Mephisto 2575 – Mike Laws

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
Sorry that I’m a day or two late in getting this report up, I underestimated the amount of time I’d have left yesterday after flying back home from some shows in Chicago. I did most of this on the plane up, and did pretty well without Chambers or Bradfords, winding up with only about a half a dozen needing verification and further thought. The last couple to fall were really tricky – it also helped that 9 down appeared recently in a Mephisto.

Across
1 BOOKISH: OK,I in BOSH
6 PET,IPA: IPA being India Pale Ale. I got this from the wordplay (though eventually all the letters are checked but one). I had to go online to find out about Marius Petipa
11 AB,BA: AB being a Jewish Month and BA being the degree. A Coptic Bishop or four Swedish disco stars
12 DIA,PER(=a): the first part is AID reversed, a chequered pattern popular with American babies
13 TRACK RECORD: got this from definition, and now I’m writing up I’m having a tough time with it. RA can be aircraftsman, CORD can be the rope, but I’m not seeing the rest of it
14 SIDALCEA: (DIALS)*, CE, A – I had SIDLAREA in there originally then found it wasn’t a word
15 RONDO: N.D. in ROO
16 A,QUIL(l),A: from wordplay – golden eagle genus
19 MUTTON(=woman as food for lust),THUMPER: a clumsy bookbinder, nice tie in with 1 and 32
25 ETH,NA
26 TIME,BALL: the first part is EMIT reversed
28 SOUNDING ROD: SOUND, then (GRIN)*, O.D.
29 SEE,MED
30 IKON: NOKI(a) reversed
31 ASHINE: IN in A,SHE
32 BIN,DING
 
Down
1 BAGS: double definition, one being trousers
2 OBLIQUITOUS: OB(obiter, by the way), I QUIT in (SOUL)*
3 KARAITE: A,RA in KITE, a Jewish sectarian
4 I,N ALL(a)
5 HIKER: IKE(Isaac) in HR(hour)
6 PARATHA: (HAT)* in PARA, an Indian bread
7 EPERDU: distracted in French
8 IRONY: using the definition of a Socratic discussion
9 PER,DUEL,LION
10 AND,ORRA
16 AMNESIA: (MEN)* in ASIA
17 ANYTIME: (AMENITY)*
18 AMOEBOID: (E,MOB)* in AID
20 OGADEN: GO rev then A,DEN – Somali region
21 SHUSH: H (Henry, the unit) in SUSH(i)
22 ZINEB: Well I know ZINEB as an insecticide, don’t get the rest of the clue. Any enlightenment?
24 RERUN: ER in RU(i)N
27 (f)LUNG: an open space in a town

10 comments on “Mephisto 2575 – Mike Laws”

  1. George, In 13ac, I think ERK is the aircraftsman, CART is carry, both reversed.

    Kurihan

  2. 22dn The “team’s manager” seems to be Rafa BENI[te]Z, manager of Liverpool FC (why is it always Liverpool FC?)

    Kurihan

    1. Thanks for both of those, didn’t spot ERK and never heard of Rafa, sorry if you’re looking in.
  3. I agree with Kurihan that it’s ERK at 13A. My father was an erk in WW2.

    At 22nd I thought Benitez was pushing it a bit for “team’s manager”. For me, Liverpool FC haven’t been successful enough of late to warrant this treatment.

    I thought the overall puzzle was of a reasonable standard at about average level of difficulty.

    1. Liverpool’s recent Premier League record isn’t quite up there with Chelsea and Man U, but they won the Championship League in 2005 and FA Cup in 2006, and are certainly one of the four or five best-known and best-followed clubs in England. If that’s not successful enough, you can’t really complain when the Times daily puzzle only knows about a couple of scientists!
  4. This was of average difficulty. It all fell into place once I had got Muttonthumper. I knew Petipa as the choreographer of the Nutcracker rather than as a dancer and I was interested to discover the Socratic meaning of Irony.

    I’m still slightly confused by a couple of clues. In 4, I can’t find any justification for Alla = channel. Is it my out of date Chambers again? In Ogaden is “Turn” serving double duty as definition and reversal indicator?

  5. 4dn – I think this is I (electric current) + NALL[a].

    I think you’re right on 20dn.

    K

  6. Sorry, just to avoid misunderstanding. At 4dn I meant just to clarify that the space in the blog between N and ALLA is presumably just a typo, not that the blog was incorrect.

    K

    1. Thanks: I, Nall(a) makes sense. It’s probably not a typo, George was just indicating the word-split in the answer but I was too thick to see it.
      1. Yeah, it’s kind of weird, I probably shouldn’t have put the space in there, it was to show where IN ended and ALL started. I’ll look for a better option next time. I meant to type something about having recently seen both NALLA and NULLA in the last year or so for ravines and channels.

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