Mephisto 2884 by Tim Moorey

An interesting puzzle with poor old Michael Fish making a guest appearance whilst the wind howls across the UK. A good mix of anagrinds here and some Aussie slang. Nothing to frighten experienced solvers and a good test for newer participants.

Across
1 WONGIED – (g wide)* surrounds ON; shot=anagrind; prattle in Perth;
6 CUTTO – CUT-TO; nick=CUT; against=TO; large knife;
10 IDEA – I’-DEA(l); “in” short=I’; board=DEA(l); plan;
11 ONDATRAS – (and dot – d)*-RAS; harry=anagrind; head=RAS; rodents;
12 NIFF-NAFFY – NIFF(NAFF)Y;
15 VLEI – (live)*; fish=ransack=anagrind; a swamp in Seattle;
16 SAPEGO – SAP-EGO; old word for serpigo;
17 EASELS – EASE-L(eg)S;
18 ESTRANGELO – E(STRANGE)LO(re); old script;
20 PEELGARLIC – (clip)* surrounds EEL-RAG(e) reversed; wretched person; the capital F on Fish is a reference to Michael Fish MBE infamous weather forcaster who in 1987 said “hurricane – what hurricane?” hours before one struck southern England killing 19 people;
24 FANTOD – FAN-TO-D; D=Germany; anxiety;
25 HABOOB – BOO-BAH reversed; sandstorm;
26 OTTO – (m)OTTO;
29 TURRIBANT – TUR(n)-RIB-ANT; a turban;
30 LIMINESS – LI(MINES)S(t); desire=list;
31 INGE – IN-GE; Georgia=GE; namen der Frau akin to Inga and Ingrid;
32 EMBOG – GOB-ME(t); Stapleton’s fate near Baskerville Hall;
33 DEPOSER – DE(POS)ER; chamber (pot)=po;
 
Down
1 WINESAP – WINE-SAP; muscat=wine (DBE); juice=SAP; a winter apple;
2 NEFS – NE(F)S(t); table decorations;
3 GAFFES – better=gaffer then change “r” to “s”;
4 IONA – I-ON-A(rgyll); nice clue;
5 ENAMORADO – OD(A-ROMAN)E all reversed; old word for lover;
6 CAFTAN – CAN surrounds (fat)*; bum=anagrind;
7 TRALEE – T(LAR reversed)EE; Libya=LAR; County Town of County Kerry in Eire (created 6th December1922);
8 TABELLION – (not liable)*; Roman scrivener;
9 OSSIS – OS-SIS; Secret Intelligence Service=SIS; people from old East Germany, opposite of Wessis;
13 HAVE-AT-HIM – sounds like “have a Tim”; old fencing parlance;
14 REARHORSE – whimsical definition, bay=horse (DBE); the preying mantis;
19 ORBITER – O(R)BITER;
21 ENTOMB – (boatmen – a)*; about=a;
22 GO,BUNG – GOB-UN-G; US sailor=GOB; a=UN; German=G; fail in Freemantle;
23 IBIBIO – I-BIB-IO; indeed=I; expression of joy=IO; Nigerian people;
24 FOGLE – F-OGLE; silk handkerchief;
27 LISP – agenda=list then change “t”=time to “p”=pressure;
28 SANS – two meanings 1=without 2=sanitoriums;

One comment on “Mephisto 2884 by Tim Moorey”

  1. I had to give up on this with only the top half done: I just couldn’t get anything in the bottom half other than SANS and INGA, which was wrong anyway. This is the first non-completion for me for a very long time, and I didn’t even get close. Not sure what was going on!

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