Mephisto 2643 – Mike Laws

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(i)CE, ATE after DISC
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(s)
24	MEIJI: E,I in (JIM)*
27	PRAY: R(Roger) in PAY(meet)
28	R,OAR
29	NESH: S in HEN reversed