I found this one on the tougher side.
This was the most difficult Gemelo I’ve solved. I quickly inserted a handful of answers, then spent an hour staring at a host of blank squares before ROWAN TREE appeared. I gradually filled the rest of the grid, giving up when I had one unsolved and a further four unparsed. Coming back to the puzzle later with fresh eyes, I finished everything except a satisfactory parsing of SPUE.
Thanks. Gemelo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DISCUS |
Review truncated event (6)
|
| DISCUS(s) (“review”, truncated) | ||
| 5 | SPLIFF |
Latin adopted in smart joint (6)
|
| L (Latin) adopted in SPIFF (“smart”) | ||
| 10 | ROWAN TREE |
Provider of fruit course dropping one after argument (9, 2 words)
|
| A(i)N TREE (race”course” dropping I (one)) after ROW (“argument”) | ||
| 11 | SEE |
It can represent college experience (3)
|
| The letter C (SEE) can represent “college” | ||
| 13 | UTENSIL |
New material abridged in wake of language tool (7)
|
| N (new) + SIL(k) (“material”) [abridged] in wake of UTE (a North American “language”) | ||
| 16 | BERETS |
Pillowcase Eliot initially used for headgear (6)
|
| BERE (“pillowcase”) + TS (Eliot, initially) | ||
| 17 | KEFIR |
Drink brought back general knowledge at first (5)
|
| [brought back] <=RIFE (“general”) + K(nowledge) [at first] | ||
| 18 | MR RIGHT |
Bishop in power – you might want him to join you in church (7, 2 words)
|
| RR (right reverend, so “bishop”) in MIGHT (“power”) | ||
| 20 | BRAAI |
Elon Musk’s party cups put on Grok? (5)
|
| BRA (“cups”) put on AI (articial intelligence, of which “Grok” is an example)
A braai is a South African barbecue. |
||
| 22 | EURO |
Poor Luke, regularly ignored and rejected follow-up to Mark (4)
|
| <=((p)O(o)R (l)U(k)E, regularly ignored and rejected)
The euro replaced the mark as the unit of currency of Germany in 1999. |
||
| 23 | SPUE |
Dead cat bounce, ultimately with successes going west (4)
|
| <=((bounc)E [ultimately] with UPS (“successes”), going west)
Not sure of the definition – a dead cat strategy involves spouting rubbish, which could also be a description of spewing. |
||
| 24 | TAHRS |
Primarily they are Himalayan ruminant sylvans (5)
|
| [primarily] T(hey) A(re) H(imalayan) R(uminant) S(ylvans) and &lit.
Tahrs are Himalyan wild goats. |
||
| 25 | AHRIMAN |
Somehow I harm an evil spirit (7)
|
| *(i harm) [anag:somehow] + AN
Ahriman is an evil spirit in Zoroastrianism. |
||
| 26 | ASANA |
Rock holding Japanese address in position (5)
|
| AA (a type of volcanic “rock”) holding SAN (a “Japanese” form of “address”) | ||
| 28 | LIONEL |
E.g. Barrymore bearing animal (6)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to the actor, and the second to a heraldic device. | ||
| 31 | VISCOUS |
Thick noblemen eschewing books (7)
|
| VISCOU(nt)S (“noblemen” eschewing NT (New Testament, so “books”)) | ||
| 32 | REP |
Turning over a corded cloth (3)
|
| [turning over] <=PER (“a’) | ||
| 33 | RACEHORSE |
What might tempt better class of people sounded harsh (9)
|
| RACE (“class of people”) + homophone [sounded] of HOARSE (“harsh”) | ||
| 34 | DRUMLY |
Part of ear likely to need clearing out, filled with mud from Cairngorms (6)
|
| DRUM (“part of ear”) + L(ikel)Y [to need clearing out]
Drumly is a Scots word for “muddy” |
||
| 35 | SENNAS |
Indian army planting northern and southern shrubs (6)
|
| SENA (an “army” in “India”) planting N (northern) + S (southern) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DRUNK AS A LORD |
Canned salad, or…? (12, 4 words)
|
| “salad or” is an anagram of *(as a lord) [anag:drunk] | ||
| 2 | SWERF |
One bound to work around weak and faint in Holyrood (5)
|
| SERF (“one bound to work”) around W (weak, in physics)
Swerf is a Scots (hence Holyrood) word for “swoon” |
||
| 3 | CANT |
Brisk northern language repeated in auction (4)
|
| Triple definition, the first referring to a Northern word for “brisk”, the second to “the use of language which has lost its meaning due to repetition” and the third to an “auction” | ||
| 4 | STIGMATA |
At hail Mary, unwise people recalled sign of the cross? (8)
|
| <=(AT + AM (Ave Maria, so “Hail Mary”) + GITS (“unwise people”), recalled) | ||
| 6 | PETERSHAMS |
At first Meryl Streep has tailored coats (10)
|
| *(m streep has) [anag:tailored] where M is [at first] M(eryl) | ||
| 7 | LEERIER |
Short lesson about lake with extra craft (7)
|
| [short] LER(e) (“lesson”) about (Lake) ERIE | ||
| 8 | ISLE |
Badly directed Inside Man? (4)
|
| (m)ISLE(d) (inside of “directed”) | ||
| 9 | FEAST OF ASSES |
Offset a dancing tax, not completing medieval burlesque (12, 3 words)
|
| *(offset a) [anag:dancing] + ASSES(s) (“tax”, not completing) | ||
| 12 | ENTHRONE |
Make bishop represent HR on ecclesiastical cases (8)
|
| Hidden in [cases] “represeENT HR ON Ecclesiatical” | ||
| 14 | SCRAP METAL |
What could become recast lamp? (10, 2 words)
|
| *(recast lamp) [anag:what could become] and &lit. | ||
| 15 | NEOPHILE |
I avoid the old, broken phone line, having discarded number (8)
|
| *(phone lie) [anag:broken] where LIE is LI(n)E with N (number) discarded | ||
| 19 | RIANCIES |
Good cheers and cries in a play (8)
|
| *(cries in a) [anag:play] | ||
| 21 | REIN-ARM |
About to embrace sinister member? (7)
|
| RE (“about”) + INARM (“to embrace”)
The rein-arm is normally the left arm. |
||
| 27 | ADORN |
Difficulty with sailors below deck (5)
|
| ADO (“difficulty”) with RN (Royal Navy, so “sailors”) below | ||
| 29 | OGPU |
Doctor infiltrating core of famously secret police (4)
|
| GP (“doctor”) infiltrating [core of] (fam)OU(sly)
OGPU was the Russian secret police between 1922 and 1934. |
||
| 30 | ICON |
One scans outdated image (4)
|
| I CON (“one scans”)
Con is anarchaic term for “carefully study” or “scan”. |
Comment #1
To cat means to vomit, and spue is an archaic (dead) spelling of spew.
Interesting that our blogger found this tougher than usual. I didn’t finish it but I got over half done, which is probably my second best solve of a Gemelo so far.
Thorough job on the blog. I completed the right half without too much trouble, but labored over the left half, until I managed 1D, which helped tremendously.
Agree with Cineraria@1 regarding the use of ‘dead’ and meaning of ‘cat’ in SPUE.
I thought this was average difficulty and it was nice to have a straight puzzle without any additional cleverness.
Thanks to Gemelo and loonapik.