Mephisto 2593 – Mike Laws

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Mephisto
A pretty straightforward puzzle this one, taking about 32 minutes, with C used at the end to make sure of right answers to 20, 18 and 32 – or so say my notes – I’m puzzled by the idea of 32 needing much help. I think the easiness is mainly down to the grid containing rather easier vocabulary than the average Mephisto.

Across
1 C(LOUD,E=echo,DYE,LL=lines)OW – as I guessed from the def, a clouded yellow is a butterfly
10 ON=in contact with,EYRE=Jane perhaps – oneyre (or oneyer) is one of those words used in Shakespeare, whose meaning is not definite
12 AULA – reverse hidden in ‘valuables’ – aula=hall is one of those words that keep on coming back in barred-grid puzzles
13 ST(RE)ET – a clue and answer that you might see in the daily Times puzzle
14 LIT=drunk,CHI=Gk. letter resembling X and hence ‘cross’ – again possible daily puzzle content, though a bit harder
15 AR.=Arab,MA(DILL=herb)O, Mao being “chairman”
19 LOGGIAS = arcades – G(o)-GO = sort of dancer, in SAIL=”possibly jib”, all reversed
20 ESNECY = (YC,seen)* – the Young Conservatives were disbanded in 1998 and replaced by the oxymoronic-sounding “Conservative Future”, but live on as a Chambers abbreviation. Esnecy is “the eldest daughter’s right of first choice in dividing an inheritance”
21 C(op.)Y = “work out transcript”,CLIC(he)
23 WE = you and I,(a)STERN=”behind American being dropped”
27 NIGR=ring*,I CAN’T
28 TOLTEC – TE=note, in rev. of CLOT
29 SCEATT – C=about, in anag of ‘state’ – sceatt=”a small silver (or gold) coin of Anglo-Saxon times” is an improbable-looking word if you’re seeing it for the first time
30 CLIO – 2 defs, the muse of history and “a genus of shell-less pteropods, “whales’ food”.”
31 (t)OILE,RY.
32 HUNTING GROUND – a Spoonerism of “grunting hound”, indicated by “switching priorities”. Wordplay not seen when solving.
 
Down
1 CESAR=races*,E. WITCH=”oriental hag” – the Cesarewitch is the son of the Tsar (with 8 different spellings, so check the wordplay carefully next time it comes up)
2 LET,RASET=(a rest)* – a trade mark which is in C, for a system of letters which you add to paper by a sort of reverse brass-rubbing process, with variable results in my experience
3 UNE,ASE=sea* – shades of the French Lieutenant’s Woman in the surface reading
4 DEED=legal transaction,Y – ‘deedy’ is dialect for industrious/active
5 DRILL=practising,IN=batting,GRIG=a cricket – with the BP offshore spill in the news, the def was easy to see – much easier than working out the wordplay – who else looked for rig=cricket?
6 YEL=rev. of ley=meadow,LOCH = Lomond perhaps – ‘yelloch’ is a Scots word for, er, “yell”
7 LATH(e) – lath=strip, lathe=machine turning
8 (p)LUCKILY
9 WAI(N=note,SCOT=Cameron possibly)TED
11 BI(O)G
16 PAIGNTON – hidden in ‘campaign to nominate’
17 INSUL(t)IN(g)
18 LYR(e),I,CON=study – a lyricon is an electronic wind instrument. I don’t understand what “before” means in the clue – the words before(!) it seem to give the whole wordplay, and it’s not part of the def.
22 CICERO – 2 defs
24 E=energy,NEW=restored – to enew is to drive or plunge into water
25 RIC(h)ER – a ricer is a mincer for veg such as potatoes
26 STOT = bullock or clumsy person – rev. of tots=children

5 comments on “Mephisto 2593 – Mike Laws”

  1. My first ‘mephisto’. I didn’t get very far with the AZED ‘jigsaw’ puzzle last Sunday, so had a go at this.

    I found it an enjoyable puzzle. I didn’t get the wordplay to 1a and 32a, so thanks for that Pete.

    My last in was STREET- a nice clue, and the reason why my ‘Times’ daily puzzle skills are still rather laboured.

  2. Agreed, an easy one (about 40 minutes) and I take your point about the vocab. There I was glad I wasn’t blogging it and having to explain “before” in 18D LYRICON but confident that you would – only to find us both in the same boat! And no, I also thought practice=drill, ah! must be DRILLING RIG and then looked up “grig”.
  3. After drawing a blank the previous week I finished this in a sitting, so it must have been pretty easy. I have to say that in general I find Mike Laws pretty manageable – the other setters seem to vary from doable to impossible.
    1. I’d probably choose Mike as the easiest of the three Mephistos, though they can all vary pretty widely in difficulty. But I can’t tell whether this is because he really is inherently easier, or because I’ve seen more of his clues over the years (including former Times puzzles, Inquisitors, and (as Fawley) in the Guardian) and therefore recognise his favourite tricks more easily.
  4. I remember doing this in one sitting, so agree on the easier side. WAINSCOTTED bringing back Python memories and a smile, and I was rather bemused a few years ago to modernize an office by doing away with the Letraset, as publishers wouldn’t accept plotter + Letraset artwork, even if immaculately guillotined.

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