Notes for Gemelo 14

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 14 Plain

Solver difficulty rating

4.0 based on 44 votes (voting is now closed)

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 (Ghastly). Note that hovering over the ‘graph’ icon will show you the full breakdown of votes for the current puzzle.

The overwhelming view was that Gemelo 13 was considerably less demanding than the preceding ‘anagram special’, its rating of 3.3 being way down on G12’s 4.8. The scores were mainly 3’s and 4’s; I did feel that the person who saw it as a ‘1’  must have been on top form (or performance enhancing drugs) . When I solved the puzzle, I rated it as a 4, but I certainly wouldn’t argue with the collective assessment. I’ll be interested to see how you think this one compared; it had some pretty sneaky definitions, but I’m ready for them now, likewise the ‘invisible commas’ (eg 27a) and the deceptive capitalization of words (eg 5d). There were plenty of clues to choose from when selecting my sixteen for comment, so please tell me if there are any which I haven’t included but that you would like me to cover.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 7d, “Report underground cell, missing the point (3)”. The wordplay has a five-letter ‘underground cell’, such as might be found beneath a church, being deprived of (‘missing’) the two-letter abbreviation for ‘point’, the result being a word meaning ‘report or rumour’. The item of interest here is the word ‘the’ preceding ‘point’ in the clue. Normally it would be inappropriate to add a definite article where it is not required, and the wordplay here would work perfectly well without it; a clue such as ‘Chose dictionary covering the point’ for OPTED (OED around PT) would not be acceptable. However, the situation here is different – we are talking about a word losing something that it already has, so ‘the point’ seems to me entirely valid, just as ‘its point’ would be, and ‘Dictionary chose to ignore the point’ for OED would similarly be sound. Note that things would be different, though, if there were to be multiple instances of the subtrahend in the source, eg ‘scrap dealer spending the time’ as a wordplay for OTTER (TOTTER – T), since it is actually ‘one of its times’ that is being lost, not ‘the [one and only] time’.

Apologies if these notes seemed to appear later than usual – I am still getting to grips with the caching facilities available from the new hosting provider and hadn’t set up the helper to reload the front page when a new post (or a new comment) is published. Changes to the site should now be visible in a more timely manner!

Across

1a Unloved part of performance no longer having top or tail in this? (12, 2 words)
An &lit to start us off, albeit a bit of a stretchy one. A four-letter word meaning ‘unloved’ (a bit of an understatement – ‘dreadful’ would be nearer the mark) is followed by a three-letter word for a part of a performance, which must have its first letter removed (‘no longer having top’). Then come the letters OR (from the clue) and a four-letter word for a tail of the modest sort sported by hares, rabbits and suchlike. The whole clue serves to suggest the answer, which is (9,3) and contains an apostrophe – Azed indicates apostrophes in his enumerations, but it is generally considered unnecessary to do so.

9a Graphic designer stripped, having lost second card game (6)
The surname of the French philosopher, scientist and mathematician who effectively bridged the gap between geometry and algebra by devising the coordinate system which allowed geometric shapes to be described in terms of algebraic expressions is shorn of its first and last letters (‘stripped’) before losing the usual abbreviation for ‘second’. There is a type of graph called the ‘????????? snark’ which was discovered by Blanche ????????? (the pseudonym of William Tutte), but I’m sure that it is not he to whom Gemelo is referring here.

10a Demonstrate what was moved from B Palace to H Park? (5)
In 1827 work started on a white marble structure designed by John Nash to frame the state entrance to the new Buckingham Palace (aka B Palace). In 1833 it was finally completed, albeit without some of the trimmings which its designer had envisioned. The palace was completed in 1837, and it soon became clear that it was not going to be large enough for Queen Victoria’s growing family and expanding entourage. In order to accommodate the extension of the palace, Nash’s structure was dismantled in 1847, and in 1851 it was rebuilt as a ceremonial entrance to the northeast corner of Hyde Park (H Park) at Cumberland Gate. By analogy with B House and H Park, the structure would be addressed formally as ? ????.

16a Czech play about quiet in Paris, or when most people are out (8, 2 words)
The three-letter name of a Czech play contains (‘about’) a three-letter interjection equivalent to ‘quiet[!]’ and the French (‘in Paris’) word for ‘or’. When I was at school (many years ago!) one of the plays that we performed was The Insect Play (or Pictures from the Insects’ Life) by the brothers Josef and Karel Čapek; Karel is best known, though, for his 1920 science fiction play known in English as Rossum’s Universal Robots, which introduced the word “robot” to the English language. The answer is (4,4).

20a Don’t play at home in underground passage to Canada (7)
If you think of a phrase like “They don’t play at home this weekend – they ??? ????”, then the inflections in the wordplay make sense.

24a Where demerara may be mostly crystallised in some beef (7, 2 words)
The four-letter past tense of a five-letter verb meaning ‘crystallise’ has its last letter omitted (‘mostly’) before being inserted into a word for a particular cut of beef to produce the (3,4) answer.

25a What was once mulled over, to indicate gathering ships (6)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to indicate’ (or ‘give a gratuity to’) is reversed (‘over’) around (‘gathering’) a word for ships, such as might be “o’ war”.

31a Air kiss declined by dunghill (4)
The single letter that represents a kiss is removed from a five-letter word for a dunghill, the result being the sort of ‘air’ that is only likely these days to be encountered in literature, describing a person’s appearance or bearing, particularly when serving as an indication of their mood.

Down

1d Mark 10.19 has impact on idle criminal (12, 2 words)
Our setter also, I believe, produces puzzles for the Church Times, but although Mark  chapter 10 verse 19 is relevant to the surface reading, no biblical knowledge is required to solve this clue – all you need to do here is infer a relative pronoun such as ‘that’ between ‘Mark’ and ‘10.19’, solve the anagram (‘criminal’) of IMPACT ON IDLE, and put the (7,5) answer in the grid.

4d Professional starting late, carrying tons of roofing material (7)
A  seven-letter word meaning ‘professional’, specifically applied to permanent members of the militia, without its first letter (‘starting late’) is preceded by (‘carrying’, this being a down entry) the usual abbreviation for ‘tons’. I’ve seen ‘starting late’ used in this way several times recently, but I’m not particularly keen on it – it seems rather akin to ‘during’ as a containment indicator, with ‘late’ and ‘during’ both being used exclusively in real life with a temporal sense.

5d Stops dropping Middle English round? (5)
Chambers lists an impressive number of organ stops, the ones here being so named because of their similarity in tone to a particular woodwind instrument. They lose their central letter (‘dropping [m]iddle’) and are followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘English’.

6d Trip while following southern dance (6)
A two-letter word meaning ‘while’ follows the usual abbreviation for ‘southern’, with the combination preceding a three-letter term for a winding country dance, often spelt with an E in the middle rather than an A.

15d Scotsman’s pet to appear without lead, cutting through restraint (8)
A six-letter word meaning ‘to appear’ or “to reach one’s destination” missing its first letter (‘without lead’) is contained by (‘cutting through’) a word for ‘restraint’ much favoured by crossword setters.

21d Parents needing clothing to become younger and more attractive (7)
A seven-letter word for parents of the distaff variety has its first and last letters replaced by the two-letter abbreviation for ‘younger’ (ie ‘needing clothing to become younger’).

26d This might finish cricket before accepting one’s bowled (5)
A two-letter word that means, among many other things, ‘before’ contains (‘accepting’) a two-letter word for “one’s” and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘bowled’. The ‘cricket’ in the definition is an insect, while the surface reading seems to relate to the game, although I’m not entirely sure what it’s trying to say.

29d Independent head who originally signed The Beatles and Queen (4)
The three initials by which the record company that signed The Beatles in 1962 is known combines with the single-letter abbreviation of the Latin word for ‘Queen’ to produce the answer. But hold hard! They were not the first record company to hold a contract with the Fab Four; Brian Epstein had to work hard to get them released from their 1961 contract with Polydor (My Bonnie, Ain’t She Sweet etc). Decca then were given first dibs on the band, but famously rejected them, supposedly justifying their decision with the words “Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein”. Three months later they signed with George Martin’s Parlophone label.

(definitions are underlined)