Mephisto 2918 – Paul McKenna

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
An interesting puzzle of about average difficulty slightly marred by lights 3D,4D,5D and 16D showing format of two word solutions. With 40 clues in total it is also slightly larger than usual. I’m not wholly convinced by the anagrind at 17A but luckily knew the word from previous appearances so solved from definition.

Across
1 ELFIN – slighlty unusual hidden word (pan)EL and FIN(e);
5 SPECTRE – (respect)*;
10 MONOCLE – MO(CON reversed)LE; conclusion=CON; person with bad eyesight=MOLE;
12 GOWFBA’ – GO-W-(BF reversed)-A; bet=GO; a golf ball at Gleneagles;
13 POILU – hidden reversed (det)PO-I-LU(fitud); French Tommy;
14 ROTE – ROT-(dir)E;
15 MALLEI – MAL-LEI; french pain=MAL; wreath=LEI; bones (of the ear) is definition;
17 EMPARLED – (leader MP)*; question “swapping” as anagrind; old word for discussed;
19 VOLE – VO(L)E; bay in Burray=VOE;
20 ABROOKE – A-BROOKE; reference Rupert Brooke 1887-1915; Will’s word for suffer;
23 ENLARGE – (general)*; motors=anagrind;
25 DOIT – DO-IT;
26 AGIOTAGE – AG(I)O-T-AGE; activity of bulls and bears;
28 T-STRAP – (exhibi)T-(PARTS reversed);
31 CECA – ACE-C all reversed; C=$100 as per Jimmy Cagney; US spelling of caeca – pouch in alimentary canal;
32 TICOS – (is oct)*; slang for Costa Ricans;
33 AIRMAN – (f)AIR-MA-N; fighter=f; and=N;
34 PERAEON – PER-AEON; through=PER; eternity=AEON; thorax of a lobster to which its legs are attached – loose definition;
35 PAINTED – PAIN-TE(n)D; smart=PAIN;
36 NEBEL – (o)NE-BEL; BEL=unit of sound (decibel is more commonly used);
 
Down
1 ENGRAVE – ENG-RAVE; split in Stirling=RAVE;
2 FOWTH – (howf)* surrounds T=it; abundance in Aberdeen;
3 IN,FERE – INFER-(thes)E; old word for together;
4 NOBLE,ART – (baron let)*; press=anagind; “the fancy” is old slang for boxing;
5 SCAN.,MAG. – run through=SCAN; Private Eye little=MAG; scandalum magnatum=mud-slinging;
6 PLUM – PLUM(p);
7 COOL – CO(O)L;
8 TRILLO – TRI(L-L)O; latin=L; learner=L; vibrate;
9 EQUID – DIE reversed surrounds QU=Queen;
11 CLEEKIT – CLEE-KIT; gear=KIT; Housman (poet) beacon site=CLEE; siezed is definition;
16 LONG,SIN – LONG-S-IN; sabbath=S;
18 ARTESIAN – (it earns a)*; natural well as in Australian Great Artesian Basin;
21 BEGHARD – B-EG-HARD; person who lived like a monk without taking holy orders;
22 ETHANOL – (a lot he)* surrounds n=new;
24 LITCHI – LIT-CHI;
25 DECREE – DECRE(as)E;
26 ATTAP – A(TT)A-P; abstainer=TT; Alcoholics Anonymous=AA; quietly=P; palm leaves used as thatching;
27 DEMOB – devestated=bombed then reverse (over) and remove “b”;
29 ROON – RO(ll)ON; tight corset=roll-on, a ladies defence against middle age; a list in Lerwick;
30 PREE – PREE(n); test by kissing in Kircaldy;

4 comments on “Mephisto 2918 – Paul McKenna”

  1. Apologies for missing the enumeration conversion on the club version. “Swapping” as anagram indicator: according to Chambers, to swap is to flop, among other unexpected meanings. Having 40 clues was an unintended feature, which I doubt will be seen again until someone else is editing Mephisto.

    Edited at 2016-08-08 10:55 am (UTC)

  2. Didn’t know there was an excess of clues, since I have to shrink the grid to 60% in order to fit on one page of US letter paper. The grid is 12×12, which was the same size as the previous two. Didn’t have too much trouble with this, I had question marks next to VOLE and AIRMAN before figuring out the wordplay. Another pun in the top row.

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