Mephisto 2715 – Don Manley

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
It was a pretty crazy weekend, so I didn’t make my usual Sunday start on the Mephisto, though I did print it out. I got an email from Peter Biddlecombe alerting that there was an error in 7 down and amending the clue (“Vehicular stabilizer” instead of “Aeronautical feature” at the beginning). I’m not sure if he emailed every solver in the universe, but thanks for that, though I think the wordplay for 7 left no other alternative (particularly with four of the five letters checked) and it sounded like a plausible definition.

The rest of this was pretty straightforward with clear wordplay for the unusual words, and I got most of it without needing a dictionary. It came out to confirm a few of the unchecked letters, like the last one of 1 across and confirming the definition at 31 across.

Away we go!

Across
1 SCUD: double definition (though I didn’t know the naked one)
5 ACETATE: ETAT(french rank) in A,CE
11 BARAGOUIN: compound anagram of (OBTAIN,GOWERS) – (GOES,WEST)
12 RABATTEMENT: RA(gunners) then BATTLEMENT without the L
13 SPLASH: P(positive) in SLASH(slant)
14 SITAR: STAR(t) with I inside
15 BEERMATS: (SET,AMBER)*
16 SNAFU: FANS reversed then U(united)
18 STROP: STROPHE without the HE(high exposives)
19 RA,TAN
21 ASANA: or AS AN A
24 RUCKSEAT: (USE,TRACK)*
25 AG,LOW
26 ESTRUS: hidden – US spelling of OESTRUS
28 ELABORATORY: BALE(evil) reversed then ORATORY – old word for a LAB, maybe a new word for a virtual lab
29 CRATE,ROUS(e)
30 ASTEISM: IS in A STEM
31 MESE: a note, hidden
 
Down
1 SARS: STARS with the T removed. Oh the heady days of SARS, before the horrible times of swine flu and west nile virus
2 CRAPEHANGERS: RAP,E in CHANGERS
3 UMBLES: RUMBLES without the R, new work for me for entrails
4 BATS,MAN
6 CAESTUS: anagram of SUITCASE without the I
7 TOE IN: O(n)E in TIN
8 (s)AUNTER
9 TITANOSAURUS: (A,TON,IS)* in TAURUS
10 ENTREPOT: GENT without the G, then TOPER reversed
15 BARRANCA: for a while I thought we were looking for the boat, but we’re after the gorge, which is RAN in BARCA(boat)
17 FAUTORS: F,AUT(h)ORS – such an unlikely looking word, I wrote it in lightly before looking it up – a patron
18 SAK(e),SAUL
20 TALLAT: ALL in TAT
22 AEROBE: OB(obiter – dead) in AERE(Atomic Energy Research Establishment) – tricky clue, but not the first time OB for dead has popped up
23 ROATE: 0 in RATE
27 SYKE: SKYE with the middle messed up

2 comments on “Mephisto 2715 – Don Manley”

  1. Similar experience to George and not particularly distressed by the mistake at 7D which DM drew attention to on lat week’s blog anyway. The cryptic was so straightforward that I wrote the answer in just assuming that a TOE-IN was something aircraft as well as cars have!

    This week’s puzzle 2716 is a bit harder.

  2. Relatively straightforward one, this, but I caused myself a big problem at the end by idiotically putting in SKYE and then failing to question it for ages.
    I was very puzzled by 7dn: I’d seen DM’s comment last week and then couldn’t figure out what on earth was wrong with the clue. Of course the error had been corrected by the time I printed the puzzle!

Comments are closed.