Mephisto 2798 by Paul McKenna – Why No Phi?

Posted on Categories Mephisto
I found this a little tougher than usual, and none the worse for that. There are some interesting words and phrases and some good clue constructions.

I was disappointed that an opportunity was missed to mention Phi and the mathematics of such things as the Fibonacci sequence, eschewed for a boring cycle. At least a jazz singer was selected over an old Egyptian!

Across
1 SYNONYMISING – (noisy inns gym)*;
10 HAWMED – HAW-MED; local=dialect for lounge around;
12 CLEO – split=CLE-FT then change FT to O; reference Cleo Laine (Lady Dankworth), jazz singer;
13 SECERN – (screen)*; to discriminate;
14 LAITHFU – (hifalutin – in)*; bashful in Banff;
15 MUSED – M-USED; expert in Edinburgh=USED (see use-1 in C);
16 LASS – L-ASS;
18 DONSIE – OK to play=ON SIDE then move D=Dutch to give DONSIE=unlucky in Ullapool;
20 BESTRIDE – BEST-RIDE;
23 SCUCHION – (cousin)* surrounds CH=Champion; Spenser’s version of scutcheon;
25 RODENT – RO(DEN)T;
26 ECRU – hidden (th)E-CRU(cifixion);
27 ICHOR – I-CHOR(izos); mythological ethereal juice;
29 APOTHEM – A-POT-HEM; pool=POT; the perpendicular from the centre to any side of a regular polygon;
31 ORATOR – O-R-A-TOR(y); of=O; rector=R; Tory=pro-British fighter in American Revolution;
32 HEBE – HE-BE;
33 BEMIRE – (bireme)*;
34 TRAMP,STEAMER – TRA(M)PS-TEAMER; TEAMER=Teamster=US trucker; money=M; merchant is the definition;
 
Down
1 SHE’LL,BE,RIGHT – SHELL-B(E)RIGHT; eccentricity=E (geometry);
2 YAMA – A-MAY reversed;
3 OMITS – (intr)OMITS;
4 NESHER – N-ESHER; name=N; Esher is a very old settlement, now home to Sandown Races;
5 MOCUDDUM – (dum dum)* surrounds OC=Officer Commanding; Indian leader;
6 ITEM – two meanings 1=old word for also 2=romantically attached couple;
7 SCRUNCH – SCR-(l)UNCH; l=lecturer; SCR=Senior Common Room;
8 NEREID – born free=NEE-RID then “minimally tangle” the central RE;
9 GOLDEN,NUMBER – (none grumbled)*; number assigned to each year in sequence to indicate its position in the 19-year Metonic cycle (which is used to determine the date of Easter for example). Of far greater interest it is also Phi, 1.618, the basis of the Golden Mean;
11 WHISSED – sounds like “whist”=silence;
17 DICTATES – DIC(TAT)ES; tattoo shortened to TAT=pony;
19 STICHOI – S-TICH-OI; small=S;
21 THEOREM – THE-(more)*;
22 SOCCER – SO-C-CER(t); provided=SO; clubs=C;
24 CHOREE – CHORE-(pleasur)E; foot is the definition;
26 ETYMA – hidden (saf)ETY-MA(tches);
28 RASP – (g)RASP:
30 EYRE – EY(R)E; take=R; lamp=EYE; old court;

5 comments on “Mephisto 2798 by Paul McKenna – Why No Phi?”

  1. Agree this was fun, though I didn’t know that usage of the Golden Mean , having only used it in math and crosswords. I got a jump start by 1 down being one of my stock phrases.
  2. Probably because there is only one definition of “golden number” in the reference dictionary for the puzzle, and nothing about this in the defs for phi or Fibonacci numbers. In the references I’ve found so far, this phi is normally the “golden ratio”, a term not in Chambers. C does have “golden rectangle” but that would need two grid entries.

    Edited at 2014-04-20 10:02 pm (UTC)

  3. I found this fairly straightforward apart from the NE corner which was the last to fill.

    The only one I failed to parse was EYRE – I well know R=recipe, but always seem to forget it when solving.

  4. Thanks Jim for the useful blog. I particularly like the use of alliterative Scottish towns. A nice puzzle, which for once I managed to complete. R for rector doesn’t appear in my 7th edition chambers, is it in the current edition?

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