Thanks to Paul for the puzzle…
…with a theme around 22dn MONKEY. While blogging 22dn I searched for a link to share about the Guardian crossword setter Araucaria [wiki] and saw that today is the 12 year anniversary of his death.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | BATH SOAP |
English city’s oldie, slippery customer? (4,4)
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BATH'S="English city's" (as in the city of Bath); OAP (Old Age Pensioner, "oldie") |
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| 9 | ADORED |
Trouble burning in our hearts (6)
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ADO="Trouble" + RED="burning" (perhaps as in flushed with emotion) |
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| 10, 24 | FACE CARD |
Vogue having captured leader in corset, shoot backfiring for Queen, say? (4,4)
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definition: a face card is a playing card that is a Queen, King, or Jack FAD="Vogue" around: the leading letter of C-[orset] + RACE=move quickly="shoot" reversed/"backfiring" |
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| 11 | LOCOMOTIVE |
Cuckoo with reason for travelling (10)
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definition: locomotive as in relating to travel/locomotion LOCO=crazy="Cuckoo" + MOTIVE="reason" |
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| 12 | LANGUR |
22 down’s drowsiness when starved of oxygen (6)
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definition: a type of MONKEY LANGU-[O]-R="drowsiness" without O (symbol for oxygen) |
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| 14 | INSULATE |
Protect where roofer might work around you (8)
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IN SLATE="where roofer might work" as in slate roofing, around U=letter pronounced as "you" |
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| 15 | IN TOTO |
Completely new draught with moon in orbit? (2,4)
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N (new) + TOT="draught" of a drink; with IO="moon" of Jupiter going around i.e. "in orbit" |
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| 17 | ATRIUM |
Hall in university toured by a groom (6)
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U="university", with A (from surface) + TRIM as a verb="groom" touring around |
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| 20 | BECHAMEL |
Get the hump, perhaps, about hot sauce (8)
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BE CAMEL=have a hump like a camel="Get the hump, perhaps"; around H (hot) |
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| 22 | MANANA |
A parting gift in the near future (6)
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definition: soon, some time in the future A (from surface) inside ("parting" the letters of) MANNA="gift" as in 'manna from heaven' |
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| 23 | FOR CERTAIN |
Clearly, power shower blocked by dirt in the end (3,7)
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FORCE="power" + RAIN="shower" with "end" of [dir]-T inside |
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| 24 | FACE CARD |
See 10
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| 25 | BABOON |
22 down taking bait in silence (6)
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definition: a type of MONKEY BOO="bait"=to harass; in BAN="silence" (e.g to ban or silence discussion/dissent etc) |
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| 26 | THESSALY |
That community welcomes girl back in Greek region (8)
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THEY="That community" around LASS="girl" reversed/"back" |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NAGASAKI |
Badger and a 22 down somewhere in the Far East (8)
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NAG="Badger" as in to pester; plus A (from surface) + SAKI=type of MONKEY (22 down) |
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| 2 | SHOE |
Trainer for example putting weed under stress, ultimately (4)
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definition as in a pair of trainers HOE=to "weed" a garden; after ultimate/last letter of [stres]-S |
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| 3 | HOWLER |
22 down dropped brick? (6)
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double definition: a type of MONKEY; and to drop a brick means to make an embarrassing mistake, a HOWLER |
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| 4 | MARMOSET |
Rodent pinching skin of some 22 down (8)
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definition: a type of MONKEY MARMOT=type of "Rodent"; around the outer letters/"skin" of S-[om]-E |
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| 5 | POSTILLION |
Horse rider spoilt excited animal (10)
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definition: someone riding a posthorse or riding a horse drawing a carriage anagram/"excited" of (spoilt)*; plus LION="animal" |
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| 6 | VERVET |
22 down with spirit taking lid off tequila (6)
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definition: a type of MONKEY VERVE="spirit" with the top letter/"lid" of T-[equila] |
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| 8 | PECTIN |
Egg and mushroom served up for setter (6)
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definition: a powder used as a gelling or setting NIT=a louse "Egg"; plus CEP=type of "mushroom"; all reversed/"served up" |
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| 13 | GET THE CHOP |
Go and visit butcher? (3,3,4)
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definition: to be let go from a job the phrase could also be read as getting a chop (slice of meat) from a butcher |
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| 16 | TAMARIND |
22 down on top of deciduous tree (8)
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a TAMARIN is a type of MONKEY (22 down), plus the top/first letter of D-[eciduous] |
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| 18 | MANDRILL |
22 down with couple of primates (8)
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definition: a type of MONKEY two primates: MAN=a "primate" + DRILL=another type of monkey, a primate |
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| 19 | PLIANT |
Elastic works, one held (6)
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PLANT="works" (e.g. a steel plant / a steelworks), around/holding I="one" |
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| 21 | ECOTAX |
Exact forms filled by Oxford’s principal, environmental duty (6)
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definition: duty as in a type of tax anagram/"forms" of (Exact)*, around the first/principal letter of O-[xford] |
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| 22 | MONKEY |
Mischief maker in Araucaria with puzzle? (6)
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MONKEY combined "with puzzle" gives monkey-puzzle, a name for the Araucaria tree |
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| 24 | CASH |
Silver 2 down paired with this for nut, reportedly? (4)
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answer to 2 down is SHOE CASH paired with SHOE sounds like (reportedly) 'cashew'="nut" |
I love Paul’s crosswords but I do miss Araucaria.
Thanks Paul and Manehi
Top picks: FACE CARD, HOWLER, MONKEY and CASH.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
I must say I thought this a better ‘monkey puzzle’ in tribute to Araucaria than the one that Enigmatist and Soup devised for the centenary of his birth back in February 2021, although I know the latter had its admirers..
BE CAMEL – brilliant
Thanks manehi and Paul
Good fun – and who remembers Toto (from 15 across) https://share.google/3seozYZnHQmQtBPZG
Thanks Paul and Manehi.
Multiple MONKEY JORUMs for me. NAGASAKI FOI so the keystone clue fell almost immediately which was a big help. Top of the troop; BECHAMEL, MANANA and MARMOSET for the Umbongo memories
Cheers M&P
Very much helped by the theme although there were quite a few new words for me including SAKI = a tropical American monkey (for 1d); TAMARIN monkey (for 16d); DRILL = type of baboon (for 18d); MANDRILL, VERVET.
Loved the puzzle with my favorite being Nagasaki. That said, didn’t Paul do a similarly themed puzzle (Monkeys) a few years ago?
When MONKEY flew in first, I thought I was going to struggle, however the wordplay in the unknown HOWLER and VERVET made them perfectly gettable. I thought that FOR CERTAIN was sublime, laughed out loud at BECHAMEL and CASH SHOE and I also enjoyed NAGASAKI and MANANA. I had RACE CARD for a while but couldn’t parse RAD and then the penny dropped. For me, this was Paul at the top of his game.
Ta Paul & manehi.
Yes, leaving aside the merest quibbletinissimi — that manna is a ‘stuff’ (‘mass noun’ dyu call it?); and the Physics nit that force ≈? power — a nice tribute to The Rev. Much enjoyed, ta Paul and manehi
Beaten by a couple of nho/forgotten MONKEYs at the end – VERVET and LANGUR. Had all the crossers but couldn’t make sense of the wordplay. COTD – MANANA for the lovely use of ‘parting gift’.
Thanks both
22 down was a write-in so I just plodded through by referring to a list of monkey species pulled up from the web. And because that process steadily sapped all my initial goodwill towards the setter, by the time I got BABOON (penultimate solve) I was really irritated by the dubious semantics of BOO = ‘bait’ and BAN=’silence’. The non-monkey clues were.. um… well, they were reasonably straightforward cryptic crossword clues.
Thanks to Paul for this Araucaria tribute puzzle and to our blogger today.
12 years already! How can that be?
🙁