Mephisto 2567: Tim Moorey

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
Sorry it took me a while to get some uninterrupted time to write up a blog , been travelling for work. But back home now, and two blogs to catch up on. Since I was travelling, I had Bradfords but not Chambers, I managed to get most of this without the opening of either, and just a little bit of Google to get my last answer (21 down).

I print the Mephisto online, and this time around it printed rather oddly, with a blank line between each of the clues, nearly filling two pages. The grid lines look a little odd on the one for this week, but the clues printed in a much tighter space.

Across
1 CTENOPHORAN: (CAPE,HORN,NOT)* – full being the anagram indicator. Found in Chambers under ctene
11 MAM,EE(l): a Caribbean fruit
12 SLOE: sounds like SLOW – can refer to black itself, not just the blackthorn fruit
13 ALBENIZ: BEN in A LIZ – never heard of him, but wordplay straightforward. Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz
14 PRIOR: I have heard of Matt Prior. Here’s a hysterical video of him getting bowled.
16 MA,HOUND: found in Bradfords
17 EARLIER ON: EARL then I in IRON
18 FAG END: GEN(Genesis) in FAD
20 DREDGE: anagram of REG-DED, taking the middle out of REGARDED
22 ARISTO: hidden
24 ROSE,AL
26 CADENTIAL: anagram of A,N,DIALECT
28 TOMMIES: I’M reversed (preoposterously) in TOMES – I thought this may have been a term for smut, but it’s a term for a British Army private (along with TOMMY ATKINS)
30 ORIEL: L after lOrRaInE
31 SOPRANO: OP,RAN in SO and a reference to Dame Joan Sutherland (about whom it may have been written that it isn’t over until the fat lady signs, sorry Dame J).
32 REC,S
33 G,IRON
34 SKEDADDLING: I saw the answer before getting the wordplay – KED(wingless fly), ADD in SLING
 
Down
2 TALI: plural of talus – TAIL with the last two reversed
3 EMBAR: sounds like M BAR? Don’t really get this
4 NEEDLES(s)
5 PRIME,D
6 OOPHORONS: HOON about R in OOPS
8 ALIUNDE: I,UND in ALE
9 NOONS: ON in NOS
10 PERDUELLION: an old term for treason. PER(a) LION about DUEL
11 MALEFACTORS: if you have no women on stage, there’s male f actors
15 PINT,AILED
19 GIM,MICK: first part is MIG reversed
21 ESTORIL: ROTS(joke – confirmed by Chambers) in LIE all reversed. New one to me.
23 ODESSA: anagram of SEADOGS minus G
24 RESOLD: SOL in RED (as in red pencil)
25 MORE,S
27 IMARI: hidden
29 IN,ON: Edit – see comments, it’s AN,ON. Tip to Peter and Jimbo, if you want more comments on your Mephisto blogs, get a few wrong!

12 comments on “Mephisto 2567: Tim Moorey”

  1. Thanks for the blog. I missed a couple in the NE corner, never having heard of Matt Prior and still struggling with ALIUNDE. Presumably ALE = March (beer) but how does “one following another” give IUND? I see that it may give I-UN but don’t see where the D comes from. What am I missing?
  2. Thanks George. I always print the Mephisto by cut and paste into Word, in order to get it onto a single sheet.

    Mr Anon, “und” is German for “and”

  3. Yes, even my German stretches that far. But what in the clue indicates the German (or indeed any) word for “and”? You must forgive me, I am particularly slow this morning!
    1. March is Lide not ale so the wordplay is:

      A + UN in LIDE = aliunde (from elsewhere)

      Un is dialect for one.

  4. By the way isn’t 11dn MALEFACTORY? MALE + FACTORY (works). “Criminal” is an adjective here.
  5. Yes, I’ve got Malefactory for 11D. I’ve also got Anon for 29 which is indicated as (4). Definition “coming” , wordplay an’ on.

    Thanks for the blog George on what sounds like a buzy week for you.

  7. I think everyone is right, ANON sounds more plausible for 29 (I’ll admit I wrote IN ON without thinking, and it didn’t say two words in the clue, did it?). I know it’s not wrong, but I like MALE F ACTORS so I’ll keep it up there but acknowledge here I’m wrong.
  8. I thought this one a little harder than some of late but still on the easy side of average. I did have to confirm some answers in C but like George not too many. We are getting more and more definition by example – this time Sutherland for soprano. As it happens it’s an easy wordplay but setters of this calibre shouldn’t need to use this device.

    Thanks for the tip George!!

    1. I think it just means that the letter em comes before the letter tee in the alphabet but it’s possibly a rather weak clue as it does not come directly before. Initially, I thought the answer must be esbar, which makes much more sense but, unfortunately, there is no such word

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