Gemelo gives a special puzzle this week.
We were presented with a set of clues that looked like this;
It took me a while to get into this puzzle, as I didn’t see a preamble on the Observer website when I first logged in to download the clues and grid. It was only when I got the newspaper a little later that I saw there was a preamble.
The preamble told us that the puzzle was entitled ‘Two Faces’ and Gemelo went on to say that: Ambiguity in clues is a fascination of mine. In this puzzle, each clue gives an answer to its own entry, but also to a later entry of the same length. Someone once said this kind of puzzle is like the optical illusion of two faces and a vase – change how you look at each clue, and something completely different appears.
I was a bit lucky at the start of solving in that I got an answer for 1 across, GOLFER, which was the right one for the entry at 1 across. If I had entered the other answer to the clue, PEROGI, which actually fitted at 33 across, I would have struggled for a while.
I built up the top left-hand corner slowly, but gradually the grid began to fall into place over the course of the day.
Gemelo set himself a difficult task composing eighteen clues that would each lead to two possible answers. Inevitably, the clues were very wordy, as, in most clues, the definition of one answer had to be part of the wordplay for the other answer. This wasn’t always the case, as the IGNEOUS / LIATRIS pair and the REVISIT / BUDGE UP pair shared similar definitions.
The wordiness of the clues is highlighted by the fact that Gemelo’s eighteen clues this week averaged 11.9 words per clue, while last week his thirty-six clues averaged 5.9 words.
Some of the definitions required a bit of lateral thinking to understand. Examples include ‘One that’s successfully run through the firm skin of toro’ for ESPADA and ‘What’s shortly getting loose garments on plump’ for ATKINS DIET.
I found the wordplay quite difficult to follow and am not sure I have got the parsing right for each of REVERSOS and OTTER. I know I haven’t got it correct for THREE, LIPA, and IGNEOUS, where I can’t deliver the answer completely. I look forward to accurate interpretations of those clues.
The puzzle followed the preamble perfectly in that every originally unclued answer was later in the puzzle than the given clue from which it was derived. The last two entries, 27d (written clue] and 28 down (no clue] were based on the same clue, leading to PROM and FARO.
I wonder how long Gemelo took to construct a grid and create the clues for this puzzle? It must have been an added difficulty that the two answers to each clue had to be the same length. It would be interesting to hear from him.
Congratulations to all solvers who parsed all the clues correctly.
The two grid positions for each clue are shown below
| Clue 1 | Clue 2 | Entry 1 | Entry 2 |
| 1a | 33a | GOLFER | PEROGI |
| 6a | 22a | ESPADA | COMPOT |
| 11a | 3d | ARIA | LIPA |
| 12a | 30a | REVERSOS | SPEAK OUT |
| 13a | 15d | IN PRIVATE | MATCHLESS |
| 17a | 26a | OBI | LOO |
| 18a | 24a | ATKINS DIET | ROUND ROBIN |
| 19a | 8d | THREE | ASCOT |
| 21a | 32a | BASSET | SHOLOM |
| 23a | 25d | TSUBA | OTTER |
| 29a | 10d | HARESTAIL | ASSISTANT |
| 31a | 6d | ERNE | EVAN |
| 2d | 9d | ORNITHOMORPH | DOUBLE-BITING |
| 4d | 24d | FARSI | ROMEO |
| 5d | 21d | REVISIT | BUDGE UP |
| 7d | 20d | PRECESS | EPOCHAL |
| 14d | 16d | IGNEOUS | LIATRIS |
| 27d | 28d | PROM | FARO |
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Change or e.g. flip half-removed feature of Adrian Meronk’s course? (6)
GOLFER (Adrian Meronk [born 1993] is a Polish GOLFER, so there will be many other Polish GOLFERs on his home course in Poland) Anagram of (change) OR E.G. and FL (letters remaining in FLip when the remaining two of four [half] letters IP are removed) GOLFER* |
| 6 | One that’s successfully run through firm skin of toro after running around, and apples, each cored and stewed? (6)
ESPADA (a word from Spanish for a sword or a matador, either of which could be defined as ‘one that’s successfully run through firm skin of a toro [Spanish word for bull]) Anagram of (stewed) PE (physical education; running around) and AD (letters remaining in AnD after the central letter N is removed [cored]) and AS (letters remaining in AppleS after the central letters PPLE are removed [cored]) ESPADA* |
| 11 | Split money from girl of musical vocal work (4)
ARIA (a vocal work) mARIA (reference the character Maria in either of the musicals West Side Story or The Sound of Music) excluding (split… from) M (money as in M0, M1 etc, money supply indices) ARIA |
| 12 | Left-hand sides of some printed editions, and king with means of escape, perhaps to get on record? (8)
REVERSOS (alternative word for VERSOS [the left-hand page of an open book [printed edition]) I’m not too sure of the parsing for this – perhaps it’s R (Rex; king) + (EVER [always] + SOS [call for rescue] – implying there’s always a means of escape by calling for help) – I’m not convinced though and feel sure that there is a better interpretation. R EVER SOS |
| 13 | Not publicly playing at Lords, say, being far from general? (9, 2 words)
IN PRIVATE (not in public; not publicly) IN (a batter at Lords is said to be IN when he/she is at the crease) + PRIVATE (a rank far removed from that of General) IN PRIVATE |
| 17 | Something wrapped around incomplete office where person’s gone? (3)
OBI (a broad sash worn with a Japanese kimono; something wrapped round) OBIt (a religious office for a dead person; office where person’s gone) excludng the final letter T (incomplete) OBI |
| 18 | What’s shortly getting loose garments on plump? Article randomly inked, it’s concealing initiator of trouble (10, 2 words)
ATKINS DIET (A high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet intended to cause rapid weight loss; a diet that should lead to looser garments on a previously plump person) (A [indefinite article] + [an anagram of {randomly} INKED ITS] containing (about) T (first letter of [initiator of) [Trouble]) A (T) KINS DIET* |
| 19 | Tie where one goes for horses, only using odds for a few? (5)
THREE (a few) TiE excluding (where .. goes) I (Roman numeral for one) + HRE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [odds] of HoRsEs) …. this gives TEHRE, but we need an anagram of these letters and I don’t see an anagram indicator THREE |
| 21 | Hound at first boring alone SIS spymaster, opening and ending in Eilat? (6)
BASSET (a breed of hound) BASS (initial letters of [at first] each of Boring, Alone, Sis and Spymaster) + ET (first and last letters of [opening and ending in] EilaT) BASS ET |
| 22 | 6 across -One that’s successfully run through firm skin of toro after running around, and apples, each cored and stewed? (6)
COMPOT (a dessert of stewed fruit;) MP (a Member of Parliament; one who has successfully run an election and been elected) contained in (through) ( CO [company [firm] + TO [outer letters of {skin of} TorO] reversed [running around]) CO (MP) OT< |
| 23 | Perhaps very ornate, eastern, tip of sword-holder, it’s much appreciated when tackling underwater threat (5)
TSUBA (a metal plate at the top of [tip] a Japanese [Eastern] scabbard [sword-holder], serving as a sword guard, often highly ornamental [ornate]) TA (thanks; it’s much appreciated) containing (when tackling) SUB (SUBmarine, an underwater threat) T (SUB) A |
| 24 |
18 across – What’s shortly getting loose garments on plump? Article randomly inked, it’s concealing initiator of trouble (10, 2 words) I’m struggling a bit with the definition here, but suggest: ROUND ROBIN (any letter, petition, etc signed by many people [article randomly inked {?}] which often leads to controversy or trouble [?]) ROUND (plump) + ROBINg (getting loose garments on) excluding the final letter G (shortly) ROUND ROBIN |
| 26 | 17 across – Something wrapped around incomplete office where person’s gone? (3)
LOO (toilet; ‘office’ where person’s gone to urinate or defecate) LOOp (something wrapped round) excluding the final letter P (incomplete) LOO |
| 29 | Some grass is tan, topped-and-tailed second – ’til trained to follow career? (9)
HARE’S-TAIL (grass with silky flower-heads) HARE (race; rush; career) + (an anagram of (trained) A [letter remaining in tAn when the outer letters T and N are removed {topped and tailed} and S (second) and ‘TIL) HARE‘S–TAIL* |
| 30 | 12 across – (Left-hand sides of some printed editions, and king with means of escape, perhaps to get on record? (8, 2 words)
SPEAK OUT (an attempt to get on the record) SPEAK (initial letters of [left-hand sides of each of Some, Printed, Editions, And and King) + OUT (a means of escape) S P E A K OUT |
| 31 | What’s lost and has gone from Dear Hansen – one striking on wing? (4)
ERNE (an eagle, especially the sea-eagle; something striking on the wing) Anagram of (what’s lost) of dEaR haNsEn excluding (lost) the letters of AND HAS ERNE* |
| 32 | 21 across – Hound at first boring alone SIS spymaster, opening and ending in Eilat? (6)
SHOLOM (Hebrew [Eilat is a city in Israe where Henrew is spoken) word for a greeting or valediction [ending]) H (first letter of [at first] Hound) contained in (boring) SOLO) + M (letter referring to a spymaster [Head of MI5]) S (H) OLO M |
| 33 | 1 across – Change or e.g. flip half-removed feature of Adrian Meronk’s course? (6)
PEROGI (traditional Polish dish, a semicircular filled dumpling, originally savoury, now also sweet, boiled and then briefly sautéed and served with melted butter. As mentioned above at 1 across, Adrian Meronk is Polish) Anagram of (change) OR E.G. and IP (letters remaining in flIP when the first two or four [half] letters FL are removed) PEROGI* |
| Down | |
| 2 | Cutting either side, God and I, North, breaking animated blob and e.g. tui? (12)
ORNITHOMORPH (a figure or design in the form of a bird. A tui is a bird, a New Zealand honey guide) O (letter remaining in gOd when the outer letters [either side] G and D are removed [cutting]) + an anagram of (breaking) I NORTH + MORPH (an animated blob. MORPH is a British series of clay stop-motion comedy animation) O RNITHO* MORPH |
| 3 | 11 across – Split money from girl of musical vocal work (4)
LIPA (a former Croation monetary unit. Split is a town in Croatia) LIPA – I am defeated by the wordplay here, but it may be something to do with the singer Dua Lipa LIPA |
| 4 | What’s spoken by Persian, briefly following before (from old language) returning, is R (5)
FARSI (language spoken by natives of Western Persia [part of modern-day Iran]) F (abbreviation for [briefly] following) + A (before, from Latin [old language]) + (IS R) reversed (returning) F A (R SI)< |
| 5 | Go over itemised spending, ignoring time primarily under pastor? (7)
REVISIT (come back to consider again; go over) REV (REVerend [pastor]) + ISIT (initial letters [primarily] of each of Itemised, Spending, Ignoring and Time) REV I S I T |
| 6 | 31 across – What’s lost and has gone from Dear Hansen – one striking on wing? (4)
EVAN (reference the musical Dear EVAN Hansen – Dear Hansen alone is omitting [has gone] EVAN) onE excluding (striking) ON + VAN (an archaic or poetic word for wing) E VAN |
| 7 | Wobble leader of America, Pole around church from time of Reformation (7)
PRECESS (to wobble) (PRES [PRESident; leader of America] + S [reference the South {S} pole]) containing (around) CE (Church of England, formally established in 1534 as part of The Reformation) PRE (CE) S S |
| 8 | 19 across – Tie where one goes for horses, only using odds for a few? (5)
ASCOT (a type of necktie with broad ends that are tied to lie one across the other) ASCOT (a place where one goes to view horse racing) double definition ASCOT |
| 9 | 2 down – Cutting either side, God and I, North, breaking animated blob and e.g. tui? (12)
DOUBLE-BITING (cutting on either side) D (Deus; Latin for God) + ([I + N [North] contained in [breaking] an anagram of [animated] BLOB and E.G. TUI D OUBLE-BIT (I N) G* |
| 10 | 29 across – Some grass is tan, topped-and-tailed second – ’til trained to follow career? (9)
ASSISTANT (someone being trained to follow a career) ASSISTANT (hidden word in [some] grASS IS TAN Topped-and-tailed) ASSISTANT |
| 14 | Perhaps blazing star one at left and right stops, with sensei’s clothing lifted (7)
IGNEOUS (of or like fire; blazing) Another answer where I can’t see the wordlay I have ([OE {left and right letters of OnE} contained in {stops} SUN {star}] + SI [outer letters of {clothing} SenseI]) all reversed( lifting), but that gives me ISNEOUS (IS N (E O) US)<, not IGNEOUS. Where does the G come from and how do I lose the unwanted S? IGNEOUS |
| 15 | 13 across – Not publicly playing at Lords, say, being far from general? (9, 2 words)
MATCHLESS (superior to all; far from being of general quality) If Lords Cricket Ground is without a match, MATCHLESS , there is no-one playing there for public spectators MATCHLESS |
| 16 | 14 down – Perhaps blazing star one at left and right stops, with sensei’s clothing lifted (7)
LIATRIS (a plant of the genus Liatris, including the blazing star) (I [Roman numeral for one] + AT) contained in (stops) (L [left] + R [right]) + SI (outer letters of [clothing] SenseI) reversed (lifted) L (I AT) R IS< |
| 20 | 7 down – Wobble leader of America, Pole around church from time of Reformation (7)
EPOCHAL (descriptive of a point of time fixed or made remarkable by some great event from which dates are reckoned – from the time of the Reformation, for example) (Anagram of [wobble] A [first letter of {leader of]} America] and POLE) containing (around) CH (church) EPO (CH) AL* |
| 21 | 5 down – Go over itemised spending, ignoring time primarily under pastor? (7, 2 words)
BUDGE UP (move over,; go over) BUDGEt (itemised spending plans) excluding (ignoring) T (time) + UP (first letters of [primarily] each of Under and Pastor) BUDGE U P |
| 24 | 4 down – What’s spoken by Persian, briefly following before (from old language) returning, is R (5)
ROMEO (R, ROMEO is the international radio communication codeword for the letter R) OR (before, from Early Norse [from old language]) reversed (returning) + MEOw (alternative word for MIAOW [the cry {what’s spoken by] of a Persian cat}] excluding the final letter W [briefly]) RO< MEO |
| 25 | 23 across – Perhaps very ornate, eastern, tip of sword-holder, it’s much appreciated when tackling underwater threat (5)
OTTER (aquatic carnivore; underwater threat) Another wordplay where I’m clutching at straws a bit. OTT (over the top; an ornate [elaborately decorated] way of saying ‘very’) + E (Eastern) + R (last letter of [tip of] sword-holdeR) OTT E R |
| 27 | Portugal capital short of extreme point of Algarve for American dance (4)
PROM (an American school or college dance) P (International Vehicle Registration for Portugal) + ROMe (capital [city of Italy]) excluding (short of) E (last letter of [extreme point of] algarvE, P ROM |
| 28 | 27 down – Portugal capital short of extreme point of Algarve for American dance (4)
FARO (regional capital of Algarve. FARO is also the southernmost (extreme point) of Algarve) Anagram of (dance) FOR and A (American) FARO* |
Thanks for the blog , it must have been so much work . I started cold-solving on Sunday and then did two photocopies at work so I could play with the grid .
GOLFER and ARIA seemed to fit with a few downs so I slowly worked from top left .For quite a few it was find a word to fit , look for a definition and maybe some wordplay , not how I like to solve . A puzzle to admire rather than a enjoy and lets say some clues worked better than others .
LIPA – simply a double definition as you suggest .
IGNEOUS – you are nearly there . GI=GIE = a karate costume .
REVERSOS – EVER = on record .
Some of the others I had lost the will to live .
When I solved the puzzle the instructions appear on the screen before I started solving, but I couldn’t see any way to read them again while solving in the app and they didn’t appear in the print version, and this still seems to be the case today.
I solved Two Grids with One Stone by Twin (another pseudonym of Colin Thomas/Gemelo) in the Magpie a few years ago which also had a set of clues where every clue has two answers. I feel that I liked that puzzle more that this one, but maybe that’s just me seeing that past with rose-tinted glasses. I enjoyed reading the clues again to make I had understood them, so I probably do like crosswords I have already solved more than those I am currently solving.
I started solving the puzzle online, but after a while I made a copy of the clues and sorted them by answer length and wrote the answers next to the clues to make it easier to keep track of what was going on. The first answer I entered was SPEAK OUT because only one 8-letter entry was two words, but I did make a few guesses to start filling the grid. I was glad all of the clues weren’t like the clue at 1a where the two answers have the same definition and almost the same wordplay, but it probably would be much harder to construct a barred crossword where the answers can be paired and each pair has the same definition.
I didn’t think the puzzle was as hard as I feared it might be when I first read the instructions, but definitely harder than a plain Gemelo, but I think the gimmick means more of the clues rely on using single letters from words than I would expect in a normal puzzle, which possibly makes those clues easier to solve.
For ESPADA, I had ‘after running around’ as part of the definition, and the wordplay was an anagram of A(n)D AP(pl)ES.
I explained REVERSOS the same as the blog. I wasn’t entirely happy with SOS for ‘means of escape’, but Chambers does have ‘on record’ for EVER.
For THREE, I think the intention is that ‘goes for’ means ‘is replaced by’, so the HRE goes between the T and E.
I assume the definition of COMPOT is supposed to be ‘apples, each cored and stewed?’, and underlining only ‘stewed’ is a mistake..
The first definition of ROUND ROBIN in Chambers is ‘a paper with signatures in a circle, so that no one may seem to be a ringleader’ which I thought explains ‘concealing initiator of trouble’, but maybe calling a circular arrangement ‘random’ is stretching things a little.
For ERNE, I thought ‘lost’ indicated an anagram of ‘and has’ and ‘gone’ indicated its removal, but I would normally expect a second anagram indicator if the remainder also needs to be jumbled. I thought a second indicator was possibly unnecessary here because if the right N is removed (as shown in the blog) then the letters of ERNE remain in the correct order.
For LIPA, I agree that ‘girl of musical vocal work’ is a definition of (Dua) LIPA.
For ASCOT, I tried to think of some other explanation for ‘only using odds for a few?’, but eventually decided that it could just be part of the second definition.
For ASSISTANT, I had included ‘second – ’til’ as part of the definition, with the idea that an assistant is being trained to later take on the work alone.
For IGNEOUS, a GI is a judo or karate costume and a sensei is a martial arts instructor.
For OTTER, I had ‘it’s much appreciated when tackling underwater threat’ as the definition referring to the meaning ‘a device for severing the moorings of mines’ in Chambers.
For FARO, I thought ‘short of extreme point of Algarve’ must also be part of the definition, and looking at some maps convinced myself that there are parts of Algarve south of Faro so it isn’t quite the extreme point.
Thanks, duncanshiell and Gemelo.
[EDIT: Sorry for repeating some things Roz@2 wrote. I must have taken too long writing my comment.]
ASCOT – I thought Tie as one definition and the rest for the other . – only using odds for a few ? meaning you only bet on one horse for each race .
Not for me. Spent about an hour Sunday evening reading the clues and got ASSISTANT but didn’t know where to put it. As my usual solving method is to enter an answer and work outwards, this was no help.
Agree with all that Matthew and Roz have said as regards parsing. Like Roz@1, I was sometimes just looking for a word to fit and then working back to find and “solve” the relevant clue. FOr EVAN, I had to resort to the internet to understand the answer. In the paper, there was only the usual “Chambers dictionary (2016) is recommended” and no reference to the fact that two answers, 6dn and 28dn, were proper nouns not in Chambers.
Like Matthew, I also remember solving the Two Grids with one Stone puzzle in Magpie a couple of years ago. It was, rightly, a contender for Puzzle of the Year. This one was perhaps a little easier, as you could place half the answers with confidence. At first, solving GOLFER and PEROGI I wondered if there was going to be a symmetrical pattern, but that proved not to be the case. Inevitably, as Roz and MunroMaiden have commented, there was some reverse engineering required in order to fill the grid. I don’t mind that a couple of answers were proper names not to be found in Chambers: Azed quite often does this without alerting solvers to that fact. And I also had to do some online research to understand EVAN; there were a few other initial possibilities for four letter words from the available fodder (e.g. ERAS and DANE) which I couldn’t immediately justify.
I made life unnecessarily difficult for myself by assuming that 15 down (which I knew to be paired with 13 across) must also be two words, but of course the enumeration was simply (9) and MATCHLESS is indeed one word.
Many thanks for the comprehensive blog, which must have taken a long time to prepare.
Dormouse@5 , if I did not have grid copies to work with I think I would have given up . Also I was lucky with the ones I had got seeming to fit together giving me a foothold for progress .
MunroMaiden@6 , EVAN was my last in , I always leave the missing last letter answers until last , I had three letters plus E VAN from wordplay and I was beyond caring for the definition . Normally I like to check everything .
I wasn’t going to let this get the better of me, and solved it, but didn’t enjoy it. I found the clues far too clunky and wordy.
I wonder if this is the sort of puzzle we expect of the successor to Azed. I started doing these when it was still Ximenes (I also saw a couple of Torquemadas many years later, and they were awful – I’d have abandoned barred puzzles on the spot if he’d still been setting), and I obviously can’t remember details from that far back, but I don’t think there was much of a change between the two. I know Azed had specials once every few weeks and I’m sure Gemelo wants to give Sunday his own slant, but too much special kills the special, and he seems to be producing them more/too frequently. Lots of us do the Listener, Inquisitor and other barred puzzles, and I think they are far more appropriate venues for this sort of thing. I’ve had a look at today’s and the difference in solving pleasure is considerable.
Roz@8: I was solving the version in the paper.
Norman@9 , I totally agree , I would like a ratio of at least 3 plains to each special .
As you say , enough outlets for this type including the magazines .
In the paper I like the clues to occupy , at most , two lines . Today is a good mix of one line or two . This puzzle had eight on three lines and one on four .
Dormouse@10 , me too but I got photocopies on Monday to play around with entries .
Roz: As I said, I got one possible answer after one hour, I reckoned there wouldn’t be time in the week to solve any more.
Norman@9 and Dormouse@12 – I feel your pain! I looked at it and didn’t feel keen; I managed to get a few answers, but it felt like hard work and I didn’t know if I could get much further. I came back to it later and eventually finished it with dogged determination (it did get easier as the crossing letters increased). I definitely wouldn’t want others like that with any regularity!
I just wish Gemelo would remember that the point of puzzles is that the solver enjoys the puzzle itself rather than the setter showing off via self-imposed restrictions
When I said most of the clues out loud, they sounded like something one might mumble when emerging from general anaesthesia. That’s really not what a clue should sound like. And, for example, ‘running around’ for PE? No, thanks. Too much contortion (understandably (or not)). And no, I couldn’t complete it — so maybe a whiff of sour grapes on my part.
MunroMaiden@13: If I don’t get a decent proportion of a puzzle completed on Sunday, I have other things to do in the week.
Having solved on;y one clue after 20 minutes and with eyestrain threatening I gave up. This was a work of constructional wizardry but (of necessity} ugly clues.. Puzzles like this belong to the Listener or Magpie, not the Observer. I go back to the last year or so of Ximenes and have never had to desert a puzzle without a word filled in!