Haven’t seen Augeas here for nearly 5 years. And it’s a very short preamble …
Preamble: Solvers should fill the blank cells, then highlight someone, and what (cryptically) she saw (30 cells). One answer is an abbreviation.
What strange times – more consuming than Brexit, but at least that had its exciting moments. (I haven’t started last week’s puzzle from Ifor so I would appreciate it if there were no references to it in any comments that land here. Thanks.)
I got off to a good start with this puzzle, with most of the row answers in the top half filled in straightaway, aiding the solution to lots of clues whose answers intersected those. Quite a lot of anagrams and double definitions or words that I just knew, many having become embedded in my vocabulary from tackling crosswords over the years – with little or no opportunity or indeed need to use them in day-to-day conversation etc.
Soon the grid was filled, apart from the two barred-off cells. Time to put it away for today – my first ever video conference is at 09:00 tomorrow and I need to do some prep.
When I first glanced at the empty grid I assumed that something would appear in the third row from the bottom, with all those unchecked letters, but now it seemed natural to look at the central column, where both of the barred-off cells were. It soon became apparent that that would read THE WOOODSHED; hmm … too many O‘s. Still, let’s go and check Cold Comfort Farm: up pops AUNT ADA DOOM, who continually claims to have seen “something nasty in the woodshed.” And so we see an anagram of SOMETHING in the (almost middle) row, which explains the extra O that had appeared in THE WO ODSHED.
Thanks Augeas – mercifully not too taxing: I have an awful lot else going on with work right now. I’m not sure I can really add much about the title of the puzzle.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Electronic agreement with special excesses (6) | EPACTS | E(lectronic) PACT (agreement) S(pecial) |
| 7 | Talents of bridge partners on either side of river (6) | NOUSES | NS (bridge partners) around OUSE (river) |
| 12 | Belonging to 8 exchanging opposite wings of ballot box (5) | URNAL | ULNAR (belonging to ULNAE, 8d) with RL (opposite wings) exchanged |
| 13 | To William I from the country, a revolutionary (3) | CHE | double definition: CHE (Shakesp, dialect form of I) – thanks to kenmac |
| 14 | Brother has look in for flower goddess (5) | FLORA | FRA (brother) around LO (look) |
| 15 | Fine outlook afforded by this cup-tie win? Word’s getting around (13, 2 words) | PICTURE WINDOW | [CUP-TIE WIN WORD]* |
| 16 | Glasgow’s jolly lively, with cocaine inhaled (5) | GAWCY | GAY (lively) around W(ith) C(ocaine) |
| 17 | Leaders of Persian army stand hard against old Turkish general (5) | PASHA | P(ersian) A(rmy) S(tand) H(ard) A(gainst) |
| 19 | Hebrew character takes it in for Passover (5) | PESAH | PEH (Hebrew character) around SA (sex appeal, it) |
| 20 | Flog hot manure in places (4) | TATH | TAT (flog) H(ot) |
| 22 | Goblin returning at intervals once (5) | GNOME | EMONG< (at intervals, obs) |
| 23 | Perth’s lard with essence of fat moved to end part of crust (4) | SIMA | SAIM (lard, Scot) with (f)A(t) moved to end |
| 25 | Irish stick Kiwi uses for digging round old tree (5) | IROKO | IR(ish) KO (Maori stick …) around O(ld) |
| 26 | Animal set on encompassing confusion (5) | TAPIR | TAR (set on) around PI (confusion) |
| 27 | Whisper once: a Catholic church’s last architectural style? (9) | ROUNDARCH | ROUND (whisper, archaic) A RC (Catholic) (churc)H |
| 32 | Keep hold of Barnaby’s raven (4) | GRIP | double definition: ref. Barnaby Rudge |
| 33 | Volunteers heading north by north west (completely the wrong direction) for piece of armour (5) | TASSE | TA (volunteers) SSE (opposite NNW) |
| 35 | Expressions of pleasure, we hear, for fluff at St Andrews (4) | OOSE | homophone: OOHS (expressions of pleasure) |
| 37 | Spangles gather in random blue sequins with no centre in sloping directions (13) | OBLIQUENESSES | OES (spangles) around [BLUE SEQ(u)INS]* |
| 38 | Bostonian ghost found in leprechaun territory (5) | HAUNT | (leprec)HAUN T(erritory) |
| 39 | Byron’s daughter is loveable woman when husband’s away (3) | ADA | AMANDA (name f, loveable) ¬ MAN (husband) |
| 40 | Depressing picture of Last Judgement may finally … (5) | DOOMY | DOOM (picture of Last Judgement) (ma)Y |
| 1 | … lead to calm after messy tie-up involving European Parliament – that’s cheerful! (8) | EUPEPTIC | C(alm) after [TIE-UP]* around EP (European Parliament) |
| 2 | Dress woman in first pregnancy (4) | PRIM | double definition |
| 3 | Wounding lacerations involving forebears (11) | ANCESTORIAL | [LACERATIONS]* |
| 4 | Come upon concealed difficulty (5) | CATCH | double definition |
| 5 | Meagre crop replaces hard spot in spinny (7) | SCRAWNY | SPINNY with CRAW (crop) replcing PIN (hard spot) |
| 6 | My facetious Welsh manner (4) | THE | THE (my, facetious ) W(elsh) |
| 7 | Recently arrived Aussie acer has top of branch pruned (7) | NEWCOME | NEWCOMBE (John N, former Australian tennis player) ¬ B(ranch) |
| 8 | Rear hindquarter of Alsatian surrounded by rubber bones (5) | ULNAE | (Alsati)AN< in ULE (rubber) |
| 9 | Pins had so-so mixture they add to chota peg, perhaps (11, 2 words) | SODA SIPHONS | [PINS HAD SO-SO]* |
| 10 | Asteroid rising, reddish-brown (4) | EROS | SORE< (reddish-brown) |
| 11 | Fish proverbs to listen to (8) | SAWSHARK | SAWS (proverbs) HARK (listen to) |
| 18 | Australian army acquires taste for shrew-like creature (6) | AGOUTA | AA (Australian army) around GOUT (taste) |
| 19 | Sea bird to be in Brittany in the centre of cropland (6) | PETREL | ÊTRE (to be, Fr) in (cro)PL(and) |
| 21 | Sandarac – chief tree (7) | ARAROBA | ARAR (sandarac) OBA (chief) |
| 24 | Sometimes ordered not to be indelicate to Ed (7) | MISSEEM | [SOMETIMES]* ¬ TO |
| 28 | Surgical procedures overlooking hip protein (5) | OPSIN | OPS (surgical procedures) IN (hip) |
| 29 | Snake swallows guts of cur in Caribbean town (5) | NAGUA | NAGA (snake) around (c)U(r) |
| 30 | Position found regularly in Tao’s main way (5) | ASANA | (T)A(o’)S (m)A(i)N (w)A(y) |
| 31 | Homer provided procession of chariots (5) | CORSO | COR (homer) SO (provided) |
| 32 | Good hookers mounted – I enjoy a laugh in personal ads (4) | GSOH | G(ood) HOS< (hookers) |
| 34 | Give away structure (4) | SHED | double definition |
| 36 | Before end of July local rivers go gently (4) | EASY | (Jul)Y after EAS (rivers, dialect) |
|
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Thanks, HG. A relatively straightforward gridfill, I thought, although I needed your blog to confirm a couple of parsings. I got a bit confused by the extra O in WOODSHED as well, only now realising that “nasty” was an anagram indicator (I did spot the anagram of SOMETHING). Of course Flora at 14 across was another nod to the theme.
I think the title is just a cryptic reference to Aunt Ada spotting something at the farm (in the country). A bit weak, I know, but perhaps someone else can come up with a better explanation.
Yep, a short, fun solve. I knew of the book, but haven’t read it, but did know the phrase in question. All in all a welcome respite from the general doom and gloom!
A delightful puzzle perfect for the current situation. Was torn between SCRAWNY and SCRANNY but made the right choice! Was I the only one who thought it might be an Alice/looking glass puzzle right at the start given the symmetry? Unlike HG, I googled famous Aunts in literature which lead me to Aunt Doom and from there to the woodshed. Thanks to HolyGhost for the blog and Augeas for the puzzle.
This was my first Inquisitor by Augeas, and it followed a few days after solving a puzzle by Augeas elsewhere.
I liked the succinctness of the preamble and the relatively unusual symmetry by reflection rather than by rotation, which wuited the them perfectly. I guessed that the placement of the thematic items would complement the grid design.
As always I enjoyed the ‘Inquisitor clues’ and was happy to be led round the grid in a particular way according to what clues I could solve. I ended with the six words in the 7 x 3 sector that included SCRAWNY, NEWCOME and the two blank cells.
The name AUNT ADA DOOM should have stood out, but for me it did not. I was pretty certain anyway that I did not know the name I had to find, but it was not too hard to guess AUNT ADA and WOODSHED, and a quick online search gave me Cold Comfort Farm. Guided by the letter count (30), the text of the full name (AUNT ADA DOOM), and the fact that everything so far maintained the symmetry, I thought it 99% likely that I was looking for an anagram of SOMETHING. Appropriately, the GNOME handed it to me just above the middle line. Very neat.
Ylo @3
Glad to see that this puzzle suited you so well.
Many thanks to Augeas and HolyGhost.
Me ‘4
I meant to say of course that the kind of symmetry ‘suited the theme’ perfectly. Sorry about the double typo.
My thanks to Augeas and HG. One of those lucky solves: the title and preamble somehow suggested Cold Comfort Farm before I’d looked at anything else, and with that already in mind 38A HAUNT provided a strong hint of what 39A and (most of) 40A might be. I could hardly believe it … though finding the woodshed took rather longer.
I pretty much completed the grid, didn’t see the Aunt, and was close to giving up when I saw ‘shed’ and remembered the woodshed from Cold Comfort Farm. Needed to search to be reminded out who saw it. I suppose the only other literary lady who famously ‘saw’ something was in A Passage to India?
Thanks to Augeas for a nice puzzle, and HG for some explanations…
Completed the grid easily enough, then googled AUNT ADA which revealed all. Never heard of COLD COMFORT FARM or STELLA GIBBONS. Not sure whether I was delighted or disappointed at finishing it so quickly.
Thanks to all for your kind comments: it was purely fortuitous that Enigmatic Variations published one of mine at roughly the same time.
My working title was Upright Matriarch Towers, and in Crosswordland what that was intended to imply was Vertical Queen Castles (O-O-O)
giving an indication of the central cells. Higher Authority felt that was a bit on the arcane side.
Augeas – Higher Authority was right!
But could those O’s in the squares be her eyes, looking through the window? Does a woodshed have a window?