I thought perhaps I was too late to join the party. Thank goodness there are still some
revellers (well one anyway) propping up the bar! Many thanks for your feedback.

I agree that my explanation requires a two-stage approach – and that this may well be one
too many. But I always try my best to understand every clue after solving a crossword.
This can be quite a task, of course, when dealing with our Monkey Puzzle friend.
I can’t think of any specific examples right now, but I am often left at the end with one or two
of his clues which I think require this sort of re-wording. I think that is how he has constructed
such clues and he expects his solvers to follow the same (rather devious?) route for a full understanding of the solution.

Long may he entertain us!
All the best, Mike.

I didn’t really know any of Forster’s work “directly” but thought I had a vague idea of his topics, so I held off on the obvious (wikipedia’s EMF article – might have made things too easy), but took the liberty of testing possible answers (a passage to india was first).

I got a chuckle when I finally filled in HOWARD’S END, among several others. Quibbled with OCARINA and the missing A in 7d, but oh well, once they are seen, they are certainly the intended answers.

Cheers!

But what I do not like about it is that one:
-first has to ‘translate’ “having had near death experience” into “having nearly died”
-and subsequently has to see “nearly died” as DED, which is perhaps clear enough but still dubious. In Crosswordland “nearly” (nearly ) always means: “take the last letter away”, but not here. What if some average setter would have clued SPAN by “near Spain”? I think we would have put him on the BBQ .

My conclusion: one of these typical Araucarian liberties which – once more, fair enough and much to his advantage – didn’t stand in the way of finding the right solution.

I’m writing this from Copenhagen, where I’m cuddling my new grandson. I finished the puzzle on the train to Stansted, despite not knowing ASSASSIN BUG, GATHERED TO A HEAD or HATCH BEAMS, so I guess that means, as others say, that it was on the easy side for A.I, too, had qualms about entering 7dn for a while.

The only thing I have to add is that I think there’s a little more to 5dn. The clue has ‘his’ stream and I think that’s referring to the fact that Burns, a Scot, would call a stream a burn.

Incidentally, someone was musing recently about definitions – Radio 4′s “I Am Sorry I Haven’t A Clue” in Uxbridge English Dictionary produce excellent examples.

A mellow Araucaria this time, with an easily accesible mini-theme. (Last week’s prize monster still awaiting completion…I hopes).

Lots of good cluing, liberties notwithstanding: Liked 14A HOWARDS END, even though having FORSTER early on helped, 5D BURNSIDE, and 25A APPREHENDED.

Misdirections galore!