Mephisto 2883 – Don Manley

Author   glhPosted on Categories Mephisto
Only had a few question marks on this one at the first pass through, so the wordplay was pretty solid for a number of unfamiliar words.

Wishing I could have been in NYC or London today, but oh well – hope everyone who made it had a great time! I was sent the bonus puzzles, I might have a chance at trying them tomorrow.

Away we go…

Across
1 M(oses),AU,MET
6 TOP DOG: GOD and POT reversed
12 THEBAINE: THEE(you) holding BIN holding A – a double container
13 LIFT GATE: Spoonerism of GIFT LATE
14 AMORT: AMORIST with IS removed
15 TALAYOT: A,LAY(set) with TOT outside
16 SYRIAC: anagram of SCARY around 1
17 VIELLE: apparently this is pronouned V,L (5 and 50). I don’t think I’ve ever said it out loud to confirm
18 GAMASH: GASH(cut) with A,M inside
23 CITRAL: C then (TRAIL)*
24 ARECAS: A,S(square) containing ACER(maple) reversed
25 AWHAPE: AWE surrounding HAP(accident)
28 TACHIST: TAT containing CH,IS
30 XERES: SERE,X(vote) all reversed
31 CROPSICK: CROCK (unwell person) containing PSI
32 EARTH-NUT: anagram of TURN with HEAT
33 REMEID: RID with EME inside
34 REAMER: take the first letter from DREAMER
 
Down
1 MOLAS: double definition
2 ATIMY: AMY(little woman) surrounding TI
3 UNFORMS: take 1 away from UNIFORMS
4 MATRIARCHATE: anagram of HIM,RETRACT and two A’s
5 THATCHT: HATCH between T,T(times)
7 OBELIA: points as in daggers in text and supertext – OB and ELIA(Charles Lamb) As pointed out in comments, a better fit for the definition is the plural of OBELION
8 PANAESTHESIA: (HE,IS,A,PEASANT)*
9 DIXY: sounds like DIXIE
10 ON HOLD: N, HO with OLD outside
11 GENTEEL: 1337(leetspeak) and NEG all reversed
18 GOA,TIER
19 ACA(accountant),TOUR
20 ORARIUM: double definition
21 GRAEAE: GRACE missing C, then AE(aged)
22 TAI CHI: anagram of ITCH containing A1
26 PECKE: PECKER(resolve) losing R
27 ESK,E,R
29 CO,RM: an underground stem

2 comments on “Mephisto 2883 – Don Manley”

  2. Enjoyed this one – as George mentions, the wordplay for the more obscure words was more helpful than is often the case (for me).

    I think OBELIA is the plural of obelion, which is (per Chambers) “A point in the sagittal suture of the skull between the two parietal foramina”, hence the ‘”Heady” points’ in the clue.

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