Mephisto 2483 – Tim Moorey

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
I’ve found the last few Mephistos pretty tricky and this was no exception, took about four sittings to finish it, and liberal use of Bradfords. Even after getting the two 12-letter words straight off, there was a bit of hard-going ahead. If you’re not a regular Mephisto solver and aren’t used to hyphenated words being clued as single words you might have found this even tougher.

Across
1 PR,AM: Americans call these strollers
4 TURPETHS: (THE)* in TURPS. Another clue that will be easier for the UK/Antipodean continent
9 LIGNIPERDOUS: (U,IS,DEPLORING)*
11 U-TRAP: hidden, reversed. The bane of my existence at times
12 BIG(=lively),AMY: well-hidden definition, I was sure the checking M was part of MO for second.
15 F,RUMP
16 TAIL-END: AIL(=trouble) in TEND(=escort, thanks Bradford’s), and TAIL-END CHARLIE is slang for a rear gunner
17 DANITE: AN in DITE
20 AGOROT: not 100% on wordplay, A,GO,(TOR)<=???
24 TIE-UP: hyphenation strickes again. I.E. in (PUT)<=
26 TREAGUE: a truce and my last entry. I think wordplay is EAG in TRUE?
28 HAL,V,AH: Haven’t seen “for instance” leading to “AH”, but I guess it works
29 (r)ICTUS: two bad things for the price of one!
31 ESTREPED: anagram of DESPERATE minus the A
 
Down
1 PLUFF: I have the wordplay as L in PUFF (think PUSS)
3 MNAS: obscure currency #2 for the puzzle
4 TIP-UP: revenge of the hyphenation, and I loved this clue, tip up would give you PIT
5 UPRATED: PRAT in (DUE)*
7 EDGILY: (DIG)* in ELY, singular DIGS giving DIG
8 HUMONGOUS: anagram of MOS(t),(t)OUGH,UN
10 SNYDET: (TED,YNS)<=. Had to peek in Chambers to get this
13 BRA,STRAPS: (PART)<= in BRASS and we have the Basil Brush BOOM BOOM clue of the week. Cup holders indeed!
17 DEPTHS: PT, in (SHED)<=, just noticed a lot of reversals today
18 T,SINGANE: oh how usedul Bradford’s can be, before that I didn’t know either were gypsys
19 JAN,E,DOE(s): this one the Americans may have a leg up on. Legal term for unidentifiable person
21 A RAVIR: RAV in AIR, easier wordplay than clue
24 TEIND: hidden

2 comments on “Mephisto 2483 – Tim Moorey”

  1. I had these as:
    22A: “A joke about say..” => A,ROT about GO => AGOROT
    26A: “…rule stops an Irishman” => R in TEAGUE => TREAGUE
    28A: “Henry’s against, for instance…” => HAL,V,AS => HALVAS

    Bill

    1. You’re right about 28A, I had the singular, and the clue did say sweetmeatS, and AS is better than AH.

      The other two sound decent too, I haven’t seen ROT come from joke before.

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