Mephisto 3098 – Tim Moorey and a Triple Ton for Jimbo

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
My first Mephisto Blog was puzzle 2489 which appeared in May 2008. It was, coincidentally, set by Tim Moorey. Today’s blog is my 300th Mephisto offering (ignoring specials such as the commemorative puzzles for Mike Laws).

I’d like to congratulate the setters on maintaining a very even standard through that period and to thank them for the hours of fun that they provide. Hopefully the efforts of George and myself have helped some new solvers whilst occasionally putting the more experienced out of their misery!

Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary.  4D is a perfect example.

An interesting puzzle with some elements of difficulty and slightly obscure GK. I have a slight problem a 30A which appears not to contain a definition.

In the clues, definitions are underlined. Wordplay explanation is followed by very helpful comments.

ACROSS

1 Card game introduced by senior? Old hat (8)
SOMBRERO: S(OMBRE)R-O;
6 Bad-tempered ladies perhaps pulling face (4)
ARSY: (K)ARSY; karsy=slang for toilet=ladies
10 Twin succeeded in Uganda (4)
ESAU: E(S)AU; twin of Jacob;
12 Villain losing his head on opening stretch (8)
ELONGATE: (F)ELON-GATE;
13 Plenty of roll in a ball (9)
ABUNDANCE: A(BUN)DANCE;
16 A dish from Malaysia / posed as before (4)
SATE: two meanings;
17 Day in South American country for Harold’s partner (6)
CHILDE: CHIL(D)E; Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is a lengthy narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron that I’m unlikely to ever read.
18 Number one tube network in old city (6)
URETER: U(RETE)R; “number one” is child-speak for urinate;
19 Mollusc in centre’s something dire (10, two words)
HEART,SHELL: HEARTS-HELL;
21 Your setter has spirit for the Irish gig (10)
TIM-WHISKY: TIM-WHISKY; gig=a carriage;
25 Not one getting about in street tracked vehicle (6)
SNOCAT: S(NO-CA)T;
26 Room for bit of laughter in TV and school magazine? (6)
TERMLY: TV=Telly then change L (a bit of laughter) to RM=room;
27 Nigerian writer in distress on returning (4)
OKRI: IRK-O reversed; Ben Okri OBE FRSL is a Nigerian poet and novelist;
30 One following Marlborough’s first in series of court battles (9)
RAMILLIES: RA(M-I)LLIES; battle in the War of Spanish Succession fought by Marlborough and others in 1706. There appears to be no definition in the clue.
31 Motion appearing right away to get poetic inspiration (8)
AGANIPPE:(appearing – r)*;
32 Violent striking / back-hander (4)
DASH: two meanings;
33 Earthenware flown from the east (4)
DELF: FLED reversed;
34 Mini casing starts to drop off, making marks (8)
INSIGNIA: (ini + asing)*;

DOWN

1 Judge keeping African party in session (6)
SÉANCE: SE(ANC)E;
2 Mum starts to use low-cal batter (4)
MAUL: MA-U(se)-L(ow);
3 Catholic excused from belief to try again (4)
REDO: (C)REDO;
4 Cheer on importing Italian bitumen (9)
ELATERITE: ELATE-R(IT)E;
5 Experts hedging about discontinued UK currency (6)
ONCERS: ON(C)ERS; old £1 notes;
7 With several branches, Standard to ring in the morning (6)
RAMATE: R(AM)ATE;
8 Magnificent white in Majestic style (9)
STATELILY: STATE-LILY;
9 Outmoded present coming from unknown lady (4)
YEVE: Y-EVE;
11 Relative and wife reverse things done in the past (6)
UNCLEW: UNCLE-W;
14 Quiet anger about coloured liquid reduction (9)
SHRINKAGE: SH-R(INK)AGE;
15 Tops in the Open, Tiger previously lacking energy (9)
OUTSTRIPS: OUT-STRIP(e)S;
20 Argentina featuring in bound newspaper (6)
HERALD: HE(RA)LD;
22 Son interrupting lesson is of a piece (6)
MORSAL: MOR(S)AL;
23 Hospital accepted two upright characters crossing Washington state (6)
HAWAII: H-A-(WA)-I-I; accepted=A;
24 Mohammed’s wife votes with Middle Eastern ruler, ignoring second husband (6)
AYESHA: AYE-SHA(h);
27 Nothing wrong with a short book (4)
OBAD: O-BAD;
28 Clay under damp soil that’s large showing up (4)
GLEI: IE-LG reversed;
29 Girl in bed very put out (4)
DIAN: DI(V)AN;

16 comments on “Mephisto 3098 – Tim Moorey and a Triple Ton for Jimbo”

  1. Dear Sir,
    Congratulations on your triple ton! And many thanks for your dedication and help offered to us all.
    Re Ramillies – I also queried the clue’s construction. Is perhaps the word court suggesting a reference to the Spanish Succession….?
    Regards,
    Adrian Cobb (to avoid being totally Anon)
    1. As well as the court link, Ramillies wasn’t his first battle in that war, so it’s an all-in-one/&lit clue.

      More congratulations and thanks for completing 300 of these.

      Edited at 2020-01-19 07:57 am (UTC)

      1. I still remember, 50+ years later, my history teacher telling us that the Duke of Malborough’s phone number was BROM 4689. Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet in 1704, 1706, 1708, and 1709;
        1. I was told that acronym too, though not the phone number!
          .. and well done Jim, not to mention the setters too, for keeping going for so long..

          Edited at 2020-01-19 09:08 am (UTC)

  2. Many thanks and congratulations, Jim, on the milestone. You certainly helped me enormously when I was trying to work out how on earth to do these things. There’s a certain knack to them and it took me ages to develop even a rudimentary version of it so I relied heavily on the blogs for a long time. There are still frequently clues I can’t quite explain.
    One of them this week was RAMILLIES: obviously the answer but I couldn’t quite see what the definition was supposed to be. After Peter’s explanation I’m still left wondering how the word ‘court’ fits into the &Lit definition.
    As for the puzzle, not too hard for me: I solved it all in one go I think, in a bit less than 40 minutes, which is good for me.

    Edited at 2020-01-19 10:30 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks K

      I also find PB’s explanation less than satisfactory. As I recall this series of battles was all about stopping the French gaining land in the Spanish Netherlands. Nothing to do with “courts”

      1. Well as “court” can mean the people associated with a sovereign, it seems to me that the War of the Spanish Succession had something to do with courts, because the succession involved was to the throne of Spain.
      2. If you remain dissatisfied by Peter’s explanation then you could alternatively read the Ramillies clue as a semi & lit. or semi-all-in-one as Tim teaches:

        One following Marlborough’s first in series of court battles (9) Ramillies – (M + I) in RALLIES (semi-all-in-one)

        We occasionally see these in Mephisto puzzles and the like.

        Edited at 2020-01-19 03:10 pm (UTC)

  3. Many congrats, Jim! I saw the heading and decided to read more. Mephisto is too hard for me so I admire your efforts hugely.
  4. I haven’t kept records (at the start we were part of a foursome) so no idea how many of these I’ve written up but 300 is a feat. Always enjoy the weekly trawl through the darker corners of the dictionary with Moorey, Manley and McKenna (and previously Laws and Feetenby).

    I wasn’t familiar with Marlborough, so once I saw the definition I bunged it in as an all-in-one. My major hold-up was thinking that 18 was PEARL SHELL for far too long.

  5. Congratulations, Jim and many thanks. As a new Mephisto solver I certainly appreciated, and continue to appreciate, the blogs. I liked RAMILLIES today for the history educational element. I read “One following Marlborough” doing as double duty as part of both wordplay and as the definition, which I read in Chambers as “a name for several articles and mode of dress in fashion after Marlborough’s victory at Ramillies”. Fascinating that a military victory resulted in a fashion movement.

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