I overestimated my ability to download and print on my recent trip and only just got the last two Mephistos yesterday. So feel free to discuss, and I’ll be back with a write up hopefully before the end of the day.
And here I am – going to write this in dribs and drabs, so it may take a while for the whole thing to appear.
I solved this in a rush, but it seemed to be on the more difficult side of Mephistos for me, I found more of the answers by “hunt and pecking” through the electronic version of Chambers, and I still have a few that only match the definition and part of the wordplay. The rest may come as I write this, who knows.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MVULE: V in MULE(a shoe) | |
| 5 | C,LIPPIE: laughed when I saw this, one who clips your ticket | |
| 11 | SWOUNDING: SING(write poetry) about WOUND(slight) | |
| 12 | STIFFWARE: cryptic double definition that also made me smile. I’ve not heard unremovable yet useless programs called stiffware before, but it’s a good term | |
| 13 | TET,H: Ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and TET is the Vietnamese New Year | |
| 14 | SUR(French “on”),A: a chapter of the Koran, and A for about – Paul McKenna usually slips in an “A” indicator that I don’t see the first time through | |
| 15 | SEA SALMON: (SALOME,AS,N)* | |
| 16 | ELOPS(?): from the definition – I see ELO |
|
| 17 | GUDDLED: MUDDLED with G for M | |
| 21 | SINE,WED | |
| 23 | SNORT: N in SORT(Scots “agree”) | |
| 24 | SINK-A-PACE: double def | |
| 28 | LOO,F: Had to look up NECESSARY to find it can mean a toilet | |
| 29 | W,H,IN: and the wordplay is sandwiched between two definitions | |
| 30 | SLALOMING: (ALONG,SLIM)* | |
| 31 | SINCE,REST: and the hairs… | |
| 32 | SC,ALDER: scilicet and a fake fly | |
| 33 | HA,LS,E: LS is the Linnean Society here, nice twist on the usual RA for artist | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MISTRESSLESS: I’M reversed, then STRESSLESS | |
| 2 | VITELLI: ILL reversed after VITE | |
| 3 | UNIT,ION | |
| 4 | EWFTES: FT in EWES, Spenserian term for EFTS | |
| 5 | COWHAGE: (WHO)* in CAGE | |
| 6 | LUAUS: compound anagram of (SALUBRIOUS – BORIS). Now I want to see a German guy translating a LUAU | |
| 7 | INROAD: IN, then A in ROD | |
| 8 | PILUM: I in PLUM |
|
| 9 | INTRO: hidden | |
| 10 | EGG-AND-TONGUE: an ornament (I had EGG AND in there for a long time since both EGG AND ANCHOR and EDD AND TONGUE would have fit the definition and are next to each other in Chambers). AND(then) in EGG(mine), TONGUE(vernacular) | |
| 18 | UDALLER: (A,DULLER)* | |
| 19 | LOCHIAL: HI in LOCAL | |
| 20 | ERMINES(?): from the definition, and M in ERINES sounds solid, but I can’t see what word for POOLS has been modified here | |
| 22 | W,ALL,E,D | |
| 23 | SCOOSH: COOS in SH – that was in a recent Listener so once a few checking letters came in I spotted it | |
| 25 | IONIC: ON,I in |
|
| 26 | NORN,A | |
| 27 | PHARE: sounds like FAIR | |
12ac – I laughed out loud when I saw where your link to stiffware went. I agree wholeheartedly, but as a Linux specialist I would, wouldn’t I!
Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Puzzles Editor