Mephisto 2632 by Mike Laws

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
A puzzle on the easy side of average I would say. A great deal of it will be very familiar to experienced solvers who will barely have needed Chambers.

Across
1 CLIO – C-(OIL reversed); about=C; news in Oz (Victoria)=OIL;
4 CALANTHE – CA(LA)NT-HE; see!=LA; an orchid;
10 HITCH-HIKER – HIT-CH(HIKE)R; singer=Cher then replace E=energy by HIKE; ;
11 EMETIC – EME-TIC; old uncle=EME; habitual reponse=TIC;
13 TYNE – hidden (plen)TY NE(ar);
14 GASOLIER – (oil gears)*; gas light;
15 STONG – S(T)ONG; SONG (and dance)=fuss; old word for stung;
16 SYNONYM – (MY-NO-NYS all reversed); well!=MY!; type of drama=NO; is not (Spenser)=NYS;
19 EASTERN – E(ASTER)N; nut=EN in printing;
23 ACATOUR – AC-A-TOUR; about=AC; a caterer (see acates in C);
24 TAILLIE – TAIL-LIE; an old tax;
26 IODIC – (CID-OI all reversed); call for attention=OI!; the chemical symbol for iodine is I;
27 VLADIMIR – V-LAD-I-MIR; see=V; boy=LAD; one=I; farming commune=MIR; Comrade Putin perhaps;
29 OAFS – (l)OAFS;
30 BOOTEE – BOO-TEE; driver’s support=TEE (golf);
31 FANNY,ADAMS – two meanings 1=tinned mutton 2=nothing; a sweet girl by all accounts;
32 EYEWATER – E(YEW)ATER;
33 AYRE – A(YR)E; year=YR; age=AE; Greensleeves no doubt; ;
 
Down
1 CHEESE,IT – (ice sheet)*; now replaced by coarser alternatives;
2 ITEM – child=MITE then “drop” M=money to give ITEM;
3 OCTANTAL – (LAT-NAT-CO all reversed); can=latrine=LAT; nationalist=NAT; a segment of a circle;
4 CHIGGER – type that burrows=DIGGER then change “the first=D” to CH=child;
5 LIPSYNC – LIPS(NY reversed)C; sections of film=C-LIPS then leave first until last=LIPS-C;
6 AKRON – Elvis Presley middle name=AARON then substitute K=King for second “A”; a district of Ohio;
7 TRYING – TR(Y)ING; end to stay=Y; Tring is a commuter town;
8 HONEY,GUIDE – H-(ONE-(guy)*)-IDE; strange bird that guides people to honey;
9 EWER – (br)EWER;
12 METAGALAXY – (team)*-GA(LAX)Y;
17 OCTOPODA – O(ccupy)-C(TOP)ODA; molluscs;
18 MARCHESE – (charms + E + E)*; European=E;
20 RAIMENT – R(AIM)ENT;
21 PAIR-OAR – (IPA)*-ROAR;
22 PIAFFE – PIAF-FE(e); reference Edith Piaf 1915-1963 the singing sparrow Milord;
25 LIANA – (NAIL reversed)-A; a climbing plant;
27 VOLE – (love)*; a grand slam;
28 STAY – three meanings 1=stop; 2=guy (rope); 3=support;

13 comments on “Mephisto 2632 by Mike Laws”

  1. Only my third Mephisto. I couldn’t get started on AZED). I managed this with a lot of Chambers and Bradford’s help. Missed the post yesterday, so not in the draw for an Almanac, sadly. Ejoyable puzzle; I liked the definition for METAGALAXY.
    By the way, finished AZED’s ‘special’ once I’d had a hint at the ‘locking clue’ at 1ac.
    I’m not too hot at ‘specials’ and enjoy these barred ‘plains’.
  2. Since I did it in well under an hour, it must have been easy.
    For me, the most interesting thing was the remarkable derivation of Fanny Adams. Tinned mutton, indeed! The link explains the gruesome source of the connection.
      1. Going in the right direction – less cheating needed and more clusters of answers going in relatively quickly, as per a daily cryptic. I feel like the sorcerer’s apprentic – no offence, Jim! Very helpful blog, helping me on those I still couldn’t see, and, more importantly, reminding me to use Chambers (nut = en, can = latrine, etc.).

        Not yet sure if I’ll ever really like these things, but I’m already beginning to enjoy them more now that I’m not so hapless at them.

        1. None taken. They are addictive for the highly analytical and help from time to time with the daily cryptic. I’ve just blogged 24,779 where the meanings of both maroon and glebe were learned doing bar crosswords
          1. That’s just the thing. I’m by nature, and inclination, not ‘highly analytical’. Probably why I enjoy the vicarage teaparty feel of the TLS more, even if it makes me feel inadequate in what is my own field, writing!
  5. It would be nice if the Times people could make the Mephisto grid slightly bigger. Gives me eyeache!
    1. Unlikely in the newspaper version, for space reasons. In the online versions, “Print Preview” in both of the major browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer) includes a scaling factor that you can use to make things larger (or smaller).

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Puzzles Editor

    1. It’s what you might call an American-style one. In US non-cryptic crosswords, thematic answers are most often the longest ones. In the longest answers in this grid are HITCH-HIKER, GUIDE, GALAXY and ADAMS.

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