Mephisto 2777 – Paul McKenna

I did this in a number of bits and pieces sessions, since I wasn’t in town when it first appeared. I thought it was going to be a walk in the park after a number of the longer answers went straight in, but fiddly small answers took a bit of poking and dictionary hunting. I didn’t help myself by initially putting in REDDEN for 17 across, which rendered 9 and 15 down unsolveable.

My other mistake was not checking to see if all the clues printed on one page – I set the Mephisto to print on one page, since usually all or all bar one or two clues fit on one page. This time around my printout had three missing clues, two of which were write down answers.

And away we go…

Across
1 SHRED-PIE: anagram of (HE’S+PRIDE)
7 EDDA: ADDE(d) reversed
10 TRAIN(tail),DOWN(feathers)
12 A,LT,HORN(gore)
13 ADOPT: DO(rob) inside APT
14 PYET: Y(yard) in PET – a magpie and hence chatterer
16 ORD(beginning),A1,N
17 REDDLE: DD(designated driver),L(left) in REE
18 ODONTALGIAS: (OIL,AND,GAS,TO)&
20 NO,OK,SHOTTEN(worthless)
23 A(are),DV(deo volente),ICE
24 CARATS: A(before) in CARTS
27 BOWL: LOB reversed over W – fine clue, and right now I’m loving the cricket, watching the beginning of Day 4 in the First Ashes Test in Brisbane
29 UNKET: JUNKET without the J
30 ILK,ADA,Y(short for YMCA)
31 RAISE,CAIN
32 GREE(k): I thought this might have been GREEN shortened, but Bradfords (and Chambers) have GREEK as an old slang for Irishman
33 RURALISM: URALIS in RM
 
Down
1 SOAP: A in S.O.P.
2 HOLY-ROODS: 0 in HOLY RODS
3 RAT,ED
4 DR,O(on),PIN(a peak)
5 PARENT,HE(c)TIC
6 ENAMEL: NAME in EL
7 (n)EDDY: Gull being a fool here
8 DO-OR-DIE: or DOOR DIE
9 ANTHESIS: take IT out of ANTITHESIS
11 INTRAOCULAR: (RURAL,ACTION)*
15 SLANTWAYS: WAY(journey) in SLANTS(breezes)
16 OSNABURG: reversal(signaled by “preposterous”) of GRUB,AN(one),SO(provided)
19 DOVEKIE: E,K in (VIDEO)*
21 SCOTER: SCOOTER (iceboat) with one O
22 TANKIA: TANK(thrash) then take the middle out of ITA (palm)
25 AO DAI: A ODA(room in a harem) then I(AYE)
26 MES(master),E(xcellent)
28 LYAM: hidden in wrinkLY AMericans

One comment on “Mephisto 2777 – Paul McKenna”

  1. Steady solve for a middle of the road puzzle with no real hold ups or issues. Had a slight blind spot over “preposterous” as reversal indicator at 16D thinking it had to mean an anagram but checkers soon sorted that out.

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