Gemelo gives us a special puzzle this week where, for 12 entries, we have to put the opposite of the clue answer into the grid.
The preamble for this special told us:
‘The game of “two truths and a lie” is a classic ice-breaker (one of mine is always “my father and I are twins”, which is true but takes a bit of thinking). Here, in every set of three clues, one answer is the opposite of what must be entered in the grid. Enumerations refer to grid entries’.
For me, the key issues were not knowing which of the three clues in each set was the special one, and not knowing the length of the answers to those clues. We were only given the length of the associated opposite entries.
In some cases it was clear which of the three clues in a set was the special one, as two of the clues were clearly normal. In a few cases, it was not so obvious to me.
Sometimes it was fairly easy to deduce an entry that was the opposite of a likely definition in the special clues.
I thought Gemelo’s clueing this week was slightly gentler than normal, which was definitely helpful.
The table immediately below indicates the answer and the entry for each of the twelve special clues. I found the most difficult clue to crack was that for TAME at 4 down. I had deduced AWE-INSPIRING, but it took me a long time to suss out TAME, even although I thought ‘you shouldn’t have’ might relate to ‘thank you but…’.
| Clue Number | Clue answer | Entry |
| Across | ||
| 6 | VERBOSE | TERSE |
| 12 | WRONG ‘UN | GOOD EGG |
| 18 | MASCULINENESS | FEMININENESS |
| 24 | STOLIDITY | EMOTIONALITY |
| 31 | FEASTS | FAMINES |
| 32 | CREDIT | DEBT |
| Down | ||
| 2 | RISE | DROP |
| 4 | TAME | AWE-INSPIRING |
| 7 | START | ENDING |
| 13 | JOY | GRIEF |
| 21 | CLOUDY | SUNNY |
| 25 | CENSURES | LAUDS |
The detailed table below shows the special clues against a cyan background.
It made a pleasant change to see IE clued in word play for IURE (10 across) as ‘Indo-European’ rather than the more common ‘that is’.
I’m not too sure about the parsing for ADD-IN at 14 across where I have suggested that ADDIN is part of either pADDINg or wADDINg, both of which can describe something inserted internally for comfort or security. It may be there is a much better parsing
| No | Detail | Entry |
| Across | ||
| 1 | Labourer unfortunately had no money (6)
HODMAN (a bricklayer’s or mason’s labourer) Anagram of (unfortunately) HAD NO and M (money, as used in the UK monetary indices M0, M1 etc) HODMAN* |
|
| 6 | Prolix poetry about personal scent (5)
VERBOSE (long and wordy; prolix) VERSE (poetry) containing (about) BO (body odour; personal scent) VER (BO) SE |
TERSE |
| 10 | Indo-European possessing ancient city by right (4)
IURE (Latin for by law or by right) IE (Indo-European) containing (possessing) UR (a city in ancient Mesopotamia) I (UR) E |
|
| 11 | Predator in court immediately left (7, 2 words)
BARN OWL (example of a predator) BAR (court of law) + NOW (immediately) + L (left) BAR N OW L |
|
| 12 | Who’s not decent and not won over Colt? (7, 2 words)
WRONG ‘UN (dishonest character; someone who’s not decent) (NOR [and not] + W [won {Korean currency}]) reversed (over) + GUN (a Colt is a brand of gun) (W RON)< G UN |
GOOD EGG |
| 14 | What’s inserted internally, removing restrictions? (5)
ADD-IN (something that is inserted internally into a system to improve its functionality) I think the wordplay is based on removing the outer letters of [removing restrictions of] pADDINg or wADDINg, each of which could describe the internal filling of an object ADD-IN |
|
| 16 | Lepidopterist’s holding back form of cricket (3)
ODI (a 50-over One Day International, a form of cricket match ) ODI (reversed [holding back] hidden word in [holding] lepIDOpterist) ODI< |
|
| 18 | Action hero might embody this, unless cinema’s changed (12)
MASCULINENESS (an action hereo might embody this male characteristic) Anagram of (changed) UNLESS CINEMA’S MASCULINENESS |
FEMININENESS |
| 19 | Liberal fools gobbling up Independent’s tirades (7)
LAISSES (tirades) L + (ASSES [fools] containing [gobbling up] I [independent)) L A (I) SSES |
|
| 23 | Plant wild ficus around hot area (7)
FUCHSIA (any plant of a South American genus of the evening primrose family) Anagram of (wild) FICUS containing (around) H [hot]) + A (area) FUC (H) SI* A |
|
| 24 | Impassivity of Troy surrounded by strength (12)
STOLIDITY (impassivity) T (troy weight) contained in (surrounded by) SOLIDITY (strength) S (T) OLIDITY |
EMOTIONALITY |
| 26 | Elite avoiding low-down venture (3)
TRY (attempt, venture) genTRY (nobility; the elite) excluding (avoiding) GEN (information; low-down) TRY |
|
| 29 | Mexican’s certainly taking to American colonnades (5)
STOAI (colonnades in ancient Greece) SI (Mexican [Spanish language spoken] word for yes or certainly) containing (taking) (TO + A [American]) S (TO A) I |
|
| 30 | At intervals, snack deserves to be received by audience (7, 2 words)
BY TURNS (at intervals) BY TURNS (sounds like [received by audience] BITE [snack] EARNS [deserves]) BY TURNS |
|
| 31 | Fuss when someone at the table covers up American banquets (7)
FEASTS (banquests) FusS with EAST (one designation of a bridge player at the card table) replacing (covers up) U.S. (American) F (EAST) S |
FAMINES |
| 32 | Trust councillor to improve (4)
CREDIT (trust) CR (Councillor) + EDIT (correct and improve) CR EDIT |
DEBT |
| 33 | Ringing tone‘s complex sound (5)
CLANG (a ringing tone) CLANG (a complex sound, composed of fundamentals and harmonics) double definition CLANG |
|
| 34 | Fruity flavouring of cinnamon almost succeeded (6)
CASSIS (a syrupy blackcurrant [fruity] flavouring) CASSIa (course kind of cinnamon) excluding the final letter (almost) A + S (succeeded) CASSI S |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Welcome growth hormone frequently saving lean person looking for progress (9)
HIGHFLIER (person who is extreme in aims, ambitions etc; person looking for progress) HI! (form of welcome) + GH (growth hormone) + (FR [frequency] containing [saving] LIE [lean against]) HI GH F (LIE) R |
|
| 2 | Tower from Isaiah covered in Bible study? (4)
RISE (to tower) IS (Isaiah) contained in (covered in) RI (Religious Instruction; Bible study) R (IS) E |
DROP |
| 3 | Where Italian might dip two fingers (5)
MEDII (middle fingers) MED (MEDiterranean, a sea where Italians might swim [dip]) + II [Roman numeral for two) MED II |
|
| 4 | You shouldn’t have melody’s first E flat (12)
TAME (dull, flat, uninspiring) TA (Thank you [words sometimes expressing the sentiment that ‘you shouldn’t have done that’]) + M (initial letter of [‘s first] Melody) + E TA M E |
AWE-INSPIRING |
| 5 | Current and past villain on stage (4)
IAGO (the character Iago is a villain in the Shakespeare play Othello) I (electric current) + AGO (past) I AGO |
|
| 6 | Winds may not, at first, impair a flowering plant (12)
TRADESCANTIA (a plant with attractive, often variegated foliage) TRADES (winds blowing towards the thermal equator and deflected westwards by the eastward rotation of the earth) + CAN’T (cannot; may not) + I (initial letter of [at first] Impair) + A TRADES CANT I A |
|
| 7 | Beginning of brilliant time (6)
START (beginning) STAR (brilliant when describing a STAR performer. Bradford’s lists STAR as a synonym for brilliant) + T (time)) STAR T |
ENDING |
| 8 | Drunk soldiers shunning institute without a bar (7)
RODLESS (without a bar) Anagram of (drunk) SOLDiERS excluding (shunning) I (Institute) RODLESS* |
|
| 9 | Pool clothing with one’s sons, socially acceptable during rides (9)
SWIMSUITS (pool clothing) (W [with] + I’M [I am; one is; one’s] + S [sons] + U [socially acceptable]) contained in (during) SITS (rides) S (W IM S U) ITS |
|
| 13 | Delight in love of Scotland Yard (5)
JOY (delight) JO (Scottish term for a beloved one; love of Scotland) + Y (yard) JO Y |
GRIEF |
| 15 | A-team fell out, getting decoration of fake gold? (9)
LEAF-METAL (alloys imitating gold and silver, in very thin leaves for decoration; decoration of fake gold) Anagram of (out) A-TEAM FELL LEAF-METAL* |
|
| 17 | Bacon etc. is as yet cooked without sandwiches going empty (9)
ESSAYISTS (Francis Bacon [1561 – 1626], English philosopher and Statesman, considered to be the Father of the English Essay) Anagram of (cooked) IS AS YET containing (without; ouside) SS (letters remaining in SandwicheS when the central letters andwiche are removed [empty]) E (SS) AYISTS* |
|
| 20 | One biblical city accepted masonries with uniform blocks (7)
ISODOMA (masonries of uniform blocks in courses of equal height) I (Roman numeral for one) + SODOM (Biblical city) + A (accepted) I SODOM A |
|
| 21 | Gloomy couple line up in Cyprus (5)
CLOUDY (gloomy) (DUO [couple] + L [line]) all reversed (up; down entry) and contained in (in) CY (International Vehicle Registration for Cyprus) C (L OUD)< Y |
SUNNY |
| 22 | Get former convict to fall short (6)
ATTAIN (gain by effort; get) ATTAINt (obsolete [former] word for ‘to convict’) excluding the final letter (fall short) T ATTAIN |
|
| 25 | Official count stopped by concerning judgments that are unfavourable (5)
CENSURES (opinions or judgements that are unfavourable) CENSUS (official enumeration of inhabitants with statistics relating to them; any official count) containing (stopped by) RE (concerning) CENSU (RE) S |
LAUDS |
| 27 | In the past, did pound certainly save Oxford University? (4)
YBET (obsolete [in the past] past participle of beat [pound]; did pound) You BET (certainly) excluding (save) OU (Oxford University) YBET |
|
| 28 | Pair following cue in God of War (4)
ARES (Greek God of War) AR (the letter R) + ES (the letter S) – in the alphabet R and S follow Q (cue) AR ES |
Thorough job on the blog.
In my first pass through the across clues I worked MASCULINENESS and FEAST and correctly guessed the corresponding entries which made me think guessing the opposites would be easy, but I worked out TAME when I first read its clue but I only worked out the corresponding entry when I knew most of its letters. Sometimes I guessed the entry before working out the clue’s answer and I only worked out the answers WRONG’UN, STOLIDITY and CENSURES a while after completing the grid.
I thought it helped that the wrong answers usually didn’t have the same length as the entry, but I did find it a little annoying trying to solve a clue without knowing the length of the answer and the only help from the checking letters is possibly confirming what the definition is.
For ADD-IN, I was thinking of pADDINg but I agree that wADDINg could also work. When I first worked out ADD-IN I thought it was an &lit where the definition is a bit loose to make the wordplay work, so I was surprised when I found the clue is a pretty good paraphrase of the Chambers definition.
Thanks, duncanshiell and Gemelo.
Matthew@2
ADD-IN
It’s an &lit. That’s what you say. Right?
Thanks for the blog , I thought this was just right , we have had four Plains and now a Special where it is still mainly just solving clues with a bit extra to think about . FEASTS is very neat also liked YBET and ARES , clever clues for small words .
I found it hardest when I knew the answer from the grid and a definition without first solving the clue , ENDING and GRIEF became obvious but I stuggled to solve START and JOY even though those clues were very easy .
ADDIN not in Chambers93 but had to be that and I went with pADDINg .
Very minor typo in the blog , for RISE you have IS in RI , just to show I am paying attention .
KVa@3: Yes. I didn’t mean to imply it wasn’t an &lit, only that the definition was better than I first suspected.
One thing I have been thinking about for a couple of weeks and then forgot to mention in my previous post was that this puzzle just about marked the first anniversary of Gemelo 1, which was published on 13 July, 2025.
Thanks Matthew.