Mephisto 2904 by Don Manley – Here’s Looking At You Kid

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
Middle of the road puzzle incorporating the most often married Queen of England with possibly the most misquoted film actor (who didn’t say “Play it again Sam”) and a Norfolk town many will not have heard of. One slightly odd definition at 22A and a rather clunky offering at 24D but fun to solve. It appeared the day after the four-hundreth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death of which it made absolutely no mention.

Across
1 USAGES – U-SAGES;
6 LESBIC – LES-BIC; biro=BIC;
10 PACHYDERMATA – (my carpet had a)*; animal classification including elephants and politicians;
11 SEABORN – SEA(BOR)N; neighbour=BOR;
13 NUTRIA – NUT-IRA; display=air then move “a” to end; fur;
14 ZORINO – ZO(RIN)O; RIN from RIN(d); euphemism for skunk;
15 TIERS – TI(m)ERS; I think the kids are goats and we’re in the mountains;
16 AESIR – A-(RISE reversed); are=A; Norse Gods;
17 ON,SIGHT – sounds like “on site”;
22 FATTISM – F-A-TT-IS-M; TT=Tourist Trophy; why is discrimination against fat people a problem for a would-be model?
26 IGAPO – I(GAP)O; forest by a river liable to periodic flooding;
28 ZANTE – Z(ANT)E(a); maize=Zea; wood is definition;
29 MALAGA – AGA-LAM all reversed; rather sweet dessert wine;
30 SLIGHT – S-LIGHT; set=settle=LIGHT;
31 VIRGULE – VIRG(o)-ULE; crude rubber=ULE; slanting mark;
32 SACRAMENTARY – (scary art)* surrounds AMEN;
33 TROELY – TR(LEO reversed)Y;
34 DISMES – DIS(ME)S; DISS=market town in South Norfolk, home of Thomas Lord who founded the famous cricket ground; old tithes;
 
Down
2 SALUING – (“langu-age” minus “age” plus “is”)*; old word for salute;
3 ACATES – A(C-AT-(gam)E)S; bought provisions;
4 GHARRI – GH(ARR)I;
5 S’DEATH – (the sad)*;
6 LEAZE – (s)LEAZE; s=sun;
7 SMORED – hidden (want)S-MORE-D(evolution); put out in Perth;
8 BARISH – B-ARISH; stubble field=ARISH;
9 CALORIMETRY – C(A-L)OR-IM-E-TRY;
10 PANTOMIMIST – PAN-TOM-I-MIST;
12 BOART – BO(g)ART; Humphrey DeForest Bogart 1899-1957 the iconic noble cynic; a rough diamond;
18 GLOGG – G-LOG-G; Swedish Christmas drink;
19 ASTHORE – AS(T)HORE; darling is definition;
20 CALICO – C-ALIC(e)-O; care of=CO;
21 SPARRE – S(PARR)E; Catherine Parr 1512-1548 last wife of Henry VIII; old word for bar;
23 AISLED – (ladies)*;
24 TAINTS – T-AINT-S; one alphabet character=T; isn’t=AINT; one alphabet character before T=S; infections; clunky clue;
25 INGRAM – ING-RAM; meadow=ING; ignorant;
27 GAUMY – GA(UM)Y; smeared;

5 comments on “Mephisto 2904 by Don Manley – Here’s Looking At You Kid”

  1. 22A: the clue says “possible problem” rather than just “problem”, and the modelling world’s idea of what counts as “fat” is apparently fairly harsh. Diss: in a puzzle where discovering the unknown is part of the fun, I don’t see why one of the UK’s small market towns is an issue – I would be very surprised if fewer people knew about it than zorino or gharri. It passes the “glovebox road atlas test” which I use as something a bit more scientific than “has the crossword editor heard of it?”.
    1. Sorry, that was me, forgetting to log in.

      Edited at 2016-05-01 06:41 am (UTC)

      1. I wasn’t questioning DISS, simply remarking that it isn’t widely known in UK let alone overseas but I have no problem with it

        I still don’t understand the FATTISM clue. You appear to be describing discrimination against “normal” weight people. Also, not all models are cat walk bean poles – in fact they are the minority. Perhaps if you’d said “buxom models”?

  2. Rather a lot of homosexuality in this one. I was torn between SLIGHT and SPIGHT, but just shrugged at DISMES and looked up the definition.

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