This was definitely not a typical Monday puzzle. Even for the clues I solved quickly, I was thinking really, you are expected to know that?
Author: vinyl1
In Memoriam Tony Sever: 1944-2023
As many of you have heard, our former blogger and long-time commenter Tony Sever passed away in March of this year.
Mephisto 3274 – Dial-a-Tory? Laud-a-Tory!
While the puzzle was enjoyable, some of the parsing are a bit obscure – perhaps a commenter will step forward with a clarification or addition.
Times 28615 – The Monday after Pentecost!
I found this a bit on the tricky side, with the kind of literals one might find in Mephisto. Fortunately, the vocabulary was not particularly esoteric, so if you trust the cryptics you will get the answers.
Mepisto 3272 – “With razor blades and hand grenades….”
I didn’t find this too bad, but made very slow progress for a while. I plodded on from ten until midnight, finishing a few bits here and there.
Times 28603 – First a coronation, then….
Although I didn’t get an answer right away, and only had six in my first run-through of the across clues, I started to make good progress with the downs. I was doing pretty well, but after 14 minutes I still had three to solve that I found a bit tough.
Mephisto 3270 – The terminal puzzle?
I didn’t have much difficulty with this one, although the pun was even more excruciating than usual. There are a few obscure literals that you have to check in Chambers, but this is scarcely a novelty in Mephisto.
Times 28591 – Half an answer is better than none!
After getting only two answers in my first run-through of the across clues, I realized I might need to think a little. Looking over the solved puzzle, I don’t think it is really that hard.
Mephisto 3268 – Like Peter, say?
While for the previous Mephisto I barely needed to touch Chambers, this John Grimshaw production will require considerable checking for most solvers. I had to make a number of guesses, most of which turned out to be correct.
Times 28579 – Never heard of it!
After completing my solve, I was wondering if the puzzle was really quite simple and I was just not on the wavelength. However, on checking the SNITCH, it seems like this was quite a difficult Monday puzzle, and I may not be alone in my struggles.