Mephisto 2513 Tim Moorey

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
A good Mephisto of average difficulty with a handful of nice clues. I particularly liked 1D and 4D. Following the discussion that followed the inclusion of a “misleading” capital letter in a daily cryptic recently I have highlighted the need to ignore capital letters in a couple of clues. This is generally good advice in all of the Times cryptics.

For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue (S) = starter clue (see tips and tricks on this site). I have not included 1A as a starter clue. Although it appears easy it is wise to hang back on these four letter words until some form of validation is available (in this instance provided by 3D). I write my answer next to the clue and enter a small mark in the grid to remind me that I have a potential answer until that validation is available.

Across
1 ASHY – A-SHY; A=first class; SHY=cast; ignore the capital “C” in Cinders
4 FACE,CARD – F-ACE-CARD; ACE=one; CARD=character; dogging=following; the Jack, Queen or King of a suit
10 NAEVE – N(A)EVE; smooth=EVEN then reversed; old word for birthmark (see naevus in (C))
11 YAHBOO – YAH-B-O-O; Yes=YAH; bowled=B (cricket); “a pair” is two consecutive zero scores (cricket)=O-O
13 TANGIERS – TANGIER-S; (S)
14 SCREWBALL – S-CREW-BALL; S=second; CREW=team; BALLS=rubbish; again ignore the capital “E”
16 ADELA – A-DELA(y); delay=Spenser’s word for temper (C)
19 RODERICK – RODE-RICK; (S)
20 ELLS – trade=sell; s=second; move the “s” to the end; an ELL is old measure of cloth
21 USER – (caro)USER; legal term for a right established by use (see use-1 in (C))
22 ACHARYAS – A-CHARY-A-S; S=second; Hindu teachers (C)
24 SUSHI – SUS-HI(d); SUS=suspect; (S)
28 POOR,CLARES – POO(RC)L-ARE-S; S=special; POOL=group; RC=Roman Catholic; Franciscan nun (see Clare in (C)); nice clue
30 CARUNCLE – C-(unclear)*; See=C; a growth on the body
31 ARISTA – AR(t)IST-A; a bristle on some grass or an insect (C)
32 DANIO – D(A-N-I)O; N=number; I=island; DO=cook; a tropical fish
33 SIDEARMS – S(IDEA-RM)S; plan=IDEA; RM=Royal Marines; SS=steam ship; nice clue
34 KSAR – KS-AR; KS=Kansas; AR=Arkansas; Milton’s spelling for tsar
 
Down
1 ANESTRUS – (as unrest)*; congress=sexual activity; US spelling of “anoestrus”=a celibate period; great clue (C)
2 SANCHO – SAN-CH-O; SAN=sanitorium; CH=choir; an African guitar (C)
3 HEBRIDES – HE-BRIDES; (S)
4 FETWA – FE-(fis)T-W-A; FE=iron; W=with; A=one; alternative spelling of “fatwa”; great clue (C)
5 AHAB – A-HAB(it); A=absolute; king of Israel circa 850BC who married Jezebel (S)
6 CYNANCHE – anagram of (f)ANCY+(w)ENCH; quinsy (C)
7 CHILDERMAS – anagram of IDLE+MARCH+S(cotch); Christian Feast of The Holy Innocents 28th December each year
8 RORAL – R-ORAL; of the dew=late deposit (C) (S)
9 DOSS – D-OSS; D=degree; OSS=Office of Strategic Services; an easily accomplished task (c)
12 PETERHOUSE – PETER-HOUSE; safe=PETER; HOUSE=to shelter; well known Cambridge college (S)
15 RICERCAR – that is=IE; take=R (times 3); contralto=C (times 2); alto=A; mix to give RICERCAR, a fugue; nice clue (C)
17 ELYTRONS – ELY-TRONS; See=ELY; TRONS=market places; a grub’s dorsal plates (C)
18 ASSESSOR – ASSES-SO-R; berks=ASSES; very=SO; a magistrate’s legal advisor (S) (C)
23 ACEDIA – ACE-(AID reversed); expert=ACE; sloth (S) (C)
25 URARI – reversed hidden word (made)IRA-RU(ined); URARI=wourali=the curare plant (C)
26 GLEDS – G(LED)S; LED=came first in G(ame)S; GLED=glede=the common kite (C)
27 OCAS – O-CAS(h); round=O; a lot of (money) cash=CAS; S American sorrell with edible tubers (C)
29 CLAM – three meanings; CLAM-2 a gripping instrument; CLAM-3 a ringing noise; CLAM-1 a reticent person (C)

19 comments on “Mephisto 2513 Tim Moorey”

  1. My first ever try at a Mephisto. Got about 90%+ done (shamelessly using solving aids), but didn’t step back to see what I was doing wrong with 4Ac and 28 Ac. Misinterpreted the 8,2 and 10,2, and so got hopelessly confused.

    When all else fails, try reading the instructions.

    1. Well done rosselliot. To finish 90% at a first go is very good. It takes time to get used to not being given exact word lengths. You should also remember that hyphenated words are shown as say “6” rather than say “4-2”. I hope you persevere.
    2. Ross,

      I did my first one 2 weeks ago. Because the definitions often don’t help without recourse to the dictionary, I spent my time working out the wordplay then thumbing my old Chambers to see if the improbable-looking result was actually a word. I thought it was a different experience, but fun.

      I am keeping a vocab book (like for Latin at school) partly for interest and partly because I suspect many words – especially the shorter ones – recur.

  2. 9d – How does ‘for fellow in force’ equate to ‘Office of Strategic Services’?

    I wondered if the ‘fellow in force’ was OS (ordinary seaman) but then where does the final ‘S’ come from (I can find no justification for ‘s = it’s)?

    GRM

    1. Interesting! When solving the clue I looked up OSS and read it as OfficeR of Strategic Services (seeing what you want to see) and wrote D-OSS as my note to myself. When doing the blog I looked it up again and saw the correct Office of Strategic Services but didn’t relate that back to the original clue (daft). So now I’m as stumped as you! Have we been here before?
        1. I can’t remember a similar run of incorrect clues ever before. I’m starting to lose count! It suggests something is wrong with the process. Who best do we tell and how?
          1. An email address for the setter is always given so perhaps contacting Tim Moorey (and/or the other setters of ‘doubtful’ clues) might be a start.

            GRM

    1. Thanks for that erwinh. Easy once you see it! We must stop looking for errors rather than looking for alternative explanations.
    1. In the Tags section (after other crossword sites) on the right hand side of your screen.
  5. I found the top half and the left half pretty easy in this one, but had to confirm almost all of the words in the bottom right corner (let’s call it Florida). Ricercar is a great word.

  6. Nothing to add to the comments.

    I thought this was reasonably approachable with enough straightforward clues to get started (unlike the latest one!).

    1. Yes, 2514 is tougher but keep working at it. It can sometimes help to put it down for a couple of hours and then return to it. When I first did Ximenes puzzles circa 1960 it used to take me 3 days in sessions of about 2 hours a time!
      1. Thanks for the encouragement Jimbo. I’m about 2/3 done, but working long hours doesn’t give me a lot of time during the week to finish.
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