Mephisto 3136 – Old quarterback’s quandary?

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Mephisto

This Mephisto was pretty easy for a Don Manley, with a good number of the clues having a somewhat obvious answer.  I think I did about two-thirds of it without even opening Chambers.   The vocabulary is not as difficult as usual, and there were only a few answers that I didn’t know.   We don’t record times for Mephisto, but I finished all but a single entry in the first three movements of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony – I was listening on CD because I hate to be interrupted while working a Mephisto.

I then went to bed, and solved the holdout clue while sleeping – when I woke up, I knew what the answer must be.   I looked it up in Chambers, and there it was.  You won’t have a very fast time if you have to sleep eight hours to solve a single clue, but you may dream a dream like that of H. C. Earwicker and encounter all kinds of unusual vocabulary. 

Across
1 Splinter of china dumped in street (5)
SPALT – S(PAL)T,    Splinter as a verb, to break off fragments of wood with an axe.
6 Soft stuff, unpleasant matter in hair (6)
PAPPUS – PAP + PUS…….the hair of a plant, that is.
10 Wild companion? This writer’s fine (8)
CHIMERIC – CH + I’M + ERIC, a fine that hasn’t come up for a while.
11 Rector — he may look silly in some painting (12)
STEREOCHROME – S(anagram of RECTOR HE)OME.
12 Say, baddie is returning — gets Mac’s reprimand (5)
TARGE – E.G. RAT backwards, not the Shakespearean sort of targe. 
13 In the rain you may have this wine (5)
MACON – MAC ON, of course.   I biffed the answer, but I didn’t see how the cryptic worked until days later.
14 Slavery of bumpkin having no end (4)
YOKE – YOKE[l], a Quickie clue  makes an appearance. 
16 Island’s terrible morality putting outsiders off (6)
RIALTO – anagram of [m]ORALIT]y. 
18 Bedchamber game to get the Parisian female (6)
RUELLE – R.U. + ELLE, very simple if you trust the cryptic.
19 Wear down with work? Put money on lubrication being needed (6)
BETOIL – BET OIL
21 Girl entering church chambers (6)
CELLAE – C(ELLA)E.
25 A Leftie interpreted in an old-fashioned way (4)
ARED – A + RED.   From OE raedan, which was more general than the modern-day “read”.
27 Language about love somehow irregular (5)
EROSE – ER(O)SE.
28 What’s evident in lovely art of yesteryear’s darling (5)
YARTO – hidden in [lovel]Y ART O[f], an archaism properly indicated.
29 Snootier man’s upset about libertarian form of education (12)
MONTESSORIAN –  Anagram of SNOOTIER MAN’S, which should be easy because we just had Montessori in the daily puzzle.
30 Something plated that could be seen in a reptile (8)
PEARLITE – Anagram of A REPTILE.
31 Irritated when public library gets squeezed — there’s a row (6)
SPLORE – S(P.L.)ORE – an escapade in Edinburgh. 
32 Artist remains on stage (5)
MANET – I didn’t see this, then I realized it was a Latin stage direction – manet, he remains, the opposite of exit, he goes out.
Down
1 Fellow to stay in Scotland with Balmoral resident? (6)
SISTER – SIST + E.R., as in sister city or something along those lines.
2 Fit sign for boggy locations (8)
PETARIES – PET + ARIES, they’re peat bogs.
3 Wicked baronet, a liar on the wrong path (12)
ABERRATIONAL – anagram of BARONET, A LIAR.
4 Disease? Religious ritual will banish it (5)
LURGY – L[it]URGY…..a made-up disease, but still a disease.
5 Aussie soldier smuggles wine into company (6)
CHOCKO – C(HOCK)O, a chocolate soldier. 
6 Thief — who finds him in identity parade? (6)
PICKER – Double definition, quite simple.
7 Fish gets little exercise — water inadequate (5)
PERAI – PE + RAI[n], a.k.a. the pirhana. 
8 Like some birds favouring small space with song on single short note (12)
PROCELLARIAN – PRO + CELL + ARIA + N.  I boldly put this in without any crossing letters, and was rewarded.
9 Element of operatic performance I’m missing in cinemas somehow (5)
SCENA – anagram of C[i]NE[m]AS.   Not a great clue, but simple enough.
13 Grimace of timid creature not wanting strangeness (4)
MOUE – MOU[s]E, strangeness in subatomic physics, that is.   But what does a mouse know about quarks?
15 Tree carries label — what you see in nursery, say? (8)
PLANTAGE –  PLAN(TAG)E.
17 Support maybe for man of stone, ferocious person no end (4)
TIGE – TIGE[r], the base of a statue. 
20 Idle old girl with little energy for games ultimately (6)
LAESIE – LA9(-s,+E)SIE, a letter-replacement clue giving another Scots word.
21 Scar — it can make a sort of fold (6)
CRISTA – Anagram of SCAR IT.
22 Green campaigner Umberto meets a group of teachers (6)
ECONUT – ECO + NUT, a write in for most solvers.
23 Famous British film involving politician in contests (5)
KEMPS – KE(MP)S.   My LOI.   These contests take place in Scotland, of course.
24 Inspiration shown by poets in greatest romances (5)
ESTRO –  hidden in [great]EST RO[mances].
26 Task to acquire a place for holy Muslim burial (5)
DARGA – DARG + A,   Yes, a Scottish task.

10 comments on “Mephisto 3136 – Old quarterback’s quandary?”

  2. I don’t normally record times for Mephisto just because I tend to do it in several sittings and often do other things (cooking, normally) at the same time. I did this in one go in under half an hour though, so it must have been quite easy.
    I prefer the original spelling from the Goon Show for ‘lurgi’.
  3. For the second week running I came within one letter of finishing with all correct without aids. I couldn’t manage DARGA though, not knowing the Scottish task or the Muslim burial place. It does beg the question for me who would know either of these?
    2. Vaguely knew darg, but then I’m Scottish. Didn’t know darga, but then I’m not Moslem.
  4. I enjoyed this as it wasn’t too hard. Finished all parsed in about 50 minutes, which is probably the quickest I’ve done a Mephisto, with no aids other than my paper copy of Chambers. Favourite word CHOCKO.
  5. Seeing ESTRO and TARGE in the grid made me wonder if Don Manley was playing Bloodborne, which would be kind of cool. Pretty straightforward solve and another nice grid, 90 degree symmetry and four answers running the full length.
  6. Certainly on the easier side, once you accept the convention that implausible words like SPLORE and CHOCKO are going to be in the dictionary anyway and follow the wordplay. Delighted to find the Goonism LURGY included.
    1. SPLORE crops up in Holy Willie’s Prayer, Burns’s great satire on Calvinist hypocrisy.

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