Mephisto 2463 (‘2462’ in online version) – Chris Feetenby

Solving time 27:25 with no books, then a few minutes with Chambers to clear up mistakes at 6 and 15.

A fairly easy puzzle this, with not too much diffucult vocabulary in the answers.

Across
1 S=”almost last just”,HEATH=Ex-PM. Not too keen on “almost last” for “almost the last character of” but it didn’t stop me solving the clue.
7 PE(‘S)O(n)
12 YES,H.I.V.,OTH=tho* – pl of yeshiva – a Jewish school of various kinds
15 E.D.I.,F(rida)Y – I should hang my head in shame at not seeing EDI considering that I’ve been working for about 7 years on computer systems including a component for sending EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) messages . After my wrong guess at 6D, I went for ‘UNIFY’
17 EPHA – H = a bit heated in APE, all rev. Same kind of reservation as in 1A about “a bit heated”, but same follow-up too.
22 HA(R)D – N British version of ‘heard’
23 E,(U)CAINE
25 EME,E.R. – eme is an old word for uncle
28 GIVE,CHASE – chase3 turns out to be a groove inter alia
29 PARA,C.,ENTESIS = (it’s seen)* – a fluid-removing process
30 S,TYE=an inclined trough for washing ore, or to wash ore in one.
 
Down
2 HIEROGRAMMAT = (I’m Harrogate M)* – a sacred scribe
3 A,THOS. – Mt. A is the men-only place with all the monasteries.
4 THI(n)G
5 ISOGAM=(imagos)*,O.,U.S.
6 ICT(ER)US – guessed wrong at ITCUMUS
8 ELL,IPSOID=(is iPod)*
9 ‘S,ELF,HYP,NO,SIS. elf = mischeivous creature = rogue, hyp = hip2 = to offend, sis2 = an Afrikaans expr. of contempt.
10 OST,YAK
13 DUN,DREARY = like Lord Dundreary in Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin – who was a lisping brainless dandy, apparently.
19 R.U.,BRICS=”bricks”=good chaps
20 CH(E)OPS – the pharaoh for whom the Great Pyramid was built (a.k.a. Khufu)
24 ASHE,N – Arthur Ashe beat Jimmy Connors in a famous upset in the 1975 Wimbledon final, and in the quarter-finals, was the last person to beat Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon until McEnroe in the 1981 final.
26 OCT,A = opposite of “a., Oct.” = a month
27 K,ESH=(he’s)* – the uncut hair and beard traditional in Sikhism.

3 comments on “Mephisto 2463 (‘2462’ in online version) – Chris Feetenby”

  1. Please could you say which puzzle this was. It looks familiar, but I don’t think it came out on Nov 18th.
  2. Although the online printable version says it is Mephisto 2462, I think it is actually 2463.

    I needed Chambers for 13d, wasn’t familiar with the literature. Obscure scientific terms are my forte, so most of this wasn’t too bad.

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