Mephisto 2832 by Don Manley – Hunt The Village

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
I found this puzzle a little on the easy side, completing most of it without reference to Chambers.

I was intrigued to see a location defined as an obscure village rather than by its more famous usage. Where will this end? New York is a village in Tyne and Wear, likewise Hollywood is in Worcestershire, Holland is in Surrey, Moscow is in Ayreshire, and Palestine is in Hampshire!

The puzzle appeared on the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and I looked for a theme but failed to find one.

Across
1 PATTLE – PA(TT)LE; plough cleaner;
6 BHINDI – B(angalore)-HINDI; ladies fingers;
10 WALIAN – WALI-AN; governor=WALI (see VALI in C); north or south Wales;
12 RAPINE – R-A-PINE;
13 GOLPE – G-OLPE; jug=OLPE; a purple roundel;
14 NOBBLER – NO(B)BLE-R; rector=R; ancient salesman;
15 SALPIAN – S(A-LP)IAN; plankton;
16 TASS – T(he)-ASS; a dram perhaps;
18 EASSELGATE – (eagle sets a)*; to the east in Elgin;
21 ATRAMENTAL – A-T-RA-MENTAL: old ink;
23 LECH – hidden (despicab)LE-CH(ap); a small lecher – Falstaff perhaps;
25 ACCABLE – AC-CABLE; depressed in Dijon;
28 ISOBARS – I-SO(BAR)S; December 1703 saw them record a record low in the Great Storm that killed 9,000;
30 TAXER – T(AXE)R; transactions=TR; Chancellors all;
31 HERNIA – H-ER(NI)A;
32 PEOPLE – PE(OP)LE;
33 TYBURN – BY-TURN; I wonder how many knew that TYBURN was originally a village on the outskirts of London (the name is a contraction of “boundary stream”) that stood at the junction of Tyburn Road (now Oxford Street) and Tyburn Lane (now Park Lane) which achieved fame as a place of execution that gave rise to Speakers Corner and the concept of free speech;
34 TASSET – T(ussel)-ASSET; overlapping pieces of armour that form a skirt;
 
Down
1 PERISTALITH – PERI-STA(L)ITH; embankment=STAITH; Stonehenge perhaps;
2 AGACANTE – AGA-CANTE(r); a siren;
3 TIPPLER – TI(PP)LER;
4 TWIRP – (tpwri)*; anagrist “tpwri” from T(y)P(e)-W(e)-R(a)I(l); old twerp;
5 LANAI – LANA-I; wood=LANA; a living area in Hawaii;
6 BIZONE – BIZ-ONE; Germany from 1947 to 1949 when it became a trizone (France joined in the fun with the US and UK);
7 HAGBOLT – HAG-BOLT; the shearwater (see hackbolt in C);
8 NULLA – NULL-A(utumn); a stream;
9 DUPE – DU-P(r)E; r from (performe)r; Jacqueline Du Pre OBE 1945-1987 whose rendering of the Elgar Cello Concerto – particularly at the Proms 1963-65 – is iconic;
11 PERSEVERANT – (partners)* surrounds EVE;
17 STILBITE – STIL(l)-BITE; strictly a collective name for two minerals Stilbite-Ca and Stilbite-Na;
19 SMEARER – two meanings;
20 ALBINOS – A-L(B)INOS;
22 EARCON – (one car)*; audio signal from a computer;
24 COXIB – CO-XI-B(reakthrough); name derived from cox-2 inhibitor, a drug used to treat arthritis;
26 CHELA – two meanings;
27 AYRES – hidden (holid)AY-RES(idents); old songs, Oz rock or poet Pam;
29 SAGY – SA(g)GY;

4 comments on “Mephisto 2832 by Don Manley – Hunt The Village”

  1. I don’t think it’s a huge surprise that Tyburn was once a village on the outskirts of London. This is the story of many districts of London. Heathrow was once a hamlet …
  2. There is now a plaque to mark the site of Tyburn Tree. It is on a small traffic island at the junction of Marble Arch and the Edgware Road, and thus almost as dangerous a spot nowadays as it was then
  3. ‘Old Middlesex village’ is certainly a bland description of Tyburn, although ‘next to bend in’ can be read as a sly reference to its darker side. One of my recollections from school history is that Oliver Cromwell’s body was dug up and strung up there. To be sure.
    1. Welcome to the Mephisto Corner terencep – are you a regular solver of bar crosswords?

      You’re correct about Cromwell who was joined by the Judge at the King’s trial – Bradshaw – and a relative who was an officer in the Roundhead army – Ireton

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