Strange solving process for this one, as I started at the bottom and worked my way up. On a first reading of clues I could not get a single one in the top half of the grid, and I think the bottom half was complete before any of the entries poking up into the top half gave me a fingerhold.
Overall I found this a touch more difficult than recent Mephisto puzzles.
Definitions can be confirmed in Chambers and so I will focus on the wordplay in this report.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Plants are having stems, therefore needing to be pinned (10) |
| ACANTHUSES – A(are, unit of measurement), then CANES(stems) containing THUS(therefore) | |
| 10 | Maybe like organ passage with tweaking of a gut (6) |
| FUGATO – anagram of OF,A,GUT | |
| 12 | The French place, a strange island (6) |
| LAPUTA – LA(the in French), PUT(plac), A. Strange due to its connection to Gulliver’s Travels | |
| 13 | Severe old people affected somehow by contact with insect (11) |
| STERNOTRIBE – STERN(sever), O(old), TRIBE(people) | |
| 15 | Article about terrible ruler very unacceptable in a Greek location (6) |
| AONIAN – A(article), ON(about) and then IVAN the terrible missing V(very) | |
| 16 | What’s odd in old company, looking back? Shut up! (6) |
| IMMURE – RUM(odd) in EMI(old musical company) all reversed | |
| 17 | Stopping short, come to river or lake (4) |
| MEER – shorten MEET(come to) then R(river) | |
| 18 | Weed became tainted (6) |
| STALED – double definition, the first being relatied to cattle urination | |
| 19 | Advice before putting back sheets or mattress? (6) |
| AIRBED – before you put back the sheets you should AIR the BED | |
| 20 | Embrace one getting cross, needing to gather support (6) |
| ABRAZO – A(one), then ZO(cross) containing BRA(support) | |
| 24 | Gravedigger’s therefore getting it wrong — one wild creature? (6) |
| ARGALI – if you check in Chambers, ARGAL is a bungled attempt by a gravedigger in Hamley to say ERGO(therefore), then I(one) | |
| 28 | Act involving three thousand outside university (4) |
| MUMM – M,M,M (three thousand) surrounding U(university) | |
| 29 | Need, say, to get from ’ere (6) |
| EGENCE – EG(say) then get from ‘ENCE | |
| 30 | Juniper to preserve outside home (6) |
| SAVINE – SAVE(preserve) containing IN(home) | |
| 31 | Rash I sorted out in medical treatment (11) |
| ARTHRODESIS – anagram of RASH,I,SORTED | |
| 32 | Having less rain than anywhere else, stride out (6) |
| DRIEST – anagram of STRIDE | |
| 33 | Insist on providing very small amount for beggar? (6) |
| THREEP – the beggar in The Threepenny Opera would want THREE P | |
| 34 | When in trouble, rangers eat ants (10) |
| ERGATANERS – anagram of RANGERS,EAT | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Copper to advertise safety device (6) |
| CUT-OUT – CU(copper), TOUT(advertise) | |
| 3 | Particular opening’s marked by song in the Netherlands (6) |
| NARIAL – ARIA(song) in NL(the Netherlands) | |
| 4 | Got hold of by Bob in Perth, I acted like a lout (6) |
| HOONED – HOD(bob, Scottish) containing ONE(I) | |
| 5 | Superior officer meets foreign friend turning up in den in garden? (6) |
| ULTIMA – U(superior), LT(lietenant, officer), then AMI(foreign friend). The definition is that DEN is the ultima of GARDEN | |
| 6 | Use this chemical compound next in novel experiment (6) |
| EPIMER – anagram of EXPERIMENT minus NEXT | |
| 7 | Bring new development to old city and don’t allow one to have buses running round (11) |
| SUBURBANISE – UR(old city) and BAN(don’t allow) I(one) inside an anagram of BUSES | |
| 8 | What’s harvested sadly had to be ditched — go very hungry, as before (6) |
| STERVE – anagram of HARVESTED minus HAD | |
| 9 | German chemist has a meal — fish (10) |
| HABERDINES – Fritz HABER(German chemist) then DINES(has a meal) | |
| 11 | Foreign officers with inside information meeting challenge outside club (11) |
| GENDARMERIE – GEN(inside information) then DARE(challenge) surrounding MERI(a kiwi club) | |
| 13 | Serve salad spiced up with sauce (10, two words) |
| SALSA VERDE – anagram of SERVE, SALAD | |
| 14 | Head giving audible refusals (4) |
| NAZE – sounds like NAYS | |
| 21 | Graffiti in the gents showing actor (6) |
| BOGART – graffiti in the gents could be BOG ART | |
| 22 | East End ghost maybe in old-style escapade (6) |
| AUNTER – remove the aspirant from HAUNTER(ghost) | |
| 23 | Thanks after measure is laid down in code of honour (6) |
| OMERTA – TA(thanks) after something that sounds like HOMER(a Hebrew measure) | |
| 24 | Idiot getting too much infatuated, as of old (6) |
| ASSOTT – ASS(idiot), OTT(too much) | |
| 25 | Attack has a couple of characters turning up in Moroccan house (4) |
| RIAD – jumble the middle characters of RAID(attack) | |
| 26 | Good knight embracing maiden possibly gets control (6) |
| GOVERN – G(good), N(knight) containing a maiden OVER | |
| 27 | Having more rows maybe in boat around island (6) |
| LINIER – LINER(boat) surrounding I(island) | |
I particularly liked the use of “weed” for STALED, which literally led me up the garden path ! Thanks for the stiff challenge Don.
The next Mephisto is out, so on we go….
Sadly was also heavily involved in chemical warfare during WW1