I found this on the easier side of Mephistos right until the very end, where I got stuck in the Texas corner for a while. Eventually figuring out the problem had to be TESTON (TES as Times Educational Supplement maybe not the best fit for journal) and got the last two (23 and 33) at a second sitting
Wordplay was essential here, there was a lot of getting partial words from wordplay and then poking through Chambers for the rest.
Away we go…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 3 | XENOCRYSTS: (ORYX SCENTS)* – obvious what is the anagram fodder, not so simple to put together |
| 10 | PEEPES: S for E(end of place) in PEEPEE |
| 11 | ROOTSY: O(old),T(time),S(society) in ROY. Thanks to Andrew Symonds, Roy as a nickname has made a bit of a comeback |
| 12 | IRRUPT: PURR reversed in IT |
| 13 | DROW: a three-in-one, I believe – mythical beast, a mist and R in DOW(boat) |
| 15 | HAMEWITH: homewards – HAME is one of the two curved bars, and far down in Chambers, WITH is to capture with a noose of withes. Tricky |
| 16 | HILAR: HILARY term missing the end, I got caught once before by HILARY TERM |
| 17 | ABOMASA: the fourth stomach – A,BO(though now it appears BOO is more common),MASA(Mexican dough) |
| 19 | RAGTIME: A,G,T in RIME |
| 24 | ACUSHLA: H in (CASUAL)* – got this from wordplay |
| 26 | GOOD AND: I liked this – GOO(sticky stuff), DAN(desparate DAN),’D |
| 28 | SHEEN: H in SEEN |
| 29 | MOR,SURE,S: haven’t seen MOR before, apparently a big awkward girl |
| 31 | STIE: (TIES)* |
| 32 | P,O,G,OED: everyone remember Plastic Bertrand? |
| 33 | J,ET,TON: ET being AND pour les mesdomiselles |
| 34 | ORG |
| 35 | KEEP IT REAL: KEE (sounds like KEY), PIT, RE:AL(Gore) |
| Down | |
| 1 | EPIPHRAGMS: (HAMPER,PIGS)* had to look up the spelling for this, I thought the H came before the second P |
| 2 | KER,RIA: (ERK)* then AIR reversed |
| 3 | XERO: sneaky – didn’t know CRAWFISH could mean “to retreat” – so it’s hidden reversed |
| 4 | EPURATED: E, then UP reversed, RAT, ED |
| 5 | NEPHRIC: OK, got this from the definition and only having one unchecked letter, so let’s figure it out. Is it CIR(about),H,PEN(nib) all reversed? |
| 6 | CROMB,E,C: CROMB for a crook was a new one to me |
| 7 | ROMEO: anagram of (A,MOCK,HEROIC) without (A,CHICK) |
| 8 | STR,I,AE |
| 9 | TSOTSI: hidden reversed |
| 14 | WHA(who),TAN,IDE,A |
| 18 | MESH(trap),UGG(boots in Australia),A: yiddish word for crazy, you probably hear it a lot more where I am than in the UK or Australia |
| 20 | MA,N,RENT |
| 21 | TUSSORE: SORE under T,US |
| 23 | NORITE: O,R in NITE – MEMPHIS being the US version here |
| 25 | LEGEND: boom boom! |
| 27 | A,U,LOI: I think AULOI was in a Mephisto around New Years? In this case our Paul McKenna special unusual wordplay for A is Austria |
| 30 | TOOL: LOOT reversed. Hard to TOOL around in an old Honda civic, but I try. |
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