Mephisto 2432/Tim Moorey – just glad to get it finished!

This was the toughest Mephisto that I have had to blog – I’m not sure why.  Sometimes I just seem to struggle for no apparent reason, and this was the case here.  70-80% of the clues came to me fairly quickly, then I hit a wall.  I only just finished it this morning, and I’m not sure about a couple of the answers I have put in – see below.

ACROSS

1          BATT(L)ING – good surface

7          SMIT – (<=Tim’s) – in the online version, this is not as easy as it looks, because the setter’s name (Tim Moorey) is not given

11         ECHOIC – (CHOICE with the E “brought forward”)

13         DROGHEDA – (heard dog)*

15         HOD CARRIER – sure that this is right, but can’t quite see the wordplay – HARRIER is “runner”, DC for “police officer” (detective constable – not in Chambers 2003) – after that I’m lost

25         G(EMMY) – another nice surface

27         WAPENSCHAW – for me, a poor homophone of Wa-pens-SURE – SURE and SCHAW may sound alike to some, but not to me (nor Chambers if you look up the pronunciation)

32         LI(ER)NE – a cross-rib in vaulting

33         RA’s-P – why is RA = “head”?

DOWN

2          (s)ACRED

3          TO-GO + LANDER

8          MA(RIG)RAM – marram is a seaside grass and a marigram is a read-out from a marigraph, a device that records tide levels.

9          INHERE – this one held me up because I wanted it to be ADHERE

10         T(h)E(f)A(i)R(w)A(y)W(e)A(r)Y – good surface

14         PROCREATED – (tape-record)*

17         A CA(RPO)US(e) where RPO = Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  ACARPOUS means sterile, therefore “fruitless”

18         OPERCULA – OP(<=lucre)A – this took a while to parse, as I was trying to work out why LUC was money, thinking OPERA was “work” (d’oh!)

22         R-WANDA – as in A Fish Called Wanda

24         UNC(l)ES – Scottish word for “small amounts”