 1ac the same way as Matthew @1.