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 49

This puzzle is available at https://content-api.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/api/mobile/v1/puzzle-data/4fcd7937-b648-466f-b26e-a2e06dff40eb/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.

You gave G48 an average difficulty rating of 2.6, just a tidge below the 2.8 awarded to G47. I gave it 2.5, feeling that it struck a happy medium in terms of toughness, so we were in close agreement.

Given the standard of its immediate predecessors, today’s puzzle struck me as being a little disappointing, though I’m not sure that I could put my finger on why that was. The surface readings were perfectly serviceable, but they were perhaps rather on the dull side, which may have contributed to my relative lack of enthusiasm. A perfectly good crossword, but still no sign of the promised clue-writing comp, and you have to go back to G40 for the last ‘special’ that asked anything different of the solver.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 16a, “Where celebrations happened on account of taking vaccine, but not the last one (7)”. The wordplay has the two-letter abbreviation for ‘on account of’ containing  (‘taking’) a five-letter word for a vaccine (or a colourless bodily fluid), missing its last letter, and the Roman numeral representing ‘one’. The indicator ‘but not the last’ tells the solver to omit that last letter, and the clue is fine. However, one often sees ‘not the last’ used to indicate removal of a last letter, ‘not the first’ for first letter removal, and ‘Y, not X’ for removal of Y from X. We tend to take the validity of these for granted, but I have become increasingly sceptical about them, and following a recent correspondence with a respected setter I am convinced that they are not fit for purpose. For instance, ‘X, not Y’, as in ‘whisky, not ice’, doesn’t mean that the whisky is lacking ice, rather that we are talking about whisky rather than ice. The former concept would be expressed by ‘whisky, no ice’. The only way that any of these ‘not’ constructions works is if a word like ‘having’ is inferred after it, but such inferences cannot reasonably be expected of the solver.

Across

1a Apparatus for locating submerged objects like bones, mostly (5)
A two-letter word meaning ‘like’ is followed by a four-letter name given to particular objects used over many centuries in gaming, and which were typically made of bone, deprived of its last letter (‘mostly’).

6a American inclination to keep south out (6)
The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘American’ precedes a four-letter word for an inclination or tendency containing (‘to keep’) the usual abbreviation for ‘south’.

12a Pilot, through translator, detained in city near Marseille (8)
The three-letter Latin word meaning ‘through’ and the abbreviation for ‘translator’ are contained (‘detained’) in the three-letter name by which the ‘City of a Thousand Fountains’ en Provence is usually known. The ‘pilot’ could have been, for instance,  Amy Johnson or Amelia Earhart.

24a How parent may be introduced after wedding journey (4)
I picked this one out for comment just so I could quote Harry Hill’s classic one-liner, “I have a really nice stepladder; sadly, I never knew my real ladder.”

26a Musk perhaps holds revolutionary status (7)
The forename of the world’s first US dollar trillionaire contains (‘holds’) the nickname of the world’s most famous (if crosswords are anything to go by) revolutionary, this being the conversational filler in Argentine Spanish (along the lines of ‘right’ in English) which he apparently used with great regularity. Presumably Manuel in Fawlty Towers was known by a broadly similar sobriquet.

29a Company cutting part in good time for Four Seasons (6)
A five-letter word for a company, missing (‘cutting’) the consecutive letters PART, combines with a five-letter word meaning ‘in good time’ to produce the answer.

31a Tea no longer baffled couple (4)
A triple-definition clue involving three different words with the same spelling, the first often being seen with an acute accent on the last letter, the second being archaic (hence the ‘no longer’), and the third frequently being indicated in cryptics by ‘friend’ or the like.

32a Independent constituency, closely fought, losing right of representation (8)
The usual abbreviation for ‘independent’ is followed by an eight-letter word for the sort of parliamentary constituency which is prone to changing hands on a regular basis, lacking (‘losing’) the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘right’.

Down

1d Practically losing stone without a mission (5)
A six-letter word meaning ‘practically’ or ‘nearly’, missing (‘losing’, a repeat from 32a) the two-letter abbreviation for ‘stone’, contains (‘without’) the letter A (from the clue). The answer is the name of a Spanish mission and fortress in what is now San Antonio, Texas. Its lasting fame was ensured by a battle in 1836 which involved the legendary figures David Bowie and James Crockett (aka ‘Sonny’). The site is now host to a museum which welcomes several million visitors each year. Q: How many ears did Davy Crockett have? A: Three —a left ear, a right ear, a wild front ear.

2d Banger, for instance, retaining speed after leaving city (7)
A three-letter word equivalent to ‘for instance’ contains a seven-letter word for ‘speed’ from which the consecutive letters CITY have been omitted (‘leaving city’). The ‘banger’ in question should not be consumed in combination with hot sausage, mustard, cold jelly, custard and pease pudding, or in-di-gestion will surely ensue.

4d Severely criticise place with capital toward the north (5, 2 words)
A three-letter word meaning ‘[to] place’ and the printing abbreviation for ‘upper-case’ (‘capital’) are reversed (‘toward the north’).

7d One’s strung up and cross, caught by fine during sting (7, 2 words)
The  single letter which represents a cross is contained by a two-letter word meaning ‘fine’ or ‘all right’, and the combination is put inside (‘caught by’) a four-letter word which might at first blush seem to be not quite the same as ‘sting’, but the two verbs have a shared meaning of ‘smart’. The answer is (3,4).

9d What’s used before birth name, maiden name, or former name (4)
The wordplay here is a charade of the two-letter word that is used when giving the original name of a titled man, the usual abbreviation for maiden, and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘name’.

10d Fly from Bristol to London, say, forgetting article, and doubling back (6)
The four-letter general direction in which you would travel to get from Bristol to London loses (‘forgetting’) a single-letter article, is duplicated (‘doubling’), and is reversed (‘back’).

17d Stay-at-home mum accepting resistance over Conservative stuff that’s grown on her (8)
A two-letter ‘childish contraction’ answering to ‘mum’ containing (‘accepting’) the usual abbreviation for ‘resistance’ is reversed ahead of (‘over’) the single-letter abbreviation for ‘Conservative’ and a four-letter word for something that naturally grows on people.

20d Aboriginal huts with modern address that is special (7)
An abbrev-fest. The usual abbreviation for ‘with’, a three-letter abbreviation for an address on the World Wide Web (‘modern address’), the abbreviation for the Latin phrase meaning ‘that is’, and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘special’ join forces to produce the answer.

(definitions are underlined)