Stepping back from last week’s anagrammatic convolutions, this week’s “plain” Gemelo seemed relatively straightforward by comparison. Completion of the grid was helped considerably by solving the four perimeter clues.
I did not notice anything that I found too challenging, although the construction of some of the clues strikes me as perhaps a bit unconventional. I am never entirely certain of the distinction between &lit, semi-&lit, and clue-as-definition, and with any given specimen, the distinction might be debatable in any event, so, in blogging, I tend to lump clues of this type into the “&lit” category, trusting that my fellow solvers will get the idea. There are multiple examples of the species this week.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GREAT-BELLIED |
Expecting one-time alleged biter to reform (12)
|
| Anagram of (to reform) ALLEGED BITER, listed in Chambers as “archaic; Shakespeare,” thus “one-time” | ||
| 9 | RATSBANE |
Killer that’s annoying Batman villain (8)
|
| RATS! (That’s annoying!) + BANE (Batman villain), i.e., a poison | ||
| 11 | ANTE |
Pay poet to remove introduction (4)
|
| [D]ANTE (poet) minus first letter (to remove introduction) | ||
| 13 | GOTCHA |
Chad invading former Portuguese territory? That was a trick! (6)
|
| TCH (Chad) inside (invading) GOA (former Portuguese territory) | ||
| 14 | SIB |
Bit of blood that may be seen after shedding foul skin (3)
|
| [VI]SIB[LE] (that may be seen) minus the wraparound of (after shedding . . . skin [of]) VILE (foul), in the sense of “kinsman” | ||
| 15 | RETOUCH |
Improve gag about Oxford University (7)
|
| RETCH (gag) around (about) OU (Oxford University) | ||
| 16 | SNAILY |
Extremely slowly covering a few centimetres? (6)
|
| &lit and outside letters of (extremely) S[LOWL]Y around (covering) NAIL (a few centimetres, specifically: 5.5 cm) | ||
| 18 | ARC |
Discharge a Catholic (3)
|
| A + RC ([Roman] Catholic), referring to electricity | ||
| 20 | TRECENTO |
Against embracing late 14th-century (8)
|
| TO (against) around (embracing) RECENT (late) | ||
| 21 | LACROSSE |
Vacuous league taking over sport (8)
|
| Outside letters of (vacuous) L[EAGU]E around (taking) ACROSS (over) | ||
| 24 | ADO |
Difficulty accepted by 31, on reflection (3)
|
| Hidden in (accepted by) [I]ODA[TE] ([solution to] 31) reversed (on reflection) | ||
| 26 | CATALO |
Cross German off Harvard’s list of courses (6)
|
| CATALO[G] (list of courses) minus (off) G (German), with “Harvard’s” indicating the American spelling, referring to a hybrid of “the bison (‘buffalo’) and the domestic cow” | ||
| 27 | ABUSAGE |
Misuse of vehicle covered by AA before getting sent back, say (7)
|
| {BUS (vehicle) inside (covered by) AA} + E.G. (say) reversed (getting sent back) | ||
| 30 | TIL |
Mostly cultivate sesame (3)
|
| TIL[L] (cultivate) minus last letter (mostly) | ||
| 31 | IODATE |
I see starboard of old salt (6)
|
| I + {DATE (see) to the right of (starboard of) O (old)} | ||
| 32 | TOLL |
Legally take away the right of striking (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 33 | GLORIOUS |
Noble old pets not having time to tour state capital (8)
|
| GLOU[T]S (pets, listed in Chambers as “archaic,” thus “old”) minus (not having) T (time) around (to tour) RIO [de Janeiro] (state capital [of Rio de Janeiro]) | ||
| 34 | EBULLIOSCOPE |
This shows when liquid transforms unusually blue ice pools (12)
|
| Anagram of (unusually) BLUE ICE POOLS, specifically, when a liquid reaches it boiling point | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GROSSULARITE |
Native American hiding cash in Georgia under solid stone (12)
|
| GROSS (solid) + UTE (Native American) around (hiding) LARI (cash in Georgia) | ||
| 2 | RAPINE |
Carrying off kind of music like Vivaldi’s Spring (6)
|
| RAP (kind of music) + IN [the key of] E (like Vivaldi’s Spring) | ||
| 3 | ÅSAR |
Ridges in finely-jointed masonry abandoned by House of Lords (4)
|
| AS[HL]AR (finely-jointed masonry) minus (abandoned by) HL (House of Lords) | ||
| 4 | BALT |
US city deporting one additional European (4)
|
| BALT[IMORE] (US city) minus (deporting) {I (one) + MORE (additional)} | ||
| 5 | ENGORE |
Make bloody English necessary for Abba (6)
|
| ENG. (English) + ÖRE (necessary [i.e., money] for Abba [i.e., in Sweden]), referring to the Swedish pop group | ||
| 6 | LATCHED |
Daughter found with scanty thong no longer secured (7)
|
| LATCHE[T] (thong, listed in Chambers as “obsolete,” thus “no longer”) minus last letter (scanty) + D (daughter) | ||
| 7 | ETHER |
This will get you out in company without dress (5)
|
| [TOG]ETHER (in company) minus (without) TOG (dress), in the sense of “anaesthesia” | ||
| 8 | DEALCOHOLISE |
Reduce strength of contract before fish lies abandoned (12)
|
| DEAL (contract) + COHO (fish) + anagram of (abandoned) LIES | ||
| 10 | TABASCO |
Try – when missing ‘hot’ in Mexican food – this? (7)
|
| &lit and BAS[H] (try, i.e., attempt) minus (missing) H (hot) inside (in) TACO (Mexican food). Quite clever | ||
| 12 | MELTON |
Material used to cover Mark and John? (6)
|
| M (mark) + ELTON (John, referring to the pop star), “a strong cloth for overcoats” | ||
| 17 | ICE AGE |
Made out spring of water, wise when there’s hard water everywhere (6, 2 words)
|
| Homophone of (made out) {EYE (spring of water) + SAGE (wise)} | ||
| 18 | ANNATTO |
What produces orange colour – not a tan, unfortunately (7)
|
| Anagram of (unfortunately) NOT A TAN | ||
| 19 | PROBALL |
For The Globe – it’s plausible? (7)
|
| &lit and PRO (for) + BALL (the globe), attributed in Chambers to Shakespeare, thus “for The Globe [Theatre],” explained in Chambers as “apparently a contracted form of probable.” Also quite clever | ||
| 22 | SESELI |
String of roses eliminated plant (6)
|
| Hidden in (string of) [RO]SES ELI[MINATED] | ||
| 23 | SLIP-UP |
Raised central spots in error (6)
|
| PUPILS (central spots) inverted (raised) | ||
| 25 | DROOB |
Primarily despicable plebeian from down under? (5)
|
| &lit and first letter of (primarily) D[ESPICABLE] + BOOR (plebeian) inverted (from down under), with “from Down Under?” also indicating Australian slang | ||
| 28 | ALOO |
Car not taking south or north side of India (4)
|
| [S]ALOO[N] (car) minus (not taking) S (south) and (or) N (north), “side” in the sense of “dish,” specifically, potato | ||
| 29 | ERIC |
Offer price? Idle to give an example (4)
|
| Double definition, the first, “the blood-fine [‘price’] paid by a murderer [‘off-er’] to his victim’s family in old Irish law”; the second, the comedic actor |
[Sorry to post off-topic straight away, but can anyone confirm if today’s (Sunday’s) Azed is indeed a clue competition puzzle, as there’s no asterisked clue. I guess it’s 31 Across, if so. I’ve had a few problems with the change to online entries, so perhaps it’s me on the wrong page.]
MR@1: [31 has an asterisk in the PDF.]
[Thank you! Apologies for not looking there.]
I came pretty close to solving this without looking things up, but I eventually looked for words starting with GROSS in Chambers to help get 1d, and then regretted it because I knew the other components of the wordplay, and felt I probably should have been able to work them out. I also didn’t know the ‘pets’ for GLORIOUS and or the ‘thong’ for LATCHED but guessed those answers from the definition and partial wordplay.
Thanks, Cineraria and Gemelo.