Apologies for a brief and slightly belated blog. A nice theme involving various hominids, starting with the first three across clues. I needed to look up a few of the synonyms to check details, but apart from that this was not too troublesome,
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SAPIENS | PIE in SANS | |
| 5 | HABILIS | I in (c)HABLIS | |
| 9 | ERECTUS | ERE CT US | |
| 10 | LEBANON | BAN in LEO (Zodiac sign) + N | |
| 12 | LUCIA | dd | Reference to the island of Santa Lucia, and more cryptically to the E.F. Benson characters Mapp and Lucia. |
| 13 | CHEAP | C HEAP | |
| 15 | EMACIATED | (I CAME)< + A TED | |
| 17 | JACK KETCH | Sailor = JACK, boat = KETCH. | Jack Ketch was a famous 17th-century hangman, whose name became a generic name for the gallows or a hangman |
| 18 | HUMAN | HUM AN (indefinite article) | Homo Sapiens is more “human” than H. Erectus or H. Habilis |
| 22 | VIXEN | IX in VEN(erable) | Here “9” is the number rather a reference to 9 ac |
| 23 | CRO-MAGNON | MAGN in CROON | One of Araucaria’s vague “starts” – not sure what MAGN is intended to be the start of here: “Magnificent” maybe? |
| 25 | MIOCENE | INCOME* + E | |
| 26 | INVERSE | IN VERSE | I liked this one – nicely misleading |
| 28 | ECSTASY | EC + S(licker) in STAY | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | SCEPTIC | C in SEPTIC | |
| 3 | EXTOL | EX TOL(l) | |
| 4 | SUSTINENT | US TIN in SENT | Second time in this puzzle where a word in the clue appears in the answer (15ac is the other). |
| 5 | HOLST | L (50) in HOLST | Gustav Holst composed the Planets Suite |
| 6 | BOBSLEIGH | (HOGS BIBLE)* | |
| 7 | LINOCUT | Anagaram of LUNATIC with A replaced by O | |
| 8 | SUNWARD | UN in SWARD | |
| 14 | PEKINGESE | cd | Homo Erectus was once known as Peking Man |
| 16 | APHRODITE | AP(e) HR (hour) (TO DIE)* | A Manx cat is tail-less, so a Manx primate is an APE with no “tail” |
| 17 | JAVA MAN | Another name for H Erectus | |
| 18 | COXCOMB | COX (steer) + M in COB | |
| 20 | MINERVA | MINER V (versus) A | |
| 21 | NUNNERY | NUNN ER Y | Trevor Nunn, director |
| 23 | CHEAT | C(irca) HEAT | Science pedants will point out that heat and temperature are not the same thing.. |
Some very nice clues here. I particularly liked 14dn though it took me a long time to get it. However, I do think that including a reference to Mapp and Lucia is making solving Guardian crosswords a very age related occupation.
I liked this one a lot, too. I thought the surface ref. to the Gadarene swine in 6dn was really clever.
23ac: could it be the start of ‘magnus’, Latin for ‘great’?
I thought of “magnus” for 23ac too, but surely the “start” of a word shouldn’t be more than half of it…
“ven” for “ecclesiastical title” and JACK KETCH were really tough too, I thought. At least with so much checking in this grid you could have a good guess at the answers anyway.
The INVERSE clue and “Earth mother” for VIXEN were excellent 🙂
One of Araucaria’s most enjoyable puzzles recently: good theme; good clues.
Re 23 Ac – Surely great start is G, inside MAN, inside CROON
Magnificent?
23 across the start of great is ‘g’ inside ‘man’ surrounded by croon
What a great site. I’ve only just discovered it. i only do the guardian Weekly puzzle but had just finished it but not sure about Lucia or why noblest for 27 acroos which you don’t give!
Welcome, GS – 27ac is NO (=number) + BLEST (those in heaven), and noble people are either posh (aristocrats) or good.