I had a moment of panic this morning when I came to the site and was told by Livejournal that it doesn’t exist. It looks like LJ has been playing with its aliases and communities, so if you have bookmarked one of the old ways of getting here (via the livejournal communties page), they’ve changed the URL. Anyway, here I am and it’s time for last week’s Mephisto.
I remember whizzing through this, finishing most over my regular Sunday coffee, and just had to check the last few entries when I got back. I’m usually on Tim Moorey’s wordplay wavelength (several reads of his book and a fascinating lunch chat helps).
Away we go…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DEGRINGOLADE: (RIDGE,HEADLONG)* Edit: without the H of course, as pointed out in comments |
| 10 | EPITRITES: TRITE(worn-out) in E.P,IS |
| 11 | STEP-INS: anagram of REST without R, then PINS(legs) |
| 12 | IN(involved with), CAS |
| 13 | D,JIB,OUT,I: I remember seeing another clue for this city in the Times a while ago, but this is a spectacular charade. Excellent clue, Tim! |
| 15 | INDUE: odd clue – IN DUE COURSE would mean “eventually” |
| 17 | EDOMITES: SET(place),I,MODE all reversed |
| 18 | VILE: L in VIE |
| 19 | POWS: SWOP reversed – didn’t know this word, but did know POLL from which it is derived |
| 20 | ASTEROID: AS then (EDITOR)*. I sometimes teach a class in composition (yes, really) and include clue-writing as a part of the course. ASTEROID was one of the words to clue. Every single student clued it as some form of A, STEROID. |
| 25 | TEN,NO |
| 26 | A,F,RIC |
| 27 | CINNA: sounds like SINNER |
| 28 | DISEUSE: E in DISUSE. Had to check if MISEUSE might be a word |
| 29 | I,SO,CLINIC |
| 30 | THE,O(on),LOG,ASTER |
| Down | |
| 1 | DASSIE: ASS in DIE |
| 2 | GLENDOWER: END in GLOWER |
| 3 | RE,PLUM: this didn’t become obvious until the M was in place |
| 4 | NINJITSU: anagram of JUST, IN and another IN |
| 5 | ORIBI: RIB(wife) in O,1 |
| 6 | LINOS: N in SOIL reversed |
| 7 | DEATHLINESS: (HEAD’S SILENT)* |
| 8 | ESSIVE: the second half of UNIMPRESSIVE |
| 9 | STANDOFFISH: liked this one too – STAND OF FISH |
| 14 | UNION SUIT: anagram of U(rsula),IN SUTU, NO. Comb as in combination, and a UNION SUIT is what’s called a “onesie” over here |
| 16 | RETUNING: RING about E,TUN |
| 19 | PLACIT: LAC(Indian for big number) in PIT |
| 21 | REBECS: sounds like RE,BECKS |
| 22 | DO(rob),GEAR(tackle) |
| 23 | ZIN |
| 24 | SCALL |
At 1A the anagram is RIDGE (h)EADLONG with the “h” being removed by “term in frenc-H for dropping”. It’s an excellent clue.
23D is one of those interesting clues that can be seen as George has it but also as ZI(p)-NCO.
Billingsgate brought back memories. It’s moved now from its original site by the Thames. Watching the porters carry huge stacks of fish filled wicker baskets on their heads was amazing – as was drinking ale outside of normal licencing hours in the all pervading smell of fish!
Today’s I found rather more difficult
Thanks for the blog as ever, and for explaining PLACIT, which I hadn’t managed to parse. And to Jimbo for 1ac: I got caught out by one of these ways of cluing the end of a particular word (“term in French”) only the other week. I’d also parsed 23dn as ZI(p)-NCO but it works either way.
Are you trying the non-plain AZED puzzles as well?
I’ve only just started doing Azed regularly, but I will certainly be attempting the non-plain ones. I did the anniversary puzzle the other week: it took me a long time and a lot of cheating but it was still very satisfying to finish it.