I hope this will get posted, I am fighting spotty internet connectivity in a rather cavernous hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. I thought this was a step up in difficulty from recent Mephisto puzzles.
Paul McKenna typically treats us to a pun across the top row and this one came out rather quickly as PICTURE PALACE.
In Mephisto all definitions can be verified in Chambers so I will be focusing on the wordplay in the clue. The most direct definition is underlined.
And on Australia Day, away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | He who’s conceited concealing desire to arrive (7, two words) |
| PITCH UP – PUP(he who is conceited) containing ITCH(desire) | |
| 6 | She who adventured despite no longer wanting money (5) |
| ALICE – MALICE(despite) missing M(money) | |
| 10 | What sets Arfur off? Being into dodgy old wheels flogged to trade (10) |
| WHOLESALED – first letter of Arfur inside an anagram of OLD,WHEELS. Presumably the clue is echoing George Cole’s character in Minder. | |
| 11 | Half skipping next practical lesson about woodlands (7) |
| NEMORAL – half of NExt then MORAL(practical lesson) | |
| 13 | Dire subscription service here could be seen as depravity (5, two words) |
| PAY TV – anagram of DEPRAVITY minus DIRE | |
| 14 | Tree’s roll of curled bark, a first sign of illness (7) |
| QUILLAI – QUILL(roll of curved bark), A, then the first letter in Illness | |
| 15 | Reduction with extra eccentricity to retail freely (5) |
| DENET – the reduction is a DENT, insert another E(eccentricity) | |
| 16 | Blocking prodigal son too (4) |
| ALSO – hidden inside prodigALSOn | |
| 17 | Lingual problem — a tendency to comment comically, we may think (9) |
| GLOSSITIS – double defintion, the second more cryptic | |
| 20 | Raise chat about what people bitten by, say, spiders should get (9) |
| THERIACAS – anagram of RAISE,CHAT | |
| 21 | Fancy moulding of Trump’s suit (4) |
| OGEE – O(of). GEE(suit, get along with) | |
| 23 | King before opening to habitually exercise arbitrary decree (5) |
| UKASE – K(king), A(before) inside USE(habitually exercise) | |
| 26 | Something which stabilises grass sheltered from the east (7, two words) |
| FIN KEEL – FINK(grass, informer), then LEE(sheltered) reversed | |
| 28 | A drummer died, going west, poetically astray (5) |
| ABORD – A, then DR(drummer), OB(died) both reversed | |
| 29 | Superlatively stingy are in cosy pad (7) |
| NEAREST – ARE in NEST(cosy pad) | |
| 30 | In another way nurse needs instinctive grasp? (10) |
| UNDERSENSE – anagram of NURSE,NEEDS | |
| 31 | Poetic plant, mostly Anacreontic, translator picked up (5) |
| TETRA – TEAN(Anacreonic) missing the last letter, containing TR(translator) | |
| 32 | Sully infernal place west of Highland royal burgh (7) |
| DISTAIN – DIS(infernal place) and TAIN(Royal Burgh in Ross County) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Humiliated and laid in lavender, afternoon is wasted (5) |
| PWNED – PAWNED(laid in lavender) missing A(afternoon). I laughed at seeing this term in the Sunday Times | |
| 2 | Brass, an early Persian bit (5) |
| TOMAN – TOM(prostitute, brass), AN | |
| 3 | Miss is in court being incomparably careful (7) |
| CLOSEST – LOSE(miss) ‘S in CT(court) | |
| 4 | Lamp-lighting lover, an illustrious person (4) |
| HERO – double definition – Hero would light a lamp for Leander | |
| 5 | A concupiscence runs through mate coming from The Marshes? (9) |
| PALUSTRAL – A, LUST(concupiscence) inside PAL(mate) | |
| 6 | At most in Naples a Latin pulled up round one (5, two words) |
| AL PIU – A, L(Latin) and a reversal of UP surrounding I(one) | |
| 7 | Lifting cold coffee — gods, perfect (7) |
| IDYLLIC – reversal of C(cold), ILLY(a brand of coffee), DI(gods) | |
| 8 | Climax follows this as cast is at high (10) |
| CATASTASIS – anagram of AS,CAST,IS,AT | |
| 9 | Dissatisfied six caught by English common sense (7) |
| ENVIOUS – VI(six) inside E(English), NOUS(common sense) | |
| 12 | Big enough to read elegy and believe all but two changes (10) |
|
EYE-LEGIBLE – anagram of ELEGY and BELIE |
|
| 14 | Shut up quarterly that is bygone grief (close to Duke) (9) |
| QUIETENED – QU(quarterly), IS(that is), TENE(grief), D(Duke) | |
| 17 | Greek goddess in part of play rubbed rock, say (7) |
| GEOFACT – GE(Greek goddess), OF(in), ACT(part of play) | |
| 18 | Expand on dock forcibly (7, two words) |
| OPEN OUT – O(on), PEN(dock), OUT(forcibly) | |
| 19 | Manoeuvre retakes male bird of prey (7) |
| SAKERET – anagram of RETAKES | |
| 22 | Sri Lankan verse collection of ancient tales (5) |
| VEDDA – V(verse), EDDA(collection of ancient tales) | |
| 24 | Ring up a new date (5) |
| ARENA – reversal of A, N(new), ERA(date) | |
| 25 | Worried, starting off on the losing side? (5) |
| EATEN – remove the first letter from BEATEN(on the losing side) | |
| 27 | Black behind deep sea fish (4) |
| BASS – B(back), ASS(behind) | |
I was also surprised in a good way to see PWNED.