This is a rare Mephisto blog outing for me, Jimbo having kindly done a Club Monthly blog for me last month. The two crosswords have a lot in common. I think individual clues for the Mephisto are often somewhat harder, since not only the answer itself but also elements of the cluing can be obscure; in addition it has more clues, but this is compensated by the lack of black squares, which means far more checkers to play with. On average there is probably not much between them, but Mephistos seem to vary quite widely in difficulty. A dictionary of course is essential for both, and Mephisto is unusual in specifying which, namely Chambers 12th Edition.
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as *(–)
Across | |
---|---|
1 | agila – I + L in stove = AGA |
6 |
spit up – P( |
11 |
matryoshki – *(MAK( |
12 | amation – AMATI + leg = ON, the cricket reference du jour. |
14 | anti – three notes, A + N + TI |
15 |
gherao – E( |
16 |
paradise lost – A( |
17 | rsi – I suppose this is an &lit, as well as being hidden in adveRSIty. I never solved it, not quite recognising the definition, but one of the nice things about the mephisto is that you don’t have to solve every clue |
20 | amanita – I suppose it’s A(MA)NITA, but why the “brought back?” I suppose it could be A TINA rev. Strictly speaking Amanita is not a mushroom but a mushroom genus covering many species, some poisonous, some edible, and some both, such as everybody’s favourite mushroom fly agaric, or magic mushroom |
22 |
oinking – O + ( |
24 | del – a triple def., since del is an abbreviation for delta, a differential operator, for delegate, and also for delineavit, latin for “he/she drew it.” |
25 | safecracking – peter = SAFE + very fast = CRACKING. A peter is a trunk or safe, and a peterman is a safe-cracker. Victorian thieves’ cant |
27 | isabel – Can’t quite parse this one I’m afraid. Mack Sennet had a relationship with (Ma)bel Normand, could that be something to do with it? It seems unlikely and the only other partner I can think of for mack is whisky! Isabel is a colour, dingy yellowish grey or drab. The (possible) etymology of this word is worth looking up! |
30 |
in se – person held in contempt = INSE( |
31 |
Agutter – A( |
32 | El Salvador – *(SAD ALL OVER) |
33 | dittay – DIT (to stop or block) + the river TAY. Dittay is an indictment or charge, at least if you are a very old Scottish lawyer it is |
34 |
swies – SWI( |
Down | |
1 | alaap – rock = AA in old record = A LP. Alap/alaap is the intro for a raga |
2 |
gymnasiast – *(AGAINST MY S( |
3 |
latian – LAT( |
4 |
at it – It seems to be ( |
5 | grobian – *(A BORING) |
7 | pothead – dd |
8 |
isle – ( |
9 | theroid – champion = HERO in mood = TID |
10 | pivotal – O in *(ITV), in partner = PAL |
13 | fastenseve – secures = FASTENS + first lady = EVE |
17 | rosined – DENIS + before = OR. The artist in question being Maurice Denis, I assume |
18 | infaust – IN FAUST, Mephisto(pheles) being the devil in the Faust legend. Made me smile |
19 | micella – the rodent MICE seem clear enough, and the def. is “unit of a chemistry lab,” but how to get “quite preposterous” to be LLA, I can’t say unless perhaps it is an anagram of quite = ALL? |
21 |
mgangas – *(AM( |
23 |
ski tow – SKIT + on = O + ( |
26 |
germs – R( |
28 | buat – only = BUT containing A, the original abbreviation for Argon now superseded by Ar |
29 | puds – POUNDS, with ON removed.. |
Re 4, the wordplay is as you say – Chambers has cop as “a top or head of anything”
Re 19, preposterous is used in the sense of “literally inverted” as per Chambers, and quite = ALL.
I had no idea who Jenny AGUTTER was, and agonized forever about the answer before popping it in and checking the interweebs.
20A: I tried exactly the same two wrong girls myself. The reversal is of (AT=by, INA – a diminutive of “____ina” names)
34A: SWIES as a plural is justified by the “Spelling rules” section at the beginning of Chambers. Plurals that follow these rules are not mentioned.
Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Crossword Editor