Category: Mephisto

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.

Greetings, barred-grid fans. The puzzle appeared out of order in the online Times, and the solution will be published online today, so the blog is appearing at around the same time as 3222. Rather fun … Read more “Mephisto 3223 – Don Manley”

Well, here is the famous puzzle that was supposed to have been published online two weeks ago, but 3223 went up in its place.   

Greetings barred-grid fans! I had a few struggles with this one, particularly in the bottom right hand corner, where I think I was looking too hard for a pop culture or sport reference that Tim … Read more “Mephisto 3221 – Tim Moorey”

This Don Manley Mephisto was not terribly difficult, but since I was tired I didn’t finish it all in one sitting, wisely breaking off and going to bed with several undone.   When I came back, I found most of them rather straightforward, with only a couple need a trawl through Chambers.