Comments on: Guardian 25,609 – Araucaria

By: john

john — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:14:38 +0000

25 ac is mistaken in calling Yttrium a rare earth element. It is actually a (borderline) transition element (atomic number 39) – which meant that I was side-tracked for a while looking for the answer among the rare earths (atomic numbers 57-70). That said, time and again I’m impressed by Araucaria’s amazing breadth of general knowledge and this was indeed a rare occasion when my own (science) education meant I could spot the error!

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:57:10 +0000

Thanks Arucaria and Andrew. Only got around to this one on Monday … and it took a few goes over the next couple of days to get it out.

Don’t know about this being one of A’s easier ones – had a mixed bag of local knowledge (9a), literary knowledge (2d, 7d, 11a), a bit of geography and a good overall brain workout – at least for me anyway.

Like others, I think 3d is a gem and 12d not far behind (think that WISDOM is a great diversion but serves as another link back to the TOOTH part). Hadn’t heard of the TAKE = RECIPE but had the rest of the parse right on it (with a ? on the R).

A hugely enjoyable solve and up to Prize standard for mine!

By: molonglo

molonglo — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:12:54 +0000

Last word on 9a from G&S: You’ll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.

By: drago

drago — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:46:27 +0000

A very entertaining puzzle. Thanks Andrew and Araucaria.
It seems ‘gee-gee’ came after ‘gee’ as an exclamation to a horse. Collins lists g as an abbreviation for ‘gelding’ too. It’s a mystery.

By: nametab

nametab — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:57:58 +0000

A fairly straightforward, but diverting Araucaria,I thought. He always makes you read between the lines more (e.g at 12d, where the anagram indicator is the whole first sentence with question mark. Liked 3d. Agree with several contributors that GG is more colloquial for horse, but have seen G defined this way before by Mr A. Also, parsing of ‘inside’ has cropped up several times. Being a technologist, YTTRIUM was straightforward fortunately. SE corner very easy. I was looking for the parsing of the ‘O’ in RIVERBOAT because I had interpreted ‘grass’ as RAT (cf traitor) who was ‘taking’ the rest of the clue; so thanks for proper parsing Andrew.

By: Headteacher

Headteacher — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:57:03 +0000

Not my day, today. My post #27 is in reply to exscouse #22 not Mark #21. Apologies.

By: Headteacher

Headteacher — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:54:52 +0000

Sorry, what’s not mwhat’s #27

By: Headteacher

Headteacher — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:53:55 +0000

Just in case you’re being serious Mark #21, wire = telegram, leg = walker, r = right, inside = in team. Anyway,mwhat’s with “used to”? Warrington are still known as “The Wire”, at least in this house!

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:46:52 +0000

Absolutely tupu. I adulated 3d.

By: tupu

tupu — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:33:26 +0000

25 Hi RCW

Did I detect a hint of adulation coming on with ‘typical bit of Araucaria magic’?