Mephisto 3020 – Tim Moorey and a very helpful non-smug blogger

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
Last time I wrote one of these blogs George and I were subjected to a rant about how smug and unhelpful we were by an anonymous contributor who was unable to use Chambers to look up the word “eric”. Today I have gone out of my way to be helpful.

Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary. 11A is a perfect example.

This was a very pleasant middle-of-the-road puzzle. In the clues definitions are underlined. Wordplay explanation is followed by very helpful comments.

ACROSS

1 Hong Kong’s about to arrest one Punjabi? (4)
SIKH: HK(I)’S reversed; HK=Hong Kong (place in the far east)
4 Lots of joy coming from City arrest (8)
ECSTASIS: EC-STASIS; EC=City of London post code
9 One local TV character reported to be working (8)
UNFAULTY: UN-sounds like “Fawlty (Basil)” – man, like some others, given to mindless rants;
11 Fruit regrettably containing fish bone (10)
ALGARROBAS: AL(GAR-ROB)AS; bone=nab=ROB;
12 Do erase set passwords (8)
TESSERAE: (erase set)*;
15 Special perhaps, Murrayfield quarter backs in a fine line (5)
STRIA: S-(AIRT reversed); AIRT=quarter in Queensferry (which is in Scotland, near Edinburgh);
16 Duck clipped by fast boat? Could be this one (6)
SCOTER: SCO(o)TER; fast boat=scooter then “clip” an “o” to give SCOTER=a duck of the genus melanitta;
17 Touching to get a rise for oldies in rank (6)
REASTY: RE-A-STY; old word for rise=STY; rank=gone off=REASTY
18 Salt one has on fruit (6)
IODATE: I-O-DATE; a salt of Iodine, the heaviest of the stable halogens;
20 Not a day for a meal or a drink around hotel (6)
ASHURA: A-S(H)URA; drink=SURA; Islamic fasting day;
23 Very much agree about space (5, two words)
NO,END: NO(EN)D; space=EN;
25 Aristo‘s joke in pubs succeeded (8)
BARONESS: BAR(ONE)S-S; joke=ONE (heard the one about…);
26 See me perhaps with malt extract? It does stink! (10)
SETTERWORT: SETTER-WORT;
27 More boring duties involved with PR (8)
STUPIDER: (duties + pr)*; someone unable to look up “eric” in a dictionary perhaps;
28 A walk in the park almost concealing old dog gets complaints (8)
EARACHES: EA(RACHE)S(y); old dog=RACHE; what you get from people who rant mindlessly;
29 Forgotten romance irritates with second half the wrong way round (4)
GEST: irritates=gets then reverse last two letters;

DOWN

1 Tricky issue about start of timetable for trains (6)
SUITES: (issue)* surrounds T from T(imetable); a train of followers;
2 What can keep engine from overheating? Inert compound can (11)
INTERCOOLER: (inert)*-COOLER; can=prison=COOLER;
3 Shale rocks found in say, Lake District pass (5)
HALSE: (shale)*; also a village in Somerset;
4 Prince from Savoy is well and not out of fashion (6)
EUGENE: EUGE-NE; well=EUGE; old word for not=NE; military commander 1663-1736;
5 Back new cunning plans up in Scottish town (9)
STRANRAER: REAR-N-ARTS all reversed; Stranraer is a town in Inch, Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It lies on the shores of Loch Ryan, on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. I hope that’s helpful!
6 Spot no longer used in rock reveals Jamaican insectivore (6)
AGOUTA: A(GOUT)A; rock=AA; old word for spot=GOUT; The Hispaniolan solenodon
7 Amiss following legendary all-rounder becomes more sensible (8, two words)
SOBERS,UP: Sir Garfield SOBERS (cricket); amiss=UP; what one who rants eventually does;
8 Excursion for example, goes around wood (6)
SASHAY: S(ASH)AY; an excursion but better known as a US form of chassé, a dance step
10 Caretakers having locks installed after New Year’s Day (11)
JANITRESSES: JAN-I-TRESSES;
13 Rather mad about article on oxide (9, two words)
RARE,EARTH: (rather)* surrounds A-RE; Yttrium oxide for example
14 Comparatively reserved fashions on terrace (8)
MODESTER: MODES-TER; a characteristic that George and I surely share?
18 Isolate cartels in industry, not all shown up (6)
INISLE: hidden reversed (cart)ELS-IN-I(ndustry);
19 Gossip about attorney’s bright colouring (6)
ANATTA: AN(ATT)A;
21 Spies simpletons from the south (6)
SNOOPS: SPOONS reversed; simpleton=SPOON (someone who can’t use a dictionary say);
22 A society person is “class” (6)
ASSORT: A-S-SORT;
24 Strip off gear, alluring in resort? Not for everybody! (5)
UNRIG: (alluring – all)*;

9 comments on “Mephisto 3020 – Tim Moorey and a very helpful non-smug blogger”

  2. Never got–never got near–6d and 7d, 15ac and 17ac, and I can’t say I’m surprised, or much bothered. I just now noticed that for some reason I wrote in ECSTATIS at 4ac–probably thinking of ‘ecstatic’ and imperfectly correcting myself; but never having heard of SOBERS, the S wouldn’t have helped. Also failed to figure out what followed SETTER; I thought POO_, but that went nowhere. I was so convinced that the fruit was ALGARRIBAS, until SOED convinced me otherwise. I wondered about SCOTER; isn’t the fast boat being clipped?
    1. I think the wordplay has the scooter clipping one of its ducks (0), with the duck doing a bit of double duty to show what “this one” is. But it is a bit Yoda-ish.
  3. Fairly rattled through this one, but at the expense of understanding two clues. Not aware of SCOOTER as a boat (though as Trump might say, can’t see why it would be,or do I mean wouldn’t?). And I was blinded by Amiss, to where the UP came from in 7d. What’s amiss? Thanks Jim.

    And there came a generation that knew not Sobers….first
    televised scorer of the perfect 6 sixes in an over. Arguably the greatest player in cricket’s brief history.

  4. Missed the anonymous comments on George’s last report, as I was away on a band trip. FWIW, comments like “straightforward” are likely to be in terms of the usual difficulty of the puzzle being discussed. After all, for most of English-speaking humankind, there is no such thing as a straightforward Times/ST cryptic crossword.
    1. I completely disagree. Contributors to this forum are some of the brightest people in the UK and elsewhere, The likes of Kevin, Verlaine, your good self, and so many others, solve crosswords in astonishing times without a sense of smugness or diminishment to the rest of us. Dorset Jimbo”s blog on the most recent Mephisto was a mea culpa though he would never admit it ! I’m a surgeon who only learned how to train when I understood that things that were so obvious to me were things that others struggled with.
  5. T’was I who ranted. Hard love causes much improvement! In retrospect, grouping yourself with George was unfair. He is smug whereas you find things effortless and just need a nudge to belong to a fantastic group of helpful people. George once told me to FOAD so my vitriol is somewhat justified.

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