Mephisto 2823 – Don Manley

Most of this is crystal-clear wordplay for obscure and not-so-obscure words, but there’s still one that is nagging me, and with two unchecked letters there’s the slight chance that I’m wrong, though there is a pretty direct definition. It’s probably that I’m missing something blindingly obvious, I’m good at that! Turns out it was, and the blog is now complete.

23 down is a word that has dogged me forever… I once published a paper on some of the properties of the compounds, using data from a commercial computer program that had (unbeknownst to me) changed the units of the quantity calculated (it was a quadrupole moment). Although the programming company issued an apology and changed the way that property is calculated, I still get the occasional letter accusing me of misreporting data… in 1997 they were insignificant components of tar sands, but about 10 years later they were possibly detected on Mars and suddenly of great interest. Being ahead of the curve was never so embarrassing.

I digress… away we go!

Across
1	UN,GAG: GAG as cheat/swindle is in Chambers
6	PEARST: not sure I see the wordplay there… OH now I do! It’s EARS (what may be pricked) in PT(past). Sneaky one there!
11	TEMULENCE: anagram of LENT,EXCUSE,ME without SEX
12	ORLON: hidden in poOR LONdoner
13	ADAGIOS: ADOS surrounding A,GI
14	POLL(register),UTE
16	O,LAV
17	EPISTLE: EP, then IE containing ST and L – an all-in-one clue
18	BUNDESWEHR: B and then a multiple container – WE in SH in UNDER
20	DRIVETRAIN: RIVET in DRAIN
24	OUAKARI: (h)OURI containing A,KA
27	TOEY: YET reversed around 0
29	SCAUPER: (A,SPRUCE)*
30	ARMLOCK: A ROCK containing ML
31	CLADE: LAD in CE
32	PULP,IT,EER
33	ESPADA: DA at the end of APSE reversed
34	NACRE: anagram of CERTAIN minus IT
Down
1	UROPOD: OP in U,ROD(bar)
2	NEROLI: O(circular hole) in an anagram (gushing) of LINER
3	GALL,A,BIAS
4	GENUINE: GEN, then URINE without the R. There’s a production of “Urinetown” going on in the West end at the moment, and as soon as I save this I’m off to perform in a local production of it here. Synchronicity!
5	AMATED: ANIMATED without NI
7	E-LA-MI: 1,MALE all reversed – MALE meaning “Father” possibly to Shakespeare
8	AEGIS: anagram of IMAGES less M
9	SCOP(e)
10	TESTER: a coin – TEST(match) then RE reversed
15	STENOPAIC: (OPEN,CAT,IS)*
19	SARACEN: RACE in SAN(Bushman)
20	DOG-APE: or DO GAPE
21	RICKE(t)Y
22	REEDER: sounds like READER
23	PYRENE: P and then ENERGY reversed without the G
25	KALPA: replace the middle P with an L in KAPPA
26	AROID: ARID surrounding O
28	URUS: RU in US