Mephisto 2532 Paul McKenna

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
…… ein schwer aber gut Kreuzwortratsel…..

I didn’t find this particularly easy and seemed to spend a good deal of time chasing down meanings in Chambers. I saw the anagram at 2A immediately but for some reason could not crack it – which is unusual for me. I ended up solving from the bottom upwards, which is always awkward but the NW fell once I had 1D and that left the NE as last to complete. I don’t understand the “…” at 5D and again at 7D (it’s as if 6D didn’t exist).

For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue (S) = starter clue (see tips and tricks on this site)

Across
2 CURLY-GREENS – (“celery strung” without “t”=last of root)*; not Augusta but a type of cabbage; nice clue; (C);
10 PAREIRA – PARE-I-RA; RA=rheumatoid arthritis; PARE=cut back; a plant with roots that yield a diuretic; nice clue; (C);
12 SPORK – SP-(d)ORK; SP=special; DORK=anorak; a combined spoon and fork the exact use of which other than as a gardening tool rather defeats me; (C);
13 ERMELIN – E-MERLIN then move “r=rook”; old word for ermine; (C);
15 CROTALA – CRO(u)T-A-LA; crout=sauerkraut=German dish; remove “u”=dash of umbles; A LA=French for like; clappers used in ancient rites – from the Greek (see crotal-1 in (C)); a real European melange;
16 LABDA – LA-BD-A(ger); BD=bound; laager=South African camp and remove Ger=German; LABDA is a short form of lambda, hence Gr. for Greek; another international jamboree; (C);
18 TONED – TO-NED; NED=a young hooligan in the Gorbals; braced up=TONED; (C);
19 ATTONES – hidden word (baby-s)AT TO NES(tle); old word for together (see atone in (C)); (S);
22 COALIZE – CO(ALI)ZE; COZE=chat; ALI=sublime (see names appendix in (C));
23 ERUCT – ERU-CT; URE-2=extinct wild ox reversed (upset); CT=court; to compliment the Shaykhah on her cooking; nice clue; (C);
24 CANER – CAN-ER; CAN=US for arse; ER=…well…; Wackford Squeers perhaps;
25 RASCHEL – hidden word (laughte)R AS CHEL(sey); a loosely-knitted fabric; (C);
28 ABILITY – (pitiably – remove p=priest)*; (S);
29 EDILE – (s)EDILE; S=succeeded; sedile= a chancel seat (see sedilia in (C)); EDILE=aedile=Roman magistrate; (C);
30 ALSO-RAN – AL-SORA-N(iggle); Al=Aluminium; sora=the rail (bird); (C); was always my horse in the office sweepstake; (S);
31 UN-ENGLISHED – (sind huegeln)*; not translated into English; mote Teutonic references. Not sure my German for business is up to this but “they are hills” would be “sie sind Hugel” I think, so it’s an incorrect translation – clever stuff; (C);
 
Down
1 IPSELATERAL – IPSE(LATE)RA-L; (Persia)* surrounding LATE + L=line; belonging to the same side (of the body); (C);
2 CAPO – two meanings; 1=Don Vito Corleone perhaps; 2=a part of a lute that grips the neck; (C);
3 REREDOS – RE(RED)OS; RED=glowing in anagram of ROSE; the back of a fireplace (see rere- in (C));
4 LIKE,ANYTHING – LIKE-AN-Y-THIN-G(raveolent); LIKE-3=corpse; AN=one; Y=year; THIN=gaunt; “very much” is the definition (look under “anything” in (C));
5 GARRISON – GARR(IS)ON; GARRON=small horse; stuff=old word for GARRISON; I don’t understand the “…”; (C);
6 REMOTE,ACCESS – (master of science with “fin” = almost fine removed)*; working from home;
7 EVET – (on)E-VET; EVET=eft=Ken Livingstone’s play mate; James Herriot was the pen name of Alf Wight, famous vet and author, whose auto-biographical writings were used in the TV series All Creatures Great and Small; I don’t understand the “…”; (S);
8 EGLANTINE – EG-L(ANT)INE; EG=for example; AN’T=has not; LINE=flax fibre; Milton’s honeysuckle; (C);
9 NAILED – N-AILED; N=Newton (unit of force); what Isaac did to the counterfeiters whilst suffering from mercury poisoning; (S);
11 INADVERTENT – IN-ADVERT-ENT; ENT=European National Theatre; the actual outcome of much legislation that suffers from the law of unintended consequences; (S);
14 OBTRUSIVE – OB-(virtue’s)*; OB=Old Boy; bless-3=wound=anagrind; what Social Services are when they shouldn’t be but aren’t when they should be; (S);
17 DECRETAL – DEC(RET)AL; DECAL=transfer; RET=short for retain; a papal edict, the cause of much angst from Luther to the current day; (C);
20 PLAY-DOH – P-LAY-DOH; P=pedal (music); LAY=old word for lie; DOH= Homer Simpson’s call sign; squiggy cross between plasticine and dough – great fun;
21 GRABEN – green=flourishing then replace e=eccentricity (maths) by A=a and B=bishop (chess); the Mid-Atlantic Ridge perhaps; (C);
26 CLAN – C(ycle)-LAN(e); the MacDonalds are the largest Highland clan who were famously massacred by the Campbells
at Glen Coe in 1692; (S);
27 BLAD – B(L)AD; bad=US slang for good; L=latin; BLAD-2=blaud=to strike; (C);

6 comments on “Mephisto 2532 Paul McKenna”

  1. Well, I finished this eventually but the last few were a struggle.

    I couldn’t reconcile GARRISON = stuff although once i had found garron=small horse the answer was clear. I couldn’t explain the German dish at 15ac because I was reading “going like” to mean “A LA”, instead of seeing “going” as a subtraction indicator.

    I could see the structure of 12ac but needed my 15-year-old daughter to help. “What’s another word for a nerd with a “d” in it?” “DORK” “OK, so what’s a “SPORK” “A combined spoon and fork”. “Great, thanks”

  3. damn – I was going to say this was all to my liking, very obscure words get-at-table from wordplay, and here I’ve done and put COALISE in at 22 across and undone myself. D’oh!

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