Mephisto 2730 by Don Manley – ‘e baint be ‘ard

Posted on Categories Mephisto
A very straightforward puzzle that left me plenty of time to concentrate upon AZED’s Christmas Special. Now we be farmin’….

Across
1 MICROBUS – buggy type=microbe then change E=English to US=American; iconic Volkswagen Type 2 camper van;
6 BOLL – two meanings 1=measure of grain 2=swelling;
10 DONARIES – DON-ARIES; put on=DON; from donarium – where offerings were made in the temple;
11 MESSIDOR – MESS-I’D-OR; the 10th month from mid-June to mid-July;
12 AKEE – hidden-1 (fruitc)AKE-E(vidently); an apple;
13 MATILY – (formality minus for)*;
14 BANISH – BAN(k)-(his)*;
16 NEBEL – hidden-2 (o)NE-BEL(eagured); Hebrew harp but also German for fog as in wartime Nacht und Nebel policy;
18 RED,LEICESTER – (I ELDER reversed)-CE-STER(n); cheese originally made from surplus milk (coloured with carrot juice) after Stilton quota had been filled – nice smoked;
20 SUPERNACULUM – (nuclea rumpus)*; draining the glass or bottle;
26 WIPES – (s)WIPES;
28 TELE-AD – (elated)*;
29 THRAWN – (wrath + n)*; n from (ma)N; twisted in Tain;
30 OLEA – O-LEA; the olive tree;
31 TAIVERED – (diver at e)*; E from (div)E; wandered aimlessly like a vagabond;
32 COURANTE – COUR(A-N)T-E(njoy); N=knight (chess); Baroque dance of the French Court;
33 HIST – (w)HIST;
34 STENOSED – STE(NOS)ED;
 
Down
1 MUMMERSET – (S)UMMER-(M)ET as Spooner would have said it; imaginary stereotyped west country accent as practiced by grockles, me dears;
2 COSTED – CO-STED; what it is beyond civil servants to do properly;
3 RISIBLE – RIS(I-BL)E; important library=British Library=BL; break camp=RISE;
4 BODYLINE – BODY-LINE; controversial bowling tactic adopted by England in 1932 to counter the brilliance of Don Bradman. It caused considerable ill-will and was stopped in 1935 by giving additional powers to the umpires but the rift in relationships between England and Australia continued up until WW11;
5 SARAPE – E-PARAS reversed; Mexican shawl;
6 BRANK – B-RANK;
7 OIKIST – O(I)KIST; coffin=KIST; Greek hero cult found in colonial occupation such as Sicily;
8 LEESE – hidden-3 reverse (th)ESE-EL(ections);
9 MEAN – ME(g)AN;
15 HERMANDAD – HER(MAN)DAD; association of Castilian vigilantes;
17 SCAWTITE – S(C-A-WT)ITE; carbon=C; silicate based mineral;
19 SUPREMO – SU(P-RE)MO;
21 PILEUS – PILE-US; hair=PILE; useless=US; cap cloud found above erupting volcano;
22 RIATAS – S(A)TAIR reversed; are=A; lariats but better known as a cucumber and yoghurt sauce used to cool hot curry;
23 LEARNS – L-EARNS;
24 TELOI – hidden-4 alternate letters T(h)E-(f)L(o)O(z)I(e); ones ultimate goal in a process;
25 PEART – PE-ART;
27 SWEE – S-WEE; small son=S; small=WEE; swing in Sutherland;

2 comments on “Mephisto 2730 by Don Manley – ‘e baint be ‘ard”

  1. Very straightforward as you say but with a couple of minor flourishes, of which the Mum and Dad conceit is cute and the 10-across 4-down thing a wee bit narcissistic.

    rednim

  2. Since it was a competition Azed and with the sporadic post office schedule coming up I did it first then came to this on Tuesday. Good wordplay, though I should have checked the wordplay as I went along since I put in SUPERNACULAR for 20 originally and held myself up on the right hand side for a while.

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