Was, unusually for me, on the right wavelength for Araucaria today, and sped through most of the puzzle, which was as enjoyable as always. There was a nice mini theme of a few clues linked somehow or another to 18dn. 1ac and 28ac were new words to me, and I had to do a little research for the wordplay of 25. Still need help deciphering 6dn. Edits thanks to Shirley and Eileen.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLENLIVET | G, LENT around LIVE |
| 6 | MYRRH | MY,R,RH – also known as Sweet Cicely, one of the gifts brought by 18. |
| 9 | APPLE | APE around P[upi]L, “Pupil” also is the def. |
| 10 | SOPHISTRY | S,OP,HIS TRY |
| 11 | EAR-WIGGING | EARWIG,GING[er], I think. It can mean a reprimand. |
| 14 | THAT WAS | (what)* in rev(Sat), putting this on either side on 15 gives the satirical That Was The Week That Was |
| 15 | THE WEEK | TWEE around HE = high explosive, K. Also defined as “…what ends then” [i.e. Saturday]. |
| 17 | PREVIEW | REV,I in PEW |
| 20 | GOLD | GOL[iath], D[avid], another of 18’s gifts |
| 22 | PSYCHIATRY | sounds like “psi, chi” + A TRY – second similar use of TRY in this puzzle. |
| 25 | NEWSWOMAN | Rebekah Wade is the editor of the Sun. As for the wordplay… Tyneside is in the NE, from there you need to go WSW to reach Keswick, and then to OMAN to get to Muscat. Or, some abbreviation for Newcastle for the first few letters. Maybe. |
| 26 | EBOLA | rev(a lobe) |
| 28 | NIERSTEIN | (entries in)* |
| Down | ||
| 2 | EXPURGATE | EX, PG = “paying guest” partly inside [c]URATE. Thomas Bowdler published an expurgated Shakespeare. |
| 3 | LIES IN WAIT | LIES = “stories”, and carollers might tell of an “inn wait”, I guess. WAIT can refer to a carol singer. |
| 4 | VISAGES | VI SAGES = six sages ~ twice “three wise men”. Nice. |
| 5 | TOPKNOT | TOP as in to exceed, and KNOT the rate of travel. |
| 6 | MAIN | “Supplier of “light … on land or sea”?” – sea would be the def, but can’t make out the wordplay. Main as in electrical mains. |
| 7 | RATTY | ref the Wind in the Willows character |
| 8 | HAYMARKET | sounds like “hey, mark it” |
| 14 | TYPE GENUS | TYPE, GEN[eral], US – zoological term. |
| 16 | EIGHTSOME | EIGHT,SO,ME – EIGHT is half of 16, the clue number. |
| 18 | WISE MEN | W = with, rev(NEMESI[s]) |
| 19 | INCENSE | follows Frank to make frankincense, the last of 18’s gifts. Unusual wordplay, but gettable enough in the context of this puzzle. |
| 21 | LOWRY | Low Railway = base line |
| 24 | TWEE | TWEE[d] |
6D Main as in electricity mains.
21D Low Railway = Base line LOWRY
3dn: ‘waits’ were bands of carol-singers.
Another great themed puzzle!
14dn was interesting, in view of our discussion yesterday as to whether something typed was ‘written’!
D’oh! I failed to notice the theme, so missed GOLD. With the somewhat weak ‘Goliath – part’ for GOL, I would have appreciated a definition – I suppose it’s just ‘first’, as the gifts are usually listed in the order ‘gold, frankincense and myrrh’. To rhyme with Gyrrh!
Michod: I had it as First = GOLD as in the medal position.
Unlike Manehi , I found this much harder than last few Araucarias – although I did manage to finish it. And I didn’t spot the theme either, despite getting all parts of it – agree that ‘First’ = GOLD.
Manehi: re your edit: sorry to nit-pick but a ‘wait’ was a BAND of carol-singers, which it needs to be to fit the clue. A carol-singer could ‘lie in wait’.
Eileen: I found a definition of wait (13,c) as a member of such a band, and then “lies in wait” ~ “stories in (a) wait” ~ “stories a wait/carol singer can tell”