I’m still finding it hard to get on Gemelo’s wavelength, though in retrospect there’s nothing to cause too much difficulty here, apart from some unfamiliar words (which are part of the fun of these puzzles, so no complaints there). Thanks to Gemelo for the challenge.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | MAKE A HIT WITH | Type A struck by intelligence, hard to impress (12, 4 words) MAKE (type, as in a make/type of car) + A + HIT (struck) + WIT (intelligence) + H[ard] |
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| 9 | EGENCY | Need interim government to depose leader (6) [r[EGENCY |
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| 10 | GAUCHO | S American plainsman‘s brief ceremony cut short (6) Two truncated words: GAU[d] (a showy ceremony) + CHO[p] (cut) |
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| 12 | TERSE | Crisp potatoes to save you shouldn’t have eaten at the start (5) TATERS less TA (thanks, you shouldn’t have) + E[aten] |
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| 16 | WHOLES | Units with places to hide (6) W[ith] + HOLES |
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| 17 | SEC | Flash photography originally avoided by design (3) SPEC (design) less P[hotography] |
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| 18 | ORIENT | Round opening plugged by introduction of imitation pearl (6) O + I[mitation] in RENT (a tear, opening) |
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| 19 | ROOD | Pole felt compassion for those in hearing (4) Sounds like “rued”. Rood is familiar an an old word for cross, but it’s also the unit also known as a rod, pole or perch |
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| 21 | CHANCE ON | Stumble across architectural arc inside old study (8, 2 words) HANCE (an architectural arc) in CON (study, marked as “archaic”, though common in crosswords) |
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| 22 | OIL-PRESS | What puts out Grease cast spoilers (8, 2 words) SPOILERS* |
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| 25 | SNYE | Canadian channel from Hamilton then shifted centrally (4) SYNE (Scots “then”, Hamilton being a Scottish town as well as a Canadian city) with central letters switched |
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| 26 | AVAUNT | Move on from the past before getting to grips with university (6) U in AVANT (before). “From the past” because it’s an archaic word |
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| 27 | ITA | Tree no longer living after losing bark (3) [v]ITA[l] |
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| 29 | REIN IN | Stop on the spot – and again, by god! (6, 2 words) RE (variant of Ra, the Egyptian sun god) + IN (on the spot) twice |
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| 30 | KEBAB | King rejected honey dish (5) K + reverse of BABE (honey, as a term of endearment) |
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| 31 | ACIDIC | Sharp law enforcement agency infiltrating another from the east (6) CID in reverse of CIA. Is the CIA really a “law enforcement agency”? |
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| 32 | RECALL | Where you might play with everyone’s memory (6) REC (recreation ground, where you might play) + ALL |
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| 33 | NURSERY NURSE | One tending to flee after middle of test, repeatedly assuming your backing (12, 2 words) Reverse of YR (your) in ES (the middle of tESt) RUN (to flee), twice |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | METROPOLITAN | Social movement engulfing rector and priest, separately fired before an archbishop (12) R and P in ME TOO (social movement) + LIT (fired) + AN |
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| 2 | KERMIS | Currency arrangement formerly underpinning krona is fair for Brussels (6) K + ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism) + IS |
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| 3 | ACE | Authority‘s threat to unload ships (3) MENACE less MEN (ships, as in men-of-war) |
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| 4 | HYPOTHESIS | Ultimately silly ‘he/his’ post playing part in argument (10) Anagram of [sill]Y HE HIS POST |
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| 5 | TAVERN | Tennessee bottles state whiskey here? (6) AVER in TN |
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| 6 | WUSS | Wet bud in Gower (4) Double definition – a wet person, and a Welsh dialect word for a friend or “bud” |
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| 7 | ICES | Chauffeur cycling to get cones? (4) SICE (variant of syce, a chauffeur) with the letters cycled by one place to the left |
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| 8 | HOG-CONSTABLE | Stone painter who brought home the bacon? (12) HOG (a stone, in curling) + CONSTABLE (painter) |
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| 11 | HOEDOWNS | Journalist has to provide support for house parties (8) HO[use] + ED[itor] + OWNS (has) |
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| 13 | SWEEPY | Swaying run adopted by somebody exhausted (6) WEEP (to run) in S[omebod]Y |
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| 14 | PLEASANTRY | Merriment historically suits an essay (10) PLEASE + AN + TRY |
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| 15 | TRUISTIC | Self-evident fraud almost taking in group from the Outer Hebrides (8) UIST (a group of islands in the Outer Hebrides, of which North and South Uist are the largest) in TRIC[k] |
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| 20 | OCTANE | Chemical substance ordered at once (6) (AT ONCE)* |
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| 23 | REEKIE | Lid removed from tongue that is smoked in Stenhousemuir (6) [g]REEK + I.E. |
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| 24 | DURBAR | Dutch city’s finally removed river levee (6) D[utch] + URBA[n] + R[iver] |
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| 28 | AMIR | Prince song captivating millions (4) M in AIR |
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| 29 | REDS | Orders from section of menu? (4) Double definition – “puts in order, makes tidy” and red wines as a section of a menu |
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| 30 | KEN | House thrown into disorder when brother’s evicted (3) BROKEN less BRO |
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I again didn’t solve very many clues on my first pass through them, but once I had some checking letters the puzzle seemed to be easier. When I was checking things after completing the grid I noticed that I hadn’t solved 3d, and I would prefer every entry had an unchecked letter so this wouldn’t happen but I know the idea that 3-letter entries shouldn’t have any goes back to Ximenes. I also wondered which part ‘no longer’ was referring to in 27a, but had to agree afterwards that we don’t use ‘vital’ to mean ‘living’ anymore.
The only answer I felt was a guess was KERMIS, where I thought I had seen the word recently but wasn’t sure of the meaning and the only part of the wordplay I understood was krona = K. I eventually found ERM and realised that ‘is’ wasn’t just a linking word.
Thanks, Andrew and Gemelo.
Still not getting it. Got maybe a third done before getting stuck.
Like Matthew @1, I queried “no longer” in 27ac, as the definition of living wasn’t marked as obsolete in my older Chambers, which I had to hand at the time. However, my newer (1998!) Chambers does note it as archaic.
3dn: I wasn’t sure how Ace meant authority. I guess Ace = expert and an expert can be an authority on something, but I’m not convinced the meaning of ‘expert’ is the same in each case. For example, someone might be called a ‘football ace’, meaning they have great skill, but would you say someone was an ‘archaeology ace’?
12ac: one of Gemelo’s ‘clever’ clues that I wasn’t keen on. I feel wordplay should be designed to help you reach the answer (albeit with lateral thinking in some cases); with a clue like this, I can only work out the wordplay after getting the answer. And, being pernickety, “to” appears to be redundant.
It seems that if you now want to access the online Observer crosswords, you have to pay £16 or £12 a month (depending on how you pay). This of course allows access to the online paper as well.
Luciano Ward – I don’t think so. You do have to register but there’s no need to pay for the puzzles (at least yet…).
Andrew: I registered last week, and the site recognises me (displays my name and email), but a paywall is still blocking me from the crosswords. I’m in the US, but have no luck with and without my VPN.
If you are having problems with the paywall (and it seems many folk are) I’ve posted links to pdfs for Gemelo and Everyman in the General Discussion thread which you may find useful.
So now I can get to today’s Gemelo, but I get the paywall for the Everyman (and for the Speedy, which I could get to earlier today). Chaos or conspiracy?
I managed to get both crosswords once I’d registered. I finished this one, but it was a bit of a struggle.
Jay — Thanks for the links. They worked just fine. Not sure how I will respond to subscription. Have enjoyed Everyman and AZED for many years, but paying that amount every month seems a mite indulgent. Will consult my bank manager.
Finally lost my 100% record with Gemelo by carelessly putting SKYE at 25ac without bothering to parse it. At least that takes the pressure off feeling that I have to finish it every week.