Mephisto 3002 – Tim Moorey

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
This puzzle is on the easy side. In the blog, the definition in the clue is underlined and followed by the answer; the parsing; any comments

ACROSS

1 Splash / short gaiter (4)
SPAT: two meanings;
4 Drinks provided by head over in the mountains (8)
ALCOPOPS: AL(COP-O)PS; head=COP; over=O’;
9 Work in progress after company dance (8)
COTILLON: CO-TILL-ON;
11 With no accused about, book mailed before official’s entry (10, two words)
ABSENTE,REO: A-B-SENT-ERE-O(fficial);
12 Who can’t believe theft taking place in volunteer service once? (8)
ATHEISTS: AT(HEIST)S; ATS=Auxiliary Territorial Service; “don’t believe” rather than “can’t”?
15 Right away tight credit mentioned (5)
CITED: (credit – r)*; tight=drunk=anagrind
16 Hint that’s going round about a foreign capital (6)
TAIPEI; T(A)IP-IE reversed; the capital of Taiwan;
17 Heads dropping, father appears and withdraws (6)
ADEEMS: (d)AD-(s)EEMS;
18 Odd points in trumpet part (6)
PISTON: (points)*;
20 Supplied number to ring on return (6, two words)
LAID,ON: NO-DIAL all reversed;
23 After a duck, go to catch a seal (5)
OTARY: O-T(A)RY;
25 Slide is behind child (8)
TAILSKID: TAILS-KID;
26 Poisonous seed able to be distributed in Oregon valley (10, two words)
ORDEAL,BEAN: OR-DE(able)*AN;
27 Pop into safe neighbourhood, primarily for type of collar (8, two words)
PETER,PAN: PETER-PA-N(eighbourhood); safe=PETER;
28 Unsafe building? Sack party from the east (8)
FIRETRAP: FIRE-PART reversed;
29 Only/ part of pump? (4)
SOLE: two meanings (pump=shoe);

DOWN

1 Historically tax covers European currency (6)
SCEATT: SC(E)ATT;
2 White pots yellow with characteristic artistry (11)
PORTRAITURE: P(OR-TRAIT)URE;
3 Bishop in row that divides Rome (5)
TIBER: TI(B)ER;
4 Gore’s overlooking US President in clover (6)
ALSIKE: AL’S-IKE;
5 Study high tone in short musical composition? They may do (9)
CONTRALTI: CON-TR(ALT)I(o);
6 Brexiteer finally to be sacked, chief early issue (6)
PREMIE: PREMIE(r); my latest grandson born 2 days early on Mother’s Day;
7 Rest does improve strength of field units (8)
OERSTEDS: (rest does)*;
8 Tin merchandise not good for hair bands (6)
SNOODS: SN-(g)OODS;
10 German philosopher tackles writer Dickens about leadership (11)
HEGEMONICAL: HEGE(MONICA)L;
13 Experience down under more robust breathing aid (9)
SPINHALER: SPIN-HALER; device used by asthmatics;
14 As laid out in two rules for Indian commander (8)
RISALDAR: R-(as laid)*-R;
18 Rod’s on official leave (6, two words)
POP,OFF: POP-OFF; POP=slang for pistol=rod;
19 Develop entire bonded compound of three doubles (6)
TRIENE: (entire)*;
21 Inattentive when former PM turned up (6)
ASLEEP: AS-PEEL reversed;
22 No Scottish circles study Amerind languages (6)
NADENE: NA(DEN)E;
24 Big names with time to become top authorities (5)
TSARS: big names=stars then move “s” to the top;

8 comments on “Mephisto 3002 – Tim Moorey”

  1. Yes, ‘don’t’ not ‘can’t’; although come to think of it, I doubt if I could. I dithered over the 2d letter of S_INHALER, as I didn’t know what ‘experience down under’ meant, and DNK the word itself. 1d I simply failed to get, although I suppose if I’d searched, … I’ve never seen NA-DENE without the hyphen; are these not indicated in Mephisti? Congratulations, Jim; although does 2 days ahead of time count as a preemie (as I’d spell it)? Or just a very good sense of timing?
    1. Just as answers that are more than one word are given as “two words” or “three words” rather than 5,4 or 3,2,2 so hyphens are not usually highlighted
  2. Thanks, Jim. Only a couple of things puzzled me that I didn’t resolve… 1. I thought the definition at 11a was “With no accused about”, so thought there was an A missing in the clue. 2. I didn’t know POP was slang for a pistol. All done in just over an hour so about half the time of last week’s… and a quarter the time of no. 3000, although I needed dictionary trawls for several, including SPINHALER and ABSENTE REO. Alas, but unsurprisingly, the trend is broken by today’s.
    1. Yes, today’s is a bit tougher so you should expect to have to work at a bit longer
  3. Well, I got about half of this, which I suppose isn’t bad as a Mephisto beginner.

    My blank spaces are telling me that it’s mostly the words that I simply don’t recognise that I’m having problems with, and I could do with a bit more confidence in constructing words and just trusting that they’re right. (Though I’m not sure what I’d do with something like SCEATT, where I didn’t know “scatt”, either!)

    Shame I didn’t put SPINHALER in, as I thought of it immediately, having used one as a kid, and I got the HALER part. I’m going to have to go an look at where the “spin” bit comes from now…

    On the plus side, trying to figure out the next bit along has been an excellent way of lolling myself to sleep in the evenings this week!

    Thanks for putting me out of my misery, Jim!

    1. Well done Matt – keep persevering and you will improve

      You have to use Chambers at times – as you say derive an answer and then look it up to see if your word exits. Always look at the words in the vicinity, not just at the precise location

      For words like “scatt” you should know “scot” as a tax (hence scot free) so look up “scat” as a possible variation

      1. Well, I have my Chambers now, so I’ll see if I can find the right balance of thinking and assistance to help me improve! Thanks for the encouragement, Jim.

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