Notes for Gemelo 15

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 15 ‘It could be verse’

Solver difficulty rating

2.9 based on 45 votes (voting is now closed)

You rated G14 at 4.0, a significant increase on the 3.3 ‘awarded’ to G13, with scores of 4 predominating. Personally, I didn’t think there was much between the two puzzles difficulty-wise, and I do wonder if G13’s relatively low rating owed something to it directly following the ‘anagrams’ special. I gave 4’s to both of them, so we’re in complete agreement as far as G14 is concerned.

I’m not sure what to make of today’s puzzle. Many years ago, writing clues in verse was very popular, and more recently it’s something I’ve done myself, but only in themed puzzles where the verse form had a bearing on the overall theme. I’m really not convinced about puzzles where the setter has artificially placed themselves under a constraint which has no impact on the solve, and I would have thought that no explanation was needed beyond the title. In the circumstances, Gemelo has undoubtedly done an excellent job with the clues here, but scanning/rhyming clues are inevitably of lower entertainment value than unconstrained ones, and since the clues are presented individually there is no reason for the solver to consider them in quatrains (with this sort of gimmick, I favour the clues being run together in groups of four, such that the solver has to work out where the breaks come). In general terms, I’d still rather that the setter – as Azed always did – produced ‘specials’ which challenge the solvers as well as himself.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 3d, “Where beer is special under king, for one (4)”. The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘special’ follows the abbreviation for ‘king’ used in chess/cards and the two-letter abbreviation of the Latin phrase meaning ‘for example’. Several times this year I have seen ‘for one’ used in clues to indicate this particular abbreviation, but I can’t accept it. The expression has a very specific meaning: Chambers gives ‘As at least one, albeit possibly the only one, as in I for one disagree‘. It seems to me that “I for one disagree” and  “I for example disagree” mean quite different things, but perhaps the meanings are close enough for solvers not to be discomfited. It’s not something that I shall be adopting myself, but as always it is down to individual setters to decide whether they think ‘for one’ and ‘for example’ are effectively the same.

Across

10a Escape The Royal Oak? Remove its rind (4)
‘The Royal Oak’ is an example of a particular type of establishment; a six-letter slang term for such a place must be deprived of its first and last letters (‘Remove its rind’).

11a Mundane to sin through grief of older men (7)
A familiar three-letter word meaning ‘to sin’ is contained by (‘through’) an archaic word (‘of older men’) for ‘grief’.

17a Come back about, say engineers from right (8)
That two-letter bit of commercial jargon meaning ‘about’ or ‘concerning’ is followed by a reversal (‘from right’) of the usual two-letter abbreviation indicated by ‘say’ or ‘for example’ and the four-letter abbreviation for a corps of the British Army founded in 1942 (motto: By Skill and by Fighting) to keep everything from helicopters to rifles in full working order.

19a Organic fat from Rio grabbing knight (5)
The four-letter name of the standard monetary unit of Brazil (‘fat from Rio’, ‘fat’ being slang for money) contains (‘grabbing’) the chess player’s (or por speler’s) abbreviation for ‘knight’. The definition refers to the ‘relating to, derived from, like or of the nature of an organ’ sense of ‘organic’ in Chambers.

24a Where public may call Kansas chap around (5)
A reversal (‘around’) of the two-letter abbreviation for ‘Kansas’ and a word for a ‘chap’ which Chambers qualifies as being ‘slightly derogatory’; this seems something of an understatement, since it is typically used to refer to someone who, as Collins puts it, ‘you think behaves in a rude or unacceptable way, especially in a way that you believe to be typical of a low social class.’

27a In losing silver, having head that’s sound (8, 2 words)
A (3,3,4) phrase that means ‘very much in fashion’ (ie ‘in’) loses the chemical symbol for silver, the result being a (3,5) expression.

31a Support a pound to share election form (12, 2 words)
The (6,6) answer is produced by a charade of four elements: a four-letter word for the sort of’ ‘support’ that might hold up a fence, the letter A (from the clue), the two-letter abbreviation for a pound weight, and a five-letter word meaning ‘to share [out]’.

33a As halves of former collars worn by male (7)
This is a tricky one, where an old spelling (‘former’) of a familiar word meaning ‘collars’ or ‘grasps’ contains (‘worn by’) the usual abbreviation for ‘male’. The craftily-disguised ‘as’ is not the common adverb, rather a Roman coin.

Down

2d Did fool cut through in wake of spring that’s short? (6)
A four-letter word meaning ‘cut through’ or ‘dispensed with’ follows (‘in wake of’) a three-letter word meaning ‘[to] spring’ or ‘[to] leap on one leg’ from which the last letter has been omitted (“that’s short”).

7d I’m much depressed concerning name in flop (9, 2 words)
The piece of commercial jargon for ‘concerning’ also seen at 17a is followed  by the single-letter abbreviation for ‘name’ contained within a term describing a film or suchlike which is a complete failure – although in the language of tenpin bowling, far from being a flop it is the achievement of three consecutive strikes, after which comes a ‘badger’. The (6,3) answer gives away the lower-tech origins of the thing in question, which is now usually known by a more appropriate (5,3) phrase.

9d For Spooner, ushered leaner food that’s hard (12, 2 words)
The (3,9) answer is a spoonerized version of a three-letter word meaning ‘ushered’ and a six-letter word for someone who leans or reposes; in this sense, the word ‘leaner’ is not given by Chambers, but Collins lists it.

13d How much is charged to fix declining cast (4)
An eight-letter word for what you do to an entire horse to turn it into a gelding (‘to fix’) has the consecutive letters CAST removed (‘declining cast’).

16d Get round to info, spinning current bit (9)
The letters TO (from the clue) and a three-letter crossword staple answering to ‘info’ are reversed (‘spinning’) ahead of the single letter from physics representing electrical current and a three-letter word meaning ‘bit’ or ‘consumed’.

20d Inflated mattress – air not wholly old (4)
A four-letter word for ‘a cheerful song or air’ (or the drink with the totally tropical taste, now sadly rebranded as the rather more prosaic Fanta Pineapple and Grapefruit) is shorn of its last letter (‘not wholly’) and followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘old’.

25d Before, before, I cheer for bird of gold (6)
An archaic conjunction meaning ‘before’ (ie ‘before, before’) precedes the letter I (from the clue) and the sort of cheer that you would formerly have associated with the bullring (not the one in Birmingham) but which now often accompanies each of a long series of passes by a team controlling a soccer match.

29d Delight in run, removing top for good (4)
A four-letter word meaning ‘run’ in the escaping sense has its first letter replaced by the usual abbreviation for ‘good’ (‘removing top for good’).

(definitions are underlined)