Mephisto 3100 – by Don Manley

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Mephisto
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.  6D is a perfect example.

An interesting puzzle but a little on the easy side I thought

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

ACROSS

1 Religious army receives blow — old-style shields needed (5)
SCUTA: S(CUT)A; SA=Salvation Army;
5 Rows of hawks guarding place (7)
SPLORES: S(PL)ORES; hawk=SORE
11 The row we have here about core of party becoming less wet? (9)
THIRSTIER: THI(R)S-TIER; R from (pa)R(ty);
13 Something ropy, second best thing (7)
STOPPER: S-TOPPER; STOPPER=short rope used to make boat fast
14 Fish requiring much filleting chap obtained for nothing (6)
BLENNY: requiring much filleting = BONY then change “O” to “LEN”;
15 Next in line is trembling (5)
NEIST: hidden (li)NE-IS-T(rembling);
16 Spot someone not quite in the top level of society? (7)
BLISTER: B-LISTER;
18 Bard’s offspring, not quite 15, suffering setback (4)
SIEN: from 15A, NEIS(t) reversed;
19 Sugar found in medicinal doses (6)
ALDOSE: hidden (medicin)AL-DOSE(s);
20 Governor didn’t stand up to censure (6)
SATRAP: SAT-RAP;
23 Synagogue surprisingly lush (4)
SHUL: (lush)*;
28 Hot toil is tricky — help needed to keep balance (7)
OTOLITH: (hot toil)*;
29 Seaweed as fertiliser perhaps round middle of field (5)
MAERL: MA(E)RL; E from (fi)E(ld);
30 Part of plant in hospital submerged in flood (6)
SPATHE: SPAT(H)E;
31 Put in border in church as prime bit of embellishment (7)
INCHASE: IN-CH-AS-E(mbellishment);
32 Right to enter second exam, responding well after failure? (9)
RESILIENT: RESI(LIEN)T;
33 Fruits in northern areas wrecked by minimal sun (7)
NARASES: N-(areas)*-S(un);
34 Departs, first to go off edge (5)
EAVES: (L)EAVES;

DOWN

1 Squat little son, round and fat (6)
STUBBY: S-TUBBY;
2 For cactus it’s cold there! (6)
CHOLLA: C-HOLLA; there!=HOLLA:
3 What can clear stuff in port? Get strainer out (8)
TRANSIRE: (strainer)*;
4 Language as before for Romans (6)
ASANTE: AS-ANTE;
6 The thing carried by soldier is a clothes box (6)
PITARA: P(IT)ARA;
7 Benevolence finally with Christmas coming up — money for Africans (5)
LEONE: (benevolenc)E-NOEL all reversed;
8 Peridot I like, not half — unusual green mineral (10)
RIPIDOLITE: (peridot I Li)*;
9 Eastern girl eats half of repast — evidence of gastric problem? (6)
EMESIS: E-ME(al)-SIS;
10 Nasty Tories seen as offensive (6)
SORTIE: (tories)*;
12 Close-fitting garment? Rejoice – it’s stirring (10)
JEISTIECOR: (rejoice its)*;
17 A not completely cloudy air — one can see through it (8)
ADULARIA: A-DUL(L)-ARIA;
20 Primate — evangelical Scotsman? (6)
SIMIAN: SIM-IAN; SIM=Simeonite, an evangelical;
21 Nurse enthralling South Africa with any number in that country according to some (6)
AZANIA: A(ZA-N)IA;
22 Old beans and peas in terrible soups — start of 9! (6)
POUSSE: (soups)*-E(mesis);
24 Restrain priest repeatedly in difficult situation (6)
HOPPLE: HO(P-P)LE;
25 Goddess indicating sequence of characters in faerie (6)
ATHENE: A-THEN-E;
26 Game requiring tons in boxes (6)
CHESTS: CHES(T)S;
27 Impression created initially when turning up in kilt etc?
CLAES: SEAL-C(reated) all reversed;

5 comments on “Mephisto 3100 – by Don Manley”

  1. No time recorded but I didn’t find this as easy as some. I got a bit stuck in the SW corner where I failed to use ZA for South Africa, using SA instead. But all completed and parsed eventually. LOI SPLORES. EMESIS raised a smile. Thanks Don and Jimbo.
    1. This seems to be a comment about Mephisto 3101 – as far as I can tell, 6D in 3100 has not been shown anywhere with this indication. Mephisto, like other barred-grid crosswords, doesn’t show lengths of individual words in multi-word answers – it just tells you how many words there are, when that’s not one. We also ignore hyphens – “man-eating” would just count as “(9)”, for example.
      1. Sorry – I’ve now discovered that I made a late change to the print version of 3100 which was to make 6D “6, two words”. This was definitely a mistake. Unfortunately, the software used for puzzle production doesn’t have an option to export text versions with Mephisto-style “enumerations”, and these have to be amended by hand in the copy that’s used for the print version, though the normal possible problem is different – failing to change something like “(4,4)” to “(8, two words)”. This problem doesn’t exist in the online versions.

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