Mephisto 2819 – Paul McKenna

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
I wonder if I may be missing something hidden here (and very occasionally Paul McKenna sneaks something extra into his puzzles) because I was struggling most of the way with this one and now it comes time to write it up there’s still a few clues that are raising an eyebrow. I think I have all of the literals, so it’s wordplay and clue phrasing that is eluding me.

I don’t know if any US crossword fans regularly check in here, but this grid would make an American constructor proud – there’s a 4×4 block in the middle and with the 90-degree symmetry, three 3×4 blocks close to the corners with all letters checked. You don’t see that everyday!

Away we go…

Across
1 SUPRA: P in SURA(chapter of the Koran) – I use “wrt” regularly to the confusion of US students
6 DEPOTS: STO(p)PED reversed
11 IGNITABLE: IGN(unknown),TABLE stopping 1
12 AFAR: CAFARD (depression) with the outer letters removed
13 TSARIST: TRIST surrounding SA
14 MUIST: I in MUST. I’m grey enough, thanks
17 BEN: two lengthy definitions
18 MANOEUVRE: MAN(private), OEUVRE
19 ALLITERATION: or ALL ITERATION, say
21 PLYMOUTH ROCK: PLY(importune),UTTER(mouth),ROCK(support) – a breed of poultry I’ve not personally seen on a menu
23 DESERTION: (TORIES,END)*
25 DUE: DUDE with the second D removed
27 U,SURE
28 MOGADON: (GOOD,MAN)*
30 BRAN: R in BAN
31 PROMENADE: PRO(broad can mean prostitute in the US) with MEN, (w)ADE
32 YOGINS: G(ym) in (NOISY)*. This should have been a write-in but I had thought the plural was YOGINI – Chambers says that is the feminine
33 SAT,YR: SAT for STOOD(as in STOOD in position) is one of those “should be an antonym” crossword entries like BEST/WORST, WICKED/GOOD
 
Down
1 SHAM,BA: I can see where SHAM comes from, and both letters in BA are checked, but I can’t seem to put “hardly attractive” with BA, which is given in Chambers as short for BALL. Anything from the crowd?
2 UNFUELLED: U in UNFELLED
3 PLAINLY: IN,L(imoncello) in PLAY
4 AGITATORS: A,GIT,A,(SORT)*
5 ANTINEUTRONS: AN,(SET,RAN,INTO)*
6 DISTORTIONAL: (OLD,STRIATION)*
7 ETA: hidden Basque separatists
8 PARE,U
9 OB(obiter, by the way),IT
10 SET,AE: I see AE for aged and the definition, but I can’t seem to see the connection between SET and variegated. I may be missing something obvious as there’s about 8456 definitions of SET in Chambers
15 SEAHOUNDS: EA,H in SOUNDS
16 PRO,CU,RACY
20 1,O,DU,RET
22 KEENER: double definition
23 DUMPY: I think this is meant to be DUMP(short, thick peson) and Y(ield) with the definition being umbrella/mushroom shaped but I could be wrong here
24 EN AMI: 1,MANE all reversed
26 A,GOG: the other would be A,MAGOG
29 DEN: take (ev)E from EDEN

6 comments on “Mephisto 2819 – Paul McKenna”

  1. I managed most of this without the dictionary, but I share your puzzlement about SETAE and DUMPY.

    I think the BA in 1dn is BA(d) – “hardly” indicating the truncation, and BAD being another of those words which “should be an antonym” (C gives “attractive” among the definitions).

    1. Sorry that was me.

      I’m sure you’re right on 23dn – a DUMPY is “a short umbrella”.

      Edited at 2014-09-14 01:00 am (UTC)

      1. On 23dn, mushroom is “an umbrella (sl)”, so hard but fair as an indication for “dumpy”.

        Among the verb defs for “set” in Chambers is “variegate”, and as “set” is its own past tense/participle, it’s therefore “variegated” too.

  2. A good puzzle I thought and rather like today’s an interesting test without ever being too difficult. Wasn’t quite sure that Malibu was needed at 31A
  3. I interpreted 1dn like dereklam but I thought the use of ‘hardly’ was a bit odd. I didn’t have a clue about 10dn, so thanks to Peter for clearing that one up. The ‘variegate’ meaning is well concealed!

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