Mephisto 3124 – One for the books

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Mephisto

After about half an hour, with only a third of the grid filled in, I realized I’d have to bring  in Chambers fairly early on.   There is some tricky stuff here, and some obscure words – what would you expect?    I did have a passing acquaintance with a surprising number of the words here, although I can’t say they come up every day.

I’m trying to encourage some more solvers to try Mephisto, but the reputation of this puzzle is formidable.   They’re not all that hard, as I came close to finsihing today’s offering without a dictionary, and only had to look up a few things.   Many solvers lack the confidence to boldly make up unknown – and unlikely – words from the cryptic, put them in the grid, and see if they can be made to work.   With a little experience, it can be done.

Across
3 Alloy-clad eatery made by construction worker (10)
SCAFFOLDER – S(CAFF)OLDER, where the alloy came as a surprise to me, and I needed a lot of checkers.
10 Some Scottish ritual in first month (6)
TISHRI – Hidden in [Scot]TIS RIT[ual], the first month of the Jewish calendar, my FOI, as it rang a vague bell.
11 Endless good fortune at home comes to a goddess (6)
LUCINA – LUC[k] + IN + A, Roman goddess of childbirth.
13 Bond foremost of amorists — was model receiving indication? (8)
ASSIGNAT – A[morists] S(SIGN)AT, used during the French Revolution.
15 What’s said to fasten a feather? (5)
PINNA – sounds like PIN A.
16 EU meets afresh — commotions evident (7)
EMEUTES – Anagram of EU MEETS – a word that was NOT familiar to me, but the anagram and crossers gives it to you.   Mostly French, but it’s in Chambers.
17 Old money in former kingdom (4)
MERK – Cryptic definition, I believe Hidden in [for]MER K[ingdom] – it was a Scottish coin worth 1/3 of a pound.
19 Sort of agent bringing set of books to official proceedings (6)
ACTANT –  ACTA + NT.   Agent and acta are from the same Latin root.
22 What was distressing to bring up — not right (6)
UNEATH – UNEA[r]TH, another Spenserian word.
23 Greek character probes acid in geological formation (6)
TARPIT – TAR(PI)T.
24 Devious angler? Poetically, he’d ____ fish when reporting! (6)
LARGEN – Anagram of ANGLER.
27 Sacred literature written in five days (4)
VEDA – Hidden in [fi]VE DA[ys]
29 One lovelessly imprisoned by king in place with many layers (7)
HENNERY – HEN([o]NE)RY.
30 Officers producing plans advanced to the front (5)
AIDES – IDEAS with the A (for advanced) brought to the front.
32 Bird surprisingly slow going round thicket endlessly (8, two words)
SCOPS OWL – Anagram of SLOW around COPS[e].
33 Language of infatuation with body extremity being heard (6)
PASHTO – PASH + sounds like TOE, what they speak in Afghanistan.
34 I don’t like that casual shirt that’s jolly! (6)
BOOTEE – BOO + TEE.   More importantly, you have to know that jolly is a slang term for a Royal Marine, and so is bootee.
35 Job involving number, with work getting creature at sea (10)
CTENOPHORE –  C(TEN, OP)HORE, one I practically biffed from biology class, more than 50 years ago.
Down
1 Tree given a short pipe to withdraw liquid (4)
ATAP – A + TAP.   Is that a tree?   Chambers says yes!
2 Jock’s aim is to enter contest (5)
VISIE – V(IS)IE, a Scots word, meaning plan or foresee.
4 A peak’s south of gap with dwarf trees (10)
CHINKAPINS – CHINK + A PIN’S.   Yes, if you read through the definition of pin in Chambers, you will eventually come to “a peak”, so there you go.
5 Sheep, one astray, therefore not as it should be (5)
ARGAL – ARGAL[i].   It is the literal that is tricky, but I remembered the scene in Hamlet where this hapax legomenon occurs.  You could look it up.
6 Fancy no longer getting cross, showing little sign of fire! (8)
FLAMMULE – FLAM[e] + MULE.
7 Defeated king being removed and exposed (5)
OUTED – [r]OUTED, about as simple as it gets in a Mephisto.
8 Snide remark about awful brat who is regarded with contempt? (7)
DIRTBAG – DI(anagram of BRAT)G.
9 Two similar hospital departments beginning to enjoy cordial relationship (7)
ENTENTE – ENT + ENT + E[njoy], very similar indeed.
12 Dragonflies chase around bottom of garden area (7)
AESCHNA – Anagram of CHASE + [garde]N + A.
14 Chief has wonderful piece of armour (10)
SUPERVISOR – SUPER + VISOR, a surprise if you expecting some obscure bit of ironmongery.
17 Dull blockhead, male eliminated in one-to-one competition (7)
MATCHUP – MAT + CHU[m]P.   If you think male refers to the first M, you’ll never get anywhere.
18 Ill-natured person and mad one maybe losing head when meeting policeman? (8)
ATTERCOP – [h]ATTER + COP.   I was thinking of [n]UTTER, but then I recalled the word and figured out the cryptic.
20 Rodent takes time to penetrate slope (7, two words)
CANE RAT – CAN(ERA)T.
21 Steiner’s original movement (7)
TRENISE – Anagram of STEINER, a dance step I had never heard of   Once you have the crossing letters, it can hardly be anything else.
25 Sad books, a couple getting put down (5)
MESTO – TOMES, with the first two letters moved to the end.  A musical direction.
26 No more in game, having got two ducks (5)
NAPOO – NAP + OO.   WWI Anzac slang, if you’re curious.
28 Librarian sounding a bit wet? (5)
DEWEY – Sounds like DEWY, the fellow with the decimal system.
31 Large number in America killed (4)
SLEW – Double definition.

13 comments on “Mephisto 3124 – One for the books”

  1. Gilbert & Sullivan to the rescue once again: from ‘The Pirates of Penzance’,
    For when threatened with emeutes
    And your heart is in your boots,
    There is nothing brings it round
    Like the trumpet’s martial sound …
  2. At 17A it’s hidden (for)MER K(ingdom)

    Interesting puzzle but no problems – normal DM offering

    1. Finished in one 36 minute sitting, with minimal resort to Chambers and everything parsed.
    2. Yes, it’s a hidden, but also a kind of &lit, I suppose, given that Scotland could be construed as a former kingdom on its own, rather than as part of the UK.

      A rather gentle puzzle, I thought, with the BRB only needed for confirmation and curiosity.

      Edited at 2020-07-19 09:12 am (UTC)

  3. I’m not sure I agree with your assessment of the difficulty of these things, v. I found them very hard indeed when I started doing them, and it took me a long time to get the hang of them.
    This was of about average difficulty I thought. I caused problems for myself by putting in FLAMELET. Incidentally in that clue FLAM is a word for a fancy (archaic, natch).
    I was also a bit thrown by 23ac, which is two words in Chambers. I’m so used to the precise correspondence with the big red book that I thought at first it must be something else.

    Edited at 2020-07-19 07:52 am (UTC)

  4. I still find these hard but I think I’m starting to get the hang of them. This still took me over an hour getting stuck on 12D (through putting EMEUTEE in for 16A by mistake after checking the right answer was EMEUTES in Chambers) and the NW corner at the end. But I was pleased to work out CTENOPHORES and VISIE which both lacked checking first letters. Some nice surfaces too – I liked 11A and 13A. Thanks Don and vinyl.
  5. After a few weeks of near misses (and some nowhere-near misses) I was pleased to get a relatively straightforward puzzle that I could solve in a single evening session. The wp seemed somehow more direct and to allow for fewer possibilities than the last few I’ve attempted. I like deriving unlikely looking (to me) words such as ctenophore and attercop from clear wp and verifying in Chambers.
  6. My honest guess is that difficulty (as measured by comparing solving times with other puzzles of the same kind) is more variable for Mephisto and similar puzzles than for standard cryptics, simply because we all use some relatively easy clues to get started, and what’s relatively easy about difficult words is more variable. I don’t think you’ll see wide LOI agreement nearly as often.
    1. I think we also take a different approach to Mephistos. My time, from memory, was well over an hour, but in practice about 45 minutes, I’d guess, because I dipped out to do other things while the clock was still running. No point in pausing it because for me, at least, time isn’t relevant with these kind of puzzles.
  7. Pretty steady solve here, it was fun to read up on the MERK which is a new one to me.
  8. Not just ANZAC slang.

    Ford Madox Ford used it – Napoo finny. No more parades.

    I think it’s from il y en a plus, fini.

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