Well, this was an interesting challenge. My initial progress was quite rapid because I concentrated on the clues that were obviously not affected by the special instructions.
The first modified entry that I solved was 3,21 but that did not give me any idea of what the ‘small 14 across or two’ might be and so progress slowed to a crawl. It was only when I cracked the wordplay for 7 that the light dawned and I was then able to finish the puzzle at a canter.
In the affected clues, the wordplay led to the grid entry and the definition gave the unmodified word. The special instructions were cryptic as well as the puzzle since the “… small 14 across …” needed to be read as S EXCHANGE.
The 8 changes required before grid entry were: MUM/DAD, LORD/LADY & AUNT/UNCLE, SHE/HE, MOTHER/FATHER, BOY/GIRL, KING/QUEEN, HER/HIM, LASSIE/LADDIE
| Across | ||
| 7 | CHRYSANTHEDAD | R (river) Y (unknown) SHED (setter) around ANT (soldier) all in CHAD (African country) – def. ‘flower’: chrysanthemum |
| 9 | AMMO | [g]AMMO[n] (cutting head and tail from pig) |
| 10,18 | LITTLE LADY FUNCLELEROY | an anagram (getting sozzled) of I TELL TELL YOU’D CRY AN ELF – def. ‘story’: Little Lord Fauntleroy |
| 14 | EXCHANGE | C[arnations] HANG (depend) in EXE (flower {river}) |
| 23 | HEAF | hidden in ‘tHE AFforementioned’ – def. ‘bundle’: sheaf |
| 25 | SFATHERING | an anagram (extraordinary) of FAST HER[r]ING (fish is heartless) – def. ‘killing’: smothering |
| 29,12 | TALLGIRL | T (time) A RIG (fix) reversed (switches) in LLL (three right angles) – def. ‘furniture item’: tallboy |
| 30 | QUEENSLEY AMIS | an anagram (novel) of E[n]QUIRY NAMELESS – def. ‘novelist’: Kingsley Amis |
| Down | ||
| 1 | GHIMKIN | [bur]G[ers] HIKIN (walkin’) around M (MacDonald’s) – def. ‘fruit’: gherkin |
| 2 | TYPO | hidden reversal in ‘cOPY This’ |
| 3,21 | HAILE SELADDIE | HAILED (acclaimed) around RIDING (parts of Yorkshire) reversed (climbing) I (individual) E (English) – def. ‘emperor’: Haile Selassie |
| 4 | STET | [beatle]S [hi]T [fre]E [paten]T |
| 5 | SEAL | double def. |
| 6 | RAIL | double def. |
| 8 | ADAGE | A EGAD (Shakespearean oath) reversed (up) |
| 11 | ETH | EH (what) around (about it) [pos]T |
| 13 | LAURA | U (posh) in (punching) LARA (one 12) |
| 14 | EBEYE | BE (live) in EYE (view) |
| 15 | CREW | double def. |
| 16 | AZOTH | OZ (little weight) reversed (turning up) in an anagram (new) of HAT |
| 17 | ACID | A CID (group of policemen) |
| 19 | DELFT | FLED (left) reversed (upside down) T[able] |
| 20 | TABLOID | an anagram (cracked) of A BIT OLD |
| 22 | DOH | DO[s]H (shilling lost in money) |
| 24 | EGRET | [r]EGRET – I’m not too happy with this one. Though I can read the wordplay in a way that would indicate removing the first letter of a word meaning ‘sense of loss’, the more logical reading is for the name of a bird to lose its initial letter. I also thought that convention dictates that the definition should be at the start or end of a clue, not in the middle. |
| 26 | THUS | TH[esau r]US |
| 27 | EWER | ER (her royal self) around (entertains) WE (her royal self) |
| 28 | INST | an anagram (to be wasted) of ISN’T |
| 29 | TRAP | PART (section) reversed (not taken down) |
Thanks Gaufrid, and thanks to Paul for a cracking puzzle – hard, as you say, but rewarding due to the beautifully surreal 14a’d answers.
I thought Haile Seladdie was wonderful, and particularly Little Lady Funcleleroy – haven’t I seen her singing the blues on Jools Holland ?
Our progress was very like yours – I think 30a was the one that finally made the penny drop, I was thrown off the scent by suspecting 23a was HEAF and thus the change was some form of truncation.
I see what you mean about 24a, it doesn’t follow the ‘rules’ but it’s very clear that EGRET is the intended answer, so I think it’s ok.
Thanks for the blog, and the site in general.
When I found the first unamended answer (Haile Selassie)almost immediately I spent some long minutes looking at ways for £sd to replace £s and p’s or vice versa (ex-change)before the old and the new pennies dropped simultaneously.
Thanks Gaufrid and Paul
Really enjoyed this one, it took me a while to get the theme and then still a fair struggle to complete so just right for the Genius.
Thanks Paul & Gaufrid.
I had fun with this one, not only because I managed to finish a Genius for 2 months in a row.
I worked out 7a from the wordplay and that told me what ‘S 14a’ must be.
I had to laugh at 10 18, for the rediculous clue topped by the surreal answer.
I am as puzzled as anyone by 24d. I just hope this is not setting a precedent for clue structure in the second 100 years !
Ooops, I mean ridiculous of course ….
It was completed a while ago, but I do also recall being somewhat mystified by 24d.
Moving on though…Some of the SEXCHANGES here are absolutely inspired. TALLGIRL was my gateway via the absolute certainty that “TALLBOY” was the definition yet didn’t fit the checking letters – so the penny dropped quite quickly.
Terrific puzzle.
Thanks for the blog Gaufrid. Overall I found this reasonably easy and really entertaining (24dn excepted – I wasn’t even sure it was right until now). 3,21 and 10,18 have already been mentioned, but my favourite new word is chrysanthedad. So much more satisfying than the non-words you often have to enter in this type of puzzle.
Thanks Gaufrid and Paul. I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle, great fun. I didn’t make any notes this time but remember chuckling quite frequently at the sex changes and I also remember that it took a while to ‘see’ 23a and 25a.
I enjoyed this too. But I’m surprised so many seem to find this word game novel, I can (just) remember doing this at school as well as adding one to numbers, you three-faced triple-crosser for instance. I may have had a deprivied childhood.
@9 sidey
I can’t begin to imagine how difficult life must have been without the most basic conveniences 🙂