A worthy prize puzzle that took some work to get to the bottom of. A real pleasure to solve and to blog. Thank you Araucaria.
| Across | ||
| 9 | AMALEKITE | A cock bird no friend to Israel (9) |
| A MALE KITE (cock bird) – the Amalek were a biblical people at war with the Hebrews (in Genesis) | ||
| 10 | HAIKU | Dove’s top notes recited poem (5) |
| sounds like (recited) “high coo” (dove’s top notes) – a Japanese poem | ||
| 11 | TOO GOOD | False god to love, love therefore not true? (3,4) |
| anagram (false) of GOD TO O O (love, love) – too good to be true | ||
| 12 | RAMADAN | First to end play at an abstinent time (7) |
| DRAMA (play) first letter moved to the end with (at) AN | ||
| 13 | SALAD | Early days in return of half-hearted TV city (5) |
| DALlAS (old US TV series) reversed missing one of the middle letters (half-hearted) – one’s salad days are one’s youth | ||
| 14 | EXCISEMAN | Remove island prey of 8s’ devil (9) |
| EXCISE (remove) MAN (Isle of Man) – Burns poem The Deil’s Awa Wi’ The Exciseman | ||
| 16 | COTTAGE HOSPITAL | Obsolete institution: Act I — the goalpost must be moved (7,8) |
| (ACT I THE GOALPOST)* moved=anagram – once a type of small local hospital in England | ||
| 19 | TWO-SEATER | Say pears and apple in tandem? (3-6) |
| TWOS (say pears, sounds like “pairs”) and EATER (apple) – a two-seater bicyle for example | ||
| 21 | COMFY | Herb left by soldier at ease (5) |
| COMFreY (herb) with RE (Royal Engineer, soldier) missing – definition is ‘at ease’ | ||
| 22 | MOITHER | Upset one in the dam (7) |
| I (one) in MOTHER (dam) – variant spelling of mither, moider, to annoy | ||
| 23 | RISOTTO | Title given back to archduke, being a dish (7) |
| SIR (title) reversed (given back) to OTTO (Archduke Otto of Austria) | ||
| 24 | THONG | Strap used by blacksmith on grey mare (5) |
| found in (used by) blacksmiTH ON Grey – definition is ‘strap’, mare is superflous (to my thinking) | ||
| 25 | TOP FLIGHT | Elite Spooner’s drunk after fiasco (3,6) |
| Spoonerism of “flop tight”, drunk after fiaso | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MALTESE CAT | Kipling’s pony, a cross beast, playing 21 and 22 down (7,3) |
| (CASTLE MATE)* playing=anagram – polo pony from Kipling short story of the same name. I think ‘a cross beast’ is thrown in as bonus material: a cat that is a pony (pony/cat cross) and/or a MALTESE cross and CAT=beast. I don’t think either of these is quite enough to stand on its own as the subsidiary part of the clue. | ||
| 2 | WAGON-LIT | Long wait on the cards for sleeper over sleepers (5-3) |
| (LONG WAIT)* – definition is ‘for sleeper over sleepers’. I presume that ‘on the cards’ is an anagram indicator, but apart from a very general indication of something about to happen I can’t really see it. | ||
| 3,4 | SECOND WIND | Time to set clock and get breath back (6,4) |
| SECOND (time) WIND (to set clock) – definition is ‘get breath back’ | ||
| 4 | See 3 | |
| 5 | RETROCHOIR | Nameless impressionist with foot (errors excepted) put inside part of cathedral (10) |
| TROCHee (metric foot) missing E E (two errors) put inside REnOIR (impressionist) missing N=name – the area behind the high altar in a large church or cathedral | ||
| 6 | THUMBS UP | Encouragement to beat about the bush, almost wildly (6,2) |
| THUMP (to beat) about the BUSh* (almost, wildly=anagram) | ||
| 7 | WISDOM | Extra to set in the comic sense (6) |
| triple/cryptic definition – wisdom teeth are extra to one’s set of teeth, comic actor Norman Wisdom and wisdom=sense | ||
| 8 | BURN | Get very hot water (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 14 | ELECTORATE | Give boost to surrounding vulgar-sounding bully who has the franchise (10) |
| ELATE (give boost to) surrounding ‘ECTOR (hecotr, bully, in vulgar speech) – the electorate is enfranchised | ||
| 15 | NIL BY MOUTH | Swap larger numbers in protest from Lincolnshire town: no wind farm! no swallows! (3,2,5) |
| NIMBY (not in my back yard protester, no wind farm) from LOUTH (Lincolnshire town) with M and L (larger numbers, in Roman numerals) swapped – definition is ‘no swallows’. A certain grim humour from Araucaria here and at 16 across. Insect-hunting creatures such as bats, swallows and swifts are sometimes killed by hunting close to wind turbines. | ||
| 17 | ACES HIGH | Don’t talk up soldier in Indonesian region, as pack is normally used (4,4) |
| SH (don’t talk) GI (soldier) reversed (up) in ACEH (Indonesian region) | ||
| 18 | TIME TO GO | Warning not to outstay welcome I encountered in African country (4,2,2) |
| I MET (encountered) in TOGO (African country) | ||
| 20 | ORISON | 8s’ Mary’s lost head in prayer (6) |
| Mary MORISON missing first letter (losing her head) – a prayer. From the poem Mary Morison by Robert Burns | ||
| 21 | CASTLE | Move at chess where players lose side pieces (6) |
| CAST (players) and LoseE (side pieces, end letters only) | ||
| 22 | MATE | Move at chess, first of moves at the end (4) |
| Moves (first letter of) AT theE (end of) – alternatively Moves At The End (first letters of), thanks to RichardY for this | ||
| 23 | RAPT | Awestruck, as is right and proper (4) |
| R (right) and APT (proper) – very nice! | ||
*anagram
Thanks PeeDee. I needed confirmation of AMALEKITE and RETROCHOIR but the rest followed logically enough. I vote for MALTESE cross and CAT=beast in 1d.
Thanks PeeDee, especially for WISDOM – last in as I missed the teeth aspect. Really good to see Araucaria back, and in form. This was just right, as a test. Never heard of 5D, but it was quite gettable.
Thanks PeeDee. I needed explanations for several solutions which I had found but couldn’t parse.
What a brilliant puzzle from Araucaria and, yes, it was so good to see his name on the puzzle again last Saturday.
Thanks PeeDee and Big A – and let’s hope 15, 16 and 18 merely are ‘grim humour’ and nothing more ominous…
Many thanks PeeDee & Araucaria for another wonderful puzzle.
It took some working out but, as always with this Setter, it was well worth the effort.
Yes, another excellent puzzle. Post-solve I needed to check AMALEKITE, RETROCHOIR, MOITHER, the connection of MALTESE CAT to Kipling, and the existence of a Burns poem about Mary Morison.
As far as Bullhassocks’ point about 15, 16 and 18 is concerned, I fear we are being prepared for the worst, but then again the worst shouldn’t come as a shock after the way Araucaria announced his illness to the world.
Great puzzle – just like some of his slightly tougher ones from back in the day.
Agree with all said so far. Hard to believe there’s not a hint of something there.
I stumbled across a recording of an old BBC doco which includes a (sadly only tiny) bit about Araucaria – so I’ve snipped out that bit and put it up on YouTube. I believe (Brigster on the G thread agrees) that the voiceover early on is Bob Smithies – a.k.a. the late Bunthorne.
It’s here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS8z4V5ICnU
Great puzzle, nice analysis. But I think a simpler reading of 22D: “first of Moves At The End” — just the first letters of the last four words. Plus of course the lovely double-cueing of “mate” being the move at the end of the chess game.
Thanks for that link JS, great stuff! I wonder if the BBC still has the whole program somewhere.
Thanks Araucaria and PeeDee
I thought this was a scintillating puzzle, but definitely needed help with some of the parsings.
As I was doing it I started to sense that it is very valedictory, as do a couple of other solvers I know. Not just 15, 16, 18, I think you can also add 22D MATE (the game’s over) while 3,4 and 11 suggets to me that hoping for a SECOND WIND is TOO GOOD to be true. And we are then given the reassurance of 6 THUMBS UP that he’s 21A COMFY.
I very much hope we’ll see more from The Rev, but in all honesty I have my doubts, and like Andy B @ 6 think we’re being prepared for the worst. 🙁
Having not seen an Araucaria prize for a while I was determined not to reach for the reference material too early and ploughed on despite knowing I wouldn’t know the Kipling and Burns references.
In fact BURN took me a long time to get. Anyway, I got there in the end, after a few days. I’m glad I stuck with it.
Like others it started to feel ominous half way through. I hope Araucaria is COMFY, and wish him well.
Rock solid puzzle as expected: thanks greatly A.
Cheers PeeDee and posters.
Molonglo. It seems your high hopes last week will be realised.
Biggles A. I’m not counting the chooks yet.
Chook numbers OK
Thanks, Araucaria and PeeDee.
I came late to this as we’re just back from Italy.
Great puzzle despite the sinking feeling. Liked WAGON-LIT amongst others.
Good Luck and Sogni d’Oro (Golden Dreams).
Giovanna xxx