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 you would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Gemelo 48

This puzzle is available at https://content-api.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/api/mobile/v1/puzzle-data/0d0740bc-b84e-4d86-8492-b5917efb1fc5/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. Your ratings for Gemelo 47 averaged out at 2.8, a full point up on its two immediate predecessors. My own rating was a shade below that, but I thought it was pretty close to ideal difficulty and (a few minor quibbles notwithstanding) a very good crossword.

I thought today’s puzzle was excellent, with a few relatively easy starters and some cleverly disguised breaks between definition and wordplay. There was little here that jarred badly with me, although of course by now I am getting used to Gemelo’s ‘little ways’.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 10d, “Reckless gambler, holding 9 without ace, is rallying again (12)”. The wordplay involves an anagram (‘reckless’) of GAMBLER containing (‘holding’) the answer to 9d (‘9’), itself containing (‘without’) the usual abbreviation for ‘ace’. The point of interest here is that the answer is a noun while, of the two possible definitions, ‘is rallying again’ appears to indicate a verb (eg ‘recovers’), while ‘rallying again’ (with ‘is’ being a link between wordplay and definition) would seem to indicate an adjective or participle (eg ‘recovering’). In point of fact, it is the latter definition that is required, but ‘rallying’ here is not a participle or participial adjective but a verbal noun (gerund), so it could indicate ‘recovery’. The difference can be seen in examples such as “She has been unwell but is rallying” (participle), “They joined the rallying group” (adjective) and “Rallying in a telephone box is not sensible” (verbal noun). The gerund functions grammatically as a noun, and can be the subject or object of a verb (“Eating people is wrong”, “We like eating out”) and is something of a hybrid because it retains certain verbal qualities, so for instance it can (unlike other nouns) be modified by an adverb, eg “Eating noisily is impolite”. To derive an appropriate definition from a gerund, you may need to prefix it with the indefinite article, so here ‘a rallying’ and, for instance, ‘a flowing’ for ‘current’.

Verbal nouns used as definitions can be tricky for solvers because they almost invariably masquerade as participles in the surface reading, and when there is a link word like the ‘is’ here things become trickier still; for this reason, I would suggest that such definitions should be used sparingly. For solvers, a clue like this highlights the importance when breaking down a clue of separating out the definition and treating it as completely independent of the context apparently created by the surface reading.

One further observation about the definition here: the first meaning of ‘rally’ shown by Chambers suggests that the ‘again’ is unnecessary.

Across

5a Increasingly tipsy game involving chasers, with three shortly drunk (7)
A three-letter children’s game that involves chasers (this is the version with an ‘I’ in the middle, though the one I played many years ago had an ‘A’) is followed by an anagram (‘drunk’) of THREE missing its last letter (‘shortly’).

11a Where one may be putting gallons naturally around lake (10, 2 words)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘gallons’ and a (2,6) phrase meaning ‘naturally’ are put around the usual abbreviation for ‘lake’. The answer is (4,6).

14a One’s educated about football team’s crosses in play (10)
A two-letter word equivalent to ‘one is’ and the two-letter abbreviation for ‘educated’ are reversed (‘about’) ahead of the six-letter nickname of a Midlands football team. The answer is hyphenated, 4-6, and the ‘in play’ is there because the word is shown by Chambers as being Shakespearean; whilst I appreciate that ‘in play’ makes a change from “Will’s” or the like, it does seem a bit vague – there can’t be many words that haven’t appeared in a play, somewhere, sometime.

18a Hot, naked – and separate (4)
A six-letter word meaning ‘hot’ in the sense of ‘fashionable’ is deprived of its first and last letters (‘naked’).

20a The clumsy chopping weapon? (7)
I’m not sure that &lits are Gemelo’s strongest suit (though in fairness 6d is solid enough). Here an anagram (‘clumsy’) of THE is contained by (‘chopping’) a four-letter war club (of the sort frequently wielded by General Nitt and members of his Barmy Army in Wham! comic, invariably generously endowed with spikes on the business end), with the result being loosely defined by the clue as a whole, though I’m not sure Bear Grylls would agree that such a thing is ‘clumsy’. Incidentally, we used to include ‘chopping’ in the list of insertion indicators at the Clinic, but it was recently removed on the grounds that the chopping was done by a person, not the instrument.

23a Burning ironing, ultimately from more than just pressing? (5)
The last letter (‘ultimately’) of ‘ironing’  is [removed] ‘from’ a six-letter word meaning ‘more than just pressing’. There’s a link to today’s Setters’ Corner, since the ‘pressing’ in the surface reading is a verbal noun, while in the cryptic reading it is a verbal adjective.

26a Chat about Madness, along with less sophisticated rock group (10, 2 words)
A three-letter word meaning ‘chat’ (a talent for which one might acquire through intimacy with the Blarney Stone) containing a four-letter word for ‘madness’ or ‘anger’ is followed by a word meaning ‘along with’. The result is a (6,4) expression which has had me singing the last track of the Clash’s debut album to myself on several occasions this morning.

29a At least 25 pounds for Spanish queen to board Asian carriage (6)
I’m not too keen on clues with relatively obscure answers which feature similarly obscure words in the wordplay – if the solver doesn’t know either of the words, they have no route to the answer. Here the single-letter monarchic abbreviation for ‘queen’ is contained by (‘to board’) a five-letter word for a Central Asian wheeled carriage which could itself be cryptically indicated by ‘sample from near Oban’.

Down

1d Press shoot sport informally, starting late in confusion (12)
This is a charade of three-letter word meaning ‘press’ or ’embrace’, a four-letter ‘shoot’ or ‘sprout’ (often, these days, of an idea), and a six-letter informal name given to a particular contact sport, without its first letter (‘starting late’). The answer is hyphenated, 6-6.

2d Medium or large initially claimed by one (6)
The letters OR (from the clue) are followed by the first letter (‘initially’) of ‘large’ contained (‘claimed’) by a three-letter word for the ‘one’ in cards.

4d Bit of light conflict abruptly ended when wearing uniform (8)
A five-letter word for a conflict or a scrimmage, lacking its last letter (‘abruptly ended’) is contained by (‘wearing’) a word meaning ‘uniform’ or ‘even’.

7d Erotic Greek monster killing one in three (4)
The name given to any one of three Greek monsters, of which Medusa is the most famous, loses (‘killing’) every third letter (‘one in three’) to produce the answer, which is usually hyphenated (2-2) but is also given by Chambers in an unbroken form. The surface reading makes you wonder what happened to the ones that weren’t killed.

13d Did Miss Delaware love interrupting temperamental woman from the south? (7)
The two-letter abbreviation for ‘Delaware’ is followed by the usual representation of ‘love’ within (‘interrupting’) an informal term for a temperamental, demanding woman, and the whole lot is reversed (‘from the south’).

14d Skippers mark floating crew rest regularly dismissed (7)
A three-letter word for a small marker-buoy (ie ‘mark floating’) precedes CREW REST with alternate letters deleted (‘regularly dismissed’).

17d Eg Ibizan beer stocked by Italian city clubs (8)
The usual three-letter word answering to ‘beer’ is contained by a four-letter Italian city, a popular setting for TV crime dramas (Lolita Lobosco, Cold Summer), and the usual abbreviation for ‘clubs’.

24d Antelope curry – no joke! – served up (5)
The (5,4) name of a particular variety of curry is shorn of a four-letter word meaning ‘[to] joke’ and reversed (‘served up’). I could not resist including a cartoon from the splendid Red Cat series, drawn by Robert Thompson and published in The Guardian. You will not be surprised to learn that the Red Cat’s breakfast cereal of choice is mouseli and his favourite recipe involves mixing single cream and double cream, the result being ‘triple cream’. Yum!

(
definitions are underlined)