Peaches (Solution No. 581)

The solution to puzzle no. 581 from August 21, 1954 is below the fold

Thanks to a fortuitous combination of circumstances, we had some wonderful fresh and very ripe peaches to eat last week.  We have a little peach tree next to the shed.  It was put in about 15 years ago when we had the landscaping done (took down the ugly norway maple that the previous owners had “lollipopped” [in the words of the landscaper]--the weeping cherry that replaced it died in a hard winter a couple of years ago).  Turns out the tree isn’t in a particularly good place: the ground is too wet, but it’s survived.

Circumstance 1: Cold winter, late spring.  The spring warm-up was two or three weeks late and the garden is still a week or so behind where it usually is.

Circumstance 2: The town cut down the willow tree in the little park over our back fence.  There was a huge willow there—it was big enough to hold an entire flock of starlings (which if you’ve ever seen starlings you’ll understand).  The starlings have gone elsewhere, which means there are fewer birds pecking at the peaches before they’re ripe.  One year we tried bird netting but it didn’t stop the starlings.

Circumstance 3: Sabers and I came back from the family vacation early because he had select chorus “boot camp” at school.

As a result, I got to pick a bowl full of delicious, juicy peaches that were a perfect four or five bites big.

Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 581

Legend: “*” anagram; “~” sounds like; “<“ letters reversed; “( )” letters inserted; “_” or lower case: letters deleted; “†” explicit in the clue, “^” first or last letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters; “§” heteronym, “¶” letter bank

Across

1a	OLIGARCH	Single definition?
5a	See 18 down
9a	FABLIAU	Single definition?
10a	*SA(L)ERNO	L (“half a hundred”) contained in (“within”) *REASON (anagram indicated by “more or less”)
11a	S(KILL)ET	KILL (“cause to be dead”) contained in (“around it”) SET (†)
12a	_EDIFICE_	melt_ED IF ICE cream_ (hidden word indicated by “contains it”)
13a	FORCED LANDING	Reference to Allied landings on D-Day in Normandy.  I picked up D-Day immediately from “Utah” and “Omaha”) but was then trying to make “French” work here.
15a	MAGIC MOUNTAIN	Pun Reference to a book by #
21a	RECEIPT	Reference to a song in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.  The colonel commands a regiment of dragoons.
22a	BARGAIN	BAR (“restriction”) + GAIN (“profit”)
23a	PARTNER	Single definition
24a	*ONAGERS	*RAGES ON (anagram indicated by “in beastly fashion”)
25a	RESIDE	Single definition
26a	*ISOLATED	*ALSO TIED (anagram indicated by “twisted”)

Down

1d	§OFFISH	§OF FISH
2d	*IN BRIEF	*FIBRINE (no indicator of anagram)
3d	AX ILL AR	AX (“a wood cutter”) + ILL (“sick”) + ^AR^???? (“classical education, first two letters indicated by “a third of”) The last part could also be A (†) + ??^R^????? (“classical education,” third letter indicated by “third of”).  I don’t have any idea what word Lewis intended for “classical education.”  It’s not Latin or Greek.
4d	COURT REPORTER	Pun
6d	TALL INN	TALL (“big”) + INN (“hotel”) Under Soviet occupation, the Russians named this city “Revel”
7d	MARTIN I	I (“one”) + MARTIN (“swallow”).  Reversal of the two parts indicated by “quite the opposite”)
8d	ST(ONE) AGE	ONE (†) contained in (“in”) STAGE (“process”)
10d	SPELLING BOOK	Pun
14d	§IMPROPER	Pun (IMP = “devil”)
16d	GO-CARTS	Pun, referring to the game of Go
17d	*CAIRNED	*A CINDER (anagram sort of indicated,: could be “perhaps” but “like” violates Ximene’s principle; “rocked” would have been better, but that wasn’t in the slang of 1954, I don’t think)
18d, 5a	AIR MAIL STAMPS	This is where I had my breakthrough.  I figured out AIR MAIL from “high flown words” and then got STAMPS from “[af]fixed” and confirmed it with the cross-reference in 20d.
19d	*NEAREST	*AN EASTERN (anagram indicated by “variety”)
20d	UNUSED	Cross reference to 5a.  Self-adhesive stamps were introduced by the US Postal Service only ten or twenty years ago.