Greetings barred-grid fans.
Took me a while to get into this one, and my copy is covered in notes (though I take more notes when I know it is my turn to blog), but no question marks, so all the wordplay fits. I thought there were some tricky anagrams this time around.
In Mephisto puzzles, definitions (the most direct of which is underlined) can be confirmed in Chambers so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Sharply critical fraud article written for money (8) |
| SCATHING – SCAM(fraud) with THING(article) replacing M(money) | |
| 7 | Macintosh regularly getting his oats! (4) |
| AITS – alternating letters in mAcInToSh | |
| 10 | Theatrical group associated with Journey’s End (5) |
| CAMPY – CAMP(group) with the last letter of journeY | |
| 11 | Irish zealot on TV out to embrace the case for Eire (6) |
| VOTEEN – anagram of ON,TV containing the outer letters of EirE | |
| 12 | Yours truly’s so long with an injury in parts of foot (9) |
| METATARSI – ME(yours truly), TA TA(so long) and RSI(repetitive strain injury) | |
| 13 | Tie up dispute without using technology (6) |
| LIGATE – LITIGATE(dispute) missing IT(technology) | |
| 15 | Heartlessly pronounces sort of law (4) |
| SODS – remove the central letters from SOUNDS(pronounces) | |
| 16 | Double energy used to cut very large West African trees (6) |
| OPEPES – PEP, and E(both energy) inside OS(very large) | |
| 17 | Showing pretty duff reform legacy in plan? Not entirely (11) |
| CALLIPYGEAN – anagram of LEGACY,IN,PLAN missing the last letter | |
| 19 | More than one railing at absurd Les being uncouth (11) |
| BALUSTRADES – anagram of AT,ABSURD,LES | |
| 22 | Note outside exhibition room for plant bodies (6) |
| THALLI – TI(musical note) surrounding HALL(exhibition room) | |
| 24 | Local strike force on criminal charge (4) |
| FRAP – F(force) and RAP(criminal charge) | |
| 26 | First person to enter names for flight (6) |
| STAIRS – I(first person) inside STARS(names) | |
| 28 | Muscular spasms stir awfully deep thoughts (9) |
| TRISMUSES – anagram of STIR, then MUSES(deep thoughts) | |
| 29 | Look on endless bad atmosphere for mythical monsters (6) |
| LAMIAS – LA(look) and MIASM(bad atmosphere) missing the last letter | |
| 30 | Abbreviations recalled by some nostalgists? (5) |
| SIGLA – hidden reversed in nostALGISts | |
| 31 | Throwing up is not wanted by relatives (4) |
| EMES – EMESIS(throwing up) minus IS | |
| 32 | Fellow found sites for insects (8) |
| MANTISES – MAN(fellow) and an anagram of SITES (found is the indicator) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Lots of fish caught in southern headland unfenced (4) |
| SCUL – C(caught) inside S(southern) and MULL(headland) missing the exterior letters | |
| 2 | Heroin seen around Brazilian port is for me? (7) |
| CARIOCA – CACA(heroin) surrounding RIO(Brazilian port) | |
| 3 | Tonsils removed by a game lady (9) |
| AMYGDALAE – anagram of A,GAME,LADY | |
| 4 | Rainy habitually on vacation, recently from the south (6) |
| HYETAL – external letters of HabituallY, then LATE(recently) reversed | |
| 5 | In short, no marks for citrous item gone off — it’s yellow (11) |
| ICTERITIOUS – I(in) then an anagram of CITROUS,ITEM minus M | |
| 6 | Barbarian understood to be associated with heroin (4) |
| GOTH – GOT(understood) and H(heroin) | |
| 7 | Foreign official accepted the bill for one (6) |
| ATABEG – A(accepted), TAB(the bill), EG(for one) | |
| 8 | Witness canopy over bed with no end of cover (5) |
| TESTE – the canopy is a TESTER, remove the last letter of coveR | |
| 9 | Tip shares above all in quick dialogue (8) |
| SNIP-SNAP – NAP(tip in racing) under SNIPS(shares) | |
| 11 | Virginia gets very urgent incomplete hormone (11) |
| VASOPRESSIN – VA(Virginia), SO(very), then PRESSING(urgent) missing the last letter | |
| 14 | News sources including fringe elements in Europe (9) |
| SPEERINGS – SPRINGS(sources) containing the exterior letters of EuropE | |
| 15 | Congress included in artful caption (8) |
| SUBTITLE – IT(sexual congress) inside SUBTLE(artful) | |
| 18 | Laura’s excited with hubbie’s finish most of the time (7, three words) |
| ASARULE – anagram of LAURA’S with the last letter of hubbiE | |
| 20 | Scar formation for anyone to see indeed in Casualty (6) |
| ULOSIS – U(for anyone to see), then I(indeed) in LOSS(casualty) | |
| 21 | Tense game after Australia declare (6) |
| ATTEST – T(tense), TEST(game) after A(Australia) | |
| 23 | Husband has power to protect one getting a lot of wives (5) |
| HARAM – H(husband) and ARM(power) containing A(one) | |
| 25 | Religious VIP heads off with obscure stuff (4) |
| IMAM – remove the first letters of DIM(obscure) and RAM(stuff) | |
| 27 | Short spell in holiday places? (4) |
| SPAS – remove the last letter from SPASM(spell) | |
Just over an hour, but with one or two interruptions for more beer, and delayed by one wrongly-entered letter, and one alternative – HARIM – that fitted the clue, but not the crosser.
la(2) interjection: Lo! See! behold! ah! indeed!
Edited at 2021-12-12 04:18 pm (UTC)
However, I never did get carioca. The cryptic is clear enough, but I can’t fathom the literal.