Mephisto 2753 – Paul McKenna

Posted on Categories Mephisto
In a week where I completely failed to solve the Listener (the one for which the solution came out on Friday), read about the impending demise of the Crossword Club (umming and aahing – if the price is the same in a year from now when I have to “make the choice” maybe I’ll be able to go back to doing the killer sudokus), had my passport application rejected (for the second time), and England thumped Australia in the first game of the Champions trophy… I just can’t remember much about this Mephisto.

I don’t think it was that difficult, since I remember having it finished on Sunday in time to spend a few moments working on a clue for the Azed competition that came out the same day. I didn’t see the wordplay for 7 until doing a dictionary search for “programme”, but the definition is pretty clear.

Away we go…

Across
1 SCRAWMED: S, then WM(William) in (CEDAR)*
7 ADDS: A for Adult, DD is “Dono Dedit”, then first letter of Silver
10 BIOLOGIST: GIST after (B,OIL)* then O(over – cricket)
12 BIG,BLUE: nickname for IBM
13 NEAFE: hidden
14 A,LG,A
16 BLONDE: L,ON in BED – a bright stage light
17 TOROID: TO(of), then house of DIOR reversed
18 A,CROP,E,TALLY
20 EDULCORATOR: (OLD,EUROCRAT)*
23 C,(h)ARLOT
24 SLOGAN: G(Government) in SLOAN(snub)
27 LEVE(l)
29 I’M,A,GO
30 TAENIAS: anagram of (SEA CAPTAIN) without CAP
31 AUTOSOMES: AUTOS(US cars) around SOME(as in “you’ve got some cows there, kemosabe”)
32 STEN: NETS reversed
33 HYPNOTEE: NOTE(consequence) in HYPE
 
Down
1 SOB,A: yummy noodles
2 CHILLADAS: CHILL(relax) followed by SAD(stiff),A(adult) reversed – two A=adult in the same puzzle. I’ve often complained that the Mephisto contains a lot of unappetising foods, but with CHILLADA and SOBA, things are looking up
3 REGGO: EGG(mine) in RO(gues) – I thought this was spelled with one G, but Chambers has it with one and two
4 WILL(desire), DO(ditto)
5 MOUSE POTATO: haven’t heard this term before, but I need to use it more often – MO(second) then (EATS,UP,TOO)*
6 DON(fellow),NOT(polled)
7 AGEN: took forever to see this is AGENDA without the DA
8 DIABOLO: a top – BO(US guy) in DIALO(g)
9 STEAD(help),YON(that)
11 LETTERS,TAMP(pack)
15 GILRAVAGE: the abrupt WPC is GILL shortened, then RAVAGE
16 BRECCIAS: anagram of CABIN CRUISER without RUIN
19 CUR,TATE(small portion)
21 COHOSH: O,H in COSH
22 AL(aluminum),PEEN(end of hammer)
25 GEIST: G for H in HEIST – didn’t know HEIST could also refer to the one holding up
26 A,GON(e)
28 ESNE: alternating letters in mEsSeNgEr

One comment on “Mephisto 2753 – Paul McKenna”

  1. I found this extremely difficult the first time I attempted it on Sunday, and only managed about four answers. Then when I went back to it on Tuesday I found it really quite straightforward. Go figure.
    Thanks for putting me out of my misery on 11dn. I got the answer OK but misread the wordplay and was wondering how “stamp” could mean “pack”. Duh.

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