Mephisto 2872 by Tim Moorey – Airlines and Alphabets

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
The last Mephisto that I blogged involved a considerable time spent trying to discover why a clue was half in French, half in English. I learned from the Editor that this was because the setter needed to show off his grasp of the French language. With my confidence shaken by that somewhat unnerving experience I have devoted less time than usual to two queries – 20A and 14D and invite all explanations, however far fetched.

Across
1 ESTH – EST-H(oliday); Estonian of Finnish stock;
4 SABRECUT – (bats cruel – l=50)*;
9 STRIATUM – S(TRIA(l))TUM; must=STUM;
11 UNDERMINER – UND((v)ERMIN)ER; sap=undermine;
12 ARID,ZONE – (zaire d no)*; hot=anagrind; deserted=d;
15 JELLO – J-(h)ELLO; Juliet=J (phonetic alphabet);
16 ACID – A(C)ID;
17 BLUE,RUIN – BLUE-RU(I)N; greyish=BLUE; short=gin=BLUE RUIN;
18 PHOTOPSY – P(HOT)OPSY; flashes of light; P-Popsy was FL Mick Martin’s Lanc on the Dambuster raid;
20 LEGO – LEG-(studi)O I’m guessing but don’t really understand; jerry-built is definition;
22 YAPOK – YA(PO)K;
25 CADASTRE – hidden (s)CAD-AS-TRE(easure);
26 NEOLIBERAL – (a rebellion)*;
27 RESONANT – R(NOSE reversed)ANT;
28 CHELATOR – CH(TALE reversed)OR(e); a catalyst in a chemical process;
29 ATTY – (n)ATTY; n from (priso)N;
 
Down
1 ESPADA – E-SPAD-A; SPAD=Signal Passed At Danger (see Ladbroke Grove train crash 1999);
2 STERNCHASER – STERN-CHASER; a cannon;
3 HINDI – HIND-I(tch); rustic in Rutherglen = HIND;
4 SADZA – SA-D-ZA;
5 BURNOUSE – BURN-OUSE; Arab cape;
6 EPIMER – (premises – s – s)*; s=sun;
7 CONFLUENT – CON-FLUENT;
8 TARPON – NO-PRAT all reversed; number=NO; can=arse=PRAT; large fish;
10 BELLIGERENT – BELL-I(GERE)NT; cricketer=(Ian) BELL; old kit=GERE;
13 IDIOPHONE – soft=idiot then change t=tenor to phone=call; percussion instrument;
14 ALPHABET – series of letters – not sure about the KLM bit;
18 PYKNIC – P(INKY reversed)C; PC=Police Constable; of stocky build;
19 TOL-LOL – TO-(LOLL reversed); very old slang for “pretty good” – can’t say I’ve ever heard it; ;
21 OWELTY – O-WELTY; power=welly then change l (a bit of L(uck)) to T=time; definition is par=equality;
23 MAROR – great=major then change J to R=recipe; passover dish;
24 ASANA – AS-AN-A;

6 comments on “Mephisto 2872 by Tim Moorey – Airlines and Alphabets”

  1. Not sure which part of 14 is the problem Jim but the definition is in Chambers and it is still the cricket season. I guess 20 is simply a play on two meanings of convey – not very Mephistoish perhaps.
    1. Thanks. At 20A LEG=ON of course. Don’t know what I was thinking.

      A week later and I still don’t see 14D

      1. Sorry about getting my acrosses and downs mixed up. I thought ‘put on’ was a delightful piece of misdirection because it is such a common phrase. I still can’t get beyond the notion that the letters KLM, being consecutive, may convey (the idea of) the alphabet, which is not something that can be transported by the airline.
  2. I presumed that 14d was just a whimsical way of saying that the series of letters KLM are in the alphabet but not in the spelling of the word ALPHABET.

    btw, thanks for the parsing of 8d & especially 13d, which both evaded me.

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