{"id":6452,"date":"2026-02-21T14:39:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/?p=6452"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:15:09","slug":"notes-for-gemelo-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/21\/notes-for-gemelo-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes for Gemelo 25"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

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<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Gemelo 25<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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This puzzle is available at https:\/\/cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk\/media\/documents\/obs.GEMELO.20260222.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Solver difficulty rating\r\n

2.3 based on 39 votes (voting is now closed)<\/p>\r\n

Thanks to all those who gave a rating for last week’s special based on the letter A – the average, derived from 49 votes, was a chunky 3.8, which I think reflected in particular the almost complete absence of any obvious toeholds.<\/p>\r\n

For my money, Gemelo’s return to unconstrained mode resulted in a much more entertaining puzzle, with a good variety of clues. Some tricky ones, for sure, but also a few easier ones to get us started. I’ll be interested to see how solvers rate it in comparison with last week’s offering. When it came to picking out the clues for these notes I had plenty to choose from, so if there any not shown below which you would like me to comment on, just let me know.<\/p>\r\n

Setters’ Corner<\/em><\/strong>: This week I’m going to look at clue 22d, “Worcester\u2019s most convenient<\/span> way to support organ installed by Edward Elgar, originally (6)”.\u00a0 Here the usual two-letter abbreviation for ‘street’ follows (‘to support’) the two-letter abbreviation for the pink organ favoured by those with an interest in economic rather than showbiz affairs contained (‘installed’) by the first letters (‘originally’) of ‘Edward Elgar’. The reason for picking out this clue is that it features a particular b\u00eate noire of mine, the indirect abbreviation (or ‘indir’). ‘Way’ is perfectly acceptable for ‘street’, and ‘street’ is valid for ST, but a way is not a ST. Abbreviations come in two flavours: some are very much part of the language, while others are used only in writing, and then in a specific context. The abbreviation CD, for instance, falls into the former group – you would say “I’ve got that CD” rather than “I’ve got that compact disc”, and abbreviations like CD and GP have a life of their own, such that to all intents and purposes they are nouns (and they are given as such by Collins, although not by Chambers). I have no problem with ‘recording medium’ for CD or ‘doctor’ for GP. The other class of abbreviations have restricted scope and are not part of the language – D for ‘diamonds’ relates specifically to playing cards, and not even a bridge player would say “I played the ace of D”. Similarly, abbreviations like RD and ST relate specifically to maps (and thus addresses), and would never be used in any other context, for example “He lives in my St”. I strongly believe that this type of abbreviation should be indicated only by using the unabbreviated form.<\/p>\r\n

Across<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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9a<\/strong> Nothing, say, stopping one being mouthy?<\/span> (7)<\/span>
The usual single-letter representation of ‘nothing’ is followed by a five-letter word meaning ‘say’ containing (‘stopping’) the Roman numeral representing ‘one’. The definition is somewhat whimsical (hence the question mark). OED gives a great many meanings for the verb ‘stop’, but I’m not sure that any of them justify its use as a containment (rather than an insertion) indicator.<\/p>\r\n

12a<\/strong> Order<\/span> of business that\u2019s lost me (4)<\/span>
A six-letter word for “one’s calling or business” is deprived of (“that’s lost”) the consecutive letters ME (from the clue). The definition might feel slightly off the mark, but Chambers does give ‘order’ as (among many other things) ‘grade, degree, rank or position, especially in a hierarchy’, so I think it’s fine.<\/p>\r\n

14a<\/strong> Running<\/span> backwards, glimpse local shelving book (6)<\/span>
A reversal (‘backwards’) of a four-letter word for the sort of glance that might be sneaky and a three-letter word for a ‘local’ (such as the Queen Vic) missing (‘shelving’) the usual abbreviation for ‘book’. The answer often refers these days to the cost associated with running something, but it can also describe the running itself.<\/p>\r\n

18a<\/strong> Experts<\/span> in women\u2019s clothing at parade around square (11, 2 words)<\/span>
The three-letter article of women’s clothing often (too often, some might say) indicated by ‘support’ is followed by a two-letter preposition with a similar meaning to ‘at’ when followed by a location (typically one or the other is appropriate in any given situation) and a five-letter word meaning ‘[to] parade’ as a peacock might do containing (‘around’) the usual abbreviation for ‘square’. The answer is (6,5).<\/p>\r\n

20a<\/strong> Shakespeare\u2019s vague fellow<\/span> can notice a lot (11)<\/span>
A four-letter word for ‘[the] can’, with similarly transatlantic provenance, is followed by a two-letter ‘notice’ (“Bill Stickers will be Prosecuted” \/ “Bill Stickers is innocent”) and ‘a lot’ of sheets of paper. The answer is hyphenated 4-1-6.<\/p>\r\n

23a<\/strong>\u00a0Some<\/u> brought round rival case of chocolate beer (8, 3 words)<\/span>
A reversal (‘brought round’) of a three-letter word for a rival or enemy, the first and last letters (‘case’) of ‘chocolate’, and the three-letter abbreviation for a strong pale ale specially formulated to survive the long sea voyage to India, where the heat made local brewing impractical in the late eighteenth century.<\/p>\r\n

26a<\/strong> Much loved<\/span> black Indo European family touring island (8)<\/span>
The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘black’ and the abbreviation for ‘Indo-European’ are followed by a word for an appellation which can also mean ‘a family or clan’ containing (‘touring’, not a favourite of mine) the single-letter abbreviation for ‘island’. The answer is hyphenated 4-4, and its definition should have been qualified with ‘French’ or the like, since it appears under a headword shown as ‘French’. This means that it has not been assimilated into the English language, and such words and phrases, just like those shown as being Scottish (cf ‘auld’), need to flagged as such when used as answers.<\/p>\r\n

29a<\/strong> Unusual place for pig<\/span>\u2019s second trough (4)<\/span>
A charade of the usual abbreviation for ‘second’ and a three-letter word for an inclined trough used for washing ore furnishes two possible answers, and the letter by which the two differ is unchecked. One is an ‘old spelling’ of the familiar three-letter word for a pig’s place, and the other is shown as a rare spelling, so it is surely the variant with a Y which Gemelo intends us to select. I have a feeling that he may not have spotted the old spelling, which is not cross-referenced under the three-letter headword, since one could make a good case for either answer fitting the bill.<\/p>\r\n

30a<\/strong> Cabbage<\/span> one found in alley<\/span> (4)<\/span>
A double definition, the first one relating to a less common spelling of the name for a curly cabbage and the second to the kind of thing which when playing long alley skittles in the pubs of Leicestershire we would try to knock down with ‘cheeses’ (solid pieces of wood shaped like barrels) – though the targets were never known by the name here. Incidentally, the OED gives seventeen different spellings through the ages, none of which is the one in Chambers. In the second definition I would have preferred “one’s” to ‘one’, which looks suspiciously like a pronoun.<\/p>\r\n

31a<\/strong> Confused<\/span> dummy grabbing nearly all undealt cards (7, 3 words)<\/span>
A three-letter ‘dummy’ or ‘fool’ contains (‘grabbing’) the five-letter word for what remains of a pack after the hands have been dealt (and also for a claw) without its last letter (‘nearly all’). The answer is (2,1,4). Of course, there wouldn’t be a dummy while there were still cards undealt, but we can let that pass.<\/p>\r\n

Down<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

1d<\/strong> Music from Michigan<\/span>\u2019s second city? (6)<\/span>
A two-letter informal abbreviation (of the entirely acceptable kind – see Setter’s Corner) of a word for a second (as in ‘hold on a second’) and a four-letter word for a city (which seems slightly counterintuitive, but Chambers gives ‘city’ as ‘a large ????’) combine to produce the term for a type of music which originated in Michigan’s first city. Incidentally, when Berry Gordy started his own record label in 1959, he apparently wanted to call it ‘Tammy’ after the Debbie Reynolds hit song of the same name, but Tony March had already established a label of that name in Youngstown, Ohio, so he decided on ‘Tamla’ instead…and the rest is history.<\/p>\r\n

7d<\/strong> Outline<\/span> of fish, almost entirely covered in gold (6)<\/span>
A five-letter freshwater fish (that one might associate with rods and poles) shorn of its last letter (‘almost entirely’) is contained by (‘covered in’) the chemical symbol for gold.<\/p>\r\n

19d<\/strong> American entering appeal with his taxman about Bollywood title?<\/span> (7)<\/span>
A two-letter abbreviation for ‘American’ is put inside (‘entering’) a two-letter term for ‘[sex] appeal’ originally associated with Clara Bow (from the film of that name) and the three-letter abbreviation for the US tax service (ie ‘his taxman’ – another abbreviation which passes the ‘life of its own’ test), with the whole lot then being reversed (‘about’).<\/p>\r\n

20d<\/strong> Japanese rises topped hills to the west<\/span> (6)<\/span>
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘Japanese’ (a relatively recent addition to Chambers, though I’ve no idea what prompted its inclusion) is followed by a six-letter word meaning ‘rises [up]’ stripped of its first letter (‘topped’).\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

21d<\/strong> Rainy<\/span> and hot day ultimately passed up (6)<\/span>
The usual abbreviation for ‘hot’ precedes the last letter (‘ultimately’) of ‘day’ and a reversal (‘up’) of a word meaning ‘passed’ in the sense of ‘deceased’.<\/p>\r\n

24d<\/strong> Irrational rule for what to put next to 1a?<\/span> (5)<\/span>
The name of the symbol for a two-letter irrational number representing a well-known geometric ratio is followed by a three-letter rule. The answer might be set alongside that for 1a on a table in an Indian restaurant.<\/p>\r\n

(definitions are underlined<\/span>)<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/span> Post Views:<\/span> 866<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n

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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last Gemelo of the month is unfettered<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":2.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gemelo-notes"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":39,"sum_votes":91},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6452"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6485,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6452\/revisions\/6485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}