A standard Gemelo puzzle.
I solved this one in bits and pieces over several days, not because it was overly difficult, but because I’ve been very busy this week. I put the last solution in yesterday (Friday) that being OGEN MELON, but had to come back for the parsing because I couldn’t see it for some reason despite it being straightforward.
Thanks, Gemelo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PULP |
Nonsense from preachers renouncing vermouth (4)
|
| PULP(it) (“preachers”) renouncing IT (“vermouth”) | ||
| 4 | SWADESHI |
Old Indian nationalist movement has wised up (8)
|
| *(has wised) [anag:up]
The Swadeshi were pre-Independence Indian nationalists who boycotted British goods in favour of home industries. |
||
| 11 | HAIR-EEL |
Look inside bank for worm (7)
|
| AIR (“look”) inside HEEL (“bank”) | ||
| 13 | ACTON |
Something found under mail not about to be returned (5)
|
| <=(NOT + Ca. (circa, so “about”), to be returned)
An acton was a stuffed jacket worn under a coat of mail. |
||
| 14 | INEXPLICIT |
Ambiguous export allowed east of Indiana (10)
|
| Exp. (export) + LICIT (“allowed”) east of IN (Indiana) | ||
| 15 | TANG |
Sea surgeon in coarse seaweed (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | KENTE |
What Superman’s named cape that doesn’t use better silk cloth (5)
|
| (Clark) KENT (“what Superman’s named” in his early alter ego) + (cap)E that doesn’t use CAP (“better”) | ||
| 17 | OGEN MELON |
Old me adopting new name for fruit (9, 2 words)
|
| O (old) + GEMELO (“me”, the setter) adopting N (new) + N (name) | ||
| 20 | PRESAGED |
Urged to accept silver for second forecast (8)
|
| PRES(s)ED (“urged”) to accept Ag (chemical symbol for “silver”) for s (second) becomes PRES(Ag)ED | ||
| 22 | ROENTGEN |
Scientist torn about screening energy information (8)
|
| *(torn) [anag:about] screening E (energy) + GEN (“information”) | ||
| 26 | TANTARARA |
Blast of pan-pipes featuring in short form of jazz (9)
|
| ANTARA (“pan-pipes”) featuring in [short] TRA(d) (“form of jazz”) | ||
| 28 | VALOR |
Bravery of Charlotte and Victoria taking a look inside (5)
|
| VR (“Victoria” Regina) taking A + LO (“look”) inside
Charlotte is a city in the US so would use the American spelling of “valour”. |
||
| 30 | AGAR |
Devious excursion uncovered jelly (4)
|
| (v)AGAR(y) (“devious excursion”, uncovered) | ||
| 31 | PERITECTIC |
Melting ice mostly dogging a building designer carving out arch (10)
|
| IC(e) [mostly] dogging (i.e. following) PER (“a) + (arch)ITECT (“building designer”, carving out ARCH) | ||
| 32 | ROMPS |
Swift runs that would become walks if pastor were leading (5)
|
| ROMPS (“swift run”) would become (P)OMPS (“walks”) if the leading letter was a P (pastor)
RACES would also be a valid solution to this clue. |
||
| 33 | UPHOLDS |
Unusual push to frame worn-out countenances (7)
|
| *(push) to frame OLD (“worn-out”) | ||
| 34 | EPIDEMIC |
Long story about the same disease (8)
|
| EPIC (“long story”) about IDEM (“the same”) | ||
| 35 | REAM |
Where scholars may read scripture in the morning paper (4)
|
| RE (religious education, so “where scholars may read scripture”) + AM (ante meridiem, so “in the morning”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PHOTOGRAVURE |
HR pro gave out false picture offering no relief (12)
|
| *(hr pro gave out) [false] | ||
| 2 | LINNET |
Flier allowed to go outside of tavern (6)
|
| LET (“allowed”) to go outside of INN (“tavern”) | ||
| 3 | PREGNANT |
History’s cogent and full of meaning (8)
|
| Double definition, the first archaic | ||
| 5 | WEPT |
Time where preacher sat up and presented Lamentations (4)
|
| <=(T (time) + PEW (“where preacher sat” formerly, up) | ||
| 6 | ALLELE |
Gene Kelly barely cracking highest note after doing a flip (6)
|
| <=((k)ELL(y) [barely] cracking E-LA (“highest note” in old church music), after doing a flip) | ||
| 7 | DAIKO |
Drum kit almost breaking on account of drummer initially going the wrong way (5)
|
| <=(KI(t) [almost] breaking o/a (on account of) + D(rummer) initially, going the wrong way) | ||
| 8 | STINT |
Keep short wading bird (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | HOTTIES |
Commitments preceded by endless shots – they may help with cold feet! (7)
|
| TIES (“commitments”) preceded by [endless] (s)HOT(s) | ||
| 10 | INCENDIARISM |
Criminal and I sin – crime is arson (12)
|
| *(and I sin crime) [anag:criminal] | ||
| 12 | EXEMPT |
River dam’s last part taken out (6)
|
| (River) EXE + (da)M [‘s last] + pt. (part) | ||
| 18 | NARRATOR |
Reporter‘s notorious, abruptly U-turning to right (8)
|
| <=ARRAN(t) (“notorious”, abruptly, u-turning) + TO + R (right) | ||
| 19 | SODA POP |
Difficulties returning burst fizzy drink in Florida (7, 2 words)
|
| <=ADOS (“difficulties”, returning) + POP (“burst”) | ||
| 21 | SNATCH |
Quickly win section of course (6)
|
| Double definition, although I’m uncertain on the second one, thinking it might be a snack, part of a course in a menu. | ||
| 23 | GNETUM |
Tropical plants displaced nutmeg (6)
|
| *(nutmeg) [anag:displaced] | ||
| 24 | VAGILE |
Very able to move? (6)
|
| V (very) + AGILE (“able to move”) and &lit. | ||
| 25 | ELEMI |
Something in ink that is covering one Spice Girl or another all over (5)
|
| <=(i.e (“that is”) covering MEL (Smith or Chisolm, both of whom were Spice Girls), all over) | ||
| 27 | ARISE |
Begin to split into opposing camps after politician quits (5)
|
| (pol)ARISE (“to split into opposing camps”, with Pol. (politician) quitting) | ||
| 29 | KEPI |
Cap for French toll when cycling (4)
|
| If you cycle (turn) the letters of PI-KE (“toll) 180 degrees, you’d see KE-PI |
I got off to my usual slow start but agree that it didn’t seem too hard in the end. It helped that I had learned the word SWADESHI earlier this year from another crossword and that the two 12-letter answers were obviously anagrams and at least they contained components I recognised even if I didn’t know the whole word. I also only knew one of the meanings of each of TANG and PREGNANT. I entered RACES at 32a in my first pass through the clues, which made 19d and 25d a bit harder. I entered AGAR from the definition but it took me a while to think of ‘vagary’, and I thought it was funny when I realised I had read the word ‘vagaries’ that same day in the first sentence of the Azed blog.
For 21d I had ‘section’ = S and ‘of course’ = NATCH. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on the Spice Girls, but I thought the two Mels were Mel B and Mel C.
Thanks loonapick and Gemelo.
Good blog.
I agree with Matthew@1 on 21D and 25D.
32A: ROM[P]S: I parsed this as a type of reverse clue: If we move P to the front (if pastor were leading) then we get (that would become) PROMS (walks), i.e., short for “promenades.”
Thanks for the blog , another very good solid Plain puzzle . Charlotte is a nice touch for VALOR , using Gemelo in OGEN MELON is very neat .
I could not find DAIKO in Chambers93 , I know it as Taiko , have seen the Taiko drummers , very impressive . unusual to have five letters checked .
I agree with Cineraria@2 for ROMPS . I do not think “if pastor were leading” is enough to REPLACE the R . This rules out races .
Thanks, Cineraria@2 for a better explanation of PROMS, and I agree with Roz@3 that the P shouldn’t be replacing the first letter. I suppose thinking of RACES put the idea in my head and since that idea could sort of work with the correct answer I didn’t think of the obviously better explanation.
I think the late Mel Smith would be honoured to have been the male member of The Spice Girls.
Oops on the Mel Smith – I don’t know where that came from as I definitely know it was Mel Brown
As has been said, not too many surprises. I had understood “peritectic” to mean a process which produces a solid, so could not see how it equaled “melting”. I initially had an unparsed “metatectic” which is closer in meaning.
I think the taiko/daiko issue is a thorny one. I too have seen the Taiko drummers and the noun in Japanese is definitely taiko. However, when the word is combined with other words the kanji is pronounced as “daiko” e.g. the largest drum would be O-daiko. Someone with much better knowledge of the language than me may be able to comment but I don’t think the word “daiko” stands alone.
For 29D I had it simply as “pike” cycling twice so pike -> ikep -> kepi, rather than a swapping of halves. It comes to the same thing (in one dimension anyway – two rotations in three dimensions can give very different results depending on the order in which they are performed!)
Anyhow, all good fun so thank you loonapick and Gemelo.
Agree with Matthew@1 and Cineraria@2 about SNATCH and PROMS. Love the idea of Mel Smith as a Spice Girl!
As Jack@7 says, the Japanese word for a drum is TAIKO, but in compound words used for different types of drums it becomes -daiko. This type of letter-shift is common to several languages; in Japanese, it’s also seen in Origami, where gami is a modified form of kami (paper).