That said… I just got back to this, and managed to write the correct letter in every square, whether in pencil or ink. I was able to construct all the new words (the same ones everyone else mentioned, basically) before looking them up, and staying away from the obvious “cheat” of looking up Mr. Eliot on wikipedia, where a list of works combined with letter counts would have ruined all the fun. Was embarrassed WASTE LAND took me so long, but I thought it was one word in the title. Can’t believe I vaguely remembered HOLLOW MAN, because that was a mean clue.

The rest were surprising Ximenian for the Rev, in my opinion. With him I often find many clues that I “solve”, and I can sort of see where all the bits of the cryptic part come from, but not how to assemble them into a proper explanation. Clues like that are like playing four-dimensional chess. Oh, OK, of course. LIMITED was one of those. You know it’s right but you can’t prove it in a logical fashion.

Amusingly, I managed to crack 1a before anything at 26a, and I’m really not sure how.

After re-entering this with it about half-done it still took me another couple of enjoyable hours to finish it, motivated by managing to get one answer every ten minutes or so.

Surprised to see (as someone mentioned) that this wasn’t a Prize puzzle, it sure felt like one. Seriously, I kept wondering why most of the blog posts had the same date as my printout! I even started thinking “hey, maybe 225 blogs the prizes sooner than I thought!” and I was also wondering why poor flashling felt so rushed when surely s/he had a work to work it out!

Sorry you got stuck with a chore rather than a pleasure, flashling, and thanks for the blog! And thanks to A. for yet another twisted yet scenic walk through his mind.

Nobody mentioned the sneaky placement of the cryptic part in the center of the definition at 23a. I thought that was quite artful.

Found this quite tough but a lot of fun – like many was able to get ELIOT quite early on but still took some time to break the puzzle open – must read a bit more of the man.

A number of new words in both the non-themed and themed clues – was unfamiliar with WAST WATER in what was probably my COD – had also not heard of MATTEOTTI, RESTIFORM, CADELLE, MUNCH (the painter one) and the ego ARCADIA link – the research button was worked very hard.

As is often the case, the parsing took as much time as the actual solve.

What we actually find, especially where the thread hasn’t been too badly nibbled at by 15^2 ducks, or other pond-life, is that people who like, love or even adore the Rev often find something to moan about, in addition to highlighting all the things that are great.

I liked this very much indeed, though I can see whay some may not. What I don’t undestand are the conspiracy theories about Araucaria being above criticism. Many like his puzzles, some don’t. What’s the fuss?

When I first landed in Australia there was only one UK puzzle per week to be had on the G weekly, which at that time came AFAIK all the way from the UK on airmail paper. If it wasn’t Big A (pace to the others) you felt like you’d wasted a whole week.

So, like RCW, that makes about 50 years all up.

In related news, it’s astonishing the numbers of stricter (i.e. Ximenean or neo-Ximenean) compilers I know who absolutely love Araucaria. Seeing someone doing things so differently, and with so much panache, is mighty to behold – they reckon he’s still a trailblazer at 91, or whatever it is.