A message from Joyce:
Before you read the preamble, I would like to apologise for my error in scheduling the date for publication. What I forgot to change was the year. I would like to thank logiture in particular for being so understanding but would also like to thank Gaufrid for responding so quickly when it became apparent that a mistake had been made! I really hope it didn’t spoil anyone’s enjoyment.
I promise that it won’t happen again when it is our turn to blog again in December 2015!
The preamble:
We have been blogging puzzles on fifteensquared for almost 2 years now but this is our first Genius. I started tackling them on my own when I first retired until Bert realised that he was missing out on a good thing! We think these are a good link between a normal cryptic and the Inquisitor in the Independent that we look forward to each Saturday.
All across solutions are a letter short for their allotted space. One letter must be added to these solutions making a new word before entry into the grid. In grid order the letters so added will spell out a quotation, the source of which is given elsewhere in the grid.
It took us a while to realise that PEALS did not become PEARLS, which held us up but in the end we managed to finish the puzzle much quicker than usual despite there being a few definitions that were not that familiar.
As I garden and dress up as a pauper at our local National Trust property The Workhouse, the quotation formed from the extra letters was very familiar!
| Across | ||||
| extra letter | ||||
| 6 | Highly acidic sulphur rings (7) | |||
| PHONIES | I | PH ONE (highly acidic) + S (sulphur) = PHONES | ||
| 8 | Charge pilot after appeal’s rejected (7) | |||
| WASSAIL | W | SAIL (pilot) after SA (appeal as in sex appeal) reversed or rejected = ASSAIL | ||
| 10 | Thorny shrub keeps cool, having more salt (8) | |||
| BRAINIER | A | BRIER (thorny shrub) around or keeping IN (cool) = BRINIER | ||
| 11 | Dismisses instrument on the radio (6) | |||
| SNACKS | N | Sounds like or on the radio SAX (instrument) = SACKS | ||
| 12 | Tolls as fruit changes hands (6) | |||
| PETALS | T | PEA |
||
| 13 | Wheel guards American can finish (8) | |||
| COASTING | S | COG (wheel) around or guarding A (American) + TIN (can) = COATING | ||
| 14 | Disavowal is structured not erratic (11) | |||
| RETROACTION | O | An anagram of NOT ERRATIC (anagrind is erratic) = RETRACTION | ||
| 19 | Eternal love? Inane, a fancy (8) | |||
| MAEONIAN | M | An anagram of O (love) + INANE A (anagrind is fancy) = AEONIAN | ||
| 21 | Camp’s back in cabaret, getting stuck into numbers (6) | |||
| TENETS | E | T (last letter or back of cabaret) inside or getting stuck in TENS (numbers) | ||
| 22 | Modernist poet initially with promise to back more traditional poet (6) | |||
| MODIST | M | TS (initial letters of Modernist poet as in TS Eliot) + I DO (promise) reversed or back = ODIST | ||
| 23 | Note skin’s way of getting artificially tanned (8) | |||
| MOISTING | O | MI (note) + STING (skin as in swindle or fleece) = MISTING. We had difficulty parsing this one and had to check both SKIN and MISTING. | ||
| 24 | Where one should be putting European novelist (7) | |||
| GREENER | R | GREEN (where one should be putting as in the putting green!) + E (European) = GREENE | ||
| 25 | What hawk has, running into flipping bit of wood (7) | |||
| ETALONS | E | ON (running) into SLAT (bit of wood) reversed or flipping = TALONS | ||
| Down | ||||
| 1 | Dance, say, a lively dance to lose weight (7) | |||
| CHARLES | CHARLES |
|||
| 2 | Wasting life and heading for emergency gunfire (8) | |||
| ENFILADE | An anagram of LIFE AND (anagrind is wasting) + E (first letter or heading for emergency) | |||
| 3 | Part of car requiring change at the back, covering miles (8) | |||
| CAMSHAFT | CASH (change) + AFT (back) around M (money) | |||
| 4 | Spenser’s suddenly no less caustic (6) | |||
| ASTART | A play on AS TART meaning no less caustic | |||
| 5 | Returning hero in Scotland knows the devil (7) | |||
| DICKENS | CID (hero as in El Cid) reversed or returning + KENS (knows in Scotland) | |||
| 7 | DeMille’s ultimate shots found in these? (5) | |||
| EPICS | A play on E (last letter or ultimate in DeMille) + PICS (shots) and the fact that Cecil B. DeMillle was known for his epic films | |||
| 9 | Lawyer’s next of kin, perhaps, not against eg Starbucks having crooked aim (8,3) | |||
| PROCHAIN AMI | PRO (not against) + CHAIN (e.g. Starbucks) + an anagram of AIM (anagrind is crooked) | |||
| 15 | Run races here with tropical plant (4,4) | |||
| RAIN TREE | R (run) + AINTREE (races here) | |||
| 16 | Tyrolean building with much embellishment (8) | |||
| ORNATELY | An anagram of TYROLEAN (anagrind is building) | |||
| 17 | Edifices where the Virgin cradles Jesus? (7) | |||
| MASONRY | MARY (as in the Virgin Mary) around or cradling what would have been her SON (Jesus) | |||
| 18 | King abandons tremendous punishment (7) | |||
| STONING | STON |
|||
| 20 | Soldiers covering retreat of sinful paladin (6) | |||
| OLIVER | OR (soldiers) around EVIL (sinful) reversed or retreating. Another one we had to check – wiki has THIS page related to Liver (paladin) | |||
| 21 | Tease about square dance (5) | |||
| TWIST | TWIT (tease) about S (square) | |||
Oh dear – the solutions have been published prematurely! It’s gratifying to know I was doing OK so far (about half-way through) although also had “pearls” pencilled in making the top left hand corner still a bit sparse. But – this post is scheduled for 2 January so in a way defeats the object of the puzzle and the various online resources which are part of the exercise. I hope this was a mistake!
Thanks for the blog. I missed the early release, so no harm done!
We couldn’t parse 23a – I’m sure your interpretation is right, but it does strike me as a little dubious!
I think this was on the easier side for a Genius (a good thing in my book ð ) but still occupied us for some time. There were a number of obscure words (ie ones we hadn’t come across) which needed a little online assistance (eg MAEONIAN, ETALONS, PROCHAIN AMI) but fair play for a Genius.
Thanks Picaroon and Bertandjoyce
Moisting was the one I could not parse fully.
I found this much easier than the Xmas double
Thanks for a very clear blog. I found this harder than other recent Geniuses, and ended up picking away at it at the same time as the Christmas special. There were a lot of similarities, with Oliver making two (different) appearances.
Hi Bertandjoyce
Although I normally do finish the Genius [taking several days at least] I am very glad that I am not one of the bloggers as I have occasional spells of 2-3 months in succession that I don’t finish them for whatever reason. This month was my second failure in a row. Even looking at the answers and parsing this really was not on my wavelength and I probably would never have finished it no matter how long I tried.
I find it strange how we either ‘click’ with a setter or not. For instance I found the double Christmas puzzle far easier, whilst fearsome @3 did not. That is what makes solving these so much fun for me, even when I fail.
Hi B&J,
Thanks for the blog. I didn’t finish this one though I’m now kicking myself as I really should have. I think I got hung up on 1d – I just couldn’t see it ð
Nice blog but I have just one comment: any chance that you could add more spacing between rows or maybe include cell borders? It’s just a wee bit difficult to keep one’s eyes lined up while reading.
Curious that some found this easier than usual and some harder. (It took me two or three times as long as usual.) Perception of difficulty is a funny thing. When I first started doing the Genius, each took days or weeks of intermittent puzzling. When I noticed my solving times getting shorter and shorter, I naturally concluded that they were being dumbed down. When I then went back to the archive for the first two years’ worth in search of a good old-fashioned challenge, however, I was able to do all of them in a long weekend.
I was another that got hooked up on PEARLS so it took me a while to sort out the NW corner.
But enjoyed it, thanks both