Mephisto 2711 – Paul McKenna – placeholder

Posted on Categories Mephisto
Ooops, just realized it’s my turn to post it and I haven’t even solved it yet, busy week. This should appear late Sunday or Monday. Feel free to discuss, and sorry Paul!

Thanks for your patience… I usually try to get this written in advance when I’m heading out of town, but sometimes things sneak up on me. This took a little while to get a handle on, but once a few key entries were in, the rest of the grid came together nicely. Still a little iffy on a few wordplay elements, but hopefully they will work themselves out while I write this up.

Away we go…

Across
1 AZTEC TWO-STEP: Z(zero) in (WE COP AT TEST)*
10 SCRAN(grub=food),CH
11 BUD,GE(ts)
12 PLATE(gild),AU
13 S,KELP: “wrack” as “seaweed cast ashore” was new to me
17 REPEAT: REP(one traditionally on the road) beside EAT(put away)
18 MULETA: I think this is MULE and then TAB(drug, like a tab of LSD) with the last letter removed
19 NAINSEL: (INN’S,ALE)*
21 RAVEL: double def
22 A,R,NUT
23 SEAM,ARK: don’t see the connection to Trinity House
24 GO(success),G(end of makinG),LET(cancelled service in tennis)
25 SN(according to nature),1,PES(foot)
29 PILAU: hidden
30 ECOCIDE: anagram of DEMOCRACIES – ARMS
31 IN ALL – reverse of ALL IN
32 PAJOCKE: A,J in POCKET(t)
33 EGGS BENEDICT? At least I think so – it fits the enumeration and difnition, but I’m stuck on wordplay here
 
Down
1 (g)ASPER
2 TRAP(fault),P(piano),IN,G,S
3 EAT,H: here MESS is being used as a verb
4 T-CART: C in TART – TART as someone who changes their mind regularly was a new one to me
5 W,HUM,MLE: the last part is ELM reversed. Also had to verify HUM as meaning HOAX
6 OBSCURANT: (COURT’S,BAN)
7 SUKH: reverse KH and US(we, turned over)
8 EG,LATE,RES
9 PEP TAKE: (PAL,KEPT)*
14 SEAR(catch),O,
15 TASTE BULB: the first part is
16 CEVAPCICI: (rickety,CIVIC)
19 NAG(find fault with),A,PIE(spoil)
20 EST,RE,PE
25 SIC,AN: SIC =n such in Scots
26 SWEET: sounds like SUITE
27 SALS: at least I think so from the definition. Not sure how the wordplay works here
28 E,COD

One comment on “Mephisto 2711 – Paul McKenna – placeholder”

  1. Funny how these puzzles go. I raced through this. Got 1A and most of the initial downs straight off and never looked back.

    At 23A Trinity House are responsible for the upkeep of light houses, marker buoys, and so on

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