Category: Mephisto

Greetings barred-grid fans! I spent more time looking up things in Chambers than usual this week, not so much because of the wordplay, but there are some very odd words in the grid. In Mephisto … Read more “Mephisto 3233 – Tim Moorey”

Like most Don Manley Mephistos, I was able to finish this one without much difficulty.  I got a few almost immediately, and they opened up the grid for me.  The hardest thing in a Mephisto is getting started, since a few crossing letters are amazingly helpful in parsing in the clues.

Greetings, barred-grid fans. Fun puzzle from Paul McKenna this week, with a pun in the top row that leapt out of the grid and got me off to a good start (even though I know … Read more “Mephisto 3231 – Paul McKenna”

This was a bit of a toughie – not a one-day solve.   In fact, I picked at it for most of the week, and finally finished on Thursday.    The setter seems to be rather fond of letter removal, and even multiple letter removal.               

Greetings, barred-grid fans – we begin with some news from Mephistoland: Don Manley is stepping down from Mephisto after his 200th puzzle in January, and we are looking for one or more new setters. If you have … Read more “Mephisto 3229 – Don Manley”

I didn’t find this one too bad, and finished in a single sitting.   Since the setter has used many common words as answers, he evidently felt the need to add some obscurity to the clues in order to come up to Mephisto standards. 

Greetings barred-grid fans! I remember a slow and steady solve for this one, and after my last write-up, I waited until the solution was available to make sure that I have the correct solution (sigh … Read more “Mephisto 3227 – Tim Moorey”

It’s always a pleasure to get a Don Manley puzzle – at least I know I won’t be beating my brains out over how the clue works.  Manley must know Chambers inside out, because everything he uses can be found in exactly the place you would expect to find it in that big red book.    

Greetings barred-grid fans. I found this one pretty tricky, especially on the wordplay side. I am writing this up nearly a week after solving the puzzle and I’m kicking myself for not putting it together … Read more “Mephisto 3225 – Paul McKenna”

I found it a little difficult to get started in this one, and was thinking of stopping for the night with only a few solved.   But then I started to break through, and got a bit of traction.