Category: Mephisto

Quite a mix of GK here with an old tennis player, a racecourse near Glasgow, a Dutch astronomer, an old film, and a cigar smoking dictator. Good puzzle I thought which represented a fair challenge … Read more “Mephisto 2952 – Paul McKenna”

I found this one very very difficult – very few that went in without a trip to the dictionary. And even then I was digging myself into a hole, by confidently putting in IN CASE … Read more “Mephisto 2951 – Tim Moorey”

A stroll in the park this week Across 1 SFERICS – S(F)ERIC-S; fine=F; society=S; atmospherics; 6 KAPUT – KA-PUT; spirit=KA; 10 HELIANTHUS – (health sun I)*; 11 ACIDLY – AC-IDLY; 13 FICHU – hidden (scienti)FIC-HU(sband); … Read more “Mephisto 2950 – by Don Manley”

I found this one on the easier side, with a lot of the unfamiliar words having clear wordplay. I also spotted the possibility of the pun (PROPHECIES) across the top row helping me get 7 … Read more “Mephisto 2949 – Paul McKenna”

Nothing too difficult here but stars our first oblique reference to Donald Trump. I wonder how he would have got along with Quintin Hogg who I recall for his savage attack on John Profumo in … Read more “Mephisto 2948 by Tim Moorey”

I finished this with some very large question marks, four of which required some online research to sort out. Fortunately the definition was unambiguous in each case. 90-degree and 180-degree symmetry in the grid this … Read more “Mephisto 2947 – Don Manley”

My only problem with this came from writing “toke” in at 12A which made the NW corner harder than it should have been! Annoying because the correct answer is well known to me. Other than … Read more “Mephisto 2946 – Paul McKenna”

I made a cracking start on this one and then slowed down to a crawl at the end having to trawl through Chambers for a few of the shorter words, and fix a few confident … Read more “Mephisto 2945 – Tim Moorey”

Easiest puzzle for some time – top to bottom solve and very little use of dictionary Across 1 BENEFACT – BENT surrounds CAFE reversed; 6 DADA – DAD-A; 10 ACALEPHAE – (a place he a)*; … Read more “Mephisto 2944 by Don Manley”

I found this one pretty strightforward and had more than two thirds finished before needing recourse to the dictionary, but at the end I have a few pieces of wordplay that are eluding me, hopefully … Read more “Mephisto 2943 – Paul McKenna”