Gemelo educates and entertains.
This puzzle took longer than normal for me, and I needed three sittings to complete it. There were some unusual words, such as John-a-dreams, stye and eftest, my LOI, but everything was clued perfectly, and so it was more my inability to concentrate than anything else that prevented this from being quite straightforward.
Thanks, Gemelo
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MASALA |
French farm in the style of Indian? (6)
|
| MAS (“French farm”) + A LA (“in the style of”) | ||
| 5 | DAMAGE |
Lady Gaga’s core divides cost (6)
|
| (g)AG(a) [‘s core] divides DAME (“lady”) | ||
| 9 | OSTIATE |
Nothing, say, stopping one being mouthy? (7)
|
| O (nothing) + STATE (“say”) stopping I (one)
“Ostiate” means “having a mouth-like opening”. |
||
| 10 | KAPH |
High priest reflected on spirit in Letter to the Hebrews (4)
|
| <=HP (High Priest, reflected) on KA (“spirit”)
Kaph is the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. |
||
| 12 | TIER |
Order of business that’s lost me (4)
|
| (me)TIER (“business” that’s lost ME) | ||
| 14 | UPKEEP |
Running backwards, glimpse local shelving book (6)
|
| [backwards] <=(PEEK (“glimpse”) + PU(b) (“local” shelving B (book)) | ||
| 16 | ENCIERRO |
Event for Spanish drivers that is entering tight corner (8)
|
| i.e. (id est, or “that is”) entering *(corner) [anag:tight]
An encierro is a Spanish event where bulls are driven through the streets to the bullring. |
||
| 17 | WORMSEED |
Treatment for intestinal problem drew some nuts (8)
|
| *(drew some) [anag:nuts] | ||
| 18 | BRAINS TRUST |
Experts in women’s clothing at parade around square (11, 2 words)
|
| BRA (“women’s clothing”) IN (“at”) STRUT (“parade”) around S (square) | ||
| 20 | JOHN-A-DREAMS |
Shakespeare’s vague fellow can notice a lot (11)
|
| JOHN (“can”, as in toilet) + AD (“notice”) + REAMS (“a lot”) | ||
| 23 | A PIECE OF |
Some brought round rival case of chocolate beer (8, 3 words)
|
| [brought round] <=(FOE (“rival”) + [case of] C(hocolat)E + IPA (India Pale Ale, so “beer”)) | ||
| 26 | BIEN-AIMÉ |
Much loved black Indo- European family touring island (8)
|
| B (black) + IE (Indo-European) + NAME (“family”) touring I (island) | ||
| 28 | ENTAIL |
Bring on historical fashion (6)
|
| Double definition, the second an obsolete (so historical) word for “cut or fashion” | ||
| 29 | STYE |
Unusual place for pig’s second trough (4)
|
| S (second) + TYE (an inclined “trough” in a mine)
Stye is an unusual spelling of sty. |
||
| 30 | KAIL |
Cabbage one found in alley (4)
|
| Double definition, the first an alternative spelling of kale, and the second another word for a ninepin. | ||
| 31 | AT A LOSS |
Confused dummy grabbing nearly all undealt cards (7, 3 words)
|
| ASS (“dummy”) grabbing nearly all TALO(n) (cards left after the deal, so “undealt stock”) | ||
| 32 | SALLOW |
Pasty requiring special permit (6)
|
| S (special) + ALLOW (“permit”) | ||
| 33 | INKPOT |
Writer’s repository in Kensington initially rejected cover (6)
|
| IN + K(ensington) [initially] + [rejected] <=TOP (“cover”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MOTOWN |
Music from Michigan’s second city? (6)
|
| MO (“second”) + TOWN (“city”) | ||
| 2 | STEER |
One looking to receive transfer at First Direct (5)
|
| SEER (“one looking”) to receive T(ransfer) [at first] | ||
| 3 | LAME |
Weak material (4)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to LAMÉ, a fabric with metallic threads. | ||
| 4 | AT AN END |
Playing andante, exhausted (7, 3 words)
|
| *(andante) [anag:playing] | ||
| 5 | DEUCE |
Church supporting God, mostly when there’s no advantage (5)
|
| CE (“Church” of England) supporting DEU(s) (“God”, mostly) | ||
| 6 | MAKE TRACKS |
Quickly go off what record producer does (10, 2 words)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | APERCU |
Outline of fish, almost entirely covered in gold (6)
|
| PERC(h) (“fish”, almost entirely) covered in Au (chemical symbol for “gold”) | ||
| 8 | EXPORT |
Beer without wine (6)
|
| EX (“without”) + PORT (“wine”) | ||
| 11 | HERISSON |
That woman is succeeded by hedgehog (8)
|
| HER (“that woman”) + IS + S (succeeded) + ON (“by”)
A herisson is a hedgehog in heraldry. |
||
| 13 | ROMAN SNAIL |
Amoral inns cooked escargot (10, 2 words)
|
| *(amoral inns) [anag:cooked] | ||
| 15 | BOBOLINK |
American singer doubled box office with Bond (8)
|
| [doubled] BO (box office) with LINK (‘bond”) | ||
| 19 | SRIMATI |
American entering appeal with his taxman about Bollywood title? (7)
|
| <=(Am. (American) entering IT (“appeal”) with IRS (Inland Revenue Service, so “his (the American’s) taxman”, about)
Srimati is a title of respect for an Indian woman. |
||
| 20 | JEBELS |
Japanese rises topped hills to the west (6)
|
| J (Japanese) + (r)EBELS [topped]
Jebels are hills in Arabia, so would be to the west of Japan. |
||
| 21 | HYETAL |
Rainy and hot day ultimately passed up (6)
|
| H (hot) + (da)Y [ultimately] + <=LATE (“passed”, up) | ||
| 22 | EFTEST |
Worcester’s most convenient way to support organ installed by Edward Elgar, originally (6)
|
| St. (street, so “way”) to support FT (Financial Times, so “organ”) installed by E(dward) E(lgar) [originally] | ||
| 24 | PILAW |
Irrational rule for what to put next to 1a? (5)
|
| PI (“irrational” number) + LAW (“rule”) | ||
| 25 | ESTOP |
Old bar in Spain raised lots of money (5)
|
| E (international vehicle registration code for “Spain”) + [raised] POTS (“lots of money”) | ||
| 27 | ELAN |
Dash through cycle lanes (4)
|
| Hidden in [through] “cyclE LANes” |
Thanks for the blog , found this the quickest so far , maybe I am just getting used to the style . I could not find KAPH in Chambers93 but I have seen KA many times . I am not keen on the small three-word phrases but it must be difficult to fill the grid at some places .
Yes, I found this fairly straightforward. 26ac was a bit of a tortuous clue, but it was all there. For 29ac, I hesitated over STIE/STYE, as TIE and TYE are alternate spellings for the trough, but STIE would be historical rather than unusual.
Well, I completed this, which with Gemelo is quite an achievement for me. All too often I get stuck after a handful of answers. I did need to do a few word searches, and several I couldn’t parse.
I agree with the other comments that this didn’t seem as hard as some other Gemelo puzzles. I only answers that I really wasn’t sure of were JOHN-A-DREAMS and BIEN-AIMÉ, but they had wordplay that I could understand once I had most of the checking letters.
I remembered a Magpie puzzle where the wordplay for a clue to STYE involved the word TYE, but in the end STIE was also accepted because the clue hadn’t been written carefully enough to exclude it. So, like MunroMaiden@2, I was happy to find when I looked in Chambers that the word ‘Unusual’ meant the solution was unique.
Thanks, loonapick and Gemelo.
[Those attempting today’s Azed online may wish to know that the clue to 8 down has been truncated. In full (and in the printed paper) it reads: Passing remark, one taking effect in blame around court.]
This is verifiable by comparing the online version with the pdf, but solvers ought not to have to do this.