Mephisto 2622 by Paul McKenna

After two consecutive relatively easy puzzles I thought this one redressed the balance and was of average strength. It contains two quite interesting clues. At 34A ANADEM we have two cryptic solutions, an anagram and a hidden word plus the definition. At 16A YARFA we have a clue that I think can only be solved by reverse engineering from solution to wordplay – unless you happen to know that 18th century fisticuffs that resulted in wigs being dislodged were called “wigs on the green brawls”. Isn’t it wonderful what one learns just by doing crosswords!

Across
1	TMESIS – T(i)MES-IS; splitting a word up by inserting another word often to add emphasis. Whether or not it works is a-whole-nother matter – abso-bloody-lutely!;
6	COOMBS – COO-MB-S; gosh=COO; Manitoba=MB; has=’S; deep valleys;
12	AUTARKY – AU-T-ARK-Y; African Union=AU; coffer=ARK; tons=T; year=Y; economic and/or political independence – the declared policy of the Nazi Party in the 1930s;
13	CRAN – CRAN(e); an endangered species;
14	LENTIL – LENT-I-L(ove);
15	ASPERGILL – ASPER-GILL; rough=ASPER-2; female ferret=GILL; a device for sprinkling holy water;
16	YARFA – (A-FRAY all reversed); a dictionary hunt revealed this word that means “peaty soil”;as to the parsing, at the very end of wig-1 I found “wigs on the green = A FRAY” where “fray-2” means a brawl. A classic case of reverse engineering;
17	POTOROO – POT-O-ROO(t); a kangaroo-rat – another endangered species;
19	PAINTER – P(AINT)ER; is not commonly=AINT; person=PER; the mountain lion – yet another endangered species;
24	ROLLICK – ROLL-(s)ICK; start=ROLL (as in get the ball rolling); House of Commons type behaviour;
25	RASCHEL – (carl hes)*; fabric used to make blankets;
27	COCCI – C-O-CCI; constant=speed of light=C; on=O’; CCI from leading letters of “curdled coconut ice”;
29	ABSEY,BOOK – ABS-(E-boy)*-OK; absent=ABS; certainly=OK; Waggledagger primer – see ABC in C;
31	SMEATH – S-MEATH; Irish county=MEATH (the Royal County) where the Boyne flows; a duck (see “smee” in C);
32	DINT – DI(N)T; words of a song=DIT;
33	PET,HATE – PE-THAT-(som)E; exercises=PE; which=THAT;
34	ANADEM – (maenad)* and hidden reversed (mai)MED-AN-A(ttendant); a wreath – slightly unusual clue construction;
35	XOANON – NON-A-OX all reversed; neat=OX; carved wooden statue from Ancient Greece;
Down
1	TACHYPHRASIA – (a charity has + p=piano)*; abnormally rapid or voluble speech – Arthur Scargill for example;
2	MURVA – A-V-RUM all reversed; good (old)=RUM-2; hemp;
3	ETAERIOS – (easier to)*; a fruit like the raspberry;
4	IRISATE – I-RI-SAT-E; one=I; water colourist=RI (a new one on me); posed=SAT; eccentricity=E; to make multi-coloured;
5	SKIPPER – two meanings 1=more Waggledagger – a giddy youth (see skip-1 in C); 2=to sleep in an outhouse (see SKIPPER-3 in C); in solving I thought it was parsed S(KIP)PER and that “sper” would be a shed of some sort. Took me ages to correct that for the blog;
7	OVERT – OVER-T; “now please reply” in two-way radio conversation=OVER; time=T;
8	OWN,GOAL – (wag loon)*; a Gordon Brown speciality;
9	MUTI – MU(f)TI; civilian=mufti; fellow=f; traditional Zulu medicine;
10	BAILOR – B-AIL-OR; baron=B; trouble=AIL; once (before)=OR-3;
11	SALLOW,KITTEN – SALLOW-IT within (kent)*; pale yellow=SALLOW; a moth that likes willow trees;
18	REICHIAN – RE-ICH-I-AN; on=RE; German for I=ICH; institute=I; one=A; relating to the work of William Reich 1897-1957 whose books were shamefully burned by the US FDA;
20	NICE,AND – NICE-AN-D; departs=D; a strange phrase that means pleasantly;
21	ROLODEX – ROL(OD)EX; overdraft=OD; portmanteau word from “rolling index” – a card filing system rendered redundant by desk top computers;
22	ALCONTO – AL(CON)TO; conclusion=CON; a la carte;
23	CABMAN – CAB-MAN(a); roughly 3 pints=CAB; power=mana; Hackney=old horse-draw taxi; the proper name for a black London cab is a Hackney Carriage and a man wearing a top hat must be able to enter and sit in one without removing said head gear;
26	HYTHE – H(YT-H)E; His Emminence=HE; that no longer=YT; henry (physics)=H; one of the cinque ports in Kent;
28	CANTO – CAN(T)O(n); troy (weight)=T; part of a poem;
30	SENA – hidden reversed indi(AN ES)cort; Indian army;