I find Mike Laws the hardest of the Mephisto team, and this was one where I made a fast start, but a painfully slow finish. A lot of the holdup was in 26 across, which is in Chambers under the “foreign phrases” section and in italics as part of the entry for wing, and in 1 across where there seemed to be a large number of answers that fit, and without having 1 down (but having a suspicion as to how it started) or 2 down, I was poring through possibilities.
Up until that, I thought I was going to finish this in one sitting without a dictionary, with some generous short words and clear wordplay.
Away we go…
Across | |
---|---|
1 | DAB,C,HICK: the C and HICK weren’t the problem here, it was which three letter word for fish would go at the start |
6 | TAR,O.C.: OC is in Chambers as an abbreviation for only child (family trees maybe?), an Italian picture card |
11 | PROTON: ROT in P.O. ‘N'(and, like fish ‘n’ chips) |
13 | SHE,A,F |
14 | AGIO: I in AGO |
15 | COTTON,PICKING: that’s a giveaway for someone who livesin the southern U.S. |
16 | ARGUED: A ROGUE without the O, then D |
18 | EL,ODEA: a little more Americana with the elevated railway |
20 | SPADEFISH: SELFISH without L surrounding PAD. I had a few stabs at this too until geting the P from 3 down |
23 | CAMERA: AMER in CA(about) |
25 | APEDOM: MODE,PA reversed |
26 | EPEA PTEROENTA: Winged words of Homer. Wordplay is APT in EPEE then (ORNATE)* |
30 | ARIA: PARIAH without the outside letters |
31 | TIE-IN: I.E. in TIN |
32 | PURDAH: PUR is the jack in the game port and pair, then HAD reversed, seclusion of women |
33 | EYING: YIN in E.G. |
34 | NURAGHIC: (ARCHING,U)* |
Down | |
1 | DISCALCEATE: AL |
2 | BLET: TABLET without TA |
3 | CHAT UP: I can see CHAP – is TU really short for TUNE SPINNER? |
4 | IRON: hidden reversed in suggestioN ORIginally |
5 | COMPTE RENDU: (PRUDENCE,TOM)* |
6 | TOECLIP: T,(POLICE)* |
7 | RIG,ID: papers meaning identification |
8 | OD,IN(among): OD is a presumed magical force |
9 | CLOG-ALMANAC: C(about), LOG(to record), ALMA(force) then CAN(John, another Americanism) reversed |
10 | CHORE,A: a nervous condition, hadn’t heard of it, but wordplay clear |
12 | THIEF: HIE in FT(Financial Times) reversed |
17 | EARPLUG: (URGE,PAL)* |
19 | EXOTIC: OX inside CITE, all reversed |
21 | DATER: T in READ, liked the definition here |
22 | SEEING: anagram of GENESI |
24 | MEIJI: E,I in (JIM)* |
27 | PRAY: R(Roger) in PAY(meet) |
28 | R,OAR |
29 | NESH: S in HEN reversed |
Good reasonably difficult puzzle. I also had trouble with 26A until I remembered the special foreign section at the back.