Mephisto 2679 – Don Manley

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
The barred-grid beastie continues into 2012! I found this one kind of tough, got most of the right half out in a first solve, but needed some dictionaries (and eventually a bit of google to confirm a proper name) to get all of the left hand side out.

There is still one clue that I don’t understand at all, and one where I’m a little insecure on the definition, but there’s only one unchecked letter in each of them so I’m pretty sure I have the correct entries.

Away we go…

Across
1 ARCH(cunning),IMAGE(idea)
10 BROO: double definition
11 PRISAGE: R,IS in PAGE. New word for me, appears to be a custom invented to keep the king sloshed
12 UPROLL: U, PROLL(variant on PROWL), to close
13 GLOBAL: LOB(ball) in GAL
14 SESSILE: SESS(a tax we’ve seen here before) then L(pounds) in I.E.
15 BANI: I,NAB reversed – Moldovan/Romanian currency
18 ALL,IS: IS is the IVR code for Iceland
19 LEVI,RATION
22 ETANERCEPT: (A,PET,CENTER)*
25 RABIC: From the defintion – in respect of disease (rabies), but I don’t understand the rest of the clue. Edit: see comments below for Peter’s explanation
29 ITAS: I then SAT reversed. ITAS are palms, not sure of the significance of “being laid down” in the clue
30 SCOUR(range),IE: the I and E come from IslE, probably since I.E. has already been used
31 SONNET: TENNOS reversed
32 ST,ROW,N
33 ORDINEE: DINE in ORE(seaweed,tangle)
34 ASCI: one for us old internet geeks – ASCII without the last I
35 PERI,CLEAN. Or not – try HERA,CLEAN
 
Down
1 ABUSE: US in ABE Lincoln
2 CORSIVE: VIS(force) reversed in CORE
3 HOOSH: double definition
4 INLIER: I in (LINER)*
5 ARGESTES: GEST in ARES
6 GILGAI: L(aughter) in GIG, A1
7 CAB,AL
8 AGANIPPE: AGAPE(feast) around NIP(smart, as in sting)
9 DELISH: EL in DISH
16 NEGATORY: AGEN reversed, then TORY
17 BANGSTER: ANGST in half of BERBER
20 NEC,ROSE: National Exhibition Centre appears to be making regular appearances
21 GRISON: G then (p)RISON
23 ACHENE: ACNE holding(harvesting) HE. New word for me, a fruit with pits on the outside, like a strawberry
24 RHOTIC: T in (CHOIR)*
26 BANDA: HASTINGS BANDA was a long way removed from my memory, fortunately the hut is in Bradfords
27 SURA,L
28 VENIN: reversal of NINE,V

9 comments on “Mephisto 2679 – Don Manley”

  1. We have the same questions on the samw two clues George

    At 25A I can’t make any sense of it. What is WSC – doesn’t appear in C that I can find?

    At 29A I agree – what is “being laid down” there for – some sort of religious reference?

    And an extra one to ponder. I think HERACLEAN is an alternative answer at 35A

    I agree a bit harder than of late and I found today’s relatively tough as well.

    1. I remember WSC being World Series Cricket. Not sure if that gets us any closer to figuring it out.

      HERACLEAN may work better than PERICLEAN (though I didn’t think of it) as HERA is better than PERI for GODDESS.

      1. I Googled WSC and Wiki has a whole list of possibilities. World S… Championship opens up in addition to Cricket, Scabble, Snooker, Sportscar and Sudoku (your favourite) plus Wall Street Crash and Winston Spencer Churchill. Absolutely none of them seemed to me to have anything to do with the clue or to be in Chambers!
  2. 25A could be a reference to the fact that, contrary to expectations at the time, Rab Butler did not succeed WSC as PM in 1953.
  3. 35A: HERACLEAN is correct – I’d say both HERA for goddess and HERACLEAN for “hero’s” are better.

    25A: WSC is Churchill – what we might have had after him was “RAB i/c” – RAB being RA Butler, who was twice not selected as Conservative party leader – I’m sure I’ve seen him described as “the best Prime Minister we never had”. Tough for George, but I’d have expected someone of Jimbo’s age and nationality to remember him by way of the informal name “Rab Butler”.

    29A: for the cryptic reading, it seems reasonable to me to interpret “being laid down” as “written in the grid”, from “laid down” = “recorded” in C. I think the surface reading is intended to deceive by making some solvers think of the Biblical events commemorated by Palm Sunday.

    1. The events referred to took place in 1953 when I was 11 years old!!! All I knew about Butler before looking him up was his 1944 Education Act that enabled me to go to the local Grammar School – I therefore owe the guy a lot. Why I should be expected to know that WSC amongst its many meanings is Churchill or that Butler was known as Rab and didn’t (!) succeed him quite defeats me. A truely awful clue in my opinion.
  4. Well I stand corrected on Heraclean, should have thought more about it – the CLEAN part came first, and then thinking “of hero” I bunged in PERICLEAN without looking to see if PERI and PERICLES worked. Bad George.

    RABIC… so far away from my field of knowledge, good thing the definition was clear.

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