Category: Mephisto

A very pleasant puzzle with a mixture of nice clues and good starter clues. A number of the starter clues needed a reference to Chambers to verify an easily derived word, such as EGESTA at … Read more “Mephisto 2501 Tim Moorey”

I’m doing this for Robert who is currently indisposed Congratulations to Mephisto on reaching 2,500. I guess Mephisto had reached about number 250 when I finished my first. Throughout the standard has been high and … Read more “Mephisto 2500 Mike Laws”

Paul McKenna’s puzzles are falling into a pattern – plenty of starter words to get things going, and just when you think you’re going to race through the grid, there are some really obscure tough … Read more “Mephisto 2499 – Paul McKenna”

Solving time: hours! This was one of the hardest Mephistos I can remember. A session of about 43 minutes without Chambers got about two-thirds of it done, but the rest was really tough and Chambers … Read more “Mephisto 2498 – Tim Moorey”

Solving time: about 40 minutes in two sessions, no books. I solved this one yesterday after finding that the expected blogger was too busy and seeing that … “Jeff”, the setter of the same day’s … Read more “Mephisto 2496 – Paul McKenna”

I usually find that Tim Moorey pulls out obscure biological terminology, but this one just has a random assortment of obscure words. The right half was considerably easier than the left half, and there are … Read more “Mephisto 2495 – Tim Moorey”

Solving time 24:20 – without Chambers except for 5D. An easy Mephisto for me (especially for Mike Laws, often the hardest of the three), as you can guess from the time. The main reason for … Read more “Mephisto 2494 – Mike Laws”

This Mephisto is a little easier than some because the starter clues (see below) are generous in number and strategically placed. It is an artisan puzzle, robust and workmanlike but never scaling the heights. All … Read more “Mephisto 2493 Paul McKenna”

As with the jumbo, real life commitments have prevented the expected report on this puzzle. If you have queries about particular clues or comments about the puzzle please make them in comments – I’m sure … Read more “Mephisto 2492 – Tim Moorey”

I found this one mostly straightforward, but Mike Laws has a habit of slipping in a word that completely eludes me (including last time I blogged one of his puzzles), and he’s gone and done … Read more “Mephisto 2491 – Mike Laws”