This was a rare single-sitting solve for me for a Mephisto – most of the lower half went in without too much effort, and there was some hunt-and-pecking for the correct words for the top half. A good puzzle for those who like to let the wordplay do the thinking, the obscure words are pretty clear from wordplay.
| Across |
| 5 |
VA,NESS,A: wordplay got it for me, Vanessa Cardui the Painted Lady butterfly
|
| 12 |
INTONACO: N(avy) in INTO,A,CO. A coat of lime plaster on which a mural is painted |
| 13 |
OTAGO: TAG in 0,0 (A pair being when a batsman in cricket does not score in either innings of a Test match). It is in the middle of the south island of New Zealand and I remember it being really cold. |
| 14 |
ATROPOS: SO,PORT,A all reversed |
| 15 |
GIN(=trap),O(=On),R(=Runs),MOUS(e): in Chambers as an informal word |
| 18 |
PERTS: STREP(which, as I have a big mouth, I’ve had a few battles with) reversed |
| 19 |
K,ERF: A notch or a groove |
| 20 |
SIG,IS,BEI(ng): A married woman’s acknowledged lover or lovers, as a friend of mine would say “the sort of word only Italians can come up with” |
| 21 |
(b)ATTER,COP: apparently can also be a spider |
| 24 |
SO(un)D’S: I assume this is what the wordplay was getting at |
| 28 |
COARSEN: ARSE in CON. I’m waiting to see HEARSES clued in similar fashion |
| 30 |
OLIVE(r): The Hardy part of Laurel and Hardy |
| 32 |
LET,TIS,H: A let touches the net but lands in, so is a service that does not work |
| 33 |
YARD: DRAY reversed, didn’t know a squirrels nest was a DRAY or a DREY but got this from definition |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
BIOGS: I in BOGS (is “Lots” needed?) |
| 2 |
A,N,TIMETAB(0)LE: nice wordplay! |
| 3 |
LO,G OFF: GOFF being an archaic term for golf |
| 7 |
NOR(m): one of the Boolean logic expressions used to great effect in a recent Listener
|
| 8 |
(r)EPOSES: the elementary stages of epic poetry (is that a boy on the burning deck?) |
| 9 |
SUPER B,OWL: The end of the National Football League season |
| 11 |
ASSIS(t),I: put in from the definition originally |
| 16 |
NURTURANT: (A,TURN,TURN)* |
| 17 |
PICOTEES: COTE (side in French) inside PIES (spoils) |
| 23 |
P,HOOEY: Balls indeed! |
| 24 |
STILLY: T in some more cricket – SILLY means fielding very close to the bat |
| 26 |
AREDD: (DREAD)* another form of AREAD |
So I guess 1ac is BALL which seemed probable, but why? And what is 4dn?
In 12ac I considered RN for “navy” but never did the obvious thing by removing the R!
4d is INORBS – *(ROBINS)
GRM