Some convoluted wordplays, and numerous liberties make this quite different from most other Quiptics, although I found that the answers came readily. Perhaps it should be regarded as an introduction to Araucarian style.
| Across | |||
| 7. | Small container, say, for bread? (8) | ||
| BAGUETTE | What a libertarian way to start! Homophone (‘say’) of BAG-ETTE (‘small container’). | ||
| 9. | Charm consisting of a cross on a letter (6) | ||
| AMULET | Charade of ‘a’ + MULE (‘cross’ between a horse and a donkey) + T (‘a letter’). | ||
| 10. | Satnav is an essential for travel to certain countries (4) | ||
| VISA | Hidden answer (with no apparent indicator; ‘essential’ would seem to be part of the definition) in ‘satnaV IS An’. | ||
| 11. | Novice tore into a very quiet Italian church (10) | ||
| APPRENTICE | Envelope (‘into’) of RENT (‘tore’) in ‘a’ + PP (pianissimo, ‘very quiet’) + I (‘Italian’) + CE (‘church’). | ||
| 12. | Relative’s money is keeping Uncle Sam (6) | ||
| COUSIN | Envelope (‘is keeping’) of US (‘Uncle Sam’) in COIN (‘money’). | ||
| 14. | Embarrassed about theologian putting in appearance (3-5) | ||
| RED-FACED | Envelope (‘about’) of FACE (‘appearance’) in RE (‘about’) + DD (Divinitatis Doctor, Doctor of Divinity, ‘theologian’). | ||
| 15. | Famine makes daughter heart-broken (6) | ||
| DEARTH | Charade of D (‘daughter’) + EARTH, an anagram (‘broken’) of ‘heart’. | ||
| 17. | Out of money with number not working (6) | ||
| BROKEN | Charade of BROKE (‘out of money’) + N (‘number’). | ||
| 20. | Appointed as design engineers (8) | ||
| ASSIGNED | Anagram (‘engineers’; I’m not sure that this quite works – ‘engineered’ would be OK, but would spoil the surface) of ‘as design’. | ||
| 22. | From time to time I have reason to act (6) | ||
| MOTIVE | Charade of MO (‘time’) + T (‘time’) + IVE (I’ve, ‘I have’). | ||
| 23. | Slum riot hasn’t yet lost heart, having won changes (6,4) | ||
| SHANTY TOWN | Anagram (‘riot’) of ‘hasnt’ + Y[e]T (‘yet lost heart’) + OWN, another anagram (‘changes’) of ‘won’. | ||
| 24. | Rippling lake’s variety of greens (4) | ||
| KALE | Anagram (‘rippling’) of ‘lake’. | ||
| 25. | Oriental doctor has nothing after over year developing organism (6) | ||
| EMBRYO | Charade of E (eastern, ‘oriental’) + MB (Medicinae Baccalaureus, Bachelor of Medicine, ‘doctor’) + RY (YR, abbreviation for ‘year’ reversed ‘over’) + O (‘nothing’), with ‘after’ indicating the order of the last two particles. | ||
| 26. | Spring lock outside and enter without permission (8) | ||
| TRESPASS | Envelope (‘outside’) of SPA (‘spring’) in TRESS (‘lock’). | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Rubber glove plant? (8) | ||
| MARIGOLD | Marigold is a brand of rubber gloves, as well as the name of several plants, including one, the marsh marigold, which is an irritant better handled wiith rubber gloves. I would regard this as one of the less defensible uses of a brand name in a crossword. | ||
| 2. | Son’s left diving equipment somewhere in the Caribbean (4) | ||
| CUBA | [s]CUBA (‘diving equipment’) with the s removed (‘sons left’). | ||
| 3. | Work in arts is random (6) | ||
| STRAIN | Anagram (‘is random’) of ‘in arts’. | ||
| 4. | Scent victory at last in real struggle (8) | ||
| LAVENDER | Envelope (‘in’) of V (‘victory’) + END (‘at last’?) in LAER, an anagram (‘struggle’) of ‘real’. Excellent surface. | ||
| 5. | Book cover gives dirt on Calvin Klein in, yes, German and French (4,6) | ||
| DUST JACKET | Charade of DUST (‘dirt’) + JA (‘yes, German’) + CK (‘Calvin Klein’; the clothes manufacturer does use this abbreviation) + ET (‘and French’), with ‘in’ indicating the order of the particles – an envelope, if you like. | ||
| 6. | Free soldiers at the right moment! (6) | ||
| RESCUE | RES (RE is a standard abbreviation for Royal Engineers, a corps in the British army, here it looks as if it is intended to indicate a member of the corps, and given a plural ‘soldiers’) + (i.e. on) CUE (‘at the right moment’). At least, that is how I interpret the wordplay. | ||
| 8. | English 10p, one with Queen reversed, is to become invalid (6) | ||
| EXPIRE | Charade of E (‘English’) + X (Roman numeral, 10) + ‘p’ + I (‘one’) + RE (‘reversed’ ER, Elizabeth Regina, ‘Queen’). | ||
| 13. | Still try it on as a cook (10) | ||
| STATIONARY | Anagram (‘cook’; another anagrind where the verb form does not seem right) of ‘try it on as a’. | ||
| 16. | Old Poet Laureate crafts sonnet about new young leaders (8) | ||
| TENNYSON | Envelope (‘about’) of N Y (‘New Young leaders’) in TENSON, an anagram (‘crafts’?) of ‘sonnet’. The British Poet Laureates, of whom Alfred Lord Tennyson was one, are traditionally rewarded with a butt of sack – about 105 gallons of sherry. | ||
| 18. | Author’s not written about sad lives (8) | ||
| NOVELIST | Envelope (‘written about’) of VELIS, an anagram (‘sad’) of ‘lives’ in ‘not’. | ||
| 19. | Clever commercial’s first-rate: love it! (6) | ||
| ADROIT | Charade of AD (‘commercial’) + R (‘first Rate’) + O (‘love’) + ‘it’. Another fine surface. | ||
| 21. | Caught in lady setter’s stratagem (6) | ||
| SCHEME | Envelope (‘in’) of C (‘caught’) in SHE (‘lady’) + ME (‘setter’). | ||
| 22. | Mentioned house in the country style (6) | ||
| MANNER | Homophone (‘mentioned’) of MANOR (‘house in the country’). | ||
| 24. | Sleeps with some of the fishes? (4) | ||
| KIPS | Probably KIP[per]S, but it could be [s]KIP[jack]S. | ||
Many thanks, Peter, for a fine blog.
I was a bit surprised to read the comment in your pre-amble, since I’d completed the puzzle without raising an eyebrow at any constructions, and enjoyed it. But on rereading the clues, I do see what you mean. Maybe KIPS and BAGUETTE are stretching it a bit; but in Hectence’s defence with the crossing letters in place the answers are pretty obvious, so then there might be a bit of head-scratching to work out the wordplay. Anyway, see what others think.
My favourites today were EXPIRE, STATIONARY (where I think ‘cook’ as an imperative works as the anagrind), TRESPASS and BAGUETTE. I agree with your parsing of RESCUE.
Many thanks PeterO & Hectence
This was a bit trickier than the usual Quiptic but none the worse for that.
Fortunately, I do speak German and French so even though I knew that Calvin Klein was a well-known Footballer (or something) I could still untangle 5d.
I hesitated about 1d MARIGOLD but, please Peter, why have you not also provided an image of the rubber gloves?
Not completely sure what to think of this Quiptic.
At the end of the day, there were too many 1- and 2-letter building stones to my taste. With EMBRYO (25ac), EXPIRE (8d) and ADROIT (19d) as the ultimate examples.
PeterO, many thanks for the excellent personalised blog.
Probably, there is more to BAGUETTE (7ac) than just an ‘Araucarian’ liberty, as Oxford (ODE) gives us as its last meaning: “A slim, rectangular handbag with a short strap”.
In 4d (LAVENDER) I saw the END bit just as ‘last’, while the V of Victory was placed ‘at’ it.
Finally, I do agree with you about the use of ‘cook’ as an anagrind. As Kathryn’s Dad says it should be seen as an imperative, but, in my opinion, it has to come in front of the fodder to really make sense.
However, I know some setters do it like this [“doctor” is another one of those anagrinds with a similar ‘problem’] and, btw, in my next Dante blog (on Thursday) I will come back to it.
Thanks to Hectence for an enjoyable puzzle.
One for which, however, I needed a tad too often a pair of scissors to cut the clues in too many small pieces.
Thanks Hectence; maybe a bit tricky in parts for a Quiptic.
Nice blog PeterO. I thought ‘engineers’ in 20 was possibly OK as in: man, meccano set, engineers. Not sure I understand the ‘T’ in 9; is this any old letter or is there some significance in ‘T?’ I particularly liked the surfaces of the clues for DEARTH, LAVENDER and NOVELIST.
For marigolds see here.
Thanks, PeterO. Maybe 20a would have been better as “Appointed as design engineer” with engineer being an imperative (see Kathryn’s Dad’s comment about “cook” in 13d).
Sil
I had not dug out the handbag meaning before blogging (and, when I did, found the gem cutting and the moulding as meanings also new to me). It puts a new slant on the clue, but leaves the ‘say’ serving no obvious purpose. For LAVENDER, I was not sure what to do with ‘at’, hence the question mark. Your suggestion seems preferable. Of the questionable anagrinds, both ‘engineers’ and ‘cook’ founder on word order – not such a terrible crime.
Bryan
I, for one, would rather stare at a picture of marigolds the of rubber gloves. We seem to support inserted videos, though I have never tried it, so I might have gone with the fellow exploding a Marigold on his head. Or, thanks to Robi, a cartoon.
Robi
As I read it, the T in ADROIT would be as good as any of the other 25, except that it gives a meaningful result. If you were pushing it, you might say that it refers back to ‘cross’ doing double duty; see under TAU.
How strange. A tricky puzzle that wasn’t difficult, though I daresay our silent majority out there might baulk at the second part of that description.
I was amused by the description of it being an introduction to Araucaria. That implies an easy Araucaria, which is surely an oxymoron? Easier yes, easy no.
If you don’t like “cook” in 13d as an imperative, it is possible to read it as 3rd person plural indicative too (cf, “leave the ingredients to cook for 30 mins” – presumably if you do then they “cook”, intransitively).
But Thomas99, then I would like to see “to cook” which unfortunately wouldn’t make much sense in the otherwise nice 13d.
That said, I know, a lot of setters do things like this, writing things down in the wrong order. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It has also to do with the punctuation in a clue. For me, here, the ‘cook’ example is one that doesn’t work (apart from the surface), but at the same time I do accept it [because sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t]. Fair enough.