Funny thing about this one was that I solved it on the plane on my way to the UK, and then got an email asking if I’d found the hidden message. Well since I left really early on Sunday, I had two Mephistos with me, 2656 and this one. So on getting the email I immediately grabbed 2656 and scanned everywhere for a hidden message. Then wrote an email back saying I couldn’t find anything.
Took me another day to realize that it was 2657 I was meant to be looking at and there it is – a message for John Halpern (Paul etc) on his wedding day – TALINE BECAME HALPERN TODAY running across two columns. Neat trick, and a nice grid to accommodate that message in all unchecked letters. I remember finding this on the easier side of the mephisto (mind you it’s easy to focus on a plane).
Away we go!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CARTOPHILE: CART(float), then IL (center of MILK) in (HOPE)* – a collector of cigarette cartons |
| 11 | CLOU: dominant idea – take the T off of CLOUT |
| 12 | CORELLA: CORE(shift, second meaning in Chambers), then ALL reversed. Saw a lot of these growing up so it came to me straight away |
| 13 | SITREP: PERT,IS reversed |
| 14 | MORIAS: I in MORAS(delays), an instant write-in for anyone who has read Tolkein |
| 15 | CYANOGENESIS: Y in CAN(John – though I rarely hear that term used in the US), then (SEEING,SO)* |
| 19 | E,TATS |
| 21 | MOROSER: MO(month), ROSE, then R(from Rejoice) |
| 22 | AROUSER: O,USE in A R.R. |
| 24 | SLUR,B: got this from the wordplay, mash-up word of slum and suburb |
| 28 | O,MISS,I’VE,NESS |
| 29 | UPCAST: U then (PACTS)* |
| 30 | F,RICH,T: I fell into the obvious trap and had FRIGHT in there for a bit |
| 31 | SEIZE UP: SIZE UP with E(xcellent) inside |
| 32 | ACER: got this from the definition, but it’s A CER |
| 33 | TESSELLATE: (SELL,ESTATE)* |
| Down | |
| 2 | ALIYA: anagram of MALAYSIA without MA and S |
| 3 | ROTAL: (ALTO)* under R |
| 4 | TURN IT UP: PUTIN, RUT all reversed |
| 5 | ODE,ON,S |
| 6 | HOMEBORN: MEBO |
| 7 | IRONER: I liked this wordplay a lot – IRONY with the Y turned to ER |
| 8 | ELISA: (LIES)*,A(about) and two definitions either side of the wordplay |
| 9 | CLAIMER: I,M in (LACE)* then R |
| 10 | P,ASS,ER,BY: my favorite clue in here, and a great wedding surface |
| 16 | TEA HOUSE: TEASE about HOU |
| 17 | EME,RIT,US: RIT coming from music (ritenuto) |
| 18 | COLON,1,A,L: Paul McKenna is back in form with those crafty A indicators. A tittle is a punctuation mark, so COLON works |
| 20 | TRAMPED: T’ RAM on PED(foot). So last week I went to the National Coal Mining Museum in Yorkshire, and the guide spoke like this! I understood about a third of it. |
| 23 | SESSES: taxes that are palindromatic – we also saw them a few weeks ago |
| 24 | STEROL: ST(stumped), then ER |
| 25 | LICIT: another really nice clue – LIE and CITE both without the E at the end |
| 26 | DEC,CA: a navigation system one can obtain from wordplay |
| 27 | ASHET: add the PL back in and you get PLASHET(a puddle) |
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