Mephisto 2813 – Paul McKenna

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
There wasn’t anything too too tricky in this one, though the bottom right corner took the longest to fall. There’s a few obscure words (mostly signposted in the clues) and some unfamiliar uses of familiar words – don’t go too far from your big red dictionary when you are doing the Mephisto.

I leave early in the morning for Michigan, so I won’t be able to check or correct for a day or so. I’m sure any questions or comments can be addressed by the hive mind, and any silly error on my part will be corrected eventually.

Away we go…

Across
1 SIT-UPS: IT(Italian Vermouth) in SUPS
5 ASSORT: take all the P’s out of PASSPORT
10 SPLASH PAGE: GAP reversed in (HAPLESS)* – an instant write-in for anyone who has had to deal with them
11 PTISAN: (ITS) in PAN, &lit
13 PETIT: ET in PIT
14 C,HOA,NAE: Not sure if I’d seen HOA for moderation before
15 E,MULE
16 CONT,USE
17 TENONER: TENOR(substance) around NE
23 PEACHER: take the (moo)R out of PREACHER
25 LAY WAIT: I think this is meant to be a Spoonerism (Rev) of WAY LATE
28 CHAR(brown),A(accepted): short for CHARABANC
29 AT LARGE: (LTA,GEAR)*
30 HAFTS: F in HAT,’S – got this from the wordplay and had to confirm STOCKS = HANDLES = HAFTS
31 LET RIP: or LE TRIP. Chambers doesn’t have the definition I am most familiar with for this phrase
32 MISGRAFTED: G,RAFT(crowd) in (DEISM)*
33 AN’,THEM: Scratched my head over this for a while, but google to the rescue, it’s a Wilfred Owen poem
34 BESTED: EST(is) in BED
 
Down
1 SIP,PET
2 INTEMERATE: take the P(pastor) out of INTEMPERATE
3 UPSILON: U then LISP reversed, ON
4 PLATENS: LAT in PENS
5 A’S,THO,RE(Religious education)
6 SHOO,N(new)
7 SPEAT: first letters of Spatter Pot-bellied and then EAT(pig)
8 OAK-NUT: A, and K,N(abbreviations for knight) in OUT
9 TE,HEED
12 EASTERTIDE: (RESTED,I,TEA)*
18 EPIGRAM: (EG,PRIAM)*
19 MACHETE: ACHE for A in MATE
20 ACHATES: CHAT(waffle) in SEA(marine) reversed
21 PLASMA: A(are), MS(months) on ALP all reversed – another name for chalcedony
22 HYLIST: sounds like HIGH on LIST – materialistic person
24 RASPED: ASP being surrounded (ringed) by RED
26 WAUGH: two definitions and a wordplay – W,AUGH(t)
27 ARERE: (RARE)* then (abus)E

7 comments on “Mephisto 2813 – Paul McKenna”

  1. Yes, straightforward as is today’s 2814

    Can’t say I really understand 25A. I also presumed “way late” by Spooner but what does “way late” mean?

    I loved 33A. I guess we’re going to see a lot of these evocative and poignant WW1 poems in the coming months and I read this one at school.

    1. It could be a colloquial ‘very late’ but I think a bit of separation may be called for Jim. Way = means and late = out of office? Is it really a Spoonerism if the resulting words don’t make a sensible phrase?

      Edited at 2014-08-03 08:54 am (UTC)

      1. I see what you’re getting at and for me that wouldn’t count as a Spoonerism. I would prefer a better device to indicate the change to “way late”.
  2. I was still left with a few blanks in this, so thank you for the explanations George.

    Who or what is “Salmond” in 14ac?

    1. Alex S – Scottish First Minister & SNP leader, taking his turn as an alternative to Jock or Mac.
      1. Thank you. Unfortunately references to UK current affairs do make it hard for overseas solvers.
        1. They do, but our prime audience is people who read the paper, and as the independence referendum approaches, he’s in the papers pretty much every day at present.

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