Mephisto 2737 – Tim Moorey

I found this to be one of the more tricky offerings from the Mephisto series lately. Put a couple of incorrect answers in early (11 across went through several iterations). I didn’t think 3 (another clue where I went through several plausible looking answers only to see them fall foul of checking letters) was going to be in Chambers, but it’s in the most recent edition. I found it online first.

27 made me smile, though I think any clue with a reference to Hegel is going to tickle me.

Random musing – I’ve been reading “The Disappearing Spoon” by Sam Kean (it’s a rollicking read, though many of the stories don’t hold up to scrutiny of secondary literature). He talks about Gilbert N. Lewis living out his final days in his lab as a recluse, railing against the world and complaining about critics of his theories. Wonder if he did crosswords? Or stand-up. Or wrote blogs…

Across
1 ASTONE: LAST(final) ONE(unit) missing the L
5 AU,BADE
9 SKATING RINK: anagram of GRANIT(a) in SKINK (which I knew as a lizard, not a Scots drink)
11 ODMOETRY: O(ring),DO(party),ME(yours truly),TRY(go)
12 PASH,M: haven’t heard PASH for feeling since primary school
13 RADIAL: RAC (Royal Atomobile Club, which is far more swanky than I thought), without the C(canine, think dental chart) then DIAL(face)
14 INTIMA: anagram of TIMPANI without P
17 PANTA RHEI: very nice clue – PAN(criticize), TAR(rating – sailor), HEI(r)
18 SHOWPLACE: S, HOW(hill) and then A(one) leaving PALACE. If you’re a regular daily crossword fan checking out the Mephisto, it’s OK to use one for A
22 MIGNON: anagram of MOANING without A
23 GROG-UP: G in GROUP
24 WAEFU: AE,F in W,U
26 NEMATODA: A DON surrounding TAME, all reversed
27 HEGEMONICAL: MONICA in HEGEL
28 AURORA: OR in AURA
29 UNMIRY: anagram of MINI-RUGBY without 1,G,B
 
Down
1 AS,A,P
2 SKEAN-DHU: my first in (KHAN,USED)*
3 OTCHIPWE: (TWO)*,E surrounding CHIP(tease)
4 END MAN: ND(no date) in NAME reversed
5 AGO,ROT
6 (b)URMAN
7 ANTIPHONER: or ANTI PHONER(which would be anyone who owns an I”phone”)
8 EPYLLION: anagram of P(add)Y,O’NEILL
10 (g)ASTRONOMER: Dorado being a constellation
14 INSIGNIA: anagram of (m)INI (c)ASING
15 GR(king),EG(say),A,TIM(e)
16 MEN-OF-WAR: RAW ONE M all reversed containing F
19 LIPOMA: MOP(grimace) in AIL all reversed
20 AMADOU: hidden
21 LUTER: remove the H from Martin LUTHER
25 UGLY: SNUGLY without SN, and a use I wasn’t familiar of for that work to finish

5 comments on “Mephisto 2737 – Tim Moorey”

  1. I enjoyed this puzzle which I found a fair and interesting challenge. I also recall pash from teenage lusting in the then avant-garde coffee bars of south London.

    Your self-portrait ranting in your lab George is facinating stuff. If you’re like that now imagine what you’ll be like when you get to my age and know for sure that nobody understands you!!

  2. I actually found this quite straightforward, but perhaps that’s just a retrospective judgement coloured by last week’s ‘Misprints’ Azed, which I started after this and still haven’t finished.
    The pattern this week has been similar: I found Mephisto reasonably easy but am now struggling a bit with Azed. More often recently it’s been the opposite: swings and roundabouts I suppose.
    1. Yes, they do vary quite a bit although the AZED specials like “misprints” are I think harder than any of his others or these Mephisto

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