Mephisto 2566 by Mike Laws

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
I’m standing in for Peter, who is on holiday.

This is yet another in a growing line of easier puzzles. There is really very little to say about it except I was grateful that the AZED monthly competition puzzle appeared on the same day.

Across
1 OXHEAD – (hoaxed)*; an easy start;
6 CARABID – CAR(d)-A-BID; eccentric almost=CAR(d); A=accepted; the ground beetle;
11 LEADERENE – (lead)*-ER(EN)E; before=ERE; measure=EN; term invented by Norman Stevas MP in 1981 to describe Margaret Thatcher which hinted at madness and finished his hopes of political advancement. It was many years later before a diagnosis of megalomania became common currency;
12 THOR – THOR(p); a thorp is a village or hamlet;
13 CANTILENA – CANT-I-LENA; bright=LENA=Helen (see names section of C); a ballad as heard in the summer festival on Islay;
14 WADER – WA(n)DER; easy;
17 OVERFAR – O(V-ERF)AR; row=OAR; fifth=V; plot of ground=ERF (in SA rather than Neasden);
18 INTACT – (h)INT-ACT; easy;
19 MIDDLE,ENGLISH – me in another (upper) case=ME=Middle English; very easy key light;
21 ALGREN – AL-GR(e)EN; Alabama=AL; party member (politics)=green; reference to author Nelson Algren 1909-81;
23 PEEP-TOE – PE(EP)T-(h)O(l)E; favourite=PET; old record=EP; a green party shoe, perhaps;
26 SHAWL – SHAW-L; shaw=copse;
28 IMAGINEER – (migraine + e=ecstasy)*; easy anagram;
29 SECO – hidden (cour)SE CO(vered);
30 RECAPTION – REC-(a point)*; take=receive=REC;
31 HYPNONE – (halfpenny – alf + o=old)*; a hypnotic drug phenyl-methyl-acetone;
32 FOOTLE – F(tool)*E; iron=FE (chemistry);
 
Down
1 OLDWOMANISH – (mood + in + shawl)*; back to the leaderene;
2 XEMA – AMEX reversed; Leach’s arbitrary gulls;
3 HARD,EDGE – H(ARD)EDGE; guard=HEDGE; antique plough=ARD; weird paintings;
4 EDGER – (l)EDGER; easy;
5 DRACAENA – A CARD reversed contains (AE(o)N); a caution=a funny person=A CARD; age=aeon; the dragon’s blood tree, which is long lived;
6 CENTREPIECE – CE-N(PERT reversed)IECE; brisk=PERT;
7 REIF – (fire)*; what Robert the Bruce did to Inverness Castle, amongst others;
8 ATLATL – AT LA(s)T-L; S=section; L=lecturer; a throwing stick;
9 IONIC – (b)IONIC; Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers no doubt;
10 DRAW,THE,LINE – DRAW(THE(atre))L-IN-E; E=Espana=Spain; John Major’s response to scandal when combined with a back to basics agenda with Edwina;
15 VINELEAF – (even fail)*; easy;
16 WAIT-A-BIT – bait-a-wit and switch the “b” and the “w”; WAIT-A-BIT is a thorny plant that catches on clothes;
20 DRAGON – D(RAG)ON; this DRAGON is a paper kite;
22 LIMEY – LIME-Y; Y=Yankee (phonetic alphabet); reference Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in The Third Man;
24 PHOTO – PHO-TO; expression of contempt=PHO;
25 GIRO – (RIG reversed)-O; slang for benefit cheque; easy;
27 WOOL – WOO-L(ying); easy;

6 comments on “Mephisto 2566 by Mike Laws”

  1. Sad,isn’t it? I only do the Mephisto because it is difficult, yet three in a row are easy peasy. 50 minutes for this.

    I will give it one more go and if e.p. again I will pack it up. Look forward to seeing your “hardness” survey, Jimbo.

    JamesM

  2. Well, fancy that, the puzzles are easier. Are you sure we are not just getting better at them? Some words like that thorny shrub appear regularly, and one gets more familiar with the setters’ styles.
  3. Jimbo, did you submit a clue for AZED? I found it difficult and realised what a great job He’d done with the puzzle.
    Must try ‘Mephisto’ sometime.
    1. Yes, I did. I learned when doing the Ximenes puzzles all those years ago just how hard misprints, printers devilry and word squares are. I’ve no idea how long it takes them to compile – must be ages.
  4. I managed to invent a more difficult puzzle by immediately writing in REIMAGINE at 28. Eventually sorted that out. I need to use FOOTLE more.
    1. Foozle is nice too – a golfing term I believe,
      “Philip, foozling with his cleek” – Harry Graham’s Ruthless Rhymes.

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