Mephisto 2997 – Paul McKenna

Woohoo – the script is working again! We can bulk reproduce crossword clues with abandon.

I had a hard time with the last few fiddly bits of this puzzle.  Most of the long answers were easy to get at with wordplay, and a quick spotting of the potential for the pun at the top to be STAKE A CLAIM helped me out tremendously. There’s still a few wordplays I’m a little up in the air about, maybe those will sort themselves up as I type this out.

Definitions are underlined

Away we go…

Across
1 Right to assess wood cut for BBQ, perhaps (5)
STEAK(asses)S, TEAK(wood)
5 Liberal point on according rave review (7)
ACCLAIM – L(liberal), AIM(point) next to ACC(aacording)
10 Dependable sort returning dress, fairly upset about daughter (10, two words)
GIRLFRIDAY – RIG(dress) reversed then an anagram of FAIRLY around D
11 Try hard to plough in historic fashion (4)
HEAR – H(hard), EAR(plough)
12 Relax” — song to dominate utterly (7)
LIEDOWN – LIED (German song), OWN(dominate utterly)
14 Holm is historically obstructed (5)
ISLET – IS, LET(obstructed)
16 Tuning peg inserted in fixed musical instrument (6)
SPINET – PIN(tuning peg) in SET(fixed)
17 Exodus finally seen in choice festival of liberation (6)
PESACH(exodu)S in PEACH(choice)
18 Protected animal is disturbed in a brook beside duck (9)
ARMADILLO – MAD(disturbed) in A RILL(brook), O(duck)
21 Fancy term for paratactically set and in continuance (9)
ASYNDETON – I think I have this right – an anagram of (practicall)Y,SET,AND then ON(in continuance) with the whole being the definition
24 What stands in front of hearth in a study? (6)
ASHCAN – H(earth) in A, SCAN(study) and another definition that is the whole clue
26 Flipping arrogant gasp with respect to following departure (6)
HOPOFF – POH(arrogant gasp) reversed, then OF(with respect to), F(following)
28 Zulu guzzles out of tin holders (5)
ZARFS – Z(zulu, NATO alphabet) then SNARFS(guzzles) missing SN(tin)
29 Eliot bemused by translator’s poem (7)
TRIOLET – anagram of ELIOT with TR(translator)
30 Cross with one starting to complain about animals (4)
ZOIC – ZO(cross, hybrid animal) then I, C(complain)
31 I ran with tailor fittingly making what looks long short (10)
IRRATIONAL – anagram of I,RAN,TAILOR
32 Paradigm of western dress? Don’t change it, sunshine (7)
STETSON – STET(don’t change it), SON(sunshine)
33 Sound argument from which ma’ll break free mug (5)
GOLEM – another one I’m trying to wrap my head around – Sound has to indicate GO, but I’m not sure how. The rest is LEMMA(argument) missing MA.  As pointed out in comments, GO can mean to sound a bell or a gun to start a race, so that was my bad.

Down
1 School teaching year shows difference in pitch (7)
SCHISMA – SCH(school), ISM(teaching), A(year)
2 She crosses a line in Parisienne’s very old hat, right? (10)
TRESPASSER – TRES(very), PASSE(old hat), R
3 Fairness would be sovereignty without right (7)
EGALITY – REGALITY missing R
4 Soak vessel upside-down in large bowl (6)
KRATER – RET ARK all reversed
5 Wholly excessive people will dig in here? (9)
ALLOTMENT – ALL(wholly), OTT(excessive) containing MEN(people)
6 Worked on a boat unprepared to be heard (6)
CREWED – sounds like CRUDE(unprepared)
7 These beaches could be packed solid (5)
LIDOS – anagram of SOLID
8 Fusses about spinning fail for Sturgeon (4)
ADOS – A(about), then a reverse of SOD(fail in Scots is a turf or sod)
9 Gosh! Chinese people turned up mimic (5)
MYNAH – MY(gosh) then HAN(Chinese people) reversed
13 Lollard with fabulous felicity gaining frequency (10)
WYCLIFFITE – W(with) and an anagram of FELICITY containing F(frequency)
15 Near indifference over anonymous fashion in poet’s sobriquet (9)
APATHATON – APATH(y) (indifference) on top of A(anonymous), TON(fashion) – edit: I had messed up the wordplay in the original post
19 Paper which is not read can curl (7, two words)
LOOROLL – LOO(can), ROLL(curl)
20 Fellow in shifting focus on mobile refuse (7)
OFFSCUM – F(fellow) inside an anagram of FOCUS, then M(mobile)
22 Ultimate in rearing previously earnest foster-kids from Fife (6)
DAULTS – ULT(ultimate) inside SAD(earnest) reversed
23 Bleeding “Circle of Life” (6)
OOZING – O(crircle) O(of), ZING(life)
24 We resist Article 50 being overlooked from upcoming opening (5)
ANTIS – AN(article) then L(50) removed from SLIT(opening) reversed
25 European run out aboard Geordie coaler (5)
CROAT – RO(run out) inside CAT(coaler)
27 Shocking manager losing the second half (4)
DIRE – DIRE(ctor)

7 comments on “Mephisto 2997 – Paul McKenna”

  1. One of the definitions of GO in Chambers is ‘(of eg a bell or gun) to sound’.
    I didn’t find this particularly hard, although it required a fair bit of checking in Chambers.
    I thought 21ac (which I read in the same way) was amazingly clever.

    Edited at 2018-02-11 11:08 am (UTC)

  2. Very enjoyable middle of the road puzzle. I also agree with your parsing of 21A – excellent clue.
  3. Another definition of GO in Chambers is “adj(inf.)in perfect condition”, i.e. sound, so clue works two ways.
    1. whoops – ta. Since I wrote this at about 1 in the morning I’m surprised that’s the worst I did

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