One of my quickest solves of a Gemelo puzzle, I think, but none the worse for that.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | EGGNOGS | These may go down well at Christmas to illustrate decoration reflecting saint (7) E.G. (“to illustrate”) + reverse of GONG (medal, decoration) + S[aint]. They wouldn’t go down well with me, but chacun à son goût |
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| 11 | CAPRI PANTS | Trousers better with slit, shortly, on edge? (10, 2 words) CAP (to better) + RIP (slit) + ANTS[y] (on edge) |
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| 12 | SNOT | Worm doesn’t live without head (4) IS NOT less its first letter or “head”; worm/snot as in a despicable person |
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| 13 | COVERT | Hidden switch to release nitrogen (6) CONVERT (switch) less N |
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| 14 | TEPIDNESS | Reform needs tips for unenthusiastic state (9) (NEEDS TIPS)* |
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| 15 | SOUNDS | German and Swedish hit incorporates pop music (6) UND (German “and”) in SOS (song by ABBA, famously from Sweden) |
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| 17 | VICE | What’s gripping in place of depravity? (4) Triple definition – as in vice-president for the middle one |
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| 18 | RAC | Motorists join this competition before the end (3) RAC[e] |
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| 20 | EUREKA | Discovery of provincial runner bounding about in country (6) EA (river) “bounding” RE (about) in UK |
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| 21 | FLY-MAN | Domesticated chap disregarding Parisian friend who’s learned the ropes by stages? (6) FAMILY MAN (domesticated type) less AMI |
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| 23 | CAW | Mimic a winger, to a certain extent? (3) Hidden in mimiC A Winger, &lit – to caw is to sound like a crow |
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| 25 | ASTI | White arsenic regularly removed this (4) AS (arsenic) + alternate letters of ThIs – Asti is a white wine |
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| 26 | IGNORE | Set aside middle of Fig Newton, covered in spit (6) The middle letter of fIg + N[ewton] in GORE (spit??) |
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| 27 | PROSEUCHE | Oratory is dull from Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the left, lacking range (9) PROSE (dull) + A GAUCHE (French “on the left”) less AGA (range). I was not familiar with this politician, but all we need to know is that he is French |
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| 29 | ONE-ONE | In unique correspondence, what illuminates some letters in Old English? (6) NEON what illuminates, as in a neon light) in O.E. |
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| 30 | ICON | Picture point of no return without difficulty (4) RUBICON less RUB (difficulty) |
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| 31 | FORTEPIANO | Keep record on Claude, say, returning 18th century instrument (10) FORT (keep) + EP (record) + reverse of ON AI. Claude in an example of an AI large language model, developed by Anthropic |
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| 32 | UPLANDS | God’s replacement no longer taking aim for the high ground (7) LAND (aim) in UDS (replacement for “God’s”, as in a minced oath) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | EASTER | Harry, topless, hosting a celebration involving Rolling Stone (6) A in [p]ESTER |
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| 2 | GENERAL SYNOD | Church’s governing body agreed nylons must be destroyed (12, 2 words) (AGREED NYLONS)* |
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| 3 | NATION | No one beat up people (6) Reverse of NO 1 TAN |
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| 4 | OP-ED | Vehicle beside leader? (4) Cryptic definition |
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| 5 | GRINNING | Grand circle includes bar with exposed beams? (8) G + INN in RING |
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| 6 | OPOSSUM | Fur coat from Oxfam hiding possible uniform (7) POSS. U in O[xfa]M |
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| 7 | RAVS | Prince welcoming very religious teachers (4) V[ery] in RAS |
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| 8 | ONE-PIECE | Swimsuit that is, these days, below rock-bottom price? (8) ONE P (1p, lowest oossible price) + I.E. + C.E. |
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| 9 | STRUCK A CHORD | Was resonant soprano transforming hard-rock cut? (12, 3 words) S[oprano] + (HARD ROCK CUT)* |
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| 10 | OSTREA | Least fake shelled oysters (6) MOST REAL less its outer letters. The word “oyster” is derived from the Latin ostrea, so this is very helpful clueing |
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| 15 | SCYTHERS | Try chess when battling Grim Reaper and so on (8) (TRY CHESS)* |
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| 16 | DEANSHIP | Role of church baptism, say, probed by each new mum (8) EA[ch] N[ew] SH (quite, mum) in DIP |
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| 19 | HAIR-NET | The rain bothered lock-keeper? (7) (THE RAIN)* |
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| 21 | FAR-OFF | Very loudly holding conferences about remote (6) Reverse of FORA in FF |
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| 22 | PRUINA | Crush inside of each year’s bloom (6) RUIN (crush) in P[er] A[nnum] |
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| 24 | WHEN AS | Female cutting tool turned up at what time from history? (6,2 words) HEN in reverse of SAW |
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| 27 | POTT | Size of paper that’s uneven, having lost margins (4) [s]POTT[y] |
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| 28 | EL AL | Airline rejected spoon without depth (4, 2 words) Reverse of LADLE less D |
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Good blog. Unless I am reading it wrong, WHENAS is just one word in Chambers. My last two to parse were PROSEUCHE and ICON. Those subtraction clues are the bane of my crossword existence.
After a slowish start, I thought I was going well but I took a while to get PROSEUCHE, PRUINA and POTT from the wordplay at the end because I wasn’t sure about the definitions. I laughed at the definition of EASTER and the surface of the 15d reminding me of The Seventh Seal. I spent some time trying to find something more in 4d before accepting it could just be a cryptic definition.
I agree with Cineraria that Chambers appears to have WHENAS as a single word. I originally entered IGNORE without understanding why ‘spit’ was GORE, but once I looked in Chambers I was satisfied by gore^2 ‘to pierce with anything pointed’ and spit^2 ‘to transfix’.
Thanks, Andrew and Gemelo.
Thanks for the blog , good set of clues with some nice touches , I have got used to the idea of this setter subtracting a word to leave the answer such as FLYMAN and several others . Would be nice if some of these were turned into compound anagrams .
CAPRI PANTS is neat and almost &Lit , I did not search for WHEN AS , seems a bit weak but a classic dead-end in the grid .
I could not find RAVS in Chambers93 but the wordplay was clear .
OP-ED is &Lit , wordplay is (M)oped , a vehicle of the Mods .
Small typo in 32a … ‘aim’ is PLAN inside UDS with ‘no longer’ indicating archaic use.
Many thanks for the blog.
Agree with Roz@3 about (M)OPED. Took me a wee while to parse it, as also (RUB)ICON (so obvious, really!). I had brain-freeze on some clues – for 14ac, I must have thought of every combination of the first five letters except the correct one until I got the T! – but generally found it straightforward.
In fact, Chambers has both WHENAS and WHEN AS, the former listed under WHEN, the latter under AS. Gemelo is using the two word version, which Chambers defines as “at what time” (archaic).
Oh, ‘beside’ can mean ‘besides’. Thanks, Roz@3.
Thanks, bridgesong@6. Sometimes I don’t understand how Chambers is arranged.