The special instructions are slightly mysterious, though with enough information to get us started:
A letter must be removed from each clue before solving, always leaving real words. Careful consideration of the superfluous material – along with the limits revealed by the conundrum – will lead to only one conclusion, which should be written below the grid.
I found this one quite tricky, taking a few sessions to complete, even though the “real words” condition was a help (though see 17 across).
The removed letters, in clue order, spell out LOOKS LIKE WE’VE OVERDONE IT WITH THE. The “limits revealed by the conundrum” are the outer letters of the grid: reading clockwise from the end of row 2 we have: CASTLEMAINE XXXX ADVERTISEMENT. All this leads to this TV advert, showing that the inevitable conclusion is SHERRY.
Thanks to Claw for an entertaining challenge.
The removed letters in the clues below are shown in bold – I hope this is clear enough.
| Across | ||||||||
| 8 | TRUE | Genuine star pulled regularly (4) Alternate letters of sTaR pUlEd. Here and in a couple of other places you can take your pick which of two letters to remove |
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| 9 | APOLOGETIC | Defence logo brought in by imaginative American goes ahead (10) LOG in POETIC with A[merican] “going ahead” |
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| 10 | RARELY | Coached by withdrawn freestyler articulating very little (6) Hidden (cached) in reverse (withdrawn) of freestYLER ARticulating |
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| 11 | REST AREA | Where Aussie could stop rare skate mutating (4,4) (RARE SATE)* – surprisingly, REST AREA is not in Chambers; I would have guessed it was mainly an American expression, but apparently it’s Australian too |
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| 12 | EIRE | Country House is regaling crowds (4) Hidden in housE I REgaling |
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| 13 | TIMEPIECES | Some of them will wear clogs – what might drag queens say? (10) TIME (what might drag) + PIECES (e.g. queens in chess) |
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| 17 | VARY | Confirm taking heater back out for air change (4) VERIFY with reversed FIRE replaced by AR – perhaps stretching the promise that removing a letter leaves a real word, but “ar” is in Chambers as the name of the letter R |
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| 18 | EASED | Endless dikes with depth reduced (5) [c]EASE[s] (dies) + D |
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| 19 | GUST | Take heart from temporary resident below (4) GU[e]ST (a temporary resident) |
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| 20 | DEPICTIONS | Sketches deserted island surrounded by vast towns (10) D[eserted] + I[sland] in EPIC (vast) TONS |
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| 22 | ANAL | Fussy peer rejected an earldom essentially (4) A (per) + reverse of AN + middle letter of earLdom |
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| 23 | AFTER ALL | Where Grant’s vow is placed ultimately (5,3) To grant is to ALLOW, which is “ow” AFTER ALL |
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| 27 | REFUGE | One following giant to East Londoner’s retreat (6) RE (on) + F[ollowing] + [h]UGE |
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| 28 | XERODERMIA | Curiously, Demi Moore disrobed by English artist outside, revealing skin condition (10) Anagram of DEMI [M]OR[E] in X (times, by) + E[nglish] + RA |
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| 29 | TRIM | Smart Tesla gets shove behind (4) T[esla] + RIM (shoe) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | IRRADICATE | Told to destroy planet (10) Sounds like “eradicate”. To irradicate is to fix firmly, i.e. to “plant” |
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| 2 | SEVERELY | Curt Republican expelled from bank in harsh manner (8) SEVER (cut) + RELY (to bank [on]) less R[epublican] |
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| 3 | EASY STREET | See rest day out with time here? (4,6) Anagram of SEE REST [d]AY + T[ime] &lit |
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| 4 | MOOR | Perhaps Othello‘s second omen (4) MO + OR (Other Ranks, men) |
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| 5 | EONS | Small men cycling at the front for ages (4) ONE (me) with the letters cycled to EON, + S[mall] |
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| 6 | NEGATE | Deny low-down about head (6) Reverse of GEN (low-down, information) + ATE (had) |
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| 7 | TIDE | Current sign making Brazilians noisy bar lovers initially (4) TILDE less L[overs]. In Portuguese (spoken in Brazil) the tilde symbol ~ is used to indicate the nasalisation of a vowel, e.g. in São Paulo |
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| 14 | MISDO | Spoilt daughter charging millions is nothing (5) D[aughter] in M IS O |
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| 15 | PEDESTRIAN | Mediocre, corrupt president primarily wallowing (10) Anagram of PRESIDENT + A[llowing] |
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| 16 | EAST ANGLIA | Where one can find the Orwell novel Alias Angie Tango (4,6) Anagram of ALAS ANGIE T[ango]. The river Orwell (after which the writer chose his pseudonym) is in Suffolk. I suppose the I could have been removed from ANGIE instead, as ANGE is another shortening of Angela, but I thihk it’s better as I’ve put it |
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| 19 | GRAFFITI | Table tennis star covers current political messages? (8) FIT (able) in (Steffi) GRAF + I (current) |
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| 21 | ICEBOX | Periodically pinches blow then finds a place to chill (6) Alternate letters of pInChEs BlOw + X (ten) |
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| 24 | FLEX | Lead without uplifting half of fleet (4) Half of FLEE “uplifted by” EX (without) |
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| 25 | APEX | Top act has KISS supporting (4) APE (to act as) + X (kiss) |
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| 26 | LIME | Something slightly tart exposed core (4) BLIMEY (cor!) “exposed”, i.e. without its outer letters |
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Thanks Claw and Andrew.
Very clever, though never heard of the brand.
The removal of letters worked OK with gaps – that could be filled.
Didn’t see the limits soon enough. Had SEMENT CASTLE MAINE and 2 of the Xs.
Just entering that into Google got me the rest. Very helpful to get/confirm the rest of the bottom and left clues.
So, completed and submitted.
I followed the link above, seeing that particular TV advertisement for the first time. I therefore missed the SHERRY. I also failed to solve a few of the clues in the bottom left of the grid, so this was not an experience to remember, I’m sorry to say.
Thanks anyway to Claw (whom I do not remember having seen before), and to Andrew for solving the puzzle and writing the blog.
I too found this tougher than some previous Geniuses (Genii?). I’d heard of the lager and vaguely remembered adverts from the 80’s but not this particular one. Nevertheless, once enough of the nina was in it did not require a black belt in google-fu to find the missing word. All satisfactory in the end.
thank you Claw and Andrew
I remember finding this amusing with its deadpan delivery not long after arriving as a reffo in the colonies (dragged here ironically by “one of the ladies”). It seems dated now, but I enjoyed both the crossword and the memories so thanks Claw.
I really struggled with this despite knowing the brand (Australians wouldn’t give a Castlemaine XXXX for anything else!), remembering the advert vividly and having three of the four Xs in the nina early on – got there in the end and looking back wonder why I made such a meal of it – anyway thanks to Claw for the challenge!
Finally got there after thinking I’d have to give up several times. Realising that there was a nina helped me get the last few words such as flex and trim to make Castlemaine XXXX advertisement. The ad is so old, I didn’t remember it, so had to google. I didn’t realise they sold that beer over there. I was a bit doubtful about 17A and AR being an actual word, but it was the only way it worked. In 9A, apologetic for defence seemed off, the former being an adjective, the latter a noun. 7D took me ages to figure why tilde would make Brazilians ‘nosy’ … very clever. A real challenge in every way.
I enjoyed this and didn’t find it too difficult once the message became apparent. But if I wasn’t of an age to be familiar with the advert it might have been a different story.
Thanks to Claw and Andrew
Great crossword, not only for the construction of the puzzle but also for the originality of the theme. Had a fun half hour reminding myself of amusing old beer adverts.
Enjoyed this very much and for once got the nina (only when I’d finished though) and the answer! Thank you!
I had never seen this ad or heard of this product, but I managed to find the ad on YouTube from only a partial rendering of the perimeter, (the AI is really improving, heaven help us), and completion of the nina allowed me to finish up the remaining unsolved clues. The devices used in this puzzle are reminiscent of some past Genius offerings, but, frankly, I never tire of puzzles like this, although I am mindful that unfamiliarity with the source ad would make this practically impossible to solve (–the Conclusion, anyway). Very well constructed, and well explained in the blog.
Very enjoyable. I love it when these puzzles are constructed in such a way that you go from total bafflement as to what on Earth is going on here, then the wonderful penny drop moment when it all suddenly makes sense. I usually fail to spot ninas, but in this the presence of so many Xs in the SW corner made it obvious even to me. Then I spent a fair amount of time thinking that the nina must start on the top row because clearly ADVERT must be the final word of the nina. Since the top bits were incomplete at that stage, this caused me a lot of headscratching and wondering whether Claw was an alter ego for Paul 🙂
Great fun though, from a puzzle of far higher quality than this particular beer.