I should never have said that the December Genius was easier than the Christmas special puzzle; this Genius was much harder than December’s.
There were two devices at work here. Eight clues had to have a letter added before entry (shown in bold in the blog); there was nothing to indicate which clues they were or where the letters were to go (in the event, some were on checked squares, but not all were). These letters then had to be arranged into a two word epithet which applied to six other answers (also not indicated in any way), whose clues led to a two word solution but only the longer word was to be entered, the shorter word being shown in italics.
In the event, the first of the two word clues which I solved was ALFRED, so the obvious epithet was THE GREAT, which fortunately proved to be correct. In the end we also had Alexander, Catherine, Charles (aka Charlemagne), Frederick and Peter, all clued by reference to phrases in which the names appear. So Brummie had not just to ensure that the six names appeared in the grid, he also had to find eight answers from which the eight letters could be removed, while still leaving valid words to be clued. Quite a feat.
Some of the clueing was of a very high standard, with the definitions in particular being extremely well contrived. Thanks Brummie for keeping me busy for the first week of the month (or perhaps a little more). Thanks also to PeeDee and Gaufrid for sorting out a problem with the blogging software.
I have said nothing about the technical problems which have plagued the last two Genius puzzles; for those who haven’t seen it, all is explained here.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CATHERINE |
Circular window from Tate? London Eye? (9)
This is one of the six entries where the clue leads to a 2 word solution, which here is CATHERINE-WHEEL, which can refer equally to a circular window as to a firework. Once you know that it’s a simple two part charade, although Tate here has a different meaning to what it has at 21 across.
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| 6 | TOFF |
Characterised by force in motion (4)
And this is one of the eight clues which requires a letter to be added, in this case T. The wordplay without it is OF F(orce).
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| 8 | OVERRATE |
Stuffed and completed high tea (8)
The clue leads to OVERATE; the wordplay is a charade of “completed” and an anagram (“high”) of TEA. The letter added is R.
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| 9 | ALFRED |
Ring-grabbing Brenda fell madly for “Dynamite Man” (6)
The full answer is ALFRED NOBEL; an anagram of BRENDA FELL plus O (“ring”). Normally with Brummie (especially when setting in his alter ego as Cyclops in Private Eye) Brenda refers to the Queen, so I wasted a lot of time looking to insert ER or HM somewhere. Although better known for the prizes he endowed, Nobel did indeed invent dynamite.
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| 10 | UNWIND |
Chill a large body with scent carrier (6)
The first “normal” clue. A charade of UN and WIND.
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| 11 | ANTLERED |
Descriptive of a stag do — half cut after eternal rounds (8)
An anagram of ETERNAL and D(o). I’m not happy about “rounds” as an anagram indicator.
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| 12 | ASSIST |
Player fails to debut, which benefits another player (6)
(B)ASSIST.
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| 15 | THE MAFIA |
Management to alienated workers: “A car’s not finished”, which is bad organisation (3,5)
A very clever charade of THEM A FIA(t).
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| 16 | OUTCLASS |
Best untrendy educational unit (8)
Another simple charade (although it takes a bit of a stretch to get from in=trendy to out=untrendy) but the clever part is the way the definition, a verb, is disguised as an adjective.
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| 19 | THANKS |
Chambers: “piece included in bronzes” (6)
K(night) (the chess piece) in TANS. The added letter is H.
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| 21 | CREAM TEA |
Camera shot outside Tate? No thanks, it’s for the indulgent consumer (5,3)
(ta)TE in anagram of CAMERA.
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| 22 | SCRIPT |
Sample takes in credit shares (6)
CR in SIP. T is the added letter.
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| 24 | PALLOR |
In poker, tolerable bridge player needs all round replacement: no flush results (6)
ALL O (round) for OK E in POKER.
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| 25 | TIMBUKTU |
Rice, for one, but processed outside Britain (no precise place) (8)
TIM (Rice), UK in *BUT.
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| 26 | CEPS |
Backing for power-seizing state, which in short decides whether there’s a case to answer (4)
P(ower) in S(outh) C(arolina) (rev), giving CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), “in short” indicating that it’s an abbreviation. The lawyer in me wants to quibble over the definition but I think it’s close enough. E is the added letter.
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| 27 | ALEXANDER |
Cocktail bar relaxed Danny’s cast (9)
* (BAR RELAXED DANNY) leading to brandy Alexander, which is a cocktail. The apparent reference to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is presumably a coincidence.
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| Down | ||
| 1 | COVEN |
Spelling bee’s second consonant range? (5)
C (the second consonant in the alphabet), OVEN. I loved the definition, when I finally got it.
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| 2 | TERMINI |
A shorter miniskirt ends in the mid-section (7)
Hidden in “shorter miniskirt”. Unusual, in that the definition is in the middle of the clue.
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| 3 | ELAND |
Line and light (5)
L(ine) AND. “Light” is used here in the sense of “touch down upon”; the added letter is E.
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| 4 | INEXACT |
Fuzzy, trendy means of reproduction not started (7)
IN (s)EX ACT.
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| 5 | ENACTMENT |
Pasadena Ct — Menton’s housing bill’s destiny? (9)
Hidden in “Pasadena Ct Menton”. A Parliamentary Bill will become an Act if it successfully passes through both Houses of Parliament and achieves royal assent.
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| 6 | TAFFETA |
Thick-backed cheese material (7)
FAT(rev) FETA.
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| 7 | FREDERICK |
Kitchener’s fad, or fancy choreographer (9)
*(KITCHENERS FAD OR) leading to FREDERICK ASHTON.
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| 13 | SQUIREAGE |
Sheets collectively covered with green for landed gentlemen, generally (9)
QUIRE in SAGE.
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| 14 | TRATTORIA |
Dishes served here having last of oat grass prepared at Rio (9)
(oa)T RAT *(AT RIO).
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| 17 | CHARLES |
Sunlight burns covering large English blues/soul artist? (7)
A charade of RAY (sunlight) with LE in CHARS, leading to Ray Charles.
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| 18 | SEATTLE |
Pay to become an inhabitant (7)
Double definition, with an extra A.
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| 20 | AGROUND |
One song over (7)
Charade of A ROUND, with a G added.
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| 22 | SAMBA |
South American moves top off Tibetan dish (5)
(t)SAMBA, tsamba being a Tibetan barley dish.
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| 23 | PETER |
Ever the lad, he gets to snog topless female and sleep over (5)
PET ‘ER, NAP(rev). Peter Pan is our last two word solution.
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Thanks for the blog, Bridgesong. We found this on the easier side for a genius, though still hard enough!
Luckily, my eye lit on 9a very soon, with the obvious reference to Nobel. My first thought was that this was a ‘short’ clue but then inspiration struck Mrs Beaver that it was one of the 6 two-word solutions, from which the theme jumped out – so that was half the battle.
Unfortunately, we were stumped by 6a- didn’t see that ‘characterised by’ could be OF – and ended up trying TIFF, so close, but no cigar!
Thanks bridgesong. I got there in the end, but the technical issues meant that my printed copy was hard enough to read, let alone solve. TOFF,COVEN and UNWIND were my last three, but all were very satisfying when finally twigged. Thanks Brummie.