Mephisto 2734 by Tim Moorey – Dit Dah Dit

Posted on Categories Mephisto
I enjoyed this puzzle which I thought a reasonable and fair test. Whilst solving I thought it was going to be a pangram – but I can’t find a “v”.

I have a problem parsing 10D so all offers of help gratefully received.

Across
1 IDDY-UMPTY – I-(ruddy without “r”)*-(e)MPTY; lovely WW2 slang for morse code (iddy=dot, umpty=dash); my father was an RAF wireless operator in WW2 so I had heard the phrase before; .-./../.–./ Dad;
11 PRIMPS – P(RIM)PS; of the many meanings of PPS, I think Tim is after either Paranoid Personality Disorder or Parliamentary Private Secretary – take your pick;
12 APOLLO – trouble=ADO then change D=Democrat to POLL=vote to give APOLLO; Greek mythology;
13 SO-SO – OS=outsize reversed twice;
14 SILKY,OAK – (okays)* surrounds ILK; Australian tree used to make fence posts;
15 PUBLIC – (re)PUBLIC(an); US politics;
16 BOWNE – replace “lu” in “blue” by “own”=have; to dress in ones Sam Browne presumably;
17 BOREENS – B(righton)-(ones)* surrounds RE=about; the potheen trail;
19 LASSOCK – L(ASS)OCK; natural=old word for idiot=ASS; a little girl; Shirley Temple in the 1930s;
24 HALLALI – H(ALL)AL-I; “charge”;
25 SIMULAR – R(ugby)-(maul)*-IS all reversed;
28 ALATE – (p)ALATE; old word for lately;
30 SUCCAH – SUC(CA)H; cases=CA; temporary Jewish religious hut or booth;
31 DISCLOST – DISC-LOST; old poetic word for disclosed;
32 AHEM – A-HEM; device used by those more polite than me;
33 EATHLY – EA(r)THLY; rule=r; old word for simply;
34 HEPARS – (perhaps without “p”=pressure)*; liver coloured compounds of sulphur;
35 AQUARELLE – A(cid)-Q(ueen)-(allure)*-E; painting in transparent water colours in the manner of the genius Turner;
 
Down
2 DROUK – DR-OUK; drive=DR; a week in Oban=OUK; soak in Stirling;
3 DISBOSOM – DI’S-BOSOM; I shall resist all temptation and say nothing;
4 YMOLT – (mostly without “s”=end of “lights”); old word for melt;
5 UPSILON – UPS-I-LO(a)N; electrical current=I; good topical clue;
6 PALOOKA – P(A-LOOK)A;
7 YO-YOED – (Ma)YO-YO-ED; reference Ma Yo Yo, cellist;
8 ALOW – A-LO(t)-W; on fire;
9 FLANNEL – passage=channel then replace ch=church by fl=floor;
10 JOKESMITH – J(ester)-OK-(“his time” without one “i”)* but no indication of removal of “i” that I can find; reference Spike “Eccles” Milligan eccentric genius who reportedly wrote the Goon Show and died;
15 PALISADED – sounds like “palace aided”;
18 EXARCHAL – EX-ARCH-A-L; active=A; Byzantine Governor or bishop ranked lower than patriarch but higher than metropolitan;
20 AZILIAN – (br)AZILIAN; bronze=br; transitory period 12,000 years ago after the Ice Age;
21 CHANOYU – CHA-(japa)N-(you)*; term=end of; Japanese Tea Ceremony involving matcha;
22 PLOUTER – P(LOUT)ER; person=PER; old word for bow=LOUT; to potter around in Victorian times;
23 CUTCHA – C-(h)UTCH-A; Bangladeshi mud hut;
26 SCAPE – S-CAPE;
27 MAERL – REAM reversed-L; very old and slow growing;
29 ASTI – hidden (enthusi)ASTI(c); sweet sparkling wine from Piedmont produced by Charmont method (Barolo is much better);

One comment on “Mephisto 2734 by Tim Moorey – Dit Dah Dit”

  1. Ooops, there’s no comments. I found this on the easier end of things, though I’m usually on the Tim Moorey wordplay wavelength. All I can offer on 10 was I thought it might be J,OKE (another form of OK), then M in (HIS,T)*

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