Category: Mephisto

Although I made fairly good progress at first, there was some tough stuff here.   After two hours I had all but one, and decided to go to bed.   In the morning, the phrase ‘ledger beam’ … Read more “Mephisto 3170 – The evangelical bloc!”

Greetings barred-grid fans, Don Manley has treated us to another grid of obscure words clued with immaculate wordplay.  I cannot say much else other than that this would be an excellent puzzle for setters who … Read more “Mephisto 3169 – Don Manley”

I found this one very tricky.   It was easy enough to get started, and to find Paul’s usual outrageous pun, but actually chasing down the last few was pretty tough.   Once found, they were not … Read more “Mephisto 3168 – Neil Young plays a Gibson, but Eric Clapton….”

Greetings barred-grid fans. I did pretty well with this one – Tim Moorey often puts in a few pop culture or sports references and I think I was familar with most of them this time … Read more “Mephisto 3167 – Tim Moorey”

You can’t really say that a Mephisto is easy, or that the answers should be obvious, but of the three setters I find that it is the puzzles of Don Manley where many answers do … Read more “Mephisto 3166 – Oh, what a feeling!”

Greetings barred-grid fans. This is a tricky puzzle for wordplay, though there are not that many unusual entries in the grid. I filed out the bottom half first and worked my way up to the … Read more “Mephisto 3165 – Paul McKenna”

I made good progress for a while, but then had trouble finishing.   I picked away at the more difficult answers for a couple of days, but in the end I was most thoroughly stuck.     Consulting … Read more “Mephisto 3164 – Donovan, my Ninja Turtle”

Greetings barred-grid fans. At risk of being smacked down like I was last time, I thought this was definitely on the gentler side of Mephisto puzzles, with the usual clear Don Manley wordplay for obscure … Read more “Mephisto 3163 – Don Manley”

This puzzle turned into a lengthy struggle that spanned the week, as I slowly reduced the stubborn areas.    While I did come up with a correct and complete solution, I still cannot parse some of … Read more “Mephisto 3162 – Paul’s right, it’s wrong!”

Greetings barred-grid fans. I’m writing from my deck looking down at a bumper crop of poorly-masked tourists, it being school holidays and Easter weekend. I will hopefully feel less bitter about my fellow Americans soon, … Read more “Mephisto 3161 – Tim Moorey”