Guardian Genius No 121 by Crucible

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This puzzle by Crucible used a device also to be found in the previous puzzle in this series by this setter, No 113 in November last year.  A number of clues (19 in this puzzle, compared to 17 in the previous one) lacked a definition; the wordplay led to one of a “well-known pairing” and the grid entry had to be the other one of the pairing.  Just as in the previous puzzle, one of the pairings (23 across) was in fact an identical word, but this was not made clear in the preamble.  For the purposes of the blog, I have shown the word to which the wordplay led in brackets.

A lot of the clues involved the deletion or removal of some letters, and FE = iron/metal was used twice, but the sheer topical brilliance of 13 across more than compensates for any slight quibbles.  Like some of the other clues, it involved a sporting reference.

Apologies for the unusual formatting, but because this online-only puzzle doesn’t have a pdf version, I was unable to use PeeDee’s wonderful software to upload the clues and solutions in the usual table format.  However, having managed quite by accident to upload the clues to the blog, I have left them in but my html skills are inadequate to incorporate them, so they appear as a sort of appendix.

Across
1 ITALICS IT (sex appeal), ALI (boxer) CS (initial letters).
5 RHUBARB (CUSTARD) UST (odd letters in UPSET) in CARD.
10 PROS (CONS) CONS(train).
11 ETHIOPIANS *THE, 1 in *PIANOS.
12 BIRTHS (DEATHS) *(SHED A T(ear)).
13 THE ASHES A brilliant & lit clue, with the first word also being the anagrind.
14 CLEOPATRA (ANTONY) TON in ANY.
16 MOUSE (CAT) C(h)AT.
17 PRIDE (PREJUDICE) J in *PURE, D(iamonds), ICE.
19 SEIGNEURS S(over)EIGN, EUR(o)S.
23 JARNDYCE (JARNDYCE) *RANDY, C in JE.  From Bleak House.
24 LAUREL (HARDY) HARD(l)Y.
26 PIANOFORTE NO in PIAF, *TORE.
27 DRUM (FIFE) IF in FE.
28 H G WELLS Cryptic definition; brilliant!
29 STARSKY (HUTCH) HUT C(as)H.
Down
2 TORVILL (DEAN) Hidden in “Pride and Prejudice”.
3 LISZT (BRAHMS) BRAHM(in)S.
4 CHELSEA The reference is to Roman Abramovich, Chelsea FC’s billionaire oligarch owner.
6 HOOKER (O OK) in HE (sc)R(um).  Another & lit clue.
7 BRIMSTONE (FIRE) IR(on) in FE.
8 RUNNERS (RIDERS) R, *DRIES.
9 THE THREE BEARS (GOLDILOCKS) OLD in GI, LOCKS.
15 ORDINANCE OR, IN in DANCE. OR stands for “other ranks”, and in cricket the side batting may be described as being “in”.
18 READING (WRITING) W, TIN in RIG.
20 GILBERT (SULLIVAN) *VILLA in SUN.
21 ROEBUCK (SEARS) S(h)EARS.
22 EYEFUL Sounds like Eiffel.
25 UNDER (UP) Double definition.

Across
1 They stress appeal by boxer can succeed at first (7)
5 Eg Queen runs round oddly upset (7)
10 Limit train departing (4)
11 The odd one among short 26s unsettled Africans (10)
12 At which to sadly shed a tear (no need for organ) (6)
13 Cook has these but can he retain them? (3,5)
14 Some fashion’s boring? Almost the opposite (9)
16 Light conversation’s hard going (5)
17 Jack invested in pure rough diamonds twice (5)
19 Sovereign needs more than euros having ousted old landlords (9)
23 French writer got surprisingly randy at the start of Candide (8)
24 Barely a Liberal left (6)
26 Joanna and Edith tore off absorbing number (10)
27 Provided metal shackles (4)
28 Writer’s sources of mercury? (1,1,5)
29 Shelter when out of cash (7)

Down
2 Extract from both partners at 17 (7)
3 High priests not elected (5)
4 China’s Roman side (7)
6 He snaffles ball right at heart of scrum (6)
7 Iron”s not operating within itself (9)
8 River dries unexpectedly (7)
9 Joe guards former players behind 6 (3,5,5)
15 Men batting ball about in official practice (9)
18 Wife can, when in gear (7)
20 Villa got trashed in Daily Star (7)
21 Clippers struck out, heading for Hainan (7)
22 French engineer’s so-called amazing sight (6)
25 What’s happening in front? (5)

10 comments on “Guardian Genius No 121 by Crucible”

  1. Thanks for the blog, bridgesong. Needed help parsing 29a and 15d. I thought the placement of “so-called” in the middle of the clue for 22d made the two homophones equally possible. The resulting I or Y uncertainty added to the challenge of solving 23a. Like you, I was awed by the beauty of 13a. All-in-all, a fun puzzle, even if the pairing device wasn’t new.

  2. Thanks for the blog bridgesong.

    I found this the hardest Genius so far this year. I didn’t help myself by confidently entering EIFFEL though, which made JARNDYCE a late solve. This was probably my favourite clue as I wasn’t expecting the double (failed completely on 113 so at least I’ve made progress).

    I was unsure of the parsing of 25d (correct as it turns out) and 19a. I’m still not clear why OVER was omitted from SOVEREIGN.

    Re 14a – I think there’s a second parsing element to this clue: Almost the opposite = ANTONY[M}.

    Slightly off-topic (apologies) but hopefully helpful:
    @bridgesong – although the Guardian doesn’t directly offer a PDF version it’s easy to generate your own. Select ‘Print version’ (you don’t need a printer) and then change the destination to ‘save as PDF’ (or similar), Exact wording depends on browser/OS but all offer the ability to save as PDF rather than actually printing. Hope this helps.

  3. I also entered Eiffel first time round and I agree that both readings are possible. Claire @2: I can’t now explain why OVER is omitted from SOVEREIGN, but I don’t remember being troubled by it when I solved it a month ago. I failed to spot ANTONY(M) so thanks for pointing that out.

  4. Thanks for the blog, bridgesong.

    As usual, I can’t remember much about the process of solving this – which took several sessions – but I was very pleased with myself when I finally finished.

    I now see why I couldn’t parse 25dn: I was trying to explain ‘over’. 🙁

    I, too, wondered how I’d parsed 19ac – isn’t it dreadful how soon one forgets? – but I think it’s ‘sovereign needs [lacks] over [more than]’.

    Many thanks to Crucible for a very enjoyable and ultimately very satisfying challenge.

  5. We spent many hours on this, ultimately failing to get 3d and 10a. I was handicapped by an initial idea about 3d (LAMAS=’high’ priests) refusing to go away!
    First in was 28a, which was indeed delightful.

    re 19, I suppose OVER (=old) is also being ousted from Sovereigns ?

  6. Thanks so much for this.
    I still don’t see why (15d) “in official practice” should mean “follows OR”, even after your explaining that or is other ranks. I’m clearly missing something!
    I too put Eiffel in for 22. And so failed to get 23 at all.
    A great puzzle, and a fine blog, too. Thanks.

  7. James @6: “in official practice” is the definition. OR = men, followed by IN in DANCE (ball).

    Eileen, thanks for clarifying why OVER is removed from SOVEREIGN.

  8. Thanks to Crucible for a fun challenge that was satisfying to complete. The Ashes was so immediate a write-in that l have only just realised it is an anagram!
    Was anyone else confused by 12a, which alternative to put in ? You could argue that Deaths is defined by ‘at which to’ so it would not be one of the alternatives clues.

  9. I enjoyed this (although I didn’t quite manage to finish it – I also made the mistake of entering EIFFEL, which I think makes much more sense), but I found one thing annoying, which was that the letter counts referred to the answer to be entered in the grid (which we could after all count for ourselves) rather than the answer of the clue (which would have been useful). In a clue with no definition other than ‘it’s from something that goes with something else’ I thought that was a bit mean.

  10. Yes, Paul8hours, I too was confused by that and had Deaths [as an &lit] until almost the end. Consequently. once I realised that I had too many ‘straight’ clues did I change it to Births and then got Torvill, which for some reason I could not easily do.
    However, unlike many others, I had Eyeful in from the start.
    I would ask someone to clarify something for me though. I have lived in US for 11 years and know Sears very well [never called Sears and Roebuck here, although that is obviously their official name]. I do not recall ever seeing a Sears store in UK though, so how did all you ‘over the pond’ know this?

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