A really nice crossword overall, from (in my case) 1a to 4d.

27) I think it is meant to be read as “(Hi)’s prayer” = SPRAYER, hence the exclamation point.

18) TRIMMER to me is a straightforward DD – one going to a hedge to neaten it up is a trimmer, as is one who hedges their bets. A chance it’s more common in the USA?

I better not say I remember Tacitus in case Sil realises how old I really am. I do remember his (T’s) comment about one of the emperors to the effect that ‘Everyone agreed he would have been a great emperor if he’d never ruled’. I see on checking it was Galba.

re what.
Apologies. What you actually said was “The correct question is, ‘In what year …?’” and Manu then pushed a bit further by replying “I thought that dropping the “in” at the start of the question was incorrect. Thank you for confirming.” I tried to encapsulate all that by suggesting that you ended up being a bit hard.

Yes, I know what you’re saying – a crossword’s a crossword, but it’s just I seem to have a bit of a blind spot with the good reverend. Most of the other setters in the Guardian/Indy I can have a good crack at, but with Araucaria I never seem to be able to get sufficient clues on the first or second run throughs to be able to give myself a chance of completion.

I shall have a concerted go at the next one and report back.

I didn’t say ‘what year’ was wrong – certainly not in your example – but ‘which’ in Manu’s sounds better. As Kathryn’s Dad says, the distinction between the two is a rather nice one – and Manu’s example raises another: I’ve never fully understand the distinction between ‘ans’ and ‘année’ but can somehow ‘feel’ the difference’ [most of the time].

Hi again, Manu – I know you’ve gone to bed but perhaps you might see this in the morning. Was I not right in my first comment [7] that ‘quel dommage’ means ‘What a pity’?

I’m very used to these linguistic discussions, because I have a French daughter-in-law, who is also fascinated by language. Actually, she’s my stepdaughter-in-law, so that makes me her ‘belle-mère’ twice over, n’est-ce pas? [Poor girl!] I don’t know how you French people get round that one.

As for ‘knowing by sight’, a few years ago, I was firmly put in my place by my four-year old grandson, when I was trying to convince him that he did know some friends of mine. ‘You’d know them if you saw them’, I said. He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Grandma, I’d know everybody if I saw them’.

To bring me back completely on topic: I’ve just seen tupu’s comment and I agree entirely. One of the best clues, I thought – but then I would say that, wouldn’t I?

I found your comments on surface versus construction generally very convincing e.g. re 16.
I think you are a bit hard re Tacitus. My reading is that the ‘the’ goes with ‘historian’ and ‘quiet American is adjectival’.

I’ve seen many posts from you that suggest you regularly solve clues with a wide range of difficulty. Have you ever tried tackling the puzzle without looking at the setter? Worked for me when I was starting out with ‘Alan Cash’ puzzles 30+ years ago.

This was reasonably easy for Arry unlike last Thursday’s where I completed less than half before being totally stumped. Similarly, I found Arry’s last prize puzzle pretty easy so there’s isn’t really a yardstick for difficulty as we are all different and think in our own ways. However, I did enjoy today’s which was entertaining and amusing. I found the bottom half of the puzzle much easier than the top and it took me ages to get the long answer in the middle but it was a great clue.

Ref KD at 33. It baffles me why you cannot start an Araucaria when you complete most of the other setters. There were a few easy clues today with probably 23d being the easiest so make sure you have a go at the next one. Most of the time, Araucaria is not that difficult.

My Blackie’s Concise Dictionary include for trimmer: ‘one who fluctuates between parties, especially political parties’…