Greetings barred-grid fans,
Fun puzzle from Paul McKenna that had me scratching my head quite a bit, but I think I have sorted everything out, except for the top row. Usually Paul puts a pun in the top row, but I can’t make anything of this one, unsual for a recent Paul McKenna puzzle in that the two entries in the top row are broken up by one letter from a down entry.
Speaking of the grid, Paul set himself some strict parameters here, with 90 degree symmetry and no entries shorter than 5 letters.
In Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Nearly a couple of litres in a cask (6, two words) |
| ALL BUT – L and L (a couple of litres) in A, BUT(cask) | |
| 7 | Mug up on grammar — potty, potty (5) |
| TYPTO – anagram of POTTY | |
| 12 | Score for Scots strangely sealed it, huh? League admitted (12, three words) |
| HAIL THE DULES – anagram of SEALED,IT,HUH containing L(league) | |
| 13 | Sheep close to croft — close to hand for Highlanders? (5) |
| EWEST – EWES(sheep) and the last letter of crofT | |
| 14 | One from the right thus entering border gets Milesian’s characteristic expression (7) |
| IRICISM – I(one) then SIC(thus) reversed inside RIM(border) | |
| 15 | The enrichment of Tokay, say, is more fine over time (8, two words) |
| NOBLE ROT – NOBLER(more fine), O(over), T(time) | |
| 17 | I’m with this love of fine arts freshly found in trivium (5) |
| VIRTU – anagram of TRIVIUM minus I’M. Rare clue with the definition in the middle | |
| 18 | Twisting jest refined chap ripped off good lecturer at Yale, eg (6) |
| DOCENT – COD(just) reversed, then GENT(chap) minus G(good) | |
| 19 | As for Hebrews feast starts from Pesah and having Seder (6) |
| ALEPHS – ALE(feast) and the first letters of Pesah, Having, Seder | |
| 21 | With credit blown, biscuits and gravy (6) |
| ACKERS – remove CR(credit) from CRACKERS(biscuits) | |
| 23 | Relieved because Roman gods returned (6) |
| COSIED – ‘COS(because), the DEI(Roman gods) reversed | |
| 24 | Rab C’s aim is courage without any hint of manliness (5) |
| ETTLE – METTLE(courage) minus the first letter of Manliness | |
| 28 | Asia’s evergreen press chap left article (8) |
| JAMBOLAN – JAM(press), BO(chap), L(left), AN(article) | |
| 29 | Absent mentor back to whack the gimmes (7) |
| AVARICE – A(absent), then RAV(mentor) reverced and ICE(whack, kill) | |
| 30 | What’s intrinsic to dramatic fiddle? (5) |
| AMATI – hidden inside drAMATIc | |
| 31 | Grant returning floors housing crib for home office alternatives (12) |
| TELECOTTAGES – LET(grant) reversed, then ETAGES(floors) containing COT(crib) | |
| 32 | County’s essence given the mark of choice? (5) |
| ESSEX – ESSE(essence) then X(mark a choice as in a vote) | |
| 33 | Stern part that winds up audience (6) |
| SEVERE – SEVER(part) and the last letter of audiencE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Geordie’s behind a historical kidnap (5) |
| AHENT – A, HENT(kidnap) | |
| 2 | For Macron the surges will stop during short month for basic rule (12, three words) |
| LAW OF OCTAVES – LA(the, in French), WAVES(surges) containing OF(during), OCT(short month) | |
| 3 | Rest that is initially bred in need (7, two words) |
| LIE BACK – IE(that is) and the first letter of Bred in LACK(need) | |
| 4 | Territory south of Utah is sound (5) |
| UTTER – TER(territory) after UT(Utah) | |
| 5 | Craving? Take in what’s nearby, what’s most often in bottles (6) |
| THIRST – R(recipe, take) inide THIS(what’s nearby) and the most common letter in boTTles | |
| 6 | Turn over a hard bit of safety film (6) |
| SEROSA – reversal of A, SORE(hard) and the first letter of Safety | |
| 8 | As icky suet could be! (8) |
| YUCKIEST – anagram of ICKY,SUET | |
| 9 | Who’d bend press release involving press? (5) |
| PLIER – PR(press release) containing LIE(press) | |
| 10 | Probe trustee about rank concealing moral quality (12, three words) |
| TEST THE WATER – TR(trustee) containing ESTATE(rank) containing THEW(moral quality) | |
| 11 | Exceptionally large lead weight mostly comprising certain metal (6) |
| OSMOUS – OS(exceptionally large) and the MOUSE(weight on a curtain sash) missing the last letter | |
| 16 | Go on lacking knack? (8, two words) |
| FEEL FREE – if you have no knack you are FREE from the FEEL for something | |
| 20 | Sack servant laid up inside (7) |
| PILLAGE – PAGE(servant) containing ILL(laid up) | |
| 21 | Put the wind up aged scold (6) |
| AERATE – AE(aged), RATE(scold) | |
| 22 | Strange case of British bird (6, two words) |
| SEACOB – anagram of CASE, then O(of), B(British) | |
| 23 | Company check up for space travellers? (6) |
| COMETS – CO (company) then STEM(check) reversed | |
| 25 | Those dabbling in wetlands could be troubled least (5) |
| TEALS – anagram of LEAST. Dabbling is something ducks do. | |
| 26 | Blunt American to flap impatiently (5) |
| ABATE – A(American) and BATE(flap impatiently) | |
| 27 | Plant one in Scotland around isle (5) |
| ANISE – ANE(one in Scotland) surrounding IS(isle) | |
I had itacism — to do with Modern Greek pronunciation; with Milesian referring to Miletus (Ionian Greek city); and mat actually means a type of border around a picture. Strained, I realise(d) but after all my “research” I thought maybe…….
The rub being that I therefore didn’t get 6 d.
Iricism isn’t in my Chambers but online Collins and Google told me “Irishism”. A well known Irishman, then?
Many thanks to setter and blogger as ever.
Regards.
‘Iricism’ is listed in Chambers, under ‘Irish’ and ‘Irishism.’
i should have looked harder!
Edited at 2022-02-20 11:16 am (UTC)
Otherwise this was tougher than average, and i squeezed in under the hour by a couple of minutes.
Though a fairly obvious anagram, icky suet prompted a grin.