Mephisto 2492 – Tim Moorey

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Mephisto
As with the jumbo, real life commitments have prevented the expected report on this puzzle. If you have queries about particular clues or comments about the puzzle please make them in comments – I’m sure queries will be answered by someone.

7 comments on “Mephisto 2492 – Tim Moorey”

  1. I have two guesses in here, so I’m keeping fingers crossed. Lots of fun and not too difficult words, but the last three to go in have unchecked letters in unfortunate places.
    1. Hi George. If you tell me what they are I’ll do my best to help. Jimbo
  2. While you’re at it Jim, I wouldn’t mind the answer to 10d ?PRA is what I’ve got.
    I’m very much a beginner with these so can’t really comment with any confidence, but I struggled with this one more than any of the previous ones and had to do lots of word matching searches. Any chance of explanations of the following:
    12a HORNITOS – is “wet” a Mephisto anagrind. I don’t think I’ve seen it in any of the dailies.
    13a OFF PAT – does FF = “made it” and why?
    26a ARECA – no idea
    34a HARRISON -does HAR=needing ?
    33a STEGOPHILIST – it’s S+(I SLIP GET TO H)* but I can’t see an anagrind, unless it’s “must”

    All the downs seemed ok. Sorry there are so many but any help, as usual, gratefully received.

    If I may ask another general question – does anybody ever solve these without help?

    1. Thanks very much for that Peter. It all makes perfect sense now. I think I’ve had a go at six now and it isn’t getting any easier yet.
      1. Ken I promise it will get easier. I’ve been doing them for more than 40 years and in those days there were no blogs. It took me about 6 months to even finish one, so you’re doing well! In my blog of 2493 which will appear on Sunday I will outline how as a new solver I learned to approach these puzzles.

        As to using help I think that use of Chambers is all part of the fun. To derive an answer from wordplay and then look it up and find that it exists is very satisfying and a credit to the setter. You shouldn’t feel that you are somehow “cheating”. It’s only “cheating” to use a dictionary if you try to use one in a competition that bars their use and that most certainly doesn’t apply here, where you are told the dictionary of choice and the clue definitions often quote directly from the dictionary. Jimbo.

  4. 12a: Yes – C has: wet = crazily mistaken (US). Not an anagrind I remember seeing before, but it works.
    13a: ff is indeed “mad it” – it’s an abbrev for Lat. ‘fecerunt’
    26a: clue says “put about three times”: a,re,and ca. all mean ‘about’ if you check C – a3 in the case of a.
    34a: this is a sneaky one: backing “no sir” doesn’t indicate RISON = (no sir) rev., but HARRISON = (no sirrah) rev.
    33a: I think the anagrind is gripping = ‘exciting’

    I start off Mephisto (and Azed plain) puzzles without looking things up. Usually I get two or three clues wrong, or give up anywhere from a few clues in to having a few clues left, but just occasionally this works and the whole thing is done correctly with no help. But I did start doing these a vey long time ago.

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