Mephisto 2594 by Tim Moorey

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
Off to a good start with this one with a definition based solve at 1A CHEONGSAM which led to several of the linked down clues and the second definition solve at 11A NAYPIC. That in turn confirmed my worst fears about 9D AIM,OFF on which I shall eschew further comment over and above what I’ve said in the blog. The rest followed at a steady pace with the last few down clues proving to be relatively easy. About 60 minutes to solve.

Across
4 CHEONGSAM – CHE-(snog)*-A-M; I once=CHE; madam=M; solved from definition – and memories of Hong Kong;
10 SPRACK – S(PR)ACK; sprightly in Sidmouth;
11 NAYPIC – NAY-PIC; No=NAY; image=PIC; National Association of Young People In Care, which unfortunately went broke; another definition solve;
12 CHOTA,PEG – C(HOT)AP-EG; most wanted=HOT; crown=CAP; say=EG; whisky and soda on the veranda at sundown (whilst wearing a pith helmet, naturally);
13 RIMU – RIM-U(s); one=us; antipodean evergreen;
14 LADLE – LAD(L)E; put on board=LADE; line=L; stock as in cooking – nice clue;
15 TAUTOG – TAUT-(GO reversed); tense=TAUT; GO = say is modern teenage slang that is supported by C.”He goes “who are you” to me”; a wrasse;
17 AERATED – A-E-RATED; about=A; European=E;
20 LAITHFU – L-FAITH-U becomes L-AITHF-U; large=L; university=U; bashful in Barrhead;
22 DIDAKEI – DID-AKE-I; longed=DID AKE (old word for “ache”); independent=I; one of several spellings of diddicoy;
27 ASTERIA – (at sea)* surrounds RI=Indonesia; star stones;
28 ENTITY – (id)ENTITY; very easy;
29 SPASM – M-SAPS all reversed; money=M; plodding students=SAPS;
31 GOAN – GO-AN; fare=GO;
32 OLIGURIA – O-LIGURIA; of=O; a shortage of urine=insufficient (chamber) pot production;
33 UNROLL – UN-ROLL; him=UN; swagger=ROLL;
34 NUTANT – NUT-A-NT; head=NUT; accepted=A; no trumps=NT;
35 LETTER-GAE – LETTER(GA)E(d); GA=Georgia; see LET-1 in C; Edinburgh based choir mistress Mary Grierson perhaps;
 
Down
1 ESCLANDRE – (ANC elders)*; see Canard Enchaîné on Jacques Chirac and a Japanese bank
2 SPHAER – (“perhaps” without “p”)*; old world for sphere;
3 BROD – BRO(a)D; accepted=A; dame=broad (who should be broad where a broad should be broad); a goad;
4 CATLAP – CAT-(PAL reversed); chap=CAT; called gnat’s pee in my day;
5 EKPWELE – EKP(WEL)E; (keep)* about WEL from clearly=WEL(l); must=frenzy=anagrind; Guilders in Guinea;
6 NAGAPIE – (“gin palace” without c=caught and l=last of all)*; a bush baby (no, not Linda Kozlowski!);
7 GYRUS – GY-(matte)R-US; gray=GY (physics); term=end; a ridge on the brain;
8 SPITCHER – S-PITCHER; is=S; vessel=PITCHER; Kapitan Hans Langsdorff at Montevideo;
9 AIM,OFF – supposedly sounds like “a moth” as articulated in Mile End; what George calls a whirredploy that owes more to Dick Van Dyke in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than to real life;
16 GLUTAMATE – GLUT-A-MATE; tea infusion=MATE-3;
18 REDSTART – RED-S-TART; refuse=RED; society=S; moll=TART;
19 SKATOLE – (leaks to)*; a crystalline methylindole;
21 AISLING – A-I-SLING; about=A; I=(cam)-I-(lla)’s heart; a dream or a girl in Athlone;
23 IONONE – (onion + E=English)*; the rose ketones;
24 REPUTE – RE-PUT-(hom)E; on=RE; drive=PUT-1;
25 RISING – take “racing” and replace a + c=colt by “is”;
26 PINOT – PIN(O)T; the pine shaped (hence the name) grape of Burgundy;
30 ARAB – A-RAB(id);

6 comments on “Mephisto 2594 by Tim Moorey”

  1. I found this pretty tough, making very slow initial progress, then complete the left side before the right – last in were 11, 13, 15, 20, 27, 6, 7, 8, 9 though not in that order.

    Not quite as bothered by AIM OFF = “a moth” – the back end of this seems perfectly accurate, though the front made me wonder whether I could find a “hay moth” in C (no, I can’t). For Dick Van Dyke I think you mean Mary Poppins – based on a quick Youtube check, if Caractacus Potts was supposed to be a Cockney I don’t know how anyone noticed!

    1. Agreed, Mary Poppins it was. I should stop relying on my memory really but can’t quite face up to it!
    2. From the clue, a night-time flier, only the back end was required to sound Cockney.
      1. I don’t agree. The whole clue is “Allow for possible bias from a night-time flier heard in East London”. “Allow for possible bias” is the definition. After that, “a night-time flier heard in East London” can either indicate (A+a Cockney version of “moth”), or a Cockney version of “A moth”. The first of these choices can provide “A,MOFF” but not the letter I in the answer, and therefore cannot be what we’re after.
  2. I didn’t get a time on this, but I was solving while watching the World T-20 final so I was probably solving in furious rage.

    I didn’t see the whirredploy at 9 at all and got it from definition. It could have been worse, Tim Moorey could have come up with a homophone clue for 19. Also couldn’t find LETTERGAE in Chambers (didn’t look as far back as LET), but googled the word and found it in some verse. Couldn’t be anything else other than that from the wordplay. Thanks for explaining 29, couldn’t see that wordplay.

    Moratorium on EPKWELE coming up soon?

Comments are closed.