Mephisto 2624 by Tim Moorey

Posted on Categories Mephisto
Name Dropping

An average Mephisto distinguished by a considerable smattering of famous people. I make it ten in total ranging from the famous pirate by association Israel Hands to the famous by association, Leo Blair.

Across
1 FLOR – (ROLF reversed); our first celeb – Rolf Harris, antipodean all round good chap; a yeasty growth in sherry;
4 SAMOYEDS – (some days)*; barking=mad=anagind; Siberian dogs for herding reindeer and pulling sleds;
10 REVIE – REVIE(w); report=review; “shot”=removal indicator; here to up the ante, but also Don Revie, celebrity football manager of Leeds and England;
11 AMELIA – two meanings 1=legless condition 2=AMELIA Earhart DFC, celebrated aviation pioneer and fighter for equality for women;
13 GAMELANS – GAM(ELAN)S; verve=ELAN; schools=GAMS (of whales); a collection of musical instruments from SE Asia;
14 JARGONELLE – JAR-GONE-LL-(troubl)E; will=’LL; an early ripening pear;
16 BOCHE – B-OCHE; British=B; a line in hockey and darts=OCHE; WW1 derogatory word for German, contraction of a French portmanteau word “Alboche” from Allemand (Germany) and caboche (a cabbage);
19 LEWISSON – LEWIS-‘S-ON; TV detective = LEWIS (a much celebrated and deservedly promoted Sergeant Lewis of Morse fame); working=is on; an iron tenon;
20 WHIN – WHIM with M=medium changed to N=name; gorse;
21 EDAM – (entre)E-(MAD reversed); soapy cheese;
22 HANDJARS – HAND(JAR)S; reference Israel Hands celebrated 18th Century colleague of Blackbeard the pirate; conflict=JAR; Persian daggers;
24 SAMBO – SAM-BO(ys); together once=SAM; a form of wrestling invented by the Red Army in the 1920s;
28 PRATINCOLE – PRAT-IN-COLE; behind=PRAT; home=IN; cabbage=COLE; a quick flying, graceful, wading bird;
30 INDIGEST – IN-DIGEST; popular=IN; abstract=DIGEST; lacking shape, disorganised, the Liberal Party perhaps;
31 PALTER – RE-T-LAP all reversed; about=RE; tons=T; stage=LAP; to haggle;
32 OLEOS – O(LEO)S; either Tony Blair’s father or celebrity son = LEO; outsize=OS; form of margarine=spread;
33 STREPYAN – (NAY PERTS all reversed); vote against=NAY; impudent types=PERTS; a Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer culture;
34 ESNE – (d)ENSE reversed; day=d; extremely stupid=dense; a domestic Anglo-Saxon slave;
 
Down
1 FRIJOLES – FRI(JOL)IES; chips=FRIES; party in SA=JOL; beans;
2 LET-A-BE – (table)*-E; high=anagram indicator; to refrain from comment in Cowdenbeath;
3 OVERSWAM – OVERS-W-AM; with=W; American=AM; deliveries=OVERS (cricket);
4 SEGOL – LOGES reversed; boxes in the theatre=LOGES; a vowel point in Hebrew;
5 ARAN – ARA(go)N; knitware from the islands in Galway Bay;
6 MAMELONS -MA(MELON)S; French farm=MAS; round hills is the definition;
7 YELLOW,JACK – YELLOW-JACK; chicken=cowardly=YELLOW; detective=JACK; mosquito borne fever that causes jaundice;
8 DINAH – D(IN)AH; experienced=HAD reversed around IN; this time its celeb Dinah Washington, much married and divorced blues and jazz singer – unforgettable;
9 SASH – S-ASH; stokes=the unit of kinematic viscosity=S; baldrick=SASH or celeb Tony Robinson;
12 IGNIMBRITE – (big miner)* surrounds “it”; hard volcanic rock;
15 PSALTERY – (rap styles)*; old string instrument;
17 CHAYOTES – CHA(r)-(yes to)*; daily=helper=cha(r); nuts=anagrind; a bland vegetable best eaten after marinating in lemon juice;
18 ENS,PER,SE – (sense)* surrounds PER=a; Aristotle’s philosophical accident;
23 ROLL-ON – two meanings;
25 ANNAT – AN-NAT; a=AN; nationalist=NAT; vicar’s widow’s stipend;
26 ANTON – (w)ANTON; playing with love=wanton; reference old celeb Anton Chekhov, doctor and story writer;
27 RIPS – RIP-(copiou)S; grave message=RIP=Rest In Peace;
29 ISLA – hidden I(n)-S(o)L(w)A(y); presumably Isla St Clair, Scottish singer and actress;

4 comments on “Mephisto 2624 by Tim Moorey”

  1. I found this on the easy side of medium, finished the whole thing in c45 mins in one sitting, unusual for me.
    Presumably 28ac is a reference to Ashley? Or Cheryl? 🙂
  2. I imagine nobody will ever read this, but I thought I would record that I have received a postcard from the ST announcing that I have won a prize (unspecified) for this crossword.. my first for the Mephisto, indeed for any Murdoch publication.

    Happy Xmas.. 🙂

    1. You might be surprised how long after their publication comments come through on these Mephisto blogs. The other week I was asked to help with some parsing dating back months.

      Congratulations on the prize – that’s two of us that I know of in 2010 for Mephisto

      1. I’ve been doing Mephisto for a couple of years and won an also-ran prize twice.

        I couldn’t do the 4 NW clues of this one. I hate name-dropping crosswords — one person’s well-known name is another’s “who the *&$??!!”

        Harkin Enlgethorpe

Comments are closed.