I solved this one more by instinct than by analyzing the clues; experienced solvers just get a feel for what the answers are going to be. A half-remembered fragment of a Greek or Germanic root is often enough to point the mind in the right direction. Of course, it is useful to have actual knowledge of obscure words as well, so you can just enter the answer and continue on. Fortunately, there were enough things I knew here to get started, although I did have to ply my Big Red Book pretty heavily towards the end. Mazuma required an alphabet search that only ended when I reached the 26th letter, but most of them weren’t that bad.
| Across | |
| 1 | Palm-reader perhaps reckoned without a medium (6) |
| MADAME – MAD(A,M)E. The literal is the trick here, but it is given in Chambers. | |
| 6 | Identify inflections of verb tense in error (5) |
| TYPTO – TYP(T)O. A bit of academic slang about studying Greek. When I went to school, the verb we used was lego, not typto. | |
| 10 | Important king coming between two Richards? (5) |
| ARDRI – Hidden in the unstated [rich]ARD RI[chard]. The high king of Ireland. | |
| 11 | Soup made by Maori in honour of champion Australian (7) |
| TOHEROA – TO HERO, A. | |
| 12 | Bad dream about caliph sheltering revolutionary (9) |
| CAUCHEMAR – CA + U(CHE)MAR. Umar ibn al-Khattab was an important historical figure. | |
| 15 | Small piece of ground gone over in this plane? (4) |
| STOL – S + LOT backwards. Short-take-off-landing acronym. | |
| 16 | Bird repeatedly heard during Land of Hope and Glory? (6) |
| WHYDAH – “Wider still, and wider, Shall thy bounds be set….”. This is one of the few modern clues I have seen which relies on knowing a specific quotation. | |
| 17 | Snake carrying a new disease in Africa (6) |
| NAGANA – NAG(A,N)A. A representation of a snake in Hindu mythology. | |
| 18 | No chance bishop after resetting accepts ring with gem unfaceted (10, two words) |
| EN CABOCHON – Anagram of NO CHANCE B + O. | |
| 21 | Once approach politician to help wildly frenzied person (10) |
| NYMPHOLEPT – NY + MP + anagram of TO HELP. Ny is an obsolete spelling of nigh, which as a verb can mean approach. | |
| 24 | Wheels in eccentric arrangement (6) |
| TRICAR – Hidden in [eccen]TRIC AR[rangement]. | |
| 26 | Finish our running race (6) |
| ENDURO – END + anagram of OUR, a motorcycle event. | |
| 28 | March past left Pride giving out press release (4) |
| LIDE – L + [pr]IDE. Lide is an obsolete term for the month of March, which is cleverly capitalized in the clue. | |
| 30 | Excessive consumer? A wife takes ordinary prize endlessly (9) |
| AUXOTROPH – A UX + O + TROPH[y]. | |
| 31 | So mostly, sirs, I am a bit of an oracle (7) |
| THUMMIM – THU[s] + MM + I’M. Thummim and Urim were two items used for divination by the high priest. | |
| 32 | French composer wrote one bar over without repetition (5) |
| WIDOR -W[rote] + I + ROD backwards. He is best known for the Organ Symphony. | |
| 33 | Short pause — one for energy in argument (5) |
| LIMMA – L(-e,+I)MMA. Lemma may be familiar from dilemma; limma is a written indication of a short pause in singing. | |
| 34 | Little time prying, getting parts separated (6) |
| MONOSY – MO + NOSY. An obsolete botanical term. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One flying before food is eaten by seagull (5) |
| MACAW – M(A.C)AW. A.C. means ante cibum, an instruction for when to take medicine. | |
| 2 | A river, long around north? Weaver (7) |
| ARACHNE -A R + ACH(N)E. A beginner clue for Mephisto, my FOI. | |
| 3 | Orca swimming around bow (4) |
| ARCO – Anagram of ORCA. Arco usually means ‘with a bow’, as opposed to pizzicato. | |
| 4 | Stop the man overturning focus for prayer in a mosque (6) |
| MIHRAB – BAR HIM upside down. Oriental rug collectors will know this word, since this is what distinguishes a prayer rug. | |
| 5 | American trading company holds old worker dear (10) |
| COMANCHERO – C(O, MAN, CHER)O. | |
| 6 | Police station, at that time formerly a hospital (6) |
| THANAH – THAN + A, H. An old spelling of then. | |
| 7 | Old town hall snoop, one previously in corporation (9) |
| PRYTANEUM – PRY + T(ANE)UM. A municipal building in Greek city-states. | |
| 8 | Shrub unknown in Thurso? (5) |
| TOYON – TO(Y)ON. Thurso is an example of a Scottish toon. | |
| 9 | Rabbit friend brought up after row (6) |
| OARLAP – OAR + PAL upside-down. | |
| 13 | English composer shortly penning strain for Scots accepted copying of movements (10) |
| ECHOPRAXIA – E + CHOP(RAX)I[n] + A. Rax is a Scots word meaning stretch or strain. | |
| 14 | In my cup I’d drunk something fruity (9) |
| PYCNIDIUM – Anagram of IN MY CUP I’D. Not very fruity, actually, it’s the asexual fruiting body of mitosporic fungi. | |
| 19 | Correct a leg bone (7) |
| APROPOS – A + PROP + OS. Correct as an adjective. | |
| 20 | All tense being upset about anti-tank weapon launcher (6) |
| ATLATL – Anagram of ALL T around A-T. A spear-thrower, not of much use against tanks. Nahuatl words are useful when the setter needs an unlikely collection of letters. | |
| 22 | Money accepted? A lot of muddle over money (6) |
| MAZUMA – M + A + A MUZ[z] upside-down. A Yiddish word that I didn’t know. | |
| 23 | Football move round goal with ball? (6) |
| ONE-TWO – O + NET + W + O. | |
| 25 | Sage Derby ruins Cheshire lying in the middle (5) |
| RISHI – Middle of [De]R[by] [ru]I[ns] [Che]SH[ire] [ly]I[ng]. A brilliant clue, which I disregarded while biffing the obvious answer. | |
| 27 | Brownish-yellow stone left neglected in Perthshire town (5) |
| OCHRY – [pit,l]OCHRY. Another one I biffed and investigated later. | |
| 29 | One of three born in Altrincham (4) |
| TRIN – Hidden in [al]TRIN[cham]. | |
My goodness! No wonder I couldn’t parse WHYDAH! I do wonder how one who has never come across those lines would be expected to find it. …Ha. Well, actually, I could’ve googled the title of the work and found the lyrics soon enough. “Wydah” would also have to be recognized as “wider,” an extra step for a Yank.
The last thing I figured out was the removal of ROTE to get the W for 32.
For a John Grimshaw I found this relatively easy. Had to wait for 14d before I could decide on WHIDAH or WHYDAH. Regrettably 16a wasn’t too difficult for a Bit as that piece of jingoistic nonsense is sung with every prom concert during the English summer. Incidentally the application of those words to Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No1 weren’t of his doing.
That aside my glee at working out all the parsing was rent assunder when I looked at the Times puzzle app and found I’d mistyped D for P in Pycnidium. Ho hum!
Thanks for explaining WHYDAH. Having little interest in the music of Elgar, and none whatsoever in the last night of the Proms and the boring flag-waving bombast that they sing there, it was a reference that eluded me.
Mood not helped by having a typo in THUMMIM, which I’d somehow mistranscribed.
First time attempting the Mephisto, was surprisingly more approachable than I expected!
In general, how much dictionary use is “expected” for puzzles like this? I gather you’re basically expected to have a copy of Chambers open when you do these, but I found myself referencing it for basically every clue.
Well I would say you need to define your own game. Unless you are an extraordinary polymath – which I am decidedly not – you can’t be expected to know all the answers and references. Personally my main challenge is to decipher the wordplay with as much help as it takes. I do use word searches using the Chamber’s app. I get a lot of pleasure out of this puzzle. If I were to deny myself all aids then the Mephisto would be a closed book. I struck lucky with this puzzle because quite a few of the obscure words (e.g. LIDE, THANAH, and WHIDAH) were know to me.
I actually did once solve a Mephisto without Chambers, working only with the knowledge I have in my head. That must have been an easy one! It was my blog puzzle, so it’s in the archives somewhere.
Have to disagree about 25dn being a “brilliant” clue. Where does “lying” come into it? I understand the wordplay – the middle letters of Derby, ruins and Cheshire – but that’s taking the middle(s). Or you could say that “sage” lies in the middles of those words, but the words themselves don’t lie in the middle of anything.
Also, a couple of dodgy definitions: 14dn, “something fruity”, as the blog says, doesn’t seem quite right and in 19dn, “correct” doesn’t (to my mind) mean the same as apropos (which means pertinent).
25d you need the middle of lying for the last rishi.
14d I don’t have a problem with that – it’s a bit playful. A cryptic hint for a definition. Seems to happen regularly with Mephisto.
19d Chambers Thesaurus lists correct as an alternative to apropos, but I agree it’s a bit off the mark.