Guardian 24717 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on June 4th, 2009
There’s a mini-theme of golf and golf clubs in this one; I found this quite tough, but on writing the post I’m not entirely sure why, apart from the usual Araucaria liberties…
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ARCTIC | ARC = “Bow” + TIC = “convulsion” |
| 5. | SCHNAPPS | Sounds like “sh!” (“don’t say it”) + “naps” (“sleeps”) |
| 9. | DYSTOPIA | TOPI = “helmet” in (DAYS)*; Chambers gives “a hat, esp a sola hat, pith helmet, worn esp in India” for TOPI |
| 10. | INTERN | Double definition; an INTERN is a junior doctor in the US hospital system |
| 11,27. | GLENEAGLES | to EAGLE is to “better the PAR FOR THE COURSE” in GLENS = “Highlands”, perhaps? (I wondered if “the” was a misprint for “than”…) |
| 12. | CHICKENPOX | HICK = “rustic” in (PONCE)* + X = “unknown” |
| 13. | SNO-CAT | (ACTS ON)* |
| 14. | DECIMATE | DEC I = “first of month” + MATE = “friend” |
| 16. | BARE ARMS | I’m not sure about “Was one of ancient 25″ here? Update:  ‘He “bare [bore] arms”‘ might be ‘he “was one of ancient soldiery”‘ |
| 19. | TOPPER | P = “soft” in TOPER = “Boozer” |
| 21. | ACCENTUATE | (AN A = “adult” U = “university” ETC ETC)* |
| 23. | FLOG | GOLF reversed |
| 24. | LEAN TO | “insectivorous cat” might be LEO eating ANT |
| 25. | SOLDIERY | OLDIE = “veteran” in S + RY |
| 26. | ATALANTA | A[s] in ATLANTA; “Who’s Who In The Ancient World” explains that she made her suitors race against her |
| Down | ||
| 2. | ROYAL AND ANCIENT | ROY + ALAN + DAN + I in CENT = “one in a hundred” |
| 3. | TITANTIC | Hidden answer (golgonooza reminds me that I should also have said that this is an &lit) |
| 4. | CAPACITOR | CAP = “top” followed by I in ACTOR; “Store charge here” is a lovely definition |
| 5. | SEABIRD | (BRAISED)* |
| 6. | HOICK | I in HOCK = “Setter debtor?” |
| 7. | ANTONYM | ANTONY, M. (Mark Antony) = “Oppo of Caesar, J.” |
| 8. | PAR FOR THE COURSE | (PERFECT HOURS OR A)* |
| 15. | COTTESLOE | T = “Model” in CÔTE = “French coast” + SLOE = “fruit” |
| 17. | ETERNAL | TERN in (ALE)* |
| 18. | SWANSEA | SWAN SEA might be an inversion of SEA BIRD |
| 20. | PUFFING | PUFFIN + G; the definition is referring to Puffing Billy |
| 22. | TROON | POLTROON = CHICKEN (“first part of 12″) without POL = “Politician” |
June 4th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Thanks mhl. I think 16a is referring to “bare” being an old form of “bore”. Bore arms = was a soldier, ancient = archaic language.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Very easy for Araucaria but enjoyable just the same. Clever references to various golf clubs.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Interesting that Araucaria’s protege Paul (as Punk) also clued ANTONYM today in the Independent. The breakdown was the same but the clue very different.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Not happy with 16a and the “jvh” explanation doesn’t sound right to me.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I think jvh is more or less right with 16a. BARE is an archaic form of ‘bore’ as past tense for ‘bear’, so a soldier ‘bore arms’ = BARE ARMS. I don’t think it is particularly fair for a daily puzzle but I don’t see any other reasonable explanation (yet).
June 4th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Hi all,
Can someone give me a further explanation to TROON….I still don’t get it, and couldn’t get it. I understand it’s a golf club, but ….
SNO-CAT too.
PS Welcome Crypticnut … another brisbanite
June 4th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
16a was a bit loose. “T-shirt” gave me BARE ARMS which sounded like a homophone (oops) when linked to 25a SOLDIERY. Guess we all have different thought processes.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Monica M: SNO-CAT is a vehicle used on snow and hence in the ARCTIC.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
16 ac. Try googling “bare arms” and all you’ll get is Michelle O.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Crypticnut: There’s no homophone indicator for “bear arms”. There is, though, an indicator for the past tense, ‘was’ and a loose indicator for an archaic word ‘ancient’.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi Monica M….actually Sunny Coast.(but close enuff)
TROON fits the clue – POLTROON (coward therefore chicken) minus POL. We would normally look for MP for politician but with Araucaria expect the unexpected.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Also, Monica M:
First past of CHICKENPOX = chicken = coward = poltroon. Remove pol = politician and you get TROON.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Perhaps I was tricked by the stress mhl put there … I was left thinking … “who in their right mind would call a golf club the sno-cat” !!!!
June 4th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Thanks Colin… the lack of a homophone indicator bothered me too but with Araucaria I have learned to think outside the square. While I wasn’t entirely happy with the clue, I got it. And that’s the main thing.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Ah, re SNO-CAT. It wasn’t stress, it was a link to the wikipedia article describing the vehicle. mhl provided links from various answers not just the golf clubs.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Thanks Colin … I don’t feel so silly now … I’d worked the snow vehicle line.
Now for my next question … HOICK?
June 4th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Oh … and I understand the pull up part.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Polished this off quite quickly with a little help here and there. Had never heard of a sno-cat before, and wasn’t aware of puffing Billy. Also not a massive golf fan, so I’m glad some of these weren’t too hard. Surely 3dn (TITANIC) is also an &lit? I thought it was very clever. And can anyone shed any light on hoick?
June 4th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Ah – I’ve just realised that I in Hock would make the setter a debtor as he would be in hock or obligated to someone.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
3dn is an &lit if you forgive Araucaria his laxness. I don’t think “Something” on its own is good enough, “Something of” would have been better but would, of course, have broken the definition.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Got it, thanks golgonooza .. I just needed it explained slightly differently … I’ll sleep soundly now.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for 22d explanation. Got it only by working through golf clubs and courses. Poltroon I would never have thought of. 17d was left unfilled for a good hour as my poor classics left me with Atalanta spelt Atlatnta. Doh.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
We often see “some” meaning “part of” what follows, therefore some (of) “hit it – an iceberg” works for me, esp in an Araucaria puzzle.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Unless the online and print copies are different it is “something” not “some”.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Thanks for the blog. I found this quite testing and eventually had to cheat on ROYAL AND ANCIENT to get the lower left side out. Thanks for the explanations of the wordplay for TROON and LEAN-TO, which eluded me! Not too happy with the convolutions of 16ac. but otherwise enjoyed the puzzle a lot.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Well ye-hah, third Araucaria finish! This is where I have an advantage over the experts, I still get a real buzz out of that, it isn’t simply “yet another”.
I was glad of the on-line gadgets though, but to me that’s the same as using lots of books, just quicker.
The online version did say “Something….” BTW.
OK, must go vote……
June 4th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Late to the party today and surprised to see so much controversy over 16ac. I remembered a hymn I knew as a child with the verse:
‘Can a woman’s tender care
Cease towards the child she bare?
Yes, she may forgetful be,
Yet will I remember thee.’
Which gave rise to the joke about the child going home from Sunday School and saying they’d sung a song about a she-bear.
I think 3dn works if you think of it as ‘some thing …’ It’s a typical Araucaria device.
It was nice for pedants like me to see DECIMATE defined correctly.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Hmm, I must be in a minority here. I’m aware that Araucaria will collapse spaces but “some thing” is no better than “something”. Reading it with the space only works if you then treat “thing” as a redundant word. For the definition to work the space needs to not be there. Essentially the clue fails as an &lit because it can’t reasonably be parsed twice.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
22d is a dreafully clumsy construction. I got the answer but would never have worked out the construction, if I stared at it from now till Doomsday.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
In reply to derek this is only my third completed Arucaria. Does anyone else have (or recall) a slight melancholy on completing a grid and being denied that “ah!” Moment later on?
June 4th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Pricklewedge, you mean as in “damn I was enjoying that and didn’t want it to stop”? Others may have but not me, I’m always relieved to get there, even with ones I regularly finish. I know what you mean, but this is a family show so we won’t go there!
Re 3dn. I don’t wish to join the debate by expressing any opinion here, but if you want a measure of whether the clue works as a hidden because of the use of “Something”, my evidence is that I solved the clue purely as an &lit. I never saw the hidden. That may be because, as suggested by Colin, “Something” doesn’t work. Of course, I might not have seen it with a more traditional indicator, being the class dummy! So who knows? I was just happy to solve it.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
In reply to Derek; yes… Sort of… The “wish it would carry on” is sometimes there, but more boringly it’s to do with my two hours to work and home again. No XW to look forward to on long drag home!
June 4th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Pricklewedge, I’m replying to that in the chat/crossword discussion thread before I go off topic.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Can I put in a plea for 7d as no one else, surprisingly, seems to have done so – I thought it was a great/brilliant and original clue.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Being from Titanic Town (Belfast, Ireland where it was built) I thought it was worth mentioning that the last survivor of the shipwreck, Millvina Dean, died a few days ago and her obituary was in todays paper probably a co incidence that 3dn was in today but maybe not.
Millvina Dean
Stiofain
June 4th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Dave — I agree re 7dn. A real ‘aha’ moment!
June 4th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
This took me nearly all day – and I still missed 22d. I also made a stupid mistake at 25ac by putting in a final S instead of Y – particularly embarrassing because I’d just used RY in a U.S. cryptic the night before and had noted how odd it was to see it on this side of the pond… But I liked this puzzle a lot, especially 2d (it has my given name in it).
Eileen, I think that she-bear must be a relative of Gladly the cross-eyed bear.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Hi Dave
I really did mean to say how much I loved 7dn but my entry got rather long as it was! In fact, I was telling my dinner hostess, a fellow-Classicist, about it an hour or so ago. Colin mentioned in Comment 3 that Punk / Paul had used ANTONYM in the Indy today. I’d have thought his clue, ‘boy getting married, poor to rich, perhaps’, a great clue, had I not seen this one first!
[I liked 20dn, too.]
June 4th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Hi Dagnabit
Thanks for the reminder about ‘Gladly’ – I’d forgotten him / her! [And I thought 2dn very clever, too.]
June 5th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Is 3 down not
Definition = the whole clue
Cryptic: some = portion of – thing hit it – an iceberg?
COD Bare Arms… Devilish!
June 5th, 2009 at 12:21 am
7d, yeah right, if anyone failed to smile at that one then they ain’t got no soul as certain parts of the vernacular would put it. Very neat and totally to the point.