Quite typically, I forgot I was meant to be blogging the Genius puzzle this month, so we solved it in a rush this morning in order to get this post done. This was a pleasure nonetheless, with the thematic device of changing one letter in a known phrase to produce an unusual phrase producing several laugh-out-loud moments. We thought this was on the easy side for a Genius crossword, but that was not unappreciated in the circumstances 🙂 We don’t understand 8 across, but I’m sure someone else can explain!
Across
8. Happening to lose silver, it’s normal (3,5)
ALL THERE (?)
I suppose this must be the answer, but I’ve no idea how the clue works… Thanks to claire for explaining this: it’s ALL THE R[ag]E = “Happening” without AG = “silver”
Definition: “normal” (to be “all there” being “to be in good mental health”?)
9, 1. Absurdity of an ‘1980s band, The Officers (6,5)
POLICE FORCE / POLICE FARCE
POLICE FORCE = “The Officers”, changing to POLICE FARCE = “Absurdity of an ‘1980s band” – the “an” and apostrophe are strange – I guess maybe the clue originally had “an ’80s band”
11. Reminder to cover scent behind head and tail of poisonous marine invertebrate (3,6)
CUP SPONGE
CUE = “reminder” around P[oisonou]S “head and tail of poisonous” + PONG = “fragrance”
Definition: “marine invertebrate”
12. Puzzle – no dawn in darkness? (5)
REBUS
EREBUS means “darkness”, and “no dawn in” is a figurative way of saying “drop the first letter”
Definition: “Puzzle”
13. Priest’s habitat with a capital H (6)
PARISH
PARIS = “capital” + H
Definition: “Priest’s habitat”
15. Skin taken off, weeper punching nose, subject to public ridicule (7)
PILLORY
[w]ILLO[w] = “Skin taken off” “weeper” in PRY = “nose”
Definition: “subject to public ridicule” (“subject” as a verb)
17. Cycle resembling a tandem? (4)
OTTO
I’m sure I’ve seen this elsewhere recently: the OTTO cycle is the idealized operation of a particular type of piston engine, and the word OTTO looks a bit like a tandem bicycle, with the Os being wheels and the two Ts being the riders (?)
Definition: “Cycle”
18. Island consuming last of fresh fish (5)
SHARK
H = “last of fresh” in SARK = “island”
Definition: “fish”
20. Run along street humming Offenbach’s operatic overtures (4)
SHOO
First letters (“overtures”) of S[treet] H[umming] O[ffenbach’s] O[peratic]
Definition: “Run along”
24. Hot thing – cold thing? (6,6)
CHILLI PEPPER / CHILLY PEPPER
CHILLI PEPPER = “Hot thing”, changing to CHILLY PEPPER = “cold thing?” (very vague indeed – and it was a bit confusing that the clue number appeared as just “24” rather than “24, 10 down” in the puzzle)
26, 2. Ratings disaster – cause of a big splash? (5,4)
BELLY FLOP / TELLY FLOP
BELLY FLOP = “cause of a big splash?”, changing to TELLY FLOP = “Ratings disaster”
27. Wash half away flooding terrain badly? It might! (9)
RAINWATER
WA[sh] = “Wash half away” in (TERRAIN)*
Definition: “It might!” in the context of the whole clue
30. Help to bring in flier in a storm – where to land? (8)
AIRFIELD
AID = “Help” around (FLIER)*
Definition: “where to land?”
Down
3. Adviser to the Blairs gulping hard, funny old bloke (7)
CHAPLIN
(Carole) CAPLIN = “Adviser to the Blairs” around H = “hard”
Definition: “funny old bloke” (Charlie Chaplin)
4, 29. Les petits cochons’ cocked hat? (6,6)
FRENCH LETTER / FRENCH LITTER
FRENCH LETTER = “cocked hat” (a French Letter is a condom, so I suppose this is a play on the crude sense of “cock”), changing to FRENCH LITTER = “Les petits cochons” (“the little pigs”)
5. Downstairs cleaner wants a bacon butty? (3,4)
BOG ROLL / HOG ROLL
BOG ROLL = “Downstairs cleaner” (“downstairs” being a euphemism for one’s nether regions, although I guess that’s just another euphemism. I give up. :)) That changes to HOG ROLL = “bacon butty?”
6. Literary dictator’s great source of old professionals (3,7)
BIG BROTHER / BIG BROTHEL
BIG BROTHER = “Literary dictator” (from George Orwell’s “1984”), changing to BIG BROTHEL = “great source of old professionals”, referring to another euphemism – “the oldest profession” for prostitution
7. Unpleasant woman from Birkenhead, one with a black-and-white coat? (6,3)
JERSEY COW / MERSEY COW
JERSEY COW = “one with a black-and-white coat?” (although it seems from Wikipedia that they’re more typically light brown, but this is far from an area of expertise for me), changing to MERSEY COW = “Unpleasant woman from Birkenhead” (Birkenhead is in Merseyside)
14. Crooked collar that’s sacred material (10)
ALTARCLOTH
(COLLAR THAT)*
Definition: “sacred material” – this isn’t given as one word in Chambers or the OED (although the latter has it hyphenated)
16. Rooftop hazard, ladies and gentlemen, cream overturned (5,4)
LOOSE TILE
LOOS = “ladies and gentleman” + ELITE = “cream” reversed
Definition: “Rooftop hazard”
19. Potter’s bird in need of basting? (6)
HENDRY
HEN = “bird” + DRY = “in need of basting”
Definition: “Potter” – the snooker player, Stephen Hendry
21. One or two less hot, why fever requires treatment (4,3)
VERY FEW
(WY FEVER)* – the anagram fodder is “why fever” without H (“less hot”)
Definition: “One or two”
22, 24. Lack of support for those expecting an explanation for unwise changes in lifestyle? (7,6)
MIDLIFE CRISIS / MIDWIFE CRISIS
MIDLIFE CRISIS = “an explanation for unwise changes in lifestyle?”, changing to MIDWIFE CRISIS = “Lack of support for those expecting”
25. Raised, a Dutch city (5)
BREDA
BRED = “Raise” + A
Definition: “Dutch city”
28, 23. Saw worker, one operating daintily? (4,7)
TREE SURGEON / TWEE SURGEON
TREE SURGEON = “Saw worker”, changing to TWEE SURGEON = “one operating daintily?”
I think 8 across is Happening – All The R(Ag)e.
It wasn’t very difficult for a Genius, but it was a lot of fun. maybe this month my name will come out of the hat!
claire: ah, thanks! I thought that was how the construction of the clue worked, but for some reason couldn’t see what the AG could be lost from… I’ve updated the post.
Thanks mhl
Your assumption regarding 9,1 is correct. The copy I printed on the day the puzzle appeared had “of an ’80s band”. It also had 24,10.
However, it appears that some editing was done after publication, including the removal of some superfluous enumeration, for example 14dn was given as (5,5) (10) and 25dn as (5) (6). It would seem that there must have been some confusion regarding 14dn as it should have been either 5,5 (Collins & Oxford on-line) or 5-5 (Chambers).
Thanks for explaining 8a, Claire. I thought it must be ALL THERE but could see no earthly reason how it was derived, so the almost-completed crossword was lying around for a couple of weeks until I typed it in last night 20 minutes before the deadline!
mhl: I agree this was easy – for a genius – but this means being able to solve it in under a week for us 🙂 – very impressed you got it done in a morning.
Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed it, as much as – I suspect – Paul enjoyed setting it. All the ‘specials’ were worthy of a chortle, a groan or a fnarr-fnarr snigger. I much enjoyed the smutty ones (5d and 4/29), but others too were excellent – I loved 19d, I was quite convinced it was HEDWIG (Harry Potter’s bird) for a while, so it was a magic moment when the penny dropped
I also enjoyed this and managed to parse 8A easily enough, but not 17A.
I also at one point had 16D as one of the ‘unusual phrases’. I had it as Goose Tile, not Loose Tile, and parsed it as Rooftop Hazard simply being the definition for the latter and then interpreting the change of initial letter from L to G by way of reading Cream as being the top or first letter of a word, so then changing the first letter of Ladies [L] to the first letter of Gentlemen [G]. I never thought about there being no definition for Goose Tile and merrily ignored it until I had 10 ‘Unusual Phrases’. I then immediately noticed the proper parsing and wondered how I had constructed such a tortured answer in the first place. Amazing how you can convince yourself of something so wrong.
I wondered whether downstairs [as in cleaner] referred to Upstairs Downstairs terminology and therefore the lower class staff who might call a toilet roll a bog roll. I’m probably off the mark with that one though too.
Did anyone else suffer from the double entry of letters that I struggled with on Thursday when I entered my answers [I had waited for 2 weeks to see if I could convince myself on OTTO, which I simply took to be that cycle meant palindrome and this looked like a tandem read both ways.
I enjoyed this one a lot. I got seriously stuck for quite a while because I had 7 as SCALLY COW. A Google search turned up SCILLY COW and so I thought I was on a winner. It turns out that a Scilly cow is brown too, like the Jersey cow, so it didn’t fit any better. And I’m not sure whether it’s a species or just a description of a cow that happens to be on the Scilly Isles. Highly amusing to finally sort it all out, if a little mystifying as regards the bovine colour scheme!
Thanks to Paul for the fun if not too tricky crossword, and to mhl.
I had no idea how 8a worked so thanks for that Claire – good luck with the hat !
Gordon @5, yes, I kept getting double letters when I typed into the grid on-line and was only able to press submit after going into one of the answers that itself had a double letter.
Otto has certainly come up elsewhere recently which helped a lot.
mhl: OTTO. You surely have seen that clue before – exactly the same as 6D in Paul’s Genius 120, not that long ago.
Gordon: That Guardian site “double-entry letters” has happened to me more than once. Incredibly infuriating. First time I thought my keyboard had developed a “bounce”. I haven’t worked out what makes it start or stop. I normally persevere by doing: type in a letter, go back one, repeat.
Mr Beaver: Another one here who couldn’t get Hedwig out of his head.
I really enjoyed this one. First Genius I’ve finished correctly for a while, and I think some of those weren’t so easy to spot – took me a while to convince myself about Chilli/Chilly.
Very enjoyable, but certainly the easiest Genius I’ve tackled (apart from the parsing of Rebus, which had me beat – Paul likes the word though – it appeared in his Prize the other week). Double letter entry was the biggest challenge.
Many thanks to Paul and mhl.
Presumably Paul just got Jersey Cows confused with Fresians in 7d. I can’t see any other explanation for it. I sympathise with phitonelly @6. Jerseys are brown. (You can probably breed a black and white one, but then you can probably breed an enormous dachshund too.) I enjoyed the puzzle otherwise but that does seem like a howler.