This was a fairly gentle puzzle from Schadenfreude - the challenge was to idenitfy the empty cells where the cause and effect were to be entered, “thus thwarting an attempt to save the planet”. We were also told that after doing so, the grid entries would all be real words. It fairly soon became apparent that the across answers were all entered normally and the empty cells were the two complete rows of unchecked letters in down answers. The “real word” possibilities for these answers soon showed that the cause was CARBON DIOXIDE and the effect GLOBAL WARMING. I don’t really get the “thwarting” bit (to me, ‘thwarting’ is a deliberate action rather than the side effect which the carbon dioxide has been historically) - so I wonder whether there’s something else going on that I haven’t spotted.

I didn’t time the puzzle but would guess at about 90 minutes. In down answers below, I’ve indicated the inserted letter in lower case.

From Guardian Prize Crossword Saturday 5 July 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
*(fodder) = anagram

The first time I tried to solve an alphabetic soup ala Araucaria many years ago, I was hopelessly lost. Since then, I have come to love this genre and have even compiled a couple for Malaysian solvers. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Most of the clues are not as libertarian as normal Araucaria clues (is there such a concept as “a normal Araucaria clue”?) and are capable of being individually solved without recourse to checking letters. This particular puzzle is not really that difficult once you get the hang of it … and therein hangs a tale …

After the solving came the filling and one has to be wary of the warning in the preamble. My first bash for 1Across was TUBIFORM but the clue had the fodder, TUB denoted by “but raised”, which was Araucaria’s way of telling you this was a down clue. Then came ZYMURGY with “some grumbles coming up” and I knew both these clues must be down clues. After that decision, the rest just fell into place. When I looked at the finished grid, lo and behold, the first three letters spelled out TOP !

I am presenting the answers in the usual order of a filled grid

Across

8 QUANTITY I was so tempted to put in QUANTIFY until I checked and found Chambers has “length or shortness of duration of a sound or syllable” which fitted And is it long or short? The good Reverend was indeed most devious here as neither would affect other answers

9 REALLY re-ally (about friend)

10 JINX Homophone of jinks

11 DRUG ADDICT Ins of GAD (fly) in DRU(i)D (I leave priest) + I CT (caught

12 YORKIE Ins of KI (King first) in YORE (olden days)

14 GRIMALDI Grim (forbidding) + ALDI*(dial); Joseph Grimaldi (1778–1837), the most celebrated of English clowns

15 UMPIRES Ins of IRE (anger) in (m)UMPS, a disease

17 WHITING dd The non-fish whiting is the fine chalk used to mark the lines on clay/grass tennis courts

20 VIVERRID Ins of ERR (to go wrong) in VIVID

22 CHERRY Ins of HER in CRY

23 XENOPHANES *(Hoxne Snape)

24 LOOT Sounds like lieut (enant) a junior officer. I wonder how many remember Telly Savalas playing bald-headed, lollipop-sucking Loo-tenant Kojak in the 1970’s NY Police series

25 FLANGE Cha of F LANG (director) E (direction); Friedrich Christian Anton “Fritz” Lang (1890–1976) was an Austrian-German-American film director, screenwriter and occasional film producer

26 MAINTAIN MA (mum) ins of TA I (acknowledgement to one) in INN (pub)

Down

1 TUBIFORM Cha of TUB (rev but) IF OR (gold) M (mine opens)

2 ONYX ON (attached) YX (unknowns as in algebra)

3 PIDDLE dd; River Piddle or Trent or North River is a small rural Dorset river

4 ZYMURGY Ins of MURG (rev grum) in Z (last) YY (years); the branch of chemistry that deals with wine-making, brewing, distilling, and similar processes involving fermentation. Amazing that I have never seen this word before; but then I do not make the stuff, just consume only :-)

5 BROADISH Cha of BRO (relative) A DISH (a handsome fellow)

6 HARDCASTLE What a corny way to describe as fortress of stone. I guess the play alluded to is She Stoops to Conquer, a comedy by the Irish author, Oliver Goldsmith

7 SLICED Ins of LICE (bugs) in SD (the old shilling and pence). An Araucaria alphabetic soup is the best thing since sliced bread. I did not fall for Araucaria’s wicked attempt at misdirection - “the best bread, they say” would normally point you towards “best-bred”

13 KNIFE-POINT *(often pink I)

16 EARTHMEN *(the R name) A delightful &lit clue

18 NARCOTIC Ins of RC (Catholic) in NAOTIC *(action)

19 ADENOMA Cha of ADEN (Yemen’s port) OM (Order of Merit) A

21 IDEALS Cha of I (one) DEALS (business)

22 CUSPID Cha of CUSP (point) ID (instincts) Cuspid is a tooth with a single point aka a canine. My grouse with this clue is the gibberish surface and 2/3 of the fodder and the definition are from the same source/derivation

24 LATE dd