Mephisto 2751 – Don Manley

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Don Manley recently celebrated 50 years of published crosswords so best wishes to him (I will have to see 93 to get there), so congratulations to Don on that landmark!

I found the left half of this Mephisto far easier than the right hand side, where I needed a couple of runs to the dictionary to get started. Everything appears to be in order and I smacked myself on the head a few times when I realised the obvious I was overlooking (10 down being a prime example).

Away we go…

Across
1 SANHEDRIST: HE,DR,IS in SIST(Indian devout person)
11 BREESE: BREEDS without the D, then (Jun)E
13 HALF,PI,PE
14 AMY,TAL(k)
15 LAHAR: Hidden – I was surprised to read in Chambers that it is of Javanese extraction, since I’ve heard it in Japan
17 MANITO: NIT(egg) in MAO Tse-Tung
18 IGARAPE: A,R(take) in 1 GAPE(chasm)
20 GENAL: ENA(a girl’s name) in G(ir)L
21 LASSI: take both C’s off of CLASSIC
24 EN PRISE: take TER(territory) out of ENTERPRISE
26 AVOWAL: AVAL(of a grandparent) with O,W(weak) inside
30 TONEY: Saw it in Chambers with the definition “Fashionable” – didn’t know Michel NEY was a Napoleonic commander, and so Napoleon’s orders may be TO NEY
31 ACARUS: A CARPUS(wrist) without the P
32 AGUACATE: A(adult), CAT(be sick – throw up) in AGUE
33 REAVE: EVER reversed around A(Academy)
34 GNETUM: NET(clean, obsolete), in GUM
35 REICHSRATH: (CHERISH,ART)*
 
Down
2 ARAME: put it in CL(class) and you get CARAMEL
3 HEFTY: FT in HEY
4 E(Spain – IVR code), SPA,DA(knife)
5 DEILS: LIED reversed, then S(son)
6 REP,OMEN: Reminds me of one of my favorite movies with a completely kick-ass soundtrack
7 STEANE: (SEE,ANT)*
8 TACHINID: ACHIN’ in TID – I didn’t know TID for “mood” and was surprised it wasn’t signaled as a Scots word
9 ALBATA: BAT in ALA(of wings, hence external bones)
10 PET,ROLE,USE
13 HABILATORY: B,(TAILOR)* in HAY(dance)
16 MASON JAR: (NORA’S JAM) – probably easier for me than for most solvers, as I have three of them in my kitchen (one with honey, one with jam and one with moonshine). Very popular preserving device in the Eastern US
19 PELAGIC: GALE reversed in PIC
22 AVOSET: SET(group) under AVO(n)
23 SWERVE: W in SERVE(answer meaning “serve the purpose of”)
25 PECANS: anagram of SPACEMAN without MA
27 WAUGH: three definitions – the novelist Evelyn Waugh (who was apparently friends with George Vanderbilt and visited Asheville on at least one occasion, his signature in the Biltmore guest book used to be one of the artifacts on the tour), a bark, and an expression of anger
28 P,(r)ACER
29 BUTUT: Desmond TUTU and B all reversed

4 comments on “Mephisto 2751 – Don Manley”

  1. I found this relatively easy. 1A was a giveaway from definition and from that the downs went in quickly. Small typo at 8D George, shoild be Scots

    A note on 2752. The clue to 2D appears to have a flaw. Shouldn’t hold anybody up.

    1. Thanks – typo fixed (apologies to all the Socts out there).

      Has there beeen a confirmation about 2D today – I just started it and have an answer from definition that almost matches the wordplay, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Tim Moorey has a super-sneaky trick up his sleeve.

      1. No official confirmation that I’m aware of George but I also got answer from definition plus early checkers without actually checking the cryptic fully. Only as I read through clues after finishing I spotted a surplus of one letter and a deficit of another, so to speak!
    2. 1ac was my last in! I guess it’s obvious if you know it. Or if you know “sant”. But otherwise this was not terribly hard, I agree.

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