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Hi,
it's me again, seeking help from my fellow solvers to solve old Genius crosswords. My previous posts have proved fruitful, so I'm trying my luck one more time.

I try to solve them without the special instructions (which aren't available anyway, so I have no choice). Some are a walk in the park, but Genius 25 is too arduous a task without those instructions.

Any instructions, hints, nudges would be very welcome indeed.

Thank you ever so much

Hi. Any,
A quick search on Answer Bank yielded a thread which states “One half of the solution comes from the preceding clue and the other half from the following clue.”

It also confirms the setter as Araucaria.

I hope this is useful. Good luck.

Here’s the link to the puzzle for those interested…

https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2005/jul/04/genius-crossword-25

Thank you Jono,
I'd given up looking for threads on crossword forums, the puzzle being so old. I suppose I should have searched more thoroughly.
An Araucaria puzzle! No wonder I'd placed it into the "arduous" category. What a (fiendish) treat.

I knew it had to do with swapped definitions of some sort. But this "preceding/following clue" device? I wouldn't have worked it out in a million years.

That was fun. The only clue I can't parse is at 17 down (yielding one half of 16d and one half of 19d). In my opinion, "Plates setter in close atmosphere" is supposed to indicate either "fullrim" or "rimfull". But it beats me.

Manu, well done on finishing!

I haven’t attempted the puzzle, but can see how it works.

The wordplay in 17 seems to yield “fullmeg” (where fug is “close atmosphere”, ll is plates and setter is me) which gives the “Meg” for part of “megrim” (vertigo in 19).

But “meg” is indicated by 20, “megimp” (mig reversed in mep).

So we seem to be missing the “rim” part of megrim. This was the conflict that the poster of the old thread I found was referring to I recall.

Jono, that’s spot on. I solved the puzzle and came to the same independent conclusion. An unusual error, as it would have been easy enough to clue RIMIMP and keep the same end to the clue.

“Publicity surrounding tragic heroine making a comeback. A Finn, it’s reported”

Thanks for confirming, Quisling.
I like the clue!

Thank you for your replies, and great clueing, quisling!
I'll settle for your explanations. Indeed, 20d gives a reversed Mig inside a Member of the European Parliament and 17d makes sense after your explanations, jono. Shame about the double Meg, but at least I can now put this puzzle away. Fiendish fun it was.