Mephisto 2781 – Don Manley

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
I have a typical Sunday routine – I print off the four regular Sunday puzzles (Times, Mephisto, Everyman and Azed) and take them to Starbucks to caffeinate and solve. I’d already gotten an email that the Sunday Times was a really difficult challenge, and I knew I had to blog this one, so I started with the Mephisto. Started it while in line to order, and finished before the coffee had cooled enough to start swilling (except for the first character of 18 across which I thought could be D or S).

In other words, this is about as straightforward as Mephistos come – very clear wordplay, and not too many unusual words.

Away we go…

Across
2 PROTONEMATA: PROTON (tiny particle – that degree in Chemistry is starting to pay off) then MAT in EA(each)
9 VASTY: STY(den) following V,A
10 UMAYYAD: UM(hesitation), AY(always) then DAY reversed
13 G,RAITH
14 RE,T(o)RY: the O to be removed is the end of manifestO
15 PI,T,PAT’S: Though I believe Pat Boone is spelled with an E on the end, unless I’m missing something
16 TAXI(s): A TAXIS is an order
18 DEMI(half),C
20 SIGISBEO: E in (IS,SO,BIG)*
23 ETTERCAP: hidden
24 OLOGY: take AP from APOLOGY
28 A,CHE
29 DEVOLVE: EV(electron volt), LOVED all reversed. Hey, that chemistry degree comes in useful again
31 OFF(cricket side),ER
32 C,RURAL
33 STRETTI: TT in (RITES)*
34 AE,SIR
35 SERMONETTES: (TORMENT)* in SEES
 
Down
1 OVER THE ODDS: (HORDES,VOTED)*
2 PAGE(youth in training),A,NT
3 OTARINE: (EAR,ON,IT)*
4 TYIYN: Y in (TINY)*
5 OUTPRICE: (EPIC,TOUR)*
6 (l)EAST
7 MY,’OPE
8 TANTI: TANT(o)(totally, short) then I
11 YNAMBU: MANY reversed, then BU(lk)
12 DISCOVERERS: DISCO(party), V, then E(Eastern) in ERRS
17 AGACERIE: AC in AG,ERIE
19 STOVE,R
21 SEA FRET: sounds like SEE FRET
22 EPHELIS: HE in (PILES)*
25 LEFT,(hom)E
26 GO,LEM
27 FOUAT: alternating letters in FrOm UsA iT
30 LOTO: LOOT with the last two letters swapped

4 comments on “Mephisto 2781 – Don Manley”

  1. I have to agree George – another real doddle with only 18A needing a dictionary to distinguish demi from semi. And it’s Boone – I looked it up to be sure.
  2. Not done enough Mephistos yet to be able to call any of them a doddle. Raised an eyebrow at the anagrind in 5D, and I wasn’t sure what the NT in 2D was supposed to be (National Trust? National Theatre?). The Boon spelling had me thinking about the ’80s TV series.

    Small typo in 11D – YNAMBU.

    1. You’ll find a larger set of such things as anagrinds in Mephisto Land. The setters have more scope and the solvers are almost by definition experienced in usual day-to-day wordplays. Also the derivation of anagrist can involve substituting a recognised abreviation for a word.

      Good to see you persevering – this week’s is more difficult but still not a real stinker

  3. I’ve only been doing these for a couple of years so I must say it feels nice to me to say that this is another in a run of “easy” ones. However “easy” is relative and the idea that I wouldn’t use Chambers (for almost every clue) remains a very distant prospect!

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