We have a plain puzzle form Gemelo this week in The Observer
I found this to be a slightly less tricky puzzle than the Gemelo puzzles I have solved or blogged to date. There seemed to be fewer obscure words this week, plus some fairly friendly cluing in places.
Having said that, there were a few words and phrases that were new to me – PODUNK, PURSY, PINDUST and A BON DROIT. I also learnt new meanings for IN TROUBLE and OWED
I think I have seen reference to Superman’s birth name before that was used in the apt clue for KRYPTON. PEENGE and DODGEBALL have been in crosswords I have solved earlier this, year so I was able to cope with those entries.
There were a couple of references in the clues to locations Edinburgh, a city in which grew up in the 1950s and early 1960s.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Worcester’s old-fashioned celebration turned into nonsense (6)
PODUNK (an imaginary, typical, dull, outdated country town. Chambers gives the origin of the word as either of two villages, near Worcester, Massachusetts, or Hartford, Connecticut) DO (party; celebration) reversed (turned) and contained in (into) PUNK (nonsense) P (OD<) UNK |
| 5 | Haggard Roman welcoming drunken Scottish band (6)
SWATHE (a bandage or band) SHE (Rider Haggard [1856 – 1925], English author, wrote a novel [roman] entitled SHE) containing (welcoming) WAT (Scottish word for drunken) S (WAT) HE |
| 9 | One provided with speed going round circuit, it’s like something else (8)
ISOMORPH (something that shows similarity in shape or structure; it’s like something else) I + SO (provided) + (MPH [miles per hour; speed] containing [going round] OR [a logic circuit]) I SO M (OR) PH |
| 10 | Great number snubbing military hero (4)
LION (hero) milLION (a great number) excluding (snubbing) MIL (military) LION |
| 12 | They provide colour in Scotland Yard compound when pressed by detective (8)
DYESTERS (Scottish word for dyers [people whose trade is to dye {provide colour} for cloth]) (Y [yard] + ESTER {a compound formed by the condensation of an alcohol and an acid, with elimination of water]) contained in (pressed by) DS (detective [superintendent]) D (Y ESTER) S |
| 14 | Fed, mostly following cook’s principles (5)
DOGMA (principles) DO (cook) + G-MAn (an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) excluding the final letter N (mostly) DO GMA |
| 16 | Opening book, sitting in tree with child (9, 2 words)
IN TROUBLE (pregnant [when unmarried]; with child) INTRO (introduction; opening) + (B [book] contained in [sitting in] ULE [a Central American rubber tree]) IN TRO U (B) LE |
| 17 | Musician’s immediately rejected American, African and Asian fruit (6)
SUBITO (musical term meaning ‘immediately’) US (American) reversed (rejected) + BITO (a tree of dry tropical Africa and Asia) SU< BITO |
| 20 | King with past grief about slaver (5)
DROOL (dribble; slaver) R (Rex; king) contained in (with … about) DOOL (alternative spelling of DOLE [archaic word {past} for grief]) D (R) OOL |
| 22 | Experts in infectious disease started with temperature (5)
TSARS (people appointed as authorities or adjudicators on some subject; experts, in theory) T (temperature) + SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a contagious lung infection) T SARS |
| 23 | After games with English, everyone’s beginning to whine at Murrayfield (6)
PEENGE (Scottish [Murrayfield is the main Scottish Rugby Union stadium in Edinburgh] word meaning ‘to whine like a peevish child’) PE (physical education; games) + ENG (English) + E (first letter of [beginning] Everyone) PE ENG E |
| 24 | Film Cluedo? I’ll struggle (9)
CELLULOID (cinema film) Anagram of (struggle) CLEUDO I’LL CELLULOID* |
| 28 | Fat and syrup blended (5)
PURSY (archaic word meaning fat or overweight) Anagram of (blended) SYRUP PURSY* |
| 29 | Illicit person on board spotted taking drag, yes? (8)
STOWAWAY (a person who hides in a ship, etc to get a passage; illicit person on board) (SAW [spotted] containing [taking] TOW [drag]) + AY (yes) S (TOW) AW AY |
| 30 | Learner in top set briefly (4)
TELE (abbreviation [briefly] for a TELEvision set) L (learner) contained in (in) TEE (T-shirt; top) TE (L) E |
| 31 | Singular imbecile concealing order over pudding ingredient (8)
SEMOLINA (the particles of fine, hard wheat that do not pass into flour in milling, used to make puddings, thicken soups, etc.) S (singular) + (ANILE [imbecile] containing [concealing] OM [Order {of Merit}]) reversed (over) S (E (MO) LINA)< |
| 32 | Increasingly lifeless acting star’s list of demands (6)
ARIDER (dryer; more lifeless) A + RIDER (a list of specific personal requirements, such as food and drink, included in the contract of a performing artist; star’s list of demands) A RIDER |
| 33 | Last 12 not taking sides (6)
YESTER (last) dYESTERs (entry at 12 across) excluding (not taking) the outer letters (sides) D and S YESTER |
| Down | |
| 1 | Surprisingly stupid name for brass filings (7)
PINDUST (brass filings, a product of pin making) Anagram of (surprisingly) STUPID and N (name) PINDUST* |
| 2 | Game on, without Labour getting returned under local poll (9)
DODGEBALL (a children’s game in which players try to hit one another with a large ball) DOD (a dialect term [local] meaning ‘to poll’ or cut the top of) + (LEG [on side in cricket] containing [without; outside] LAB [Labour]) reversed (getting returned) DOD (GE (BAL) L)< |
| 3 | Taste some sodium amide (5)
UMAMI (a savoury, satisfying taste) UMAMI (hidden word in [some] sodiUM AMIde) UMAMI |
| 4 | Origins of Kal-El regularly identify this? (7)
KRYPTON (Kal-El is the birth name of Surperman from the planet KRYPTON) Kr (first letters of [origins] of each of Kal-El and regularly, the two letters together forming the chemical symbol for the element KRYPTON) KRYPTON |
| 5 | Pierce Brosnan’s central character – brilliant! (5)
SPEAR (to pierce) S (middle letter of [central character] broSnan) + PEAR (reference the gem-cutting term PEAR-shaped brilliant) S PEAR |
| 6 | Voice of Brosnan’s predecessor stripped bare (4)
ALTO dALTOn (reference Timothy Dalton [born 1946]) excluding the outer letters D and N [stripped bare]) – Dalton was a predecessor of Pierce Brosnan [born 1953], in the role of James Bond ALTO |
| 7 | Who might make us watch and hold dancing girls, too (10)
HOROLOGIST (expert maker of timepieces; someone who might make us [a] watch) HO (hold) + an anagram of (dancing) GIRLS TOO HO ROLOGIST* |
| 8 | Bathroom without pronoun to follow (5)
ENSUE (to follow) EN SUitE (a bathroom connecting directly with a bedroom) excluding (without) IT (a pronoun) ENSUE |
| 11 | Idler’s whole purpose in rolling about (10)
LOTUS-EATER (one of a people encountered by Odysseus in North Africa, who lived in indolent forgetfulness, drugged by the fruit of the legendary LOTUS; idler) LOT (whole, as in the whole lot) + USE (purpose) + AT (in) + RE (with reference to; about) reversed (rolling) LOT USE AT ER< |
| 13 | One working too much with East China (5)
SPODE (porcelain [china] made with addition of bone ash by Josiah Spode [1754 – 1827] at Stoke-on-Trent) SPOD (a socially inept person, especially a student seen as being excessively studious; one working too much) + E (East) SPOD E |
| 15 | Brawling in bar to do with justice for Le Pen (9, 3 words)
A BON DROIT (French [some members of the Le Pen family are, or have been right-wing politicians in France] phrase meaning ‘with justice’) Anagram of (brawling) IN BAR TO DO A BON DROIT* |
| 18 | Sculpture elevated with a highly ornamental metal plate (5)
TSUBA (metal plate at the top of a Japanese scabbard, serving as a sword guard, often highly ornamental) BUST (sculpture) reversed (elevated; down entry) + A TSUB< A |
| 19 | Botanical reproduction apparently may go wrong (7)
APOGAMY (omission of the sexual process in the life history, whereby the sporophyte develops either from an unfertilized egg cell or some other cell; biological reproduction) AP (apparently) + an anagram of (wrong) and MAY GO AP OGAMY* |
| 21 | Fight development of Waverley, ignoring Edinburgh’s leader (7, 2 words)
LEVY WAR (make war; fight) Anagram of (development of) WAVeRLEY excluding (ignoring) E (first letter of [leader] Edinburgh) – Waverley Station is the main railway station in Edinburgh. LEVY WAR* |
| 24 | Damage a rib (5)
COSTA (a rib) COST (the price; informally, the damage ) + A COST A |
| 25 | Glare that’s not as intense (5)
LOWER (lour; glare) LOWER (less; not as intense) double definition LOWER |
| 26 | Club subscription includes league clashes (5)
DUELS (prearranged fights; clashes) DUES (club subscriptions) containing (includes) L (League) DUE (L) S |
| 26 |
Bore’s elaborate lyric read out (4) OWED (bore [a grudge]) OWED (sounds like [read out] ODE [an elaborate lyric]) OWED |
I didn’t know PINDUST or A BON DROIT, but they seemed to be the only reasonable anagrams once I had a few checking letters.
I did know IN TROUBLE but I worked out the clue from the wordplay and checking letters and only appreciated the definition after finding the answer, which made me laugh. I also liked the definition of HOROLOGIST but thought it could be the definition before working out the answer.
I had seen ‘roman’ meaning ‘novel’ somewhere recently, but I only thought of ‘Haggard Roman’ being SHE when I had all of those letters in the grid. I still went through most of the alphabet for the second letter of the answer before I thought of the right Scottish word for ‘drunken’.
SUBITO was my last entry and the only one that felt like guessing because I was only pretty sure it was a word but was unsure about the definition and didn’t know the fruit.
Thanks, duncanshiell and Gemelo.
I think this is the first Gemelo I’ve actually completed. OK, I had to do more word searches than I would to complete an Azed, but there is hope yet.
I got held up by 12ac. I had -YEST at the start, and I was convinced it was going to be some variant of EYESTALK, but that stymied me on 7dn until I discovered DYESTERS.
I had some rather stupid hold-ups: TSARS, when I had T-A-S; TELE, when I knew it started with T and had an L in it and probably ended with E; and finally LOTUSEATER, when I had all the crossing letters – I was thinking it was going to be purpose (USE) inside a word meaning whole (-O–T), followed by RE reversed. I would have kicked myself, but as I was already feeling unwell I decided to let myself off!