Notes for Gemelo 36
There are usually one or two points of interest in an Observer barred puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.
Gemelo 36
This puzzle is available at https://content-api.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/api/mobile/v1/puzzle-data/fb83a2e6-54b8-491d-bca5-4f7578b19277/file/puzzle.pdf.
Please give your own G-rating for this Gemelo puzzle by clicking on the relevant star above, with one star representing a very straightforward solve by your own standards (Gentle) and five stars indicating a seriously tough one (Gnarly). Note that hovering over the ‘graph’ icon will show you the full breakdown of votes for the current puzzle. Last week’s ‘Bonus Shares’ puzzle racked up an impressive 4.4 on the difficulty meter, every individual rating being 4 or 5. On the basis that an ‘average’ Gemelo plain would score 2.5, this seemed about right for a puzzle which was quite demanding.
Today’s puzzle wasn’t without its own challenges, but as with most of the recent Gemelo ‘plains’ there were several relatively straightforward starters to get the solve under way. That said, the four quarters of the puzzle were less well connected than usual (the longest entries were nine letters), so I can imagine that many solvers will have ended up cracking the puzzle one quadrant at a time (which is pretty much what I did).
A bit of self-promotion to finish with. For anyone who fancies tackling a themed puzzle with clues which shouldn’t prove too taxing for Gemelo solvers, you might enjoy today’s Enigmatic Variations crossword, Connection. For the benefit of those who don’t have access to the Sunday Telegraph, a kind person publishes a scan of the EV online every week – this one can be found at https://postimg.cc/0MtfQtxM .
Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 12a, “Narrative from which Napoleon escaped, to strike back (7)”. The wordplay involves a reversal (‘back’) of the name of the island from which Napoleon escaped in 1815 and a three-letter word meaning ‘to strike’. The point of interest here is is the use of the expression ‘from which Napoleon escaped’ to indicate a place name, equivalent to, say, ‘from which Viv Richards hails’ for ANTIGUA. This requires the solver to infer a noun such as ‘place’ or ‘island’ to which the relative pronoun ‘which’ refers. This seems very different to me from something like ‘where Viv Richards comes from’ or ‘what lies directly south of Barbuda’ for ANTIGUA which in modern English requires no such inference to be drawn. I don’t think that I would accept ‘from which cheese is made’ for MILK, and this seems to me one of those instances where the setter has stretched the cryptic sense of the clue too far in order to produce a good surface reading.
Across
10a Ladies maybe travel by boat for WI celebrations (9, 2 words)
A four-letter ‘informal, especially US’ word for an amenity exemplified by ‘ladies’ (or ‘gents’) is followed by a word meaning ‘[to] travel by a light, narrow, flat-bottomed boat’. Earlier editions of Chambers have ‘ladies’ in this sense with an apostrophe on the end, but the current edition shows it as unadorned.
15a Backtracking, don’t tell the truth about pig meat commonly in Spam? (5)
A reversal of a three-letter word meaning “don’t tell the truth” containing (‘about’) a three-letter word for ‘pig meat’ from which the initial aitch has been dropped (‘commonly’, ie as in vulgar speech). It immediately made me think of this classic Two Ronnies sketch.
20a So far as love goes in court (5)
The usual single-letter representation of ‘love’ for Andy Murray is contained by (‘goes in’) the four-letter shortened form of a ten-letter word for a court, particularly one enclosed by college buildings.
22a Pick healthy alternative to drug? (5)
The wordplay gives a (1,4) expression which might whimsically describe a healthier form of the single-letter drug frequently found in crosswords, this version perhaps being lower in carbohydrates or some other ingredient which could be damaging to health.
28a Peculiar characters regularly dropped graduate off (5)
A slightly cumbersome wordplay has every third letter (starting with the first) being removed (ie ‘regularly dropped’) from GRADUATE, with the residue being rearranged (‘off’).
29a Home support that will do stirring (6)
This is a charade of a two-letter word meaning (among many other things) ‘that will do’ and a four-letter word meaning ‘active’ or ‘stirring’. The support isn’t necessarily found within a home, but it certainly could be.
30a Marks found in straight, gold pillar between openings (7)
The usual abbreviation for ‘marks’ from the pre-euro days is contained by (‘found in’) a four-letter word meaning ‘straight’, as one’s aim might be (and Elvis Costello’s definitely was), and the chemical symbol for gold.
31a Feature of costume drama that’s eliminated extremes of poem (4)
The sort of thing that might get ripped in a steamy historical romance is deprived of its first and last letters (ie “that’s eliminated extremes”).
32a What makes acid drop bright green? (9)
A five-letter word meaning ‘bright’ in the sense of ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ combines with a fruity kind of yellowish green to produce the name of a chemical compound, the addition of which would almost certainly result in a drop in acidity of the substrate; whether ‘what makes acid drop’ adequately expresses this concept is open to question.
33a Rational number with irrational number following it (4)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘number’ and the symbol for the irrational number which forms the basis of natural logarithms follow the two-letter abbreviation for the kind of ‘it’ that was exuded by Clara Bow in the film of that name, the Cinderella-like story of plucky shop assistant Betty Lou Spence which led to Clara being dubbed “The ‘It’ Girl”.
Down
1d Old man goes off nurse after getting up (6)
A four-letter word meaning ‘goes off’, as food past its use-by date might do, and the two-letter abbreviation for ‘Enrolled Nurse’, are reversed (‘after getting up’). The answer is the name of a Homeric hero famous for his age and wisdom, which can be applied allusively to an old man, but I think that in this sense it too is well past its use-by date.
3d Marvel at first mostly happy in overturning take showing Thor prop (8)
The first letter of ‘Marvel’ is followed by a five-letter word meaning ‘happy’, from which the last letter is missing (‘mostly’), a reversal (‘overturning’) of IN (from the clue), and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘take’ used in medical prescriptions. And itth not a thor, itth a hammer…
7d Poor fliers in South America lend millions to come back (7)
A three-letter informal word meaning ‘lend’ (usually in the sense of giving a payment to someone as an advance on wages etc) and a four-letter word meaning ‘a great number’ (‘millions’) are reversed. (‘to come back’). The creatures in question evolved from prehistoric flying birds and, unlike their other close relatives, taking to the air is an option for them, albeit it’s not one of their core strengths.
14d Compose short taunt with a spit? (9)
A three-letter word meaning ‘compose’, as one might compose a hand-written letter, a six-letter taunt without its last letter (‘short’), and the letter A (from the clue) combine to produce the answer.
22d Clergymen sending out press release – cheers! (6)
An eight-letter word for churchmen of high rank, or clergymen in general, loses the usual abbreviation for ‘press release’.
27d Superhuman losing top of foot (5)
The first letter is removed from (ie ‘losing top’) a six-letter adjective meaning ‘superhuman’ which entered public consciousness in 1973 when following a nasty accident USAF Colonel Steve Austin was ‘rebuilt’ at a cost to the American taxpayer of $6m. Truth be told, it seemed like money well spent, given that following the procedure he could run at speeds of over 60 mph, his new eye gave him a 20:1 zoom lens with infrared capabilities, and his replacement limbs all had the equivalent power of a bulldozer. Makes Google Glass look a bit pants.
(definitions are underlined)
