Mephisto 2581 – Mike Laws – Times for The Times

An easy puzzle, solved in about half an hour in three different bursts. A quick recap suggests that about 19 of the clues are daily paper difficulty. Only the 33/26 crossing needed Chambers for confirmation of the answers.

Across

1 DAEDAL – (LADE,A,D) reversed
7 RESITE – ((h)E,TRIES)*
12/4 ST VALENTINES DAY – (island at seventy)*
13 GREY=old, LAG=convict – the greylag is a goose
15 O.(ON)T. – oont=camel is an old barred-grid standby
16 SHEAR=separate,T(estify) – ‘sheart = “God’s heart”
17 MON(OMANI)A – Mona = “noble” in the First Names section of C
19 SOR(a)=rail,BUS – Sorbus is a tree genus including the service tree and rowan
21 TUR= rev. of rut, EEN = Scots “eyes”
23 ASS,ORT=scrap
25 ESMOND – hidden word – another one from the first names section
27 CLAYSLATE – LAYS in eclat*
30 ROTGUT – got* in rut
32 SMUR = (rum, S(ag)) rev. – smur is drizzle
33 ARCTIID = a type of moth – (IT,C.) rev. in ARID
35 HEAR=try,(T)TO,HEART=compassion
36 MR PLOD – (LP in DORM), reversed
37 WE,A,KEN=brothel

Down

2 A,TROPOS = (S(O)PORT) rev.
3 EVENER – VENEER, with one E moved to the top
4 see 12 across
5 ALLF = fall*,(c)OURS(e)
6 LEA(R)N
8 (f)ETCH
9 SI(DEAR)M
10 INSANE = (is Anne)*
11 TET = Eastern festival – Vietnamese New Year,R.I. – the Tetri is 1/100th of a lari in Georgia
13 GOD = dog rev.,SACRE(d)
14 ST.(AND A)RD.
18 MUST=frenzy,ACHE=pain – “fungus” = facial hair
20 BOY-GIRL = (bori(n)gly)*
22 ENQUIRE – I.R. in queen*
24 SAT=brooded, RAP=discussion
26 OOMIAK = a boat crewed by Inuit women – OOM = the SA uncle, rev. of KAI = Maori food/meal/feast
28 L,OVER
29 (h)ARROW
31 UP TO = pout*
34 TEA(r)

4 comments on “Mephisto 2581 – Mike Laws”

Agreed, much easier than of late with 12A + 4D guessed immediately from “now” with 4D being 3 letters for DAY. 35A and 13D also both very straightforward so the key lights were quickly in place.

As of 10 minutes ago this Sunday’s puzzle is not on the Times site. How do they manage to be so awful?

Almost a first – I completed this without using the dictionary except for sorting out 33 and 26. I had rather carelessly put ARCTOID at 33, although I have to say that even if I had got it right my chances of correctly working out 26 without help were pretty small.

SMUR was new, but it was gettable from the wordplay and sounded right

Being an old grouch I was not happy to see a love-themed Mephisto to remind me that it was St Valentine’s Day. However, the theme and the easy clueing did make it one of the easiest Mephistos that I have seen. And, for the first time, I was able to work out all the wordplay before coming here to read Peter’s explanations.

Not as difficult as most, but I really liked 38 across and the definition of 18. There appears to be a trend across the US, particularly in high-school children, of attempting to grow facial hair well before you should have it, leading to a lot of strange looking creatures on the faces of the young.

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