Mephisto 2762 – Paul McKenna

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
I was too drunk and tired to write this up on Saturday. Now I’m watching the second session from Durham, this has been a gripping match!

OK, now to the Mephisto – I found this one kind of tricky and in the end there’s one that I just can’t fully explain. Jim is still gallivanting, but I’m sure someone will chip in sooner or later.

Away we go…

Across
1 HOLDS(more than one stowage),WAYS(means),OVER(surplus)
10 A,U,FOND(relocated)
12 ANNO: I think this is because AN and NO can mean the same thing?
13 I think this has to be IN,WARDS but I can’t see where “umbles” leads to a definition – INNARDS are umbles?
14 ENTITLE: (TIE,LENT)
15 NAP,O,O
16 OCH,E
18 LIGNUM: LIN(cascade) with MUG reversed “intertwining”
20 NEOPHILE: anagram of PHONE followed by anagram of LIE
23 BEARSKIN: BEAK(teacher),IN(concerned with) holding SR reversed
25 SOCKED: ‘COS (since) reversed then KED is the fly
26 PSST: ‘S,S in PT
27 W,AGES
29 NOTANDA: anagram of DAMNATION less I’M
31 TELEOST: LEO(Baldrick being a Spenserian term for ZODIAC) in the river TEST
32 LEVE(l)
33 RE,TENE: RE being an obsoltete form of ARE
34 LETTERWRITER: LETTER(landlady) then sounds like WRITER. I’ll admit I didn’t know the “Letters from America” writer and wondered what the English batsman was doing in the clue
 
Down
1 HAVE ONE’S WILL: or HAVE ONE SWILL
2 O,URN
3 DOW,I.E.
4 SNITCH: TIN(greens as in money) reversed in SCH
5 AS WELL AS: or A SWELL AS – those of us who do another barred crossword may have been on to AS being a coin
6 YEA,(brow)N: bear here meaning give birth to
7 OARAGES: anagram of SEA,ARGO
8 ENSOUL: hidden
9 RODOMONTADER: (TOO,MODERN,RAD)*
11 FUTHORC: F then H in (COURT)*
17 PIED NOIR: (TOPPLED,IN)*
19 NIKS-NIE: reversal of EIN and SKIN
21 PIKE,LET
22 GO AT E,E
24 ROTTER: Google to the rescue – DEL BOY was Derek TROTTER from “Only Fools and Horses” which I think my parents watched at one point. Take the T off the top to get ROTTER
26 PARTI: ART(agency) in PI
28 SERE: alternating letters in SkErRiEs
30 DUN(plague),E(gypt)

6 comments on “Mephisto 2762 – Paul McKenna”

  1. In Chambers the plural of inward = entrails or innards

    In 1ac shouldn’t the definition read ‘Rule’ rather than ‘Rules’ for ‘Hold sway over’, otherwise it would be ‘holds sway over’?

  2. I haven’t been doing the Mephistos lately (life too short) but I did this one, took 1hr 15mins which is average for me or a little more. however I put ketene for 33ac without understanding the clue so one wrong.
    Nor do I follow 12ac so hope someone does indeed chip in to explain it.
    The cricket result makes up for all 🙂
    1. Clue: With repetition put together at another time in the year.

      “in the year” is the def, as you’ve probably seen. “at another time” is ANON, in which the repetition is the letter N.

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Crossword Editor

  3. Not sure about “obsolete” – surely just shortened as in “you’re right”.
  4. I’m gradually solving my backlog of puzzles from the holidays, and needed help to parse a few of these, so thanks. Just goes to show that these blogs remain useful for some time!
    I was puzzled by 1ac: I think it must be a mistake.

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