Mephisto 2391 – Tim Moorey

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
I don’t recall that much about the solving of this one, I think I did it first thing in the morning last Sunday, I definitely had Chambers and Bradfords at hand and I think it was a single-sitting solve, but as usual with Tim Moorey I relied heavily on wordplay for a lot of the answers, then went peeking to see if they were real words. I’m writing this blog while Australia are playing Pakistan in the ICC World 20/20 and it’s a little too close for my liking (at least while Afridi is in).
This blog took me longer to write than the crossword took to solve as I had to make sure Australia took care of business. Woohoo! Next step, crush Bangladesh on Wednesday!

Across
1 PERSICOT: PER(A) then I in SCOT (payment) – got this from checking letters, it is a fruit cordial
7 PREP: R in PEP(=life)
11 ALBUGO: BUG in A,LO(P) I’d just seen this word in the Listener it means whiteness of the eye. I presume RUST is being used in terms of any detremental coating?
12 ANIMA: MIN reversed in AA – remember AA as a Hawaiian name for a type of rock, it pops up in wordplay from time to time
13 COLD,DUCK: didn’t know this one, but loved the wordplay
15 SAPPHARINE: (1,PERHAPS,IN)*
16 CYSTS: C(O)Y,S(O)TS – more nitfy wordplay
19 OPPO: O(ring), PP(per pro), O(old)
20 DRAGONET: GONE(left) in DRAT
21 CH,ARNE,CO: got this from the wordplay
23 MO,HR: MO is MORE (archaic), then HR for CROATIA from HRVATSKA (try saying that five times quickly after some sljivovica)
25 CASCA: C in CASA
27 COREGONINE: OREGON in CINE – not often you can see an entire US state name inside a wordplay, usually it’s just an abbreviation
30 ACARIDAN: anagram of ARACHNIDS without IS
31 OLEOS: O then SOLE*
32 ROARIE: Sounds like RORY, not that I think I’ve said either
33 WADT: With American Director hamleT – a black manganese ore
34 TEST CARD: DETRACTS*
 
Down
1 PA,CO: an alpaca
2 ELOGY: GO rev in ELY
3 SUDATORIES: STORIES about UDA
4 COUPURES: CURES (odd or queer people) about OUP – the theatre is an operating theatre
5 OUCH: hidden
6 TAKIN(G)
8 RIPIENOS: (PRECISION)* minus the C(see)
9 EMUNGE: EG, NUM, E all reversed
10 PALESTRA: a wrestling school where these activities might take place – PALE(enclosure – meaning 2 in Chambers),S(has),T(tense),A(adult) grabbing R (end of anotheR)
14 ERGO,MANIAC
16 COCK,C,ROW: the first COCK comes from haver=nonsense
17 SPAIRGED: AIR,G in SPED
18 LACUNARS: LUNARS about AC (in the middle of attrACtion)
22 HOOP,LA
24 AGAST: T,SAGA reversed (SAGA found in Chambers under SAGUM)
26 C,HAIR: HAIR = character confirmed by Chambers
28 OCH,E: from the “words I knew must exist but didn’t know what they were” file, the line you have to stand behind in darts.
29 SNED: (ENDS)*

3 comments on “Mephisto 2391 – Tim Moorey”

  1. A very similar experience to George, leaving aside the cricket. A lot of wordplay derivation leading to dictionary checking of the supposed answer.

    I don’t understand the reference to “rust” at 11A and didn’t go firm on my derived answer until I had the checking letters. I thought 10D PALESTRA a good clue.

  2. The reference is to white rust as is found in the OED and on the Net to be a disease of certain plants caused by the Albugo fungus. It was a bit cheeky to use a definition not in Chambers but the wordplay was very straightforward.

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