<Insert my usual hero-worshipping gush about how great Araucaria is here>
<Insert my usual slight whinge about clues that require obsolete copies of Roget’s Thesaurus here >
ACROSS
1 PITTA - It’s usually Paul crosswords that makes me groan out loud in coffee shops, but Araucaria managed it here. Sounds like “Pitter Pat (of tiny feet)”
4 B(LIMP)ISH - ref. to the pompous Colonel Blimp (from the Powell & Pressburger film). Definitely not a Guardian-reader.
8 INTELLIGENTSIA - (LEGISLATE INNIT)* Turns out I’ve been spelling it with too few “L”s and no “T”s. Membership revoked.
10 TRANSFER - It’s a pattern and it’s what happens to football players when they move to a club with “more ambition” (= “more money than sense”)
11 P(RAY)ER - Old vicars never truly retire, it appears.
12 O-VERS(LE)E-P
15 EPHOD - Hidden word (it’s an Old Testament garment)
17 ODE-UM
18 GRAND SLAM - Rugby or Bridge term for complete success. The rugby meaning produces the best visual effect here though.
19 NIPPER - always thought this was gender-neutral term, but I was wrong. Is there a little-girl equivalent ?
21 MAN-TO-MAN - First of the themed clues, (Isle of)Man and “To Man” producing a reversible type of fight
24 PER(SON-TOPERS)ON - Eva Peron is the Argentinian - “Son” is an issue (not a Spanish word for call) and “Topers” are drinkers
25 DAYTO(na)-DAY - Daytona Beach, Florida and Robin Day the interviewer. Not sure how well-known he would be to the non-Brits and the under-20s.
26 PASTE - I’m thinking “toothpaste” and “cut-and-paste”, but I may be wrong
DOWN
1 PO-IN-TT-OPOINT : River Po, “in” is “home”, “TT” is a race (the Isle of Man again) and (OPTION)*. The whole thing being another type of race. Nobody does these kind of complex compound clues like Araucaria.
2 TETE-A-TETE : Thanks, Eileen - TET[Vietnamese New Year, apparently] + EAT + ETE (French for Summer)
3 Omitted on purpose
4 BO(I-LED-E.G)G
5 Omitted on purpose
6 PETER-HEAD - Jesus’ disciple Peter was a fisherman and Peterhead is satisfyingly a fishing town.
7 Omitted on purpose
9 Omitted on purpose - anagrams are good for you, so I won’t spoil your fun.
13 SUMMERSET - An obsolete word for somersault. Grrr.
14 PLA(CAT-OR)Y
16 HOLY MOSES - spoonerised version is “Moly Hoses” where Moly is a magic plant from Homer
20 PI(E)TA
22 (an)TWERP
23 ENID - (DINE) reversed
