Another “constrained” puzzle, where Gemelo has enforced a rule that makes the setting harder for himself without making the solver’s job harder (or easier)…
Gemelo
Gemelo No. 23 – plain
Gemelo has again produced a nice crossword with some very good clues. I don’t think there will be any problem with his taking over fully from Azed in due course.
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
Gemelo 22
Gemelo is settling down into an Observer routine and I am getting onto his wavelength a bit more.
Gemelo No. 21 – Half & Half
This is the first Gemelo “special” that calls upon the solver to manipulate the solutions in some unconventional fashion. The puzzle opens with these instructions:
Gemelo No. 20 – plain
I found this one on the tougher side.
Gemelo No. 19 – first things first
I’m writing this here with no fear that passers-by will get information that detracts from their enjoyment of the puzzle, because it is all quite open: nothing has to be discovered (except perhaps the hint from the first clue). Gemelo has quite brilliantly used the first letters in the words of a well-known poem (until there are no more clues) to restrict the words in the clues and he has achieved this with the minimum of strain, although it must have been incredibly difficult. In fact I solved it all before bothering to look at the preamble. It wouldn’t have helped me in my solving. No doubt because of the restrictions I found this rather harder than Gemelo’s usual.
Why Gemelo makes it so difficult for himself I’m not sure. I eagerly await the day when he produces a puzzle like one of Azed’s excellent Specials, where the solver has to discover something. He seems quite capable of doing so.
Gemelo 18
We have a plain puzzle form Gemelo this week in The Observer
Gemelo No. 17 – plain
A plain puzzle from Gemelo.
Gemelo 16
I’m still finding it hard to get on Gemelo’s wavelength, though in retrospect there’s nothing to cause too much difficulty here, apart from some unfamiliar words (which are part of the fun of these puzzles, so no complaints there). Thanks to Gemelo for the challenge.
Gemelo No. 15 – it could be verse
A nice crossword from Gemelo but probably not one of his most difficult. The construction is often quite simple and one just has to see it.
He has made a rod for his back by having the clues written in iambic pentameter with an ABAB rhyme scheme. This is very clever and must have made it quite difficult for him, but I can’t see the point. The solver is in just the same position as normal; all the extra difficulty is with the setter: one can admire his ingenuity but doesn’t have to do anything special.
Definitions underlined, in crimson. Anagram indicators indicated (like this)*.
Gemelo No. 14 – plain
A plain puzzle from Gemelo this week.
Gemelo No. 13 – Plain
Stepping back from last week’s anagrammatic convolutions, this week’s “plain” Gemelo seemed relatively straightforward by comparison. Completion of the grid was helped considerably by solving the four perimeter clues.
Gemelo No. 12 – For a Change
Special instructions for this puzzle were:
Each clue gives, in any order:
(i) definition of the entry;
(ii) definition of an anagram of the entry;
(iii) wordplay for that anagram
Gemelo 11
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 … Read more >>
Gemelo No. 10 – plain
A plain puzzle from Gemelo this week, but it was by no means straightforward