Greetings, barred-grid fans.
The puzzle appeared out of order in the online Times, and the solution will be published online today, so the blog is appearing at around the same time as 3222.
Rather fun solve, I thought, with a generously-checked grid and clear wordplay, this was finished in a pretty short sitting.
In Mephisto puzzles, definitions (the most obvious of which is underlined) can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay here.
Away we go.
| Across | |
| 1 | Mineral is yellow — the coal’s different (10) |
| ORTHOCLASE – OR(yellow) then an anagram of THE,COAL’S | |
| 12 | Ingots perhaps hard to get out, we hear? (8) |
| BLOCK-TIN – sounds like BLOCKED IN (hard to get out) | |
| 13 | Greek character going round with French pal, showing taste (5) |
| UMAMI – MU(Greek character) reversed then AMI(French for friend) | |
| 14 | Prestige of court blown apart by a revolutionary (6) |
| CACHET – CT(court) containing A, CHE(revolutionary) | |
| 15 | Old schools. Old-fashioned characters (5) |
| OGAMS – O(old), GAMS(schools of whales) | |
| 17 | Jittery trainee hates to take more chances early on (12, three words) |
| RAISE THE ANTE – anagram of TRAINEE,HATES | |
| 18 | Gun that is placed by bridge (6) |
| ARCHIE – IE(that is) next to ARCH(bridge) | |
| 22 | Confusion of small son, tot in a spin (4) |
| MUSS – S(son) and SUM(tot, add) all reversed | |
| 23 | Part of tennis match concluded by ace — it’s hairy (4) |
| SETA – SET(part of tennis match) then A(ace) | |
| 25 | Number given to worker who may be temporary resident (6) |
| TENANT – TEN(number) and a worker ANT | |
| 27 | Mason restores ends getting broken (12, two words) |
| STONE DRESSER – anagram of RESTORES,ENDS | |
| 31 | Fish hangs loosely on end of line (5) |
| ELOPS – LOPS(hangs loosely) after the last letter in linE | |
| 33 | Weed in open ditch running into river (6) |
| ELODEA – LODE(open ditch) inside EA(river) | |
| 34 | Gradation of differences in Conservative policy (5) |
| CLINE – C(conservative), LINE(policy) | |
| 35 | Description of bar Jock’s eager to provide for car attachment (8, two words) |
| ROOF RACK – a ROO bar, then FRACK(eager). I was on a cross-country bus once in Queensland in the 80s and a kangaroo went right into the roo bar. The bus was still damaged enough we had to wait for a replacement, but nobody human was injured. | |
| 36 | Tree — prominent feature on isle, something slippery (10) |
| MANCHINEEL – CHIN(prominent feature) on the isle of MAN, then EEL(something slippery) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Traveller getting round — movement restored? (4) |
| ROMO – ROM(traveller), and O(round) | |
| 3 | Like a terrible accident with smoke going up after short time (6) |
| TRAGIC – CIGAR(smoke) reversed after T(time) | |
| 4 | Poor performers cramping a political organisation (5) |
| HAMAS – HAMS(poor performers) containing A | |
| 5 | Crowd about to descend with great desire and little hesitation (7) |
| CLUSTER – C(about) then LUST(great desire) and ER(little hesitation) | |
| 6 | Crazy old army officer shown up (4) |
| LOCO – O(old) and COL(colonel, army officer) all reversed | |
| 7 | A rogue uncle once in the world of learning (7) |
| ACADEME – A, CAD(rogue), EME(uncle) | |
| 8 | Once like ABC (part of alphabet here)? (4) |
| ETHE – hidden inside alphabET HEre | |
| 9 | Nest is arranged for offspring, as before (6) |
| SIENTS – anagram of NEST,IS | |
| 10 | Homeless, so tent there may provide the answer (11, three words) |
| ON THE STREET – anagram of SO,TENT,THERE | |
| 11 | Soldiers in a crisis sure having to scatter (11) |
| CUIRASSIERS – anagram of A,CRISIS,SURE | |
| 16 | Censure mother and children ultimately (4) |
| DAMN – DAM(mother) and the last letter of childreN | |
| 19 | Part of leg, not head, in a restraining hold (4) |
| HANK – SHANK(part of leg) missing the first letter | |
| 20 | Pattern on window, maybe — what could be finer around church? (7, two words) |
| ICE FERN – anagram of FINER surrounding CE(church) | |
| 21 | Period of detention brings strain to holy type (7) |
| STRETCH – RETCH(strain) with ST(saint, holy type) | |
| 24 | Stored in pocket, a long optical device (6) |
| ETALON – hidden inside pockET A LONg | |
| 26 | Aim to be quiet when anger spreads around (6) |
| ASPIRE – P(quiet) inside AS(when), IRE(anger) | |
| 28 | Sage’s farewell cut short (5) |
| SOLON – SO LONG(farewell) missing the last letter | |
| 29 | Glasgow’s empty grave being reported (4) |
| TOOM – sounds like TOMB(grave) | |
| 30 | Fighting female, adult repeatedly seen among ladies? (4) |
| WAAC – A and A(adult repeatedly) inside WC(ladies toilet) | |
| 32 | Some words needing to be cut, as before (4) |
| SNEE – hidden inside wordS NEEding | |
This one was really quite easy, since the answers were mostly words that I knew and the wordplay was completely fair. For something like roof rack, I could just biff it. I was finished in less than an hour.
What Vinyl said, although I imagine it took me longer than an hour. I did wonder about ROOF RACK.
I see this took me 34 minutes, so is surely my fastest Mephisto. I do enjoy Don’s for the reasons outlined above. I see I failed to parse ROOF RACK, so thanks for that George, and Don for the fun puzzle.
I found this very easy indeed for a Mephisto, done in under 15 minutes which is very rare.
Pretty straightforward, apart from a typo in transcription, though I wondered about 18a. ARCHIE isn’t in Chambers, nor in my (ancient) Collins, though it is in Bradford’s, under GUN(FIRE). From my memory of the Biggles books, ARCHIE was equivalent to ACK-ACK, or anti-aircraft fire, rather than the gun itself.
ARCHIE is in Chambers, under the entry for ‘Archibald’.
I should have thought of looking there. Can’t remember whether or not Captain Johns gave him his Sunday name.