Notes for Gemelo 31

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 31 – ‘Two Faces’

This puzzle is available at https://content-api.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/api/mobile/v1/puzzle-data/be48e2b9-5791-45a0-a150-5decfdfe9e15/file/puzzle.pdf.

The special instructions read:

Two Faces – Ambiguity in clues is a fascination of mine. In this puzzle, each clue gives an answer to its own entry, but also to a later entry of the same length. Someone once said this kind of puzzle is like the optical illusion of two faces and a vase – change how you look at each clue, and something completely different appears.

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.

This puzzle was a remarkable achievement; whether you find solving it highly entertaining or a bit of a trial I will be interested to hear. I certainly would be surprised if your difficulty rating is lower than the 3.3 received by last week’s puzzle. Solving (including parsing all the clues twice, as it were) and blogging the crossword in my allocated time window was a challenge, but I was unable to suppress a laugh when I worked out the wordplay for the second answer to 4d. I could have picked out pretty much every clue for comment; below I have covered a few (highlighting both definitions, in line with the note underneath the comments) and included at the end a checklist of where the second entry for each clue goes in the grid. Please ask if you are unsure about the parsing of any other clues – the requirement to yield a second answer inevitably meant that both cryptic readings were stretched out of shape, sometimes to breaking point.

Note that there are only two eight-letter entries (clue 12a), and one is shown as ‘2 words’, so if you can get either answer you can put it straight in the grid. There are also only two twelve-letter entries, two ten-letter entries (both ‘2 words’) and two three-letter entries. Remember that the clue always appears at the earlier of the possible two positions – this means, in the extreme instance, that the clue at 27d can only be for the entries at 27d and 28d.

Setters’ Corner: I gave some thought a while ago to the possibility of producing a puzzle on these lines. I concluded that it was probably not going to be feasible, and certainly wasn’t going to be achievable using the sort of clues that I would want to write. Gemelo has demonstrated that it is possible, but this puzzle hasn’t made me regret not giving it a go – I’m happy that the fearsome mountain has been conquered, and I’m also happy that it wasn’t me that had to make the ascent. How much better, though, would this puzzle have been if at the end of it we had been challenged to write a clue of the same type for a word selected by Gemelo plus a word of our own choice? Roll on the new clue-writing comp, where his cleverness will be given extra purpose.

Across

1a Change or e.g. flip half removed feature of Adrian Meronk’s course? (6)
The two clues are parsed in the same way except that in [A] the fodder to be rearranged (indicated by the imperative verb ‘change’) is OR EG plus FLIP with the second half removed, and in [B] it is OR EG plus FLIP with the first half removed. Adrian Meronk is a Polish sportsperson of the drivin’, chippin’ and putttin’ kind.

6a One that’s successfully run through firm skin of toro after running around, and apples, each cored and stewed? (6)
A: The words AND and APPLES have their central letter or letters removed (‘cored’) before being jumbled (‘stewed’). B: The two-letter abbreviation for someone that’s successfully run for parliament is put inside (‘through’) the two-letter abbreviation for ‘company’ (rather too indirect for my liking) and a reversal (‘after running around’) of the outer letters (‘skin’) of ‘toro’.

12a Left-hand sides of some printed editions, and king with means of escape, perhaps to get on record? (8)
A: The wordplay has the single-letter regal abbreviation for ‘king’ and a three-letter word (all capitals) representing an appeal for help (‘means of escape, perhaps’) containing (‘to get’) a four-letter word meaning ‘on record’, as in ‘the biggest parsnip on record’. B: The first letters (‘left-hand sides’) of five words in the clue are followed by a three-letter word for a means of escape, as in ‘That gives me an ???’.

18a What’s shortly getting loose garments on plump? Article randomly inked, it’s concealing initiator of trouble (10, 2 words)
A: A single-letter ‘article’ is followed by an anagram (‘randomly’) of INKED ITS containing (‘concealing’) the first letter (‘initiator’) of ‘trouble’; the answer is (6,4). B: A six-letter word meaning ‘putting loose garments on’ deprived of its last letter (‘shortly’) follows (‘on’) a five-letter word meaning ‘plump’; the answer is (5,5).

19a Tie where one goes for horses, only using odds for a few? (5)
A: The word TIE has the Roman numeral representing ‘one’ replaced by the first, third and fifth letters of ‘horses’ (ie ‘one goes for horses, using only odds’). B: The wordplay is a second definition of a sort, being the name of a famous English racecourse, although the last six words of the clue add nothing to this reading.

31a What’s lost and has gone from Dear Hansen – one striking on wing? (4)
A: The letters AND HAS when rearranged (‘lost’) are removed (in the order in which they occur) from DEAR HANSEN to leave the answer. B: The word ONE (from the clue) missing (‘striking’) ON is followed by a three-letter word for a wing (also a small commercial vehicle). The answer is the word missing from the three-word title of an American musical.

Down

4d What’s spoken by Persian, briefly following before (from old language) returning, is R (5)
The single-letter abbreviations for ‘following’ (‘briefly following’) and ‘before’ (from the Latin ‘ante’, hence ‘from old language’) are followed by a reversal (‘returning’) of IS R. B: The sound that you might associate with a Persian cat (ie “what’s spoken by Persian”) without its last letter (‘briefly’) comes after (‘following’) a reversal (‘returning’) of an archaic (ie ‘from old language’) word meaning ‘before’.

14d Perhaps blazing star one at left and right stops, with sensei’s clothing lifted (7)
A reversal (‘lifted’) of a familiar three-letter star with the first and last letters of ‘one’ inside (ie ‘[that] one at left and right stops’) plus a two-letter word for a judo or karate costume (“sensei’s clothing’). B: The Roman numeral representing ‘one’ and the word AT, inside the usual abbreviations for ‘left’ and ‘right’ (ie ‘[that] left and right stops’, ‘stops’ in this reading being used as a containment indicator), with a reversal ‘lifted’ of the first and last letters (‘clothing’) of ‘sensei’ tacked onto the end.

(definitions of entries at the numbered locations are underlined; definitions of second entries are in red)

Locations of second entries

The second entry for the clue labelled 1a is at 33a; 6a – 22a; 11a – 3d; 12a – 30a; 13a – 15d; 17a – 26a; 18a – 24a; 19a – 8d; 21a – 32a; 23a – 25d; 29a – 10d; 31a – 6d; 2d – 9d; 4d – 24d; 5d – 21d; 7d – 20d; 14d – 16d; 27d – 28d.