Mephisto 2870 by Paul McKenna – je ne comprends pas

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
With the exception of 1 Down a straightforward solve of average difficulty. I can make little sense of our French foray – je perplexe – all help gratefully received.

Across
3 AFFRAPPING – A-FF-(w)RAPPING; folios=FF; Spenser-speak for striking;
10 DESERT – three meanings 1=forsake 2=merit 3=quiet place;
11 WHINES – W(H)INES;
12 OUTTOP – OUT-(POT reversed); planter=POT;
13 SCAM – MAC’S reversed;
15 WAKERIFE – WIFE surrounds (rake)*; Maconochie’s mindful – tentie;
16 TENDS – TE(N)D-S; spread out to dry=TED; sun=S; noon=N;
17 PIRATED – PI(RAT)ED;
19 TRY,IT,ON – TR(Y)ITON; yankee=Y (phonetic alphabet);
24 MGANGAS – MG-AN-GAS; machine gun=MG; impressive thing=GAS; witch doctors;
26 ILLUPIS – I’LL-UP-(l)IS(t); nut trees;
28 RABBI – RA(BB)I(l); cloak=rail;
29 NOT-PATED – NOT(PAT)ED; Waggledagger’s crop;
31 KAIM – KAI-M(ove); Kiwi food=KAI; bank;
32 GITANO – (got in a)*;
33 UNMADE – UN(MAD)E;
34 AVATAR – A(VAT-A)R; augmented reality=AR; back=VAT;
35 SEA-GODDESS – SEAS surrounds (dodges)*;
 
Down
1 I,DON’T,THINK – phrase used to indicate ironic comment as in “Just what we need – I don’t think” which may or may not equate to “yeah,yeah,perhaps”; the significance of “– parce que je suis étourdi?” which is French for “– because I’m dizzy” is completely lost on me;
2 NEUTER – (tenure)*;
3 ASTI – ASTI(r);
4 FETE-DIEU – FETE-DIE-U I; cash in (one’s chips) = DIE;
5 FROWSTY – FRO(W)STY;
6 AWAKING – A-WA(KIN)G;
7 PHEER – sounds like “fear”;
8 INCITE – IN-CITE;
9 NEAFES – NEA(t)-FES(t); Waggledagger for dukes=fists;
14 MEDUSIFORM – (for dummies)*; cream=anagrind;
18 ANNATTAS – AN(SAT-TAN reversed); dyes;
20 OMITTED – O(MITT)ED;
21 TARDIVE – TAR-DIVE;
22 SLOANE – S(LOAN)E; distinctive type of bore living around Sloane Square in London;
23 ULTIMA – hidden (defa)ULT-IM-A(ccenting);
25 ABUNAS – AB(UN)AS; arab clothes=ABAS; “one” in dialect=UN; Ethiopin leaders;
27 P,AND,O – PAN-DO; face=PAN; finish=DO;the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company;
30 EATS – EA-T(rigger)-S(nacking);

15 comments on “Mephisto 2870 by Paul McKenna – je ne comprends pas”

    1. Thanks Kevin but how so? I DON’T THINK doesn’t mean hare-brained which is just another way of saying giddy. It means “I don’t really mean what I’ve just said” or “I disbelieve” (see Chambers under think-1). And why French?

      Could you parse the whole clue for us please. “___ parce que je suis etourdi? Yeah yeah, perhaps”

  2. Makes much more sense than what I was pondering, ie Descartes’ “Je pense donc je suis”
    1. Thanks – I also considered that because it at least has a French connection but couldn’t see the reasoning
  3. This puzzled me too and could only think of the vague connection to Descartes at the time. A bit of googling just now has come up with one instance of the word being translated as ‘thoughtless’ which fits the clue, but there seem to be many shades of meaning depending on context. I wonder what our resident French speakers make of it.

    Having thought a bit more, I suggest ‘yeah, yeah’ is the definition, being (as you point out) possibly equivalent to ‘I don’t think’, hence the ‘perhaps’. The setter is then seduced by the Descartes quotation and so puts into French (to put us on the same track) a possible reason why one might not think, for which one or more of the possible translations of étourdi, even ‘dizzy’, might pass muster. All a bit convoluted perhaps.

    Edited at 2015-09-06 12:11 pm (UTC)

    1. Yes, I can live with “yeah yeah” as a definition – not great but OK if the cryptic works in tandem

      I thought at the time of Descartes but considered “parce que je ne suis pas?” would have been spot on but that “étourdi” made no connection.

  4. To me étourdi can mean ‘stunned’ or ‘dizzy’; the verb means to daze or stun. My Collins Robert says as an adjective it can be stretched to ‘scatterbrained’ or absent-minded; to do something ‘étourdi’ can mean to act thoughtlessly. Still, not an obvious route to the parsing.
    I found a translation of the Nirvana song ‘Lithium’ linking yeah yeah with étourdi, with the words
    J’allume mes cierges
    L’air étourdi
    Car j’ai trouvé Dieu
    Yeah yeah yeah (x7)
    But that seems a stretch even for the Mephisto setter, I would have thought. Sorry can’t be more use, greetings from the land of Molière.
  5. Not much to add here: similar bafflement at 1dn. The Descartes thing might give you ‘donc je ne suis pas’, but I can’t see how it gives you this. I thought of it quite early on, which helped me with a few of the acrosses, but didn’t put it in until I had all the checkers and couldn’t think of anything else.
    There were a couple of things in here I didn’t understand, so thanks for the explanations:
    > Back = VAT. I should have thought of this, as it apparently comes from the French bac
    > I was wondering how ‘cash’ could mean DIE. A ‘stamp for impressing coins’ seemed a bit loose!
  6. I thought 1dn was pretty straightforward, if unusual. The unbroken line introducing the clue led me to read the first part as I DON’T THINK because I am scatterbrained, followed by yeah yeah, perhaps I DON’T THINK. A (sort of) double definition.
      1. Just for fun? A nod to Descartes? Perhaps the setter or the editor might like to step in and explain.
        1. Your double def matches what the editor thought he’d emailed to Jimbo from a hotel room on holiday. Why in French? Because etourdi is from French, I should think (and because Paul likes the odd bit of foreign lingo text).

          Edited at 2015-09-10 01:36 am (UTC)

          1. Yes, thank you Peter. I was by then myself on a holiday from which I have only just returned.

            The clue will not be appearing on my list of all time favourites.

  7. Thanks Jim, BACK=VAT was new to me as well. I’m also baffled by 1d, I still don’t understand what a dash in a clue is meant to represent.
    1. The “dash” in 1D should look like a few underscores rather than a dash. These normally (i.e. I can’t think of any other use right now) indicate where you could put the answer in a bit of text.

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