I had a tough time getting started with this one, although I broke up my usual solving routine. I typically solve Mephistos backwards, from the last down clue – not from any scientifically-proveable hypothesis, but my printer often chops off the last two or three clues and I have to look them back up on the website. This week however the entire puzzle printed on one page, so I went back to starting with one across…
And none of the across answers jumped out at me until 20 across. So I thought I was in for a tough time, though many of the down answers jumped out at me, and things started to fill up nicely, until I got to 8 down, which needed a trip to the Interweebs to find out about a place I wasn’t familiar with.
Away we go…
Across |
|
---|---|
1 | SPU |
4 | HIGH,SPO |
9 | THEROPOD: (OTHER)* then POD(school) |
11 | CORTADERIA: AIRED,AT(alongside),ROC |
12 | MYLONITE: (ONLY)* in MITE |
15 | PRASE: PRAISE without 1 |
16 | STADE: D for T in STATE |
17 | TALAUNT: A,L in TAUNT |
18 | PARISON: For the non-cricket fans, this might be a tricky one. Andy Roberts was a fast bowler who I remember from a really terrifying attack in the 1980-81 tour of Australia – here’s a video of him knocking over Ian and Greg Chappell in successive balls. So if AR IS ON, he’s bowling. Put a P in the front. |
20 | SENES: S |
22 | REDDY: sounds like READY |
24 | HAEREMAI: (nort)H,I containing A(one),ERE,M |
25 | MALENTENDU: (TUNNEL,MADE)* |
26 | RENEGATE: It showed in Australia and I thought ‘Allo ‘Allo was about the worst show ever (my parents loved it) – but I seem to remember one of the main characters was Rene, so his scandal would be RENE GATE |
27 | SOOTHSAY: (SHOOT)* in SAY(express) |
28 | E,MIR |
Down |
|
1 | S,TIMES |
2 | PHLYCTAENAE: (EACH,PENALTY)* |
3 | DROOG: GOOD reversed around R |
4 | H,OR(before),N,IE |
5 | GOA TRANCE: or GO AT RANCE |
6 | SIERRA: double definition, one being the Ford vehicle |
7 | PER(on),S,AUNT |
8 | THANET: NE in THAT – an island in the SE |
10 | DIES |
13 | INTO,NATES: “duff” for buttocks was new to me |
14 | GARDYLOO: (OLD,GRAY)* then O – “cave” in this case meaning a warning |
18 | PRIMES: EMIR in SP, all reversed |
19 | IDLEST: ID EST surrounding L |
20 | SARNEY: YEN reversed after SAR |
21 | SEINE,R |
23 | KEDGE: take the outside letters from SKY then EDGE |
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