Mephisto 2905 – Tim Moorey

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
I found this one considerably more difficult than the last few, and there are a few that complete understanding of is eluding me, but hopefully once I start writing this up all will become clearish.

Turns out most of what I’m missing is stuff from the telly. Remember when “celebrity chef” was an oxymoron?

Away we go…

Across
1 ANTIAR: RAITA reversed with N inside
8 OGPU: GP inside OU(man)
11 TROPARION: PAR,I in TROON
12 EDAM: the entry for the cheese in Chambers confirms the village. One that I didn’t see the wordplay for immediately, but now I see it’s RED(wine) JAM(press) with both first letters missing
13 LYCEUM: anagram of MY CLUE
14 NIGELLA: I presume Nigella Lawson? NIL surrounding shaving GEL, than A
16 ARED: FARED missing (guf)F</b>F
17 TANIST: NIS(old form of IS NOT) inside TAT(touch)
18 GALLANTRY: ALL(quite) inside GANTRY(bridge)
21 LATESCENT: LAT instead of D in DESCENT
24 LAPITH: LAH(note) containing PIT(nick as in prison)
25 PROA: PRO(for) and then the regular character in pAnAmA is A
28 EPIGONS: anagram of PIGEONS
29 ANARCH: AN(one) then MARCH(demo) missing the start
30 UNCI: C in UNI
31 DALLIANCE: ALLIANCE(union) with D(ifficulty)
32 SHOE: sounds like SHOO(on yer bike!)
33 KHALSA: anagram of LASH in K(ampuche)A
 
Down
1 AMENAGE: AME(soul), NAG(harry) and the last letter in (violenc)E
2 NADIR: This one had a big question mark – clearly it was this from the definition (Rock Bottom). In writing up the blog I googled “Nadir” and business and found out a little about Asil Nadir who I guess is out figitive businessman?
3 TRAGELAPH: anagram of AT,LARGE, then P(harao)H
4 ARALIA: (p)AL in ARIA
5 ROLL IN THE HAY: what Uncle Yap would call a tichy double definition
6 SPLATTERPUNK: SPUNK containing LATTER,P
7 GAYDAR: GAY(fairly) and then DAR(k)
8 OR,C,A
9 POUSSIN: anagram of SOUPS then IN
10 UNMET: ME in HUNT missing the H
15 PIPERONAL: PI then PERSONAL missing S
19 ALANNAH: ALAN Sugar (who if we follow precedence should now run for British Prime Minister), then NAH
20 STASIMA: STA(station) on AM,IS reversed
22 ATOC,I,A
23 SMIRCH: RIM(skirt) reversed in SCH
24 LOADS: sounds like LODES
26 ONCUS: ON(close to),US containing C(ricket)
27 ARLE: the inside of BARLEY

2 comments on “Mephisto 2905 – Tim Moorey”

  1. Not so difficult for me George. NADIR a write-in – his story is well known in UK business circles as is Sugar’s of course. The town of EDAM also known to me – a lot of cheeses are named after their home.

    So, reasonable middle-of-the-road puzzle for me.

  2. I didn’t find this particularly difficult either, but I’ve noticed lately that there seems to be little correlation between how hard you (or Jim) find a puzzle and how hard I find it.
    Thanks for explaining 2dn: I’ve heard of Asil Nadir but I didn’t think of him. Likewise 7dn, where I could see how the wordplay worked.

Comments are closed.