2784 by Don Manley. Water, water, everywhere

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This blog was produced under somewhat difficult circumstances caused by the bad weather. Hopefully by the time it appears my internet access will have been restored but apologies in advance if it’s not quite as fulsome as usual and if I can’t respond quickly to any comment or question. Overall, an entertaining puzzle.

Across
1 WHINIDST – WHI(NID)ST; nest=NID; Waggledagger invention that might mean “mouldy”;
7 GLIB – two meanings;
11 HONE – HONE(st);
12 PUTAMINA – PUT-A-MINA; hurled=PUT; stones;
13 AIGRE-DOUCE – (a crude ego I)*;
14 LEAVED – LEAVE-D;
16 TOBIT – apocryphal book of Old Testament;
18 NO,TIME – NOT(I’M)E;
19 RATTEEN – R(A-TT)EEN;
23 AMEARST – A-M-EAR-ST; old form of amerced;
25 AGAMIC – AGAMI-C;
28 DERIG – hidden (arca)DE-RIG(ht);
29 DOATER – DO(n)ATE-R; form of doter;
30 ACHERONTIC – (narcotic)* surrounds HE; gloomy;
31 GIMME,CAP – GI-MM-(PACE reversed); promotional cap given away at a sponsored event;
32 GATH – part of a raga;
33 ECOD – E-COD; form of egad!
34 DASTARDY – DA(d)(STAR)DY;
 
Down
1 WHALERY – W(HALE)RY;
2 INGAN – IN(GA)N;
3 NERVATE – (veteran)*;
4 DUDDIE – DUD-DIE; lovely word for ragged;
5 STOWN – sounds to some like “stone”; nicked=stolen=STOWN;
6 TAUTOMER – TAUT-(more)*; an isomer;
8 LIEBIG – LIE-BIG; creator of beef extract;
9 INTIMISTE – IN-TI(MIST)E; French impressionist;
10 BASTE – BAST(ill)E; tack;
15 EVANGELIC – (vice)* surrounds A-N-GEL;
17 BESIGHED – sounds to some like “beside”;
20 GALANGA – GALA surrounds (H)ANG;
21 STARCHY – ST(ARCH)Y(le);
22 PARAMO – PARAMO(ur);
24 MUDRAS – MUD-RA’S; symbolic hand gestures (not Harvey Smith);
25 ADAGE – A-DAG-E;
26 CAECA – (academic – dim)*;part of the gut;
27 OTTAR – OT-TAR;

11 comments on “2784 by Don Manley. Water, water, everywhere”

  1. Thanks for the blog. Could you please explain how the wordplay works to give Gath at 32 ac?
    1. Apologies for the omission. I had to do the puzzle without reference books and put GATH in from GA?H and the definition with a vague recollection that GATH is a biblical place (where Goliath came from) and presumably nobody listened. I’ve just looked it up and my memory was OK but I can’t find any “no listeners” reference! I’ll keep pondering.

  2. 2 Sam. 1:10. David in anguish at the death of Jonathan and not wanting the Philistines to hesr. TINIG used to be a common phrase when people were more familiar with biblical allusions. In fact this phrase was used by the Bishop of Huntingdon (by coincidence) in his sermon at Araucaria’s memorial service the day before this puzzle was published. Thanks for the blog and good luck to our friend suffering in Dorset. Don M
  3. Like other Don Manley Mephistos this was marked by boorish (“Jock’s nicked a gem, we hear”) and incoherent (“French painter at home – restraint with the fog coming in”) clues. Both setter and editor really should skedaddle from the scene.
    rednim
    1. As jock, nick and gem all have multiple meanings in Chambers, the surface meaning is at least partially up to the solver to decide. The other clue may not be Don’s finest hour, but is one out of 36. More importantly, nobody else is telling me that his puzzles are flawed in these ways.

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Crossword Editor

  4. Looking at my copy, I see I had originally written in something extremely wrong at 1 and 7 but can’t see what they were. Apart from that, I recall pretty smooth sailing, and googling to find “tell it not at Gath” or the like to confirm 32.

    GIMME CAP is a pretty fun term, I don’t think I’ve seen it used before, but it’s a wonderful encapsulation of what the populace will do for a useless item of clothing.

  5. Jim,

    DNF. Am embarrassed to say that I managed to solve only four clues in two long sessions!! (Ingan, Derig, Besighed and Adage). Thanks for the very clear blog and explanations. Most answers are quite obvious now but without knowing most of these words I was left trying to synthesise answers – very unsuccessfully. There didn’t seem to be many ‘starter’ clues (Hone, Derig, Besighed, No Time, Adage, Liebig, Whalery perhaps).

    (am making a slightly better fist of Mephisto 2785.

    1. Keep going Daniel. My first Ximenes puzzle back in 1962 I didn’t solve a single clue! Don’t hesitate to ask if something isn’t clear.
      1. Jim – thanks for your encouragement. I’m getting on better with this week’s Mephisto with half solved and aiming for a few more before George (?) reveals all on Sunday. Knowing the short abbreviations (t, br, ch…) is important isn’t it. D
        1. Yes, very. I can still remember sitting down with my Chambers and reading all 26 individual letters of the alphabet so that I knew what say “n” could represent! This also showed me that some entries, like A-list appear under A on its own rather than Al… in the dictionary.

          You may not believe it but Chambers is actually rather easier to follow these days than it was years ago but still a good understanding of how it works helps a lot

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