Mephisto 2756 by Paul McKenna – What Happened To Little Weed?

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
Pleasant but largely straighforward puzzle. Not sure how well known the Flowerpot Men are!

Across
1 WILTJA – WILT-J-A; Jack=J; bush hut;
5 ASPICK – AS-PICK; old snake;
10 ANKH – loop=HANK then move H=husband to give ANKH; cross;
11 VAURIEN – (unassertive – sets)*; French good-for-nothing;
14 WAXRED – W-AX(R)ED; week=W; Romeo=R (phonetic alphabet);
15 SPIRIT,OF,SALT – (at first I slop)*;
16 TARDIS – TAR-DIS; set on=TAR;
18 SANT – SA(i)NT; devout Sikh;
20 DEBITOR – DEB-IT-OR; gel=posh girl=DEB;
23 BATTERO – BATTER-O; Shakespearean club;
25 USER – hidden (tro)USER(s);
26 LOLIGO – LOL-I-GO; squid;
27 BACON-AND-EGGS – two meanings; 1=traditional English (breakfast) 2=a flower;
30 BUNNIA – A-IN-NUB all reversed (counter is reversal indicator);
31 GADGETS – GAD-GETS; spike no longer=GAD;
32 SORE – S(ome)-ORE;
33 EIGHTS – sounds like (h)ates in ‘Oxton;
34 AGENDA – AGE-NDA; though=AND then move A=one to give NDA;
 
Down
1 WAISTS – sounds like “waste” + S=special; US blouses;
2 INKPADS – PINK-ADS then move P=Portugal;
3 THIRDBOROUGH – TH(bird + o)*ROUGH; old policeman (plod);
4 JAWI – JAW-I; Arabic script;
6 SURFER – SU(RF)ER; Republic Francaise=RF;
7 PRESS,RELEASE – PRESS-RE-LEASE; insist=PRESS;
8 CELL – CEL-L; celebrated=CEL;
9 KNOTTY – K(NOTT)Y; cropped hair=NOTT;
12 AXOLOTL – (LOX-A reversed)-surrounds LOT; salmon=LOX; accepted=A; Mexican beast;
13 BIREME – (EME-RIB all reversed); dated uncle=EME;
17 STATANT – STAT-ANT; Latin for at once=STAT(im); on all fours;
19 AURIGA – A-U-RIGA; constellation;
21 BOGGARD – BOG-(DRAG reversed); office=toilet=BOG; a bugbear on Tyneside;
22 CUBAGE – CU(BAG)E;
23 BENNET – BEN-NET; reference “Bill and Ben – Flowerpot Men” – children’s TV; dialect in Sussex for stalk;
24 COSMEA – COS-MEA(n); a plant;
28 ACAI – AC-AI; before food=AC; excellent=AI;nutritional fruit; see blog comments – I originally had AKAI entered from memory – when will I learn!;
29 DARG – GR-A(n)D all reversed; grey=GR; a day’s work in Durham;

4 comments on “Mephisto 2756 by Paul McKenna – What Happened To Little Weed?”

  1. Jim, re 28 down. I made this ‘AC’ (before food) + A1 (excellent) giving AÇAÍ – a nutritional fruit. AKAI works but doesn’t seem to mean anything other than the Japanese electronics company.
    1. Thanks for that Jay and I agree with you. That will teach me to work from memory!!
  2. Well I found this really hard. I didn’t help myself by putting in ARCH for 10ac. I didn’t reconsider for it for ages, and then couldn’t for the life of me work out why I’d considered it in the first place.
    Thanks for explaining 17dn: I couldn’t work it out. “Scavenging socialite” indeed!
  3. I test-solved this one and thought it was a bit more tricky than usual. Bill and Ben were big in Australia in the 70s

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