Guardian 24,820 / Araucaria

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A nice challenge from Araucaria today, with almost entirely Ximenean clueing. I was particularly pleased to be able get the Shakespearian references in 1ac and 9ac without assistance.

Key:
* = anagram
dd = double definition
< = reverse

 
Across
1. PEASANT PEAS + ANT. The reference is to Hamlet’s line “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (Act 2 Scene 2)
5. STAND UP dd – “stand up and be counted”
9. QUINCE MARMALADE QUINCE (Peter Quince is the carpenter in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) + MAR (injure) + MALADE (French “invalid”)
10. ARENA N in AREA
11. DEHYDRATE (HEATED DRY)* – a very nice anag &lit
12. TYNESIDER Y in RESIDENT*
14. PLANT Triple definition – “faked evidence”, “factory” and “growth”.
15. FAKIR Hidden in oF A KIRk. “Of” seems to be doing double duty.
16. SWEARWORD WEAR in SWORD
18. INCLEMENT IN (Sir) CLEMENT (Freud)
21. STRAD DARTS<
22. BRING AND BUY SALE (BANBURY’S LEADING)*
23. EGGHEAD G HE in EGAD
24. OVERLAY OVER + LAY
Down
1. PIQUANT QUA in PINT
2. ALIVE AND KICKING (CAD KEVIN)* in A LIKING
3. ARCHAISER CHAISE in ARR. A new word for me – presumably “one who makes things archaic” – but guessable from the wordplay.
4. TIMID TIM + ID
5. SURCHARGE CHAR in SURGE
6. AWARD WAR in AD
7. DEAD AS A DOORNAIL A SAD O in ADORN A, all in DEIL (Scots “devil”)
8. PREFECT REF (judge) in PECT(in). Pectin is what causes setting in jams.
13. DISCERNED S + CERNE in DID (=”was good enough”). Another (albeit minor) Shakespearian reference, to the song “Ye spotted snakes with double tongue” in MSND.
14. PERISTYLE “PERI-STYLE”. A peristyle is a columned porch in Greek and Roman architecture, so “columns arranged”.
15. FRIABLE dd – a familiar word to gardeners, used to describe crumbly soil.
17. DODDERY ODDER in DY(fed) – with “starving” meaning “not fed”: a cheeky Araucarian touch.
19. EAGLE E + L in AGE. Two under par in golf.
20. TABOO TA (=thanks) + BOO

20 comments on “Guardian 24,820 / Araucaria”

  1. Thanks Andrew,
    As you say, almost Ximenean…
    ..But not quite.
    I didn’t like 4d. for example. Where’s the “s” come from?
    I liked 21ac. and the unusual use of “setter” in 8d. though.

  3. Many thanks, Andrew, a very easy one from The Master except for 3d which, although guessable, is probably not in most people’s vocabulary.

    However, it serves as a very timely reminder that we should all put our clocks back on 22nd October.

    Many thanks Arry. You can be so cryptic.

  4. Many thanks, Andrew.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this.

    I liked the anagrams in TYNESIDER and BRING AND BUY SALE and loved the cheekiness of DODDERY and the whimsicality of PERISTYLE. And, like Ian, I liked 21ac – no ambiguity this time!

    i didn’t know ARCHAISER, either, but, as you say, the wordplay made it easy. Chambers gives ‘archaise: to imitate the archaic; to use archaisms.’

  6. OK Andrew, if you say so.
    (Still don’t like it much; you wouldn’t say “Tim’s a cold”…)
    Anyway….
    I also liked 11ac.

  7. 8dn beat me… also how can ‘good shots’ = EAGLE? I got this, but to me an eagle is a reference term to a score (a la birdie, albatross, boogie, etc.) ?

    Nick

  8. hate to be pedantic but in 4d isn’t the “‘s” equivalent to the genitive case ‘of the boy, or of Tim in this case’ which implies ‘possession’ie ‘the instinct of a boy’. This might be clearer if English was inflected 🙂

  10. Thanks, Andrew. I found this quite easy for an Araucaria, but still didn’t see all the wordplay — in 17dn for example, and others. 3dn was new to me but as others have said perfectly gettable. My favourite was 12ac.

  11. OK, I’m getting seriously confused about medication effects. Those who were here will know I struggled with Rufus on Monday, one of the easiest puzzles ever. Those who have been here a long time will know I’ve only ever finished 4 by Araucaria. Today’s dosage is just the same as Monday, 12 very different drugs including such dangerous items as morphine and thalidomide.

    And what happens? I finish only my 5th ever Araucaria!!!! And I enjoyed it, despite making a few guesses and despite resorting to “the gadgets” rather more than I like to (zero is of course my target).

    18ac raised a smile when I hit that, “oh not that Freud” momement.

    Isn’t it a shame that 15ac, with a slight rewording couldn’t have lead to JAMES as the holy man. Trekkies the world over would have loved it!

    Dang! I’ll have to think of some other way of filling the afternoon! Ooh look, At The Races has a jumps meeting and Sky has ICC Cricket and snooker. Problem solved! Cy’all tomorrow.

  12. Scene: After Breakfast.
    Characters (beermagnet, girlfriend)
    BM: Damn fine crossword today.
    GF: Who was it by?
    BM: Araucaria.
    GF: He’s your favourite isn’t he
    BM: No. I wouldn’t say so. If asked I say Shed or Paul don’t I?
    GF: But when you like a crossword enough to remark on it, it always seems to be by him.
    BM: That’s probably because he does more than most others, and more Saturdays, when I’m more likely to mention then to you.
    GF: Pbauff*

    Isn’t it?

    (* That’s what it sounded like)

  13. I’m still a little confused by some of the explanations.

    14dn: why do faires arrange columns “peri” style?

    7 dn: I was going to ask how you get ADORN A from Deck 1 but saw it just as I started typing.

  14. Val: A peri is defined as… In Persian mythology, a beautiful and benevolent supernatural being or fairy.

  15. …I should perhaps have added, the definition is “columns arranged” and the wordplay “as fairies would do it” – so it’s not saying that fairies are arranging columns.

  16. Thanks, Radler. It was that definition of ‘peri’ that I didn’t know. Another word (the other was 3dn) today!

  17. Enjoyed this today. Surprisingly straightforward for an Araucaria, and always enjoy seeing Shakespearian references in a crossword.

  18. We enjoyed it as well.
    Relatively easy for an Araucaria.

    Whilst solving we thought he made a mistake in 5dn. Only later to find out that ‘tea’ is not just ‘cha’ but ‘char’ as well.
    12ac is a fine example of a good anagram, TYNESIDER in real life being a ‘resident’.
    We suspected someone would (again) stand up (and be counted?) to say something about 21ac, and indeed …

    Personally I don’t like 9ac, although technically impeccable.
    The clue itself doesn’t read very smoothly, but the main reason is that I prefer to see the two words to be ‘linked’ (and not to be clued separately).
    However, very nice to see the ‘setter’ cross the ‘marmalade’!

  19. Hi Sil

    Re 9ac:I agree with your comments about about the two parts of the clue. I’d never actually heard of quince marmalade but I did spend an inordinate amount of time a couple of years ago converting my son-in-law’s surfeit of quinces into ‘quince jelly’ – very labour-intensive and not to be repeated!

    I don’t really understand your reference to 21ac: only Ian and I have commented on it – and both in a positive manner.

    [ I did like the subtlety of ‘not kind’ ‘of weather’ in 18ac.]

    And, as I’ve said, I do agree with you about TYNESIDER.

  20. Hi Eileen, didn’t hear you that much this week.
    You’re right about 21 ac, although you yourself made the remark “no ambiguity this time”, referring to the never-ending “vice versa story” of which we thought someone would make a remark, one way or another.
    And now you’ve mentioned 18ac, we had some discussion about the order of IN and CLEMENT. But then, in the end you can read it the way it is, centainly helped by the question mark.
    But all and all, good … gosh, I’m ‘drying’ (or was it ‘drying up’?)

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