Mephisto 2742 by Don Manley – Pussy Galore

Posted on Categories Mephisto
An enjoyable puzzle of about average difficulty. I made life a little difficult for myself by managing to find three answers to 26D, the last of which was the correct one – so two feline fluffs.

Across
1 ABLETS – AB-LET’S; the bleak fish;
5 CHAY – CHA(r)Y; a plant of the madder family;
11 ELECAMPANE – (th)E-L(E-CAMP)ANE; the second E from (th)E again; herb used to make absinthe;
12 TRIGRAM – T(RIG)RAM: three letters occurring together like “ing” used in language analysis;
13 THRAW – article=the then change e=English to RAW=crude to give TH-RAW; to cross (thwart);
14 ROGET – (together – the)*; Dr Peter Roget 1779-1869;
15 SEDGE – two meanings 1=siege=herons 2=a fly found near rivers; ;
17 PROLINE – PRO(LI)NE; LI from LI(fe) where Fe=chemical symbol for iron; naturally synthesised amino acid;
18 MERCATOR – (ACRE-M all reversed)-TOR; area=ACRA; miles=M; to the west=reversal indicator; Gerardus Mercator 1512-94 who produced a map of the world in 1569 and was the first to describe a book of maps as an atlas;
22 HENCOURT – H(once)*URT;
25 CLACHAN – CLA(CHA)N; small village;
27 LARUS – hidden (cel)LAR-US(ually);
29 ECUSA – ECU-SA; SA=Salvation Army; Episcopal Church of USA;
30 ARILS – A(p)RILS; quiet=p; a growth from a seed;
31 LAENDER – LA(v)ENDER; very=v; one of the 16 federal subdivisions of Germany;
32 VICARESSES – VI-CARESSES;
33 ARED – A-RED; old word for adjudge;
34 HERYED – HER-Y’ED; old word for regarded as holy;
 
Down
1 ANTRUM – (t)ANTRUM; t from (dentis)t; a cavity;
2 LEIGH – (s)LEIGH(t); Janet Leigh 1927-2004 of Psycho fame;
3 TERTIA – (attire)*; Walter Scott’s word for tercio – Spanish infantry;
4 SCAR – SCAR(let);
5 CAMARON – (macaroni – i)*; “done” is anagrind; crayfish;
6 APHELION – A-PH(ELI)ON(e); the point in a planet’s orbit furthest from the sun (occurs in June for earth);
7 YARDIE – YAR(n)-DIE; Jamaican slang for somebody who lives in social housing known as goods yards;
8 ANAGNORISES – (as reasoning)*; Doh! moments;
9 PEWEES – PE(WEE)S(t);
10 PROCELLARIA – PRO-CELL-ARIA; petrels;
16 ACICULAR – A-CI(r)CULAR; needle shaped crystals;
19 TEAGLED – T(EAGLE)D; technical drawing=TD; caught by a bird trap;
20 SCLAVE – S(CL)AVE; class=CL; old word for slave;
21 CARICA – CARICA(ture); “ture” from (true)*; the pawpaw;
23 CREESE – sheath=CASE then change A=article to EER=always reversed; Indonesian dagger;
24 TIARAD – T(I-A-R)AD; R=Regina;
26 PUDSY – cat=pussy then change central “s” to “d”; without thinking I first stuck “tubby” in here. I then changed that to “pursy” before eventually getting it right!;
28 FASH – FASH(ions);

2 comments on “Mephisto 2742 by Don Manley – Pussy Galore”

  1. Aphelion is in early July, this year it is on 5th July. Perihelion is early Jan, and I never could quite understand why it should be hotter when the sun is more distant..
    1. Thanks Jerry

      The winter/summer temperature difference is mainly down to the tilt of the earth which oscillates between the two meridians. In summer we are tilted towards the sun – in winter we are tilted away. That is why the sun appears high in the sky in summer but much lower in the sky in winter. The extremes of this are found at the poles where in winter the sun doesn’t rise whilst in summer it doesn’t set.

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