Gemelo 11

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I continue to find Gemelo quite a challenge, and I think this was one of the hardest yet, with several clues taking me a while to parse even after I was confident of the answer. Thanks to Gemelo for the puzzle.

 
Across
1 PINT Measure sand grouse or guinea fowl, each without trouble (4)
PINTAIL (either of two birds mentioned) less AIL
4 FULGURAL Fall out with guru of electric forks? (8)
(FALL GURU)*
9 WOOMERANG Australian uses this to launch Beethoven’s unnumbered works, bungling German (9)
WOO (Werke ohne Opuszahl, a classification of some of Beethoven’s works that have no opus number. They include the famous Für Elise, which is WoO 59)+ GERMAN*
10 ROAD RAGE Irish policeman retreating, covered in eggs, with violence on the way? (8, 2 words)
Reverse of GARDA in ROE
11 KAON Particle of clay devoid of lithium (4)
KAOLIN less LI
12 ARRANGE 100 sq m holding called to order (7)
RANG (called) in ARE (unit of area)
14 TIPTOE There’s more to come in obligation to make digital advancement? (6)
PTO (“there’s more to come”, at the end of a page) in TIE
16 EAU Water from Uganda (3)
EAU is the international vehicle registration code for Uganda, one of several for east African countries , e.g. EAK for Kenya
19 SAILER Ship initially sunk by Ariel in tempest (6)
S[unk] + ARIEL*
20 RAMIFY Branch liable to wither, having lost core following power of the sun (6)
RA (sun god) + MI[f]FY (to wither away)
21 AFT Firmly establish missing lead is back (3)
[h]AFT (to establish firmly)
25 CABRIE One that ruminates about cheese (6)
CA (circa) + BRIE
26 ROOKERY Piece extremely lacking in volume causes disturbance (7)
ROOK (chess piece) + VERY less V
28 ERSE Tongue River cutting border (4)
[m]ERSE[y]
29 TALIONIC Unplanned movement to steal a coin of James VI, with corresponding punishment (8)
A LION (Scottish coin) in TIC
30 TWENTY‑TWO Where you’ll find firing line in sport (9)
I think this is a double definition: the first referring to a .22 rifle; more confidently, the twenty-two is a line in Rugby, 22 metres from the goal line (it was the 25-yard line when I was an unwilling participant in the game at school)
31 DERRIÈRE Broadcast example of Irish folk leaving London behind for Paris (8)
As homophonically in the LondonDERRY AIR
32 FOGY Old person to confuse year (4)
FOG + Y
Down
1 PIRATE Bonnet, say, or crown worn by Irish (6)
IR in PATE. Stede Bonnet was a famous pirate
2 ISODIA One provided help to mount feast (6)
I + SO + reverse of AID
3 TODY Small bird currently losing acceleration (4)
TODAY (currently) less A[cceleration]. The Tody is a colourful West Indian bird, related to the Kingfisher
4 FOR TOFFEE Keep measuring livestock, no longer used at all (9, 2 words)
FORT (keep, as in a castle) + OF (measuring, as in “a distance of five miles”) + FEE (obsolete word for cattle)
5 LEG-REST Support for members running St Leger (7)
(ST LEGER)*
6 UAKARIS Monkeys from this country biting a Cockney’s backside (7)
A in UK + ARIS (Cockney “arse”)
7 À GOGO Short musical sequence with love in abundance (5, 2 words)
AGOG[e] (musical sequence, shortened) + O
8 LINEAR Writer of nonsense about home of One Direction (6)
IN (home) in (Edward) LEAR
9 WAMPUMS Old American jacket filled with a thousand Algonquian beads (7)
M (1000) in WAMPUS (a US cardigan or jacket)
13 REAGANITE About period involving comeback of conservative political viewpoint? (9)
RE (about) + reverse of TINA (There Is No Alternative, as attributed to Margaret Thatcher) in AGE, &lit
15 CLARINO Trumpet call from Oban welcoming head of local navy into port (7)
L[ocal] in CA’ (Scots “call”) + N in RIO
17 PICKEER Scout who chooses to tour Spain (7)
E (Spain) in PICKER
18 HYDRATE Water too long delayed through what turned up (7)
Reverse of TARDY in EH (what?)
20 REREAD Lost Red era interpreted again (6)
(RED ERA)*
22 FIRING Ignition provided that spins round (6)
Reverse of IF (provided) + RING (a round)
23 TETCHY Carve through skin of turkey, tending to beef (6)
ETCH in T[urke]Y – “beef” as in “complain”
24 TORTE Carry around recipe for dessert (5)
R in TOTE
27 WOWF What one needs to bowl over, dismissing player with bats from Perth (4)
WOW FACTOR (what bowls someone over) less ACTOR – it’s a Scots word for “crazy”, so this Perth in Scotland, not Australia, as the cricket-based surface might suggest

6 comments on “Gemelo 11”

  1. I came pretty close but failed to complete the grid without looking things up. I used Chambers to find REAGANITE, which I probably should have been able to work out, but I didn’t think it was &lit so I thought I wanted a four-letter word for ‘conservative’, and even though I knew Chambers had TINA for ‘there is no alternative’, I was very young and half a world away when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. This helped me to see TALIONIC which I should have solved earlier even if I didn’t know the coin, but it probably didn’t matter since I don’t think I would have worked out WOWF without finding it in Chambers, after first finding several other Scottish words that would fit the checking letters.

    For 1a, I think the sand grouse PINTAIL is without AIL, but the guinea fowl PINTADO is without ADO, but I originally entered this from the definition alone.

    For 30a, I think the ‘Where you’ll find firing’ is referring to FIRING being the answer to 22d.

    Thanks, Andrew and Gemelo.

  3. Thanks Gemelo and Andrew. This was my first attempt at a Gemelo puzzle and it took me two sessions each of about the maximum time an Azed takes.
    I had 1ac the same way as Matthew @1.

  4. It is not clear to me that WAMPUMS is a word. The definition of WAMPUM in Merriam-Webster is “beads of polished shells….” i.e WAMPUM is already plural.

  5. I also had 1a as per Matthew@1 and thought this a very clever clue. I don’t think I made the 22 connection as offered by Tim C, so thank you for that.
    I’ve just read today’s preamble, looks interesting.
    Thanks to Gemelo and Andrew.

  6. To be fair Jay @5, Matthew @1 was first in with the 22 connection. My slow reading/thought processes/typing came to the fore as usual. 🙂

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