Mephisto 2878 by Tim Moorey – absurd week on a rabbit (4,3)

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
This is the third very easy Mephisto on the trot, with this one the easiest by far. As a solver I look to Mephisto to provide a challenge and this one failed in that respect completely. To add insult to injury instead of (two words) we had (7,5) and (8,4) and even (3-1-1) for a party ending with “Q”. Yes, we need puzzles that encourage new solvers but this one in particular is too easy to even be said to meet that requirement.

Could it be that the three regular setters have become jaded and that we need an injection of new blood?

Across
1 ANNAM – MANNA = windfall reversed; old part of Vietnam;
5 ASEPSES – SEA reversed contains SEPS=snake; without sepsis;
10 NAIR – NAIR(a); naira=money in West Africa; Indian people;
11 ICTERUS – (countries – on)*; jaundice;
12 TRAINER,PANTS – two meanings, one whimsical; what can one say?;
14 BAR-B-Q – BARB-Q; pigeon=BARB; quality=Q; and another give away;
16 PHISNOMY – (in shop)*-MY; clock=slang for face;
17 ALANGS – A-LANG-S; grasslands; nursery slopes clue;
20 ISSEI – ISS(u)E-I(n); profit=issue; for all to see=u; Japanese in Canada and USA:
21 RIPON – RIP-ON; small slightly obscure city in Yorkshire;
23 ENLIST – (m)EN-LIST; desire=LIST;
25 ENRAUNGE – (eager nun)*; old word for enrange;
27 IROKO – IR(OK)O(n); wood; another write-in clue;
30 CANISTER,SHOT – (near scottish)*;
31 VESTURE – V-EST-URE; old word for operation=URE;
32 ASCI – AS-CI(d); cells;
33 EUSTASY – EU-STA(S)Y; sun=S; change to level of shoreline caused by change in sea-level;
34 SYRIA – AIRY-S all reversed; S=society; has Syria ever been an open society?;
 
Down
1 ANTIPARTICLE – A-N-TIP-ARTICLE; not a particle you would want to meet;
2 NARY – N(AR)Y; never in Nevada; see if you can make this clue any easier – that’s considerably harder than solving it;
3 ARIES – (c)ARIES; then do the same with this – another simple write-in;
4 MINING – M(IN)ING; old word for unite=MING; definition not too difficult for you, I trust;
5 ACED – ACE-D; obtained 100% in a test in Texas;
6 STRUMAE – (must fear – f)*; swellings;
7 PRAAMS – P(R-AA)M-S(torm); run=R; rock=AA; fishing-vessels;
8 SUNRISING – SUN-RISING; about as difficult as 12A;
9 SESQUITERTIA – (tes-as-I-r)* surrounds QUITE=rather; out=anagrind; a perfect fourth;
13 DIAPHONES – DI(v)A(PHONE)S; organ stops; mobile=phone=DBE;
15 BYES – B-YES; what follows a=B; bye=farewell=cheers;
18 LIAR – RAIL reversed;
19 SANCTUS – (nutcases – e)*; music;
22 OIKIST – two meanings, one whimsical; OIK=cad; ancient Greek colony founder;
24 NACRES – N-ACRES; and another total gift;
26 UNSAY – (s)UN-SAY; and another;
28 AERY – A-(v)ERY; v=versus=against;
29 FOCI – I-C-OF all reversed;

5 comments on “Mephisto 2878 by Tim Moorey – absurd week on a rabbit (4,3)”

  1. I tried it, Jimbo, per your recommendation. I managed about a third of the clues, with not enough close crossers to help me along with the rest; the problem was, many of the answers were words unknown to me so – short of looking up every possible answer to the wordplay, which would be tedious and cheating – I was left in limbo. Maybe I didn’t see enough episodes of “Call my Bluff”.
    Your vocab of obscure words, built up over many years of solving barred crosswords, is clearly what makes them easy to you. I’ll keep trying, but only when I have the time and inclination to do the legwork. Regards.
    1. That’s more or less what’s required with these puzzles, and use of a dictionary (specifically Chambers) is expected. I usually look up most of the words, even if I’m pretty sure of the answer. I use the Chambers app, which is a lot easier to use (and more transportable) than the book: I recommend it.
      I didn’t find this hard, but neither did I find it particularly easy. As you say there were enough obscure words in here to keep this relatively inexperienced solver on his toes!
    2. I’d say don’t give up, and trust the wordplay. With Mephisto and the Club Monthly (out today, give it a go), the clues are a lot fairer than in the daily cryptic, but the vocabulary’s more obscure. You start having to look up lots of words, but just to check they exist – there aren’t that many possibilities from the wordplay. When I first started solving Mephistos I used to spend three or four hours on them, looking up nearly every word. Now I can solve them on the train, with a few to look up later just for confirmation. It just takes practice.
  2. On the difficulty, I can’t add anything to the different experience for new and very experienced Mephisto solvers. If we always challenged the experienced ones, new solvers might struggle. Apologies for the over-helpful enumerations – the software used by our setters doesn’t include a way of automatically producing the barred grid versions for multiple words, so these have to be done by hand. Paul McKenna does so in his copy, but even that just shifts the problem – you get things like “Trainerpants, two words” in the solution and have to amend that instead.

    Edited at 2015-11-01 03:47 pm (UTC)

  3. I found it on the easy side, but mostly because the wordplay was so clear, which one would expect from Tim Moorey. There were a few “unusual words that become usual to barred-grid solvers” in here (EUSTASY, STRUMAE and IROKO rang bells) but a number of not-that-unusual words meant a few could go in with wordplay confirmation later, which is usually not my Mephisto experience. Let’s see what Paul McKenna brings today when the coffee is ready

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