Mephisto 2786 by Paul McKenna

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
An interesting and entertaining Mephisto. I have one query at 6D where I’m missing a piece of the parsing.

Across
1 AGHAST – AGHA-ST;
5 LOVAGE – LOV(A-G)E; G=German; drink from the west country;
10 DHARMSALA – D-HARM-(ALAS reversed); travellers rest in India;
12 PRETERITION – (point retire)*; being left out of a will;
13 BED – Batchelor of Education;
16 BADE – BADE(r); r from r(egret); express=have or show; Group Capt Sir Douglas Bader CBE DSO* DFC*;
17 ENGROSSED – ENG-(c)ROSSED: canine=C (dentistry);
19 SERB – hidden (sympathi)SER-B(acking); I think “a Republican” is padding;
20 REED-ROND – RED surrounds (drone)*; a thicket;
21 DRAFT-BAR – D-RAFT-BAR; ‘D=would; RAFT=large number; hinder=BAR; should be a pub rather than a railway gizmo;
22 SNYE – S-NY-(impassiv)E; ‘S=is; channel in Calgary;
24 LIE,HARD,ON – LIEN=right surrounds HOARD with O moved to give HARDO; to burden;
25 LENO – two meanings 1=material 2=Jay LENO of NBC;
28 BUG – two meanings 1=enthusiast 2=stripped down car;
29 PTEROSAURIA – (use airport)*-A; extinct flying reptiles;
31 ISOTHERMAL – (the solar i=one)*;
32 SCUTES – S(CUTE)S; SS=Schutzstaffel; shields;
33 HANDED – HAND(l)E-D; but=without; latitude=L;
 
Down
1 ADOBES – ADO-BES(t); t=tons; the original sand, clay and straw bricks better known as universal software;
2 HARDGRAINED – HA(RD)G-sounds like reined; bit of bog=HAG;
3 AREA – A-RE-A; adjective=A;
4 TSESSEBE – (see beasts – a)*; cousin of the topi;
5 LARD – LA(R)D;
6 OLIVE,DRAB – O-(EVIL reversed)-DRAB I think; element=O; sorrow=EVIL; can’t see DRAB clued; green is definition;
7 VAT – hidden reversed (S)TAV(ropol);
8 GOOD,ON,YOU – GOO-DON-YOU;
9 ENNEAD – EN(N-EA)D; stream=EA; a group of nine (originally the nine deities in Egyptian mythology);
11 DIAMOND,BIRD – person=BIRD (as in he’s a rum bird);
14 ENERGETIC – (in greece)* surrounds T=troy (weight);
15 VORTICOSE – (stoic over)*; the Saltstraumen in Norway is a real whirlpool;
18 SEA,HEATH – S(EA)HEATH; Environment Agency=EA;
21 DELPHS – DELPH(in)S; DELPH=delf-2=a charge;
23 ENGILD – E(NG)ILD; old word for former times=EILD;
26 ISOS – I-SOS; yes=I; isolated replays – film and TV jargon;
27 WREN – W(R)EN; congested city=WEN;
30 RIT – (t)RIT(e); score or scratch;

12 comments on “Mephisto 2786 by Paul McKenna”

  2. I found this much harder than other recent puzzles. I had to put it down and come back to it a number of times during the week. Got there in the end.
  3. Thanks very much Jim for the parsing. Could someone kindly explain to me the parsing of 21d- delphs. Also what references do you use for mephisto -I searched for draftbar and reed-rond on google and can’t find anything. Is bug in 28 across a stripped down motor because it’s short for Bugatti?

    Many Thanks
    Allan

    1. Hi Allan
      The Mephisto is somewhat unusual in specifying the Chambers Dictionary as its reference. I am no fan of the current edition of Chambers and only have it because of this crossword.
      It has bug = “a light vehicle stripped of everything inessential.” And draft-bar and reed-rond too. And delf/delph, “a charge, representing a square sod” (heraldry).
      A new 13th edition is due out in June and I would expect cheap offers on the current 12th edition at some stage as a result

      Edited at 2014-01-26 10:36 pm (UTC)

    2. If you’re an iPhone or iPad user there’s also a handy (and cheaper) Chambers App, which is what I use.
      It has “Delphin”, defined as “relating to the dauphin (qv) of France, or to an edition of the Latin classics prepared for his use, 64 volumes, 1674–1730”. In the clue this appears as “to do with Latin editions”.

      Edited at 2014-01-26 10:32 pm (UTC)

      1. Does that give the entire content of the Chambers Dictionary, Keriothe?
        There seems to be a similar app for Android at £4.99
        ..I wonder if it would work on my desktop

        Edited at 2014-01-26 10:43 pm (UTC)

          1. Thanks Keriothe and Jerry for explaining all. My confusion was caused by searching for the definitions in vain on the online chambers edition thinking it was comprehensive!
            1. The search on the Chambers website uses Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, which is different. Although the WordWeb Software iPad app has the complete content, a few differences from print have been found. These are unlikely to prevent you from finishing a puzzle, but should it ever matter, print still has the final word.
        2. I recently got the Android version for my Nexus 7. Though I believe that it contains the entire content of Chambers, the search facility appears to only look at headwords/derivatives/compounds/phrases (i.e. things in bold in the print version). Hence if you search for (say) “bread”, it gives you bread, bread-and-butter, breadcrumb, etc, but it does NOT give you roti, nan, chapati, etc where “bread” appears only in the definition. However there looks to be a £9.99 desktop Mac app that contains Chambers and the ability to do a full text search (written by the same chap).
  4. Catching up on weekend crosswords, I also had problems parsing OLIVE DRAB which went in from definition and HANDED, but got there in the end.

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