Category: Mephisto

Greetings barred-grid fans. I remember having quite a bit of difficulty finishing this one and looking up several wordplay elements in Chambers. I think I have it all sorted out for the blog, fingers crossed. … Read more “Mephisto 3239 – Tim Moorey”

Whenever I set up to solve a Mephisto, I naturally have my copy of Chambers at hand.   Normally, I look through all the clues and answer all the obvious ones (well, obvious for Mephisto) before I get serious and start checking in the dictionary for possibly relevant words, either for the wordplay and the answer.

I found this one tricky, particularly as I was looking to confirm everything in advance of writing up the blog – there are a few biffable from definition. I am not 100% on what is … Read more “Mephisto 3237 – Paul McKenna”

This one wasn’t too difficult for a Tim Moorey.    There were at least a few fairly straightforward clues to get the solver started and provide crossing letters.   

Greetings barred-grid fans. Another fine puzzle from Don Manley where the wordplay falls into place neatly.  There’s not as many unusual words in the grid, so I expect most will find this at the easier … Read more “Mephisto 3235 – Don Manley”

I didn’t find this too bad, but had to give up and leave a few until the next morning.   I filled in the bottom readily enough, but the top half was a little more challenging until I had a sudden breakthrough with the fear and the centre of excellence.  

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.