Mephisto 2692 by Tim Moorey – Poisson Potage

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
This entertaining puzzle was published on 1st April. The four theme words that had no definition in the clue are shown in italics and are all French fish. The French for “April Fool” is Le Posson D’Avril and thus the six letters in the grid to be highlighted were D’Avril shown in bold underlined at 15 and 16A. I was about halfway through solving before I realised what was going on, in marked contrast to the AZED published on the same day where from outset it was a fair bet that the conflicted letters would spell APRIL FOOL

This is my 100th Mephisto blog and I can’t let that milestone pass without thanking all of our setters for their excellent work that maintains a high standard week in and week out and gives much pleasure to we solvers.

Across
1 EXOCET – EX-O-CET; examined=EX; on=O; time in Vienna=CET=Central European Time; French for “flying fish” that gives its name to the French missile; le poisson nombre un;
6 SERAC – CARES reversed; more French (its a cheese) but here the ice in a glacier;
10 ADULTERANT – (deal truant)*;
12 AIR-DROP – AI-RD-ROP(e); road=A1 (Great North Road); moor=rope; think Berlin 1948-49 before the division of East from West Germany;
13 TERPENE – (pine tree without “i”)*; a major component of turpentine made originally from conifer resin; great clue;
14 IURE – I(n)URE; Latin for “by right”;
15 SNEERED – SNE(ERE)D; prune=SNED; mocked;
16 AVRIL – A(VR)IL; VR=Victoria Regina; “Nice” (the town) indicates the french connection of AVRIL for April;
17 SADDER – SADD(l)ER; (Kentucky) Saddler is a world famous US show horse “the peacock of the ring”;
21 PAPAIN – PA(PA)IN; enzyme sold as a meat tenderiser;
22 RIVAL – RI(V)AL;
23 CARANNA – CAR-ANNA; Charles=CAR; brittle aromatic gum used by the apothecary;
25 DOWF – DO-W-F; party=DO; with=W; Faraday=F; dull in Dundee;
26 KLIPDAS – SILK reversed contains (pad)*; in SA the rock rabbit;
28 INKFISH – informer=fink then move “f” to give INKF + (his)*;
29 ALLHALLOWED – ALL-HALLOW-D;
30 ELVES – (d)ELVES;
31 MAIGRE – MA(I-G)RE; un poisson marin et le poisson nombre deux;
 
Down
1 EASTS – (tessa)*;
2 OUTREDS – OUTRE-D(ega)S;
3 CLAP – two meanings;
4 ETHEREAL,OILS – (L’Oreal + these + i)*; distilled essence used in perfume to transmit the scent of the plant from which it originates. As L’Oreal are world famous French perfumiers, this is another excellent clue;
5 CRIED,UP – CUP surrounds (ride)*;
6 SARSAPARILLA – SARS-A-(april)*-LA; complaint=SARS; look=LA; American Indian’s medicinal compound used to make root beer;
7 ENDIVE – EN-DIVE; EN from (s)E(e)N; better known as chicory;
8 ABORIGINAL – (oil bargain)*; the didgeridoo and boomerang;
9 CAPELAN – CAP-ELAN; beat=CAP; vigour and style=ELAN; French spelling of “capelin” un petit poisson se trouve dans L’Ocean Glacial Artique; le poisson nombre trois;
11 VENATIONAL – (con)VEN(A)TIONAL; study=con; distribution of veins in a leaf;
17 SARDINE – (ENID-RAS all reversed); headland=RAS; sardine canning was invented in Douarnenez in Brittany using a method based upon frying rather than steaming; le poisson nombre quatre;
18 RICKSHA – RICK-(has)*;
19 SANDHOG – S-AND-HOG; succeeded=S; old shilling=HOG;
20 BAFFLE – B-(w)AFFLE;
24 ASIDE – A-SIDE;
27 PALI – PAL-I; China (plate)=PAL (mate); the language of the Buddhist scriptures;

11 comments on “Mephisto 2692 by Tim Moorey – Poisson Potage”

  1. I only got around to this yesterday so it’s fresh in my mind. Enjoyed the expected mini-theme, but otherwise found it on the easy side for a Mephisto, with only about half a dozen flicks through Chambers required. Not sure what you mean about 15ac – SNEERED is an old word for SNEER?
    1. Nice to see you commenting on one of these blogs. I’ve corrected 15A – no idea where that came from
  2. Well done Jimbo.. 100 blogs of any kind is not to be sne(ere)d at, never mind Mephistos!
  3. I didn’t do this puzzle as I rarely venture into Mephisto territory but your heading caught my attention so I read the blog and I couldn’t go away without congratulating you on your 100th Mephisto blog. As I mentioned in the latest ST comments the Observer’s Everyman puzzle also had an April Fool theme including the French POISSON D’AVRIL which I vaguely remember seeing before, however completely new to me was the Scottish equivalent, GOWK, which might be worth remembering for future years.

    Edited at 2012-04-08 08:25 am (UTC)

  4. Wow – congrats on 100… there was an odd time where we were doing a four-week cycle thing and Peter and I were doing every fourth week, you were doing every second week, so I think I’m up to 77.

    I was a little surprised to see CAPELAN, though the wordplay really couldn’t lead to anything else. I found it online but not in chambers. Of course silly me seeing EXOCET and the start of the wordplay at 17 down wrote in MISSILE and messed myself up on the bottom right for a while

    1. Thanks George, Jack and Jerry for your kind words

      I think it was CAPELAN that finally gave me the key to the puzzle. I could only find capelin in Chambers but like you Googled it to discover the French translation. I’d been puzzling over the “Nice” in 16A, thinking it wasn’t really necessary, and then I put two and two together and saw the light.

      1. CAPELAN appears in Chambers in the etymology for CAPELIN. I assume this is why the preamble says “Chambers (including derivations) is the reference”.
  5. Late comment but wanted to say congratulations and thanks for 100 blogs.
    Like others I enjoyed this and found it pretty straightforward: I had finished this and Azed before Sunday was out, which is highly unusual. Still required much more than “half a dozen flicks through Chambers” though!
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