Mephisto 3202 – Golden symbols flashing….

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Mephisto
This was a very straightforward Mephisto, and for once nearly all the answers were words I had heard of, in two cases from puzzles within the past two weeks.   When Homer introduces an unusual word in the Odyssey, he frequently repeats it a couple of hundred lines later, and the Times setters seem to have adopted a similar mode of operation.   And, as usual, Manley’s cryptics are very logical and straightforward, so if you didn’t know something, you have a very good chance of getting it.  Rostrate, ocreate, and scorse, the only three words that I did not know, were practically handed to the solver on a platter, making the solving process relatively simple.

I hoped everyone enjoyed this excursion into the easier side of Mephisto, because it never stays easy for long!

Across
1 Publisher is certainly half confused (6)
ISSUER – IS + SURE with the last two letters reversed.
6 Put foot down at home, confronting relation without hesitation (6)
INSIST – IN + SIST[er]
12 Peer at a dog spraying big erect plant (10)
PAGODATREE – Anagram of PEER AT A DOG.
13 Horse and duck in Cornish river (4)
FOAL – F(O)AL.
14 Observation of failure retrospectively limiting one (6)
ESPIAL – LAPSE backwards around I.
15 Most indecent female has sudden fit of stubbornness (6)
FREEST – F + REEST, with a rather archaic meaning of free.
16 Maybe misrepresent the French, following fashion (6)
GARBLE –  GARB + LE.
20 Lots of pieces of paper are put in order — handwritten stuff (5)
REAMS – Anagram of ARE + MS.
22 A sort of ridge for mites (7)
ACARINA – A + CARINA, where it is helpful to know the constellation.   These mites have gotten quite popular lately.
23 Sheath-like form with ring at front (7)
OCREATE –  O + CREATE.
25 Presses down to make an impression, first to last (5)
TAMPS –  STAMP with the S moved to the back.
30 Pet bird given restraint (6)
DAWTIE – DAW + TIE, more Scots.
31 Sugar in lemonade’s bad, putting off men somehow (6)
ALDOSE –  Anagram of LEMONADE with MEN removed.
32 Term of office — time to practise once (6)
TENURE – T + ENURE.
33 Chemical spray on the wing (4)
ALAR – A simple double definition, and one that does not lean either way.
34 Sedan chair broken, no longer in good order? (10)
ANARCHISED –  Anagram of SEDAN CHAIR.
35 Turbulent couple of years involving China etc? (6)
YEASTY – Y(EAST)Y
36 Legendary Gaelic poet or knight (6)
OSSIAN – I’m not really sure what is going on here, as I just biffed the obvious answer.   Discussion invited.
Down
2 Grievance involving head of shop offering exchange, as before (6)
SCORSE – SCOR(S[hop])E,
3 Predicted what gardener would need picked up? (5)
SPAED – Sounds like SPADE.
4 Get rid of nuisance finally with old-fashioned V-sign? (5)
EGEST – [nuisanc]E + GEST, with DBE indicated by the question mark.
5 Like a bird lying down but not quietly (8)
ROSTRATE – [p]ROSTRATE.
7 Knight needing help hugging a female in the water? (5)
NAIAD – N + AI(A)D, a starter clue.
8 Top actor has reversal of role as a theatrical device (8, two words)
STAR TRAP –  STAR + PART backwards, a bit of stage equipment.
9 Fifty lines laid out for trade event (6, two words)
SELL IN – Anagram of L LINES.
10 More than one person on the box lets a secret out (11)
TELECASTERS – Anagram of LETS A SECRET.
11 Bawdy oaf for playing in an experimental theatre? (11)
OFF-BROADWAY – Anagram of BAWDY OAF FOR.   Actually, the real experimental stuff was off-off-Broadway.
17 Watery edge that would have stone for butterfly (4)
BRIM – BRIM[stone], a kind of butterfly.
18 Industrial processors in plant had nasty pong to start with (8)
SMELTERS –  SMELT + ERS, that famous bitter vetch found chiefly in crosswords.
19 Plot needs arsenic dissolved — nothing more (8)
SCENARIO – Anagram of ARSENIC + 0.
21 One of the old-style war missiles heartlessly lined up (4)
AROW – AR[r]OW.
24 Theatrical turns restricted, cut short (6)
CHAINE – CHAINE[d], which only works because accent marks are not used in these puzzles.
26 OAPs regathered outside commercial hotel abroad (6)
POSADA – Anagram of OAPS around AD.
27 Old-fashioned colour not entirely distinctive (5)
TINCT – hidden in [dis]TINCT[ive], where colour is a verb.
28 Pronounce holy bishop “inferior” (5)
BLESS –  B + LESS.
29 Tricked one with old coins (5)
SOLDI – SOLD + I.

5 comments on “Mephisto 3202 – Golden symbols flashing….”

  1. OSSSIA – in music,otherwise. (For example, an alternative and technically easier voicing of a chord.) N =knight.
  3. Indeed, a quicker solve than the 15, but enjoyable. I checked OSSIAN before submission, because like V I couldn’t make much of the wordplay, and of course the musical Italian turned up in electronic Chambers.

    Edited at 2022-01-16 03:54 pm (UTC)

  4. Like Z I did this more quickly than Bob’s puzzle, but I somehow had ALDOSA and TELECASTARS. I don’t know how I did this because I had parsed both clues. I’d have defined the TV people as guitars.
    Repetition in The Odyssey is often the product of the oral tradition from which it emerged. I wonder if something similar is happening with the Times setters discussing their clues in the pub.
  5. First time I’ve had a go at one of these. Seemed reasonably doable. Not expecting it to be so every week…

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