Mephisto 2611 – Mike Laws

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
For the first time in a few weeks, the right puzzle appeared at the right time and by with the correct setter information! Woohoo – and I rather enjoyed this one with the curious grid that necessitated breaking up a couple of words, though it was on the easier side of the Mephisto. Given the shape of the grid (and that I’m doing the Listener each week) I was wondering if there was a hidden message or a nina, but there’s nothing pointing out at me. I also have a massive hangover (and a sunburn) from going to this yesterday. Seven straight hours of drinking made for a happy George, then a bleary George, and now a headachey George. The things we do! And away we go…

Across
1 MASER,U: I had to look up to see whether LASERU or MASERU was a capital, turns out MASERU is the capital of Lesotho
7 SCREWY: CREW in SicilY
11 APPLE-PIE,ORDER: though in a blow-out meal, apple pie may be the fifth or sixth course. I’d prefer to start with it.
12 POE,M: there’s every solvers favorite three-letter author!
13+29 ORC,HAT: archaic form of ORCHARD. I think “capacity” means something you can do, i.e. – “bad jokes are my hat”
14 GAIA: hidden. A popular name to attach to anything you want hippies to buy – near my place there is “Gaia Apartments”
16 CLARITY: LAR (Libyan Arab Republic) in CITY
19 CLIMATOGRAPHY: (PRAY COAL MIGHT)*
22 H,OK,I
23 GUTS: double meaning, the eating quickly one was a popular one in Australia when I was a kid – “who gutsed all the Tim Tams?”
24 IN GREMIO LEGIS: Anagram of SMILING ROUGE and IE without U. I had never heard of this term, though it helped that in a 13-letter answer, there were only two unchecked letters!
26 MAY-MORN: two defs and a wordplay (MAY MOURN minus U)
28 I,CON
31 BHEL: hidden
32 CO-RELIGIONIST: CORE then GI in LION,IS,T
33 AN,THEM
34 EMBOSS: BOS in EMS – got this from the definition
 
Down
2 APOLLO,N,ICON: strange to see the two ICONs crossing each other
3 SPECK
4 REPLACEABLE: ABLE supporting REP and LACE
5 UP,ON: short for UPON
6 MIRROR IMAGE: not sure I see this one (boom boom) – is it a cryptic definition?
7 SEC: double definition
8 CONTROL ROOM: CON, then TROLL with an L changed to R, OOM(uncle, South African)
9 EDAM: DAME with the E moved to the top
10 WEIGHTINESS: WITNESS without the T, then insert EIGHT(crew)
12 PACHISI: (IS A CHIP)*
15 ABYSSAL: easy to get from definition – the wordplay is BY(times) under A(article), then SS,A,L
17 ATOMY: TOM (old form of TOME) in AY
18 I,G,LOO
20+21 MIR,AGE
25 WORTH
27 OH,IO(one of Jupiter’s moons)
29 HIM: sounds like HYMN
30 TIER

3 comments on “Mephisto 2611 – Mike Laws”

    1. ooops – sorry about that, had listener on the brain because I was working on my other blog (which is for the Listener)
  2. I didn’t like this grid with all those small and split words. However I think 6D is exactly that – a reference to the grid and the position of the answer within it. I also looked for a hidden message but couldn’t find one. Watch out for “well done AZED” or similar in 2613.

    Relatively easy puzzle this one solved in one session under the hour.

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