Category: Mephisto

I did solve this puzzle, but this involved a lot of not-very-inspired guessing.   Sitting down to write the blog, it looks like explaining some of the answers will provide considerable difficulty.   At least Paul’s pun … Read more “Mephisto 3180 – Whoa!”

Greetings barred-grid fans! I got through this one pretty readily, though there are a number of notes to myself about wordplay elements, I don’t have any question marks around the grid. The grid is notable … Read more “Mephisto 3179 – Tim Moorey”

I like Don Manley’s puzzles because they are so very precise.   If something seems wrong, it probably is, so you should think again.   I saw that curari was an alternate spelling of curare, and that … Read more “Mephisto 3178 – Back to square one”

Greetings barred-grid fans. Two of my greatest enjoyments in doing a Mephisto puzzle are the grid construction and the visits to the outer regions of Chambers, and this puzzle supplies plenty of both.  A generous … Read more “Mephisto 3177 – Paul McKenna”

This puzzle was a strange mixture of perfectly straightforward, quite simple clues with a few that were almost impossible.   I nearly managed to finish, but got stuck in the end, and had to phone a … Read more “Mephisto 3176 – The turning of the screw!”

Greetings, barred-grid fans. A fun puzzle this week from Don Manley, with the usual precise clueing of unusual words.  I thought it was interesting that the two long entries were both unusual words clued as … Read more “Mephisto 3175 – Don Manley”

This was not too tricky, and I finished all but a few in about an hour.   I was about to go to bed and mop up in the morning, but I was texting with Jeremy … Read more “Mephisto 3174 – Let’s keep those birds rare!”

Greetings barred-grid fans This is a classic Tim Moorey puzzle, a few cultural references, crafty wordplay and some fun surfaces. I did find this a little more difficult than the previous few weeks, not helping … Read more “Mephisto 3173 – Tim Moorey”

I didn’t find this terribly difficult, and finished most of it before going to bed.   Don Manley’s cluing is very precise, and if you just trust the cryptics completely you will get the answers.   The … Read more “Mephisto 3172 – Tall tales? Not here!”

Greetingd barred-grid fans. Paul McKenna sometimes experiments with grids other than 12×12, and this is an example of an 11×13 grid.  With there being one long vertical entry, the grid design breaks it up almost … Read more “Mephisto 3171 – Paul McKenna”