Like most Don Manley Mephistos, I was able to finish this one without much difficulty. I got a few almost immediately, and they opened up the grid for me. Sappho, simmel, crenel, sputter – in they went. The hardest thing in a Mephisto is getting started, since a few crossing letters are amazingly helpful in parsing in the clues.
There were a few words I didn’t know, mostly from the comprehensive Scots vocabulary documented in Chambers. But there were a surprising number I had heard of – disme, which was what the US dime was originally called, the hawk who works for Toyota, the place in Kent, etc etc. I did get tired and have to come back in the morning to clean up a few missing entries, but pretty easy for a Mephisto.
| Across | |
| 1 | Poetess is blue, showing love rather than anger (6) |
| SAPPHO – SAPPH(-ire,+O), a clever substitution clue. | |
| 5 | Sandy’s weird voice is evident in crazy chat (6) |
| TAISCH – Anagram of CHAT around IS. | |
| 9 | Soldiers by the French border (4) |
| ORLE – OR + LE, a starter clue. | |
| 10 | What’s culturally distinctive in the clan, I fancy (8) |
| ETHNICAL – Anagram of THE CLAN, I. | |
| 11 | A father joins Irish singer in great hall (7) |
| APADANA – A PA + DANA. Dana Scallon, never heard of her. | |
| 13 | Time to meet actress Thora in the interval (5) |
| THIRD – T + HIRD, one I just biffed and researched later to get Thora Hird. | |
| 15 | Shun violent animal — or destroy (7) |
| UNSHAPE – Anagram of SHUN + APE. | |
| 16 | Indentation in basket having name inscribed (6) |
| CRENEL – CRE(N)EL, used for crenelation, no doubt. | |
| 19 | Early fruiting variety about to be invaded by a pest shortly (8) |
| RATHRIPE – R(A THRIP[s])E. | |
| 20 | Across a road spot part of a vessel (8, two words) |
| SPAR DECK -SP(A RD)ECK. | |
| 24 | Tree French gentlemen planted in holy location (6) |
| SIMMON – SI(M,M)ON. | |
| 26 | Left looking back, one holy person who sees the Bible in a particular way (7) |
| TROPIST – PORT backwards + I ST. | |
| 28 | Pulls oxen around side of mountain (5) |
| YANKS – YA(N)KS. | |
| 29 | Jabber in Society club (7) |
| SPUTTER – S + PUTTER. | |
| 30 | Stopping novel three-quarters through — what’s smart about that? (8) |
| STEMMING – ST(EMM[a])ING, one of our favorite novels. | |
| 31 | Fine boy in Victorian novel (4) |
| ERIC – Alluding to an obscure novel by Frederic Farrar that is little read nowadays. | |
| 32 | Male bird having an hour by lake (6) |
| TERCEL – TERCE + L, a canonical hour. | |
| 33 | Picture in church room vandalised (6) |
| CHROMO – CH + anagram of ROOM, a bit of 19th-century slang some will know. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Hawk once to fly high (4) |
| SOAR – Double definition. | |
| 2 | Beach with nuisance not acceptable for the nobs (5) |
| PLAGE – PLAG[u]E. | |
| 3 | Being fastidious gets journalist into depression, taking bash (8) |
| PEDANTRY – P(ED)AN + TRY. | |
| 4 | The woman’s covering body part — so as not to be this? (6) |
| HEARER – H(EAR)ER. | |
| 5 | The social worker with energy descending in Kent district (6) |
| THANET – THE ANT with the E moved down. | |
| 6 | Sanity one lost, somehow becoming nervous (5) |
| ANTSY – Anagram of SAN[i]TY. | |
| 7 | Fly in science dull and boring? (7) |
| SCIARID – SCI + ARID. | |
| 8 | Part of flower damaged in opera porch (10) |
| CARPOPHORE – Anagram of OPERA PORCH, which you will get quickly if you know carpos is the Greek for fruit. | |
| 12 | Rarely sweat as a second villain on ship? (10) |
| PERSPIRATE – PER + S + PIRATE. | |
| 14 | Scottish judge in old secret about church (6) |
| DECERN – DE(CE)RN, where judge is a verb. | |
| 16 | Excellent little addition to sofa? Reverse of that, old (6) |
| CUSHTY – CUSH + YT backwards, a representation of an 18th-century ligature. | |
| 17 | Poetic line produced by son dropping out of academic period (8) |
| TRIMETER – TRIME[s]TER. | |
| 18 | Pig with solid figure entering pub (7) |
| BACONER – BA(CONE)R. | |
| 21 | A ship in position heading up towards the orient (6) |
| EASSIL – A SS in LIE upside-down. | |
| 22 | Good health reduced by 50 per cent? That’s awful trouble for Jock (6) |
| KIAUGH – KIA[-ora] + UGH, a little Maori toast for you. | |
| 23 | Land is meadow? Only some, a tenth (5) |
| DISME – Hidden in [lan]D IS ME[adow]. | |
| 25 | Maiden has to be in Paris endlessly getting round — using this? (5) |
| METRO – M + ETR[e] + O. | |
| 27 | Artist set up firm in Bow (4) |
| ARCO – RA upside down + CO. | |
I noted at the time that I found this one “straightforward” – which, with a Mephisto, is a relative term since there are always some words which I can’t deduce and have to cheat. Just less this time.
31 ac could also be a double (or triple if you separate the boy from the novel) definition. Eric being a type of fine paid by a murderer o the victim’s family (from memory).
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
Also had to look up Thora Hird, but the rest of it came together pretty readily.