Maphisto 2431 – Mike Laws
Solving time: say 75 mins
Had a disjointed experience of this. Solved about half to two-thirds on paper when visiting relatives last Sunday – between playing football with one nephew and helping the other with sudoku. Then had to wait until about Thursday to finish it as it took ages to appear on the Times club website. The four long entries at the edges have shading on the website that I don’t recall seeing in the paper. Post-solve, it turns out that the shaded squares contain FLOCK, RAM, LAMB and EWE. One clue seems to be faulty on the site, but I think that’s just a transcription error.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 11 | T(C)ELL – C in tell, though apart from the fact that C is contained in lymphocyte, I can’t see why “it’s contents” should mean C. |
| 13 | HONORA – (har(p)oon)* |
| 15 | INHAULER – (harle(q)uin) – a rope for pulling things onto a ship |
| 18 | BAR(IT)E – American spelling of barytes, a spar in the mineral sense |
| 20 | WAMPUM – (M,up,maw)<= – wampum belt = a belt made of wampum, signifying a treaty or message. |
| 21 | L,(m)ISSES – plurl of lis = fluer dy lys = iris |
| 24 | RIALTO – LAIR<=,TO – “Flashy Aussie returned to” is the clue in the paper – I think something about “Venetian bridge” is missing. |
| 31 | APHRAH – (phara(o)h)* |
| 32 | EATH = Spenserian “easy” – ref. 70s PM Edward (H)eath |
| 33 | JEUNE – which makes dejeuner = dinner if you put der = “the German” round the outside. Not madly keen on this as it seems to clue dejeuner better than jeune. |
| 34 | F(LAM,BOY)ANCY |
| Down | |
| 7 | KA,HAWAI(i) – it’s a fish, and a ka was a statue of a dead person in ancient Egypt. |
| 8 | NAIL-UP – def. is “particularly close” – presumably meaning “close in a particular way” – i.e. by nailing. |
| 10 | SCAR(A MOUCH)E |
| 11 | T.(HIM)B.,LE(WEE)D |
| 17 | A MALT,HE,A – a nymph, apparently the best-known of the foster-mothers of Zeus. Must learn more about Greek gods one day, as it was news to me that he had foster-mothers. |
| 19 | T(ELEC(t))OM – but I’m afraid I can tell you without looking at Chambers that tom is yet another word for a prostitute. |
| 22 | SHTETL – (lets HT)* |
| 23 | ‘S T(R)OMB |
| 25 | Le Brun – this Le Brun this time, though it seems you can choose from statesman, poet, painter, composer or architect. |
| 26 | KE(a),NAF=fan<= – connoisseurs of crossword setter psuedonyms will already know that the kea is a large mischievous parrot from New Zealand. |
21A – I had made a guess at LASSES representing at least two girls named Iris!