Greetings all. Hope everyone is safe and well!
It seems interest in the Mephisto has been picking up over the last few weeks which is awesome, it is definitely a puzzle that takes longer to solve than the dailies, and takes a real investment into care with wordplay and an opportunity to visit the nether reaches of the dictionary.
One of the Mephisto setters told me that the setters have control over their grids, and this grid used by Don Manley is very attractive – there’s very few short answers, and the long answers running down the sides allow for the grid to be filled up as a whole.
Since definitions (underlined) can be verified in Chambers, I will be focusing on the wordplay here, unless there is something specific.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | What may be expected by seaman around entrance to harbour? (6) |
| PHAROS – A very nice all-in-one where the entire clue is the wordplay and definition, in this case PAR(what may be expected) and OS(ordinary seaman) surrounding the first letter of Harbour | |
| 6 | Bill and Ernie maybe as music-makers (6) |
| NEBELS – NEB(beak, bill) and the golfer Ernie ELS | |
| 11 | Sort of division in place about to make room for British (8) |
| LOBATION – LOCATION(place) with C(circa, about) replaced by B(British) | |
| 12 | Ditch US President — not a hint of good in him (4) |
| REAN – Ronald REAGAN missing A and G(good) | |
| 13 | Developed superior style of writing (6) |
| UPROSE – U(superior), PROSE(style of writing) | |
| 14 | Golden hair concealing a powerful female speaker? (8) |
| ORATRESS – OR(golden), TRESS(hair) containing A | |
| 16 | Fellow gets hot in foreign city (5) |
| GHENT – GENT(fellow) containing H | |
| 17 | King in spectacular drive (5) |
| ARDRI – hidden in spectaculAR DRIve | |
| 18 | Slippery aircraft boarded by duke (7) |
| GLIDDER – GLIDER(aircraft) containing D(duke) | |
| 19 | The French dishes put back in layers (7) |
| STRATAL – LA(the, in French), TARTS(dishes) all reversed | |
| 22 | My very good procession (5) |
| CORSO – COR(my), SO(very good) | |
| 25 | Sharp sounds from small children needing double love (5) |
| TOOTS – TOTS(small children) with a double O(love) | |
| 28 | One getting estate in English meadows — endless grass around (8) |
| RELEASEE – E(English), LEAS(meadows) inside REED(grass) missing the last letter | |
| 29 | Papal court’s subject to mood swings with leading trio dismissed (6) |
| CURIAL – MERCURIAL(subject to mood swings) missing the first three letters | |
| 30 | Bear up north runs into river (4) |
| DREE – R(runs) inside the river DEE | |
| 31 | Like some art couple displayed around the French home (8) |
| PLEIN-AIR – PAIR(couple) surrounding LE(the, in French), IN(home) | |
| 32 | One bird at end of hall as architectural feature (6) |
| LIERNE – I(one), ERNE(bird) after the last letter in halL | |
| 33 | Rodent, one suffering with swelling (6) |
| AGOUTY – A(one), GOUTY(suffering with swelling). For newer Mephisto solvers A = 1 is not permitted in the daily but is fair game here | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Using too many words, as poet can, I’ll fancy (12) |
| PLEONASTICAL – anagram of AS,POET,CAN,I’LL | |
| 2 | Hard men yell expressing a fear (6) |
| HORROR – H(hard), OR(men) then ROAR(yell) without (expressing) the A | |
| 3 | Sailor on attack to start as before (6) |
| ABRAID – AB(sailor), RAID(attack) | |
| 4 | Seal turning around ducking head (5) |
| OTARY – ROTARY(turning around) missing the top letter | |
| 5 | Without wife as source of strength (5) |
| SINEW – SINE(without), W(wife) | |
| 6 | Absence of employment will shortly get brought up (7) |
| NOUSELL – NO USE(absense of employment), ‘LL | |
| 7 | Right from the beginning bod is rolling around with mirth (8) |
| BIRTHDOM – anagram of BOD and MIRTH | |
| 8 | Journalist admitting blemish expressed feeling (6) |
| EMOTED – ED(journalist) containing MOTE(blemish) | |
| 9 | Something wrong in liquid that fulfils vital biochemical role (6) |
| LYSINE – SIN(something wrong) inside LYE(strong alkali solution) | |
| 10 | Scientific technique that could make me cry and protest (12) |
| SPECTROMETRY – anagram of ME,CRY and PROTEST | |
| 15 | Row after bishop, vile type, is behaving more like a naughty child (8) |
| BRATTIER – TIER(row) after B(bishop), RAT(vile type) | |
| 18 | Georgia, beautiful lady, collected money for French government once (7) |
| GABELLE – GA(Georgia, the state), BELLE(beautiful lady) | |
| 20 | Insect parts lout half rips apart (6) |
|
TORULI – anagram of LOUT and RI |
|
| 21 | Noisy Scottish men turning up come into view not having succeeded (6) |
| ROARIE – OR(men) reversed then ARISE(come into view) missing S(succeeded) | |
| 23 | Reuse a repaired network (6) |
| RESEAU – anagram of REUSE,A | |
| 24 | Think it appropriate to raise charges ahead of modern technology (6, two words) |
| SEE FIT – reversal of FEES(charges) then IT(information technology) | |
| 26 | Tree chopped landing on area in village (5) |
| ALDEA – ALDER tree missing the last letter, then A(area) | |
| 27 | Take down unstable bridge lacking breadth (5) |
| DERIG – anagram of BRIDGE missing B(breadth) | |
In fact, any ST crossword setter can build their own grid, as long as it follows a set of standards. We have sets of stock grids for the 15×15 cryptic and the concise, but both include custom grids from time to time, and using one only adds about 2 minutes to the production process.
I agree with Jim that 1ac was a very pretty clue once I worked out what it was doing, and I appreciated the kind clues all through.
On the other hand, I was able to biff ‘gabelle’, ‘dree’, and ‘pharos’, so it could be worse.
This week’s seems pretty tough, but I have a whole week to solve it before my blog comes around.
I had always thought that names of people were conventionally only acceptable once they had died? Does that not hold good in Mephisto Land? I mean I know he probably wanted to kill himself after that 7-putt at the first at the 2016 Masters but I was not aware that he had actually done it.