Greetings barred-grid fans!
I spent more time looking up things in Chambers than usual this week, not so much because of the wordplay, but there are some very odd words in the grid.
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 | Courier car is carrying a lot of cheese (9) |
| ESTAFETTE – ESTATE car containing most of FETa cheese | |
| 11 | A large amount of horse mackerel (4) |
| SCAD – double definition | |
| 12 | Dullards working in laundries not independent (8) |
| LURDANES – anagram of LAUNDRIES minus I(independent) | |
| 13 | Crazy pass missing out both wings (4) |
| RAVE – TRAVEL(pass) missing the exterior letters | |
| 14 | Absent girl seen by lake in Asian wood (8) |
| AGALLOCH – A(absent), GAL(girl) next to LOCH(lake) | |
| 15 | River of Italian city (6) |
| TRENTO – TRENT river, then O(of) | |
| 16 | A dish put out for paragon (5) |
| SIDHA – anagram of A,DISH | |
| 17 | Second World War commando back in large town not unknown (7) |
| CHINDIT – HIND(back) inside CITY(large town) minus Y(unknown) | |
| 20 | Help to bring about trick on leader (7) |
| CONDUCE – CON(trick) next to DUCE(leader) | |
| 24 | I rejected original fancy Hindu decorations (7) |
| RANGOLI – anagram of ORIGINAL minus I | |
| 25 | Foam on back of aircraft upfront (7) |
| AEROGEL – LEG(on side in cricket) reversed after AERO-(of aircraft) | |
| 27 | Shout in depression after losing wife (5) |
| HOLLO – HOLLOW(depression) minus W(wife) | |
| 30 | Three articles written about introduction of Nigella, a goddess (6) |
| ATHENA – A, THE and A(three articles) around the first letter in Nigella | |
| 31 | Triumph over weedy stuff by Native American ending in waffle (8) |
| ORECROWE – ORE(weedy stuff), then CROW(Native American) and the last letter in wafflE | |
| 32 | Charles Darwin’s forensic test (4) |
| ESDA – hidden inside charlES DArwin | |
| 33 | Expecting enclosure that’s fortified (8) |
| ENCEINTE – double definition – this one gave me trouble since I was not familiar with either definition. It appeared in a daily in 2020 and caused a bit of a stir then | |
| 34 | African encampment, authentic for retreat (4) |
| LAER – REAL(authentic) reversed | |
| 35 | Marks right away covering gentle US terrain (9) |
| SCABLANDS – SCARS(marks) minus R(right) surrounding BLAND(gentle) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Panic surrounding cat in minor fight (8) |
| SCARMOGE – SCARE(panic) surrounding MOG(cat) | |
| 3 | English composer, one behind bars (8) |
| TAVERNER – double definition | |
| 4 | Advertisement space connected with one Middle-Easterner (5) |
| ADENI – AD(advertisement), EN(space) and I(one) | |
| 5 | Mock a Tesla that’s stalled at high speed (7, two words) |
| FLAT OUT – FLOUT(mock) containing A,T(tesla) | |
| 6 | Tube journey not half taking long (7) |
| TRACHEA – half of TRAvel(journey) containing ACHE(long) | |
| 7 | Only one large comprehensive in say, a London borough (6) |
| EALING – only one L(large) in ALL-IN(comprehensive), placed inside EG(say) | |
| 8 | Trim Spaniards turned up (4) |
| SNOD – DONS(Spaniards) reversed | |
| 9 | Counsel out of focus in college (4) |
| TECH – TEACH(counsel) missing the middle letter(the focus) | |
| 10 | Hairy task ordered for Hindu warrior (9) |
| KSHATRIYA – anagram of HAIRY TASK | |
| 15 | Food stocking said to be for old Virginians (9) |
| TUCKAHOES – sounds like TUCKER(food), HOSE(stocking) | |
| 18 | Bishop blessed in old case long forgotten (8) |
| DIOCESAN – anagram of IN,OLD,CASE minus L(long) | |
| 19 | One society owning estates is isolated (8) |
| ISLANDED – I(one), S(society), LANDED(owning estates) | |
| 21 | Car picked up close to a fiddle (7) |
| CREMONA – MERC(car) reversed, then ON(close to), A | |
| 22 | Moderate peacekeepers overlooking former Liberal party leader (7) |
| UNSTEEL – UN(peacekeepers) over former Liberal party leader David STEEL | |
| 23 | Old dilapidated church, shortly before end of mass organ stops (6) |
| DOLCES -anagram of OLD, then CE(church) and the last letter of masS | |
| 26 | Male learner in confines of Calcutta? (5) |
| CHELA – HE(male), L(learner) inside the exterior letters of CalcuttA | |
| 28 | A certain rolling river in part of France (4) |
| ORNE – ONE(a certain) containing R(river) | |
| 29 | Lewd desire of male chauvinist (4) |
| LECH – hidden inside maLE CHauvinist | |
Why are the clues in today’s online Mephisto so faint? Is there a way of remedying this?
If you click on the little wheel to the top right of the grid you can resize the font on the clues.
I didn’t actually finish this one – i suspected 31 might be orecrowe, but couldn’t find it in Chambers. You have to look under overcrow, and then it’s given as an alternate spelling.
I was quite surprised when I got Kshatriya, but that’s what the anagram was clearly pointing to, and once you get the crossers, you can’t go wrong.
Seems like the crew of barred-grid solvers is a little thin this week – all the really smart people must be on holiday.