Solving time: 7:16
I’m not sure I’ve ever solved an Araucaria puzzle faster than this. ‘Collie’ was my first solve, followed (via a look at 27ac) by ‘flour’ and then somehow an inspired spot of the anagram at 1/17dn.
The surface readings in this puzzle were generally sound, though assisted by lots of superfluous link words, especially Araucaria’s favourite, ‘for’ (25ac, 27ac, 15dn).
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | UNALTERED; (NATURE LED) – a rather vague definition (‘led by conservative management?’). |
| 11 | PET + AS + U.S. – a low, broad hat worn by the ancient Greeks, and in particular by Hermes, the messenger god. |
| 14 | DEVA + STATED |
| 13 | ERNE – I guessed this from ‘Raptor’ but didn’t know the loughs in question. |
| 16 | PAR + LOUS (=(SOUL)*) |
| 17 | BUMP + K + IN |
| 24 | TELSTAR; (SATELLITE – LIE)* + R – the first communications satellite. |
| 25 | CHOW + DER |
| 26 | N(AIR)N |
| 27 | CA(LAB + RE)SE – after some bemusement I realised that ‘re’ must be Italian for ‘king’, from the Latin ‘rex’. ’20 10, say’ is “COLLIE FLOUR” (a poor excuse for a vegetable, if you ask me). |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI; (CURL UP GIRL COPPER IN BOOTS)* – I wrote out the letters here without much hope. Somehow this phrase, which I don’t think I’d heard before, jumped out. |
| 2 | FAST + ENER[gy] |
| 3 | S[ain]T + ASH |
| 4 | BRUSSELS + SPROUTS |
| 5 | ODE + SSA (rev. of ASS) – a very useful port for crossword setters. |
| 6 | A + FORET + I + ME |
| 7 | RO(BUS)T |
| 8 | PRES(I + DENT + CAR)TER – Prester John was this chap. |
| 15 | COMPETE + NT |
| 18 | KILL + DEER |
| 20 | C + OLLIE |
| 21 | T(H)RICE |
| 23 | L + [h]OBBY |
You hadn’t heard of purple sprouting broccoli?!? Shame on you for missing out on the most wonderful of veg – you owe it to yourself now to track some down in your nearest organic farm shop!