This was one of the hardest Mpehisto’s I’ve tackled in a while. The bottom half didn’t take long at all, but after a first sitting the top half was almost empty (4d was the only entry above the waistline). A fresh start a few days later gave me 1a and then we’re away.
That said, there is one guess in here, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DOPPELGANGER – (PEOPL)*+G in DANGER. |
| 10 | A,B(V)OLT – 10-8 volts. Thank you college physics. |
| 14 | FOR,ZA,TO – a variant on the more common SFORZADO seen in music |
| 17 | MIRROR – TERROR with the TE changed for MI |
| 18 | NANOGRAM – a guess coming from seeing ABVOLT earlier, can’t see the wordplay here |
| 21 | MERCOURI – COUR(t) in MERI. Checked this one in Bradfords before going in, the wordplay seemed solid. I was not familiar with Melina Mercouri, though she sounds like quite the statesperson. |
| 23 | TOPEK,A – a TOPEK is an Inuit tent |
| 25 | ANNAM – (MANNA)<= – the French colony that is now Vietnam |
| 26 | OA(R)FISH |
| 29 | IONA – IOWA with the W changed for N |
| 30 | PROF,IT |
| 31 | AN,TINE,UTRINO – the last part being (INTOUR)*. Our Physics triple for the acrosses |
| Down | |
| 1 | DARLTINGTONIA – DARLING then O in (AIN’T)<= – this one took a while trying to figure out which Grace was the top part. |
| 2 | OB,OE – the other definition of OBOE as an organ stop |
| 3 | PONTOON – ON,T in POON. Chambers doesn’t give the origin, but in Australia, Blackjack was called Pontoon. My adoptive Americans will be pleased to learn of the existence of the poon tree |
| 4 | ELDING – ENDING with L swapped for N. Scots for fuel for the fire |
| 5 | GAYOMART – not where you go to buy homosexuals, but the Zoroastrian first man |
| 6 | AZERI – ZER(o) in A1 |
| 7 | G(ETA)ROUND – nice clue |
| 8 | ELUTOR – (RO(=run out)TULE)<= |
| 9 | RISORGIMENTO – (TRIO,SING,MORE)* |
| 16 | KREASOTE – (TAKE,ROSE)* – another spelling of CREOSOTE |
| 19 | MONITOR – NIT in MOOR, and the Victorian being the Antipodean type, where NIT is slang for “lookout” |
| 22 | CAVORT – VO in CART |
| 24 | KIRIN??? – Is it the smiling beastie from Japanese lore and beer cans? With KIR_N and wordplay suggesting some form of drink without a D, that’s my best guess. Note: and it was wrong, see comments for unravelling KIRAN |
| 25 | JO,IN – the number was missing from the online grid, but I found it. |
Bill