Greetings barred-grid fans.
Another fine puzzle from Don Manley where the wordplay falls into place neatly. There’s not as many unusual words in the grid, so I expect most will find this at the easier end of the Mephisto curve.
In Mephisto puzzles definitions (the most direct of which is underlined) can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Powerful cat catching one insect (8) |
| PUISSANT – PUSS(cat) containing I(one) then ANT(insect) | |
| 6 | Prophet casting off a close-fitting garment (4) |
| HOSE – the prophet HOSEA minus A | |
| 9 | Set left with heretic related to low form of life (11) |
| RADIOLARIAN – RADIO(set), L(left) and ARIAN(heretic) | |
| 11 | Son in English lake coming up through the water (6) |
| EMERSE – S(son) inside E(English), MERE(lake). I thought this was a verb but Chambers confirms it as an adjective | |
| 12 | Vehicle in Scotland to budge with minimal power (4) |
| JEEP – JEE(budge, Scots) and P(power) | |
| 13 | Be in firm suffering setback with trophy unknown (6) |
| OCCUPY – CO(firm) reversed, then CUP(trophy), Y(unknown) | |
| 15 | Some rascal, a rogue that has no direction (6) |
| SCALAR – hidden inside raSCAL A Rogue | |
| 18 | Wrinkle? Start to experiment with grease (5) |
| SEAME – SEAM(wrinkle) and the first letter of Experiment | |
| 19 | One enthralled by favourite saint, one bound to be devout person (7) |
| PIETIST – I(one) inside PET(favourite) and ST(saint) surrounding another I(one) | |
| 20 | Sanders pulverised stone (7) |
| SARSDEN – anagram of SANDERS | |
| 21 | Poetic land with a hint of sunshine drawing British in (5) |
| ARABY – A RAY(hint of sunshine) containing B(British) | |
| 26 | The King and I? Like Brynner being mean! (6) |
| RIBALD – R(king) and I, then BALD(reference to the actor Yul Brynner of The King and I, Westworld, and a posthumous anti-smoking spot) | |
| 27 | Tree home needed by bird (6) |
| PADAUK – PAD(home) and AUK(bird) | |
| 28 | Indian location lacking hotel or shop (4) |
| DELI – DELHI(Indian location) minus H(hotel) | |
| 29 | One group of badgers getting a cold drink (6, two words) |
| ICE TEA – I(one), CETE(group of badgers), A | |
| 30 | Matter of importance once making northern chaps invade performance (11) |
| CONCERNMENT – N(northern) MEN(chaps) inside CONCERT(performance) | |
| 31 | Female getting science qualification in Paris (4) |
| BESS – double definition, the second being
Bachelier ès Sciences |
|
| 32 | Holy songs or just one song after drink is knocked back (8) |
| TROPARIA – ARIA(one song) after PORT(drink) reversed | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Particles possibly making person sick (6) |
| PREONS – anagram of PERSON | |
| 2 | Fancy that fish being offered to poor nun! (8, two words) |
| I DECLARE – IDE(fish) and a poor CLARE | |
| 3 | Cloying sweetness of US gentleman on horseback? (5) |
| SIRUP – SIR(gentleman) UP(on horseback) | |
| 4 | Beer given to you makes you calm, as before (5) |
| ALEYE – ALE(beer) and YE(you) | |
| 5 | Certain arthropods with a skill for climbing gull’s caught (9) |
| TRACHEATA – A, ART(skill) all reversed containing CHEAT(gull) | |
| 6 | Hospital injection, one being sealed with covering (5) |
| HIJAB – H(hospital), JAB(injection) containing I(one) | |
| 7 | Old informer could expose improper banks, yes? (8) |
| SNEAKSBY – anagram of BANKS,YES | |
| 8 | Liveliness slowing down after unexplainable experience? (6) |
| ESPRIT – RIT(slowing down, musically) after ESP(unexplainable experience) | |
| 10 | Old measure as part of harsh injustice (6) |
| ARSHIN – hidden inside hARSH INjustice | |
| 14 | Rarely favoured forecast includes hints of lightning everywhere (9) |
| PREDILECT – PREDICT(forecast) containing the first letters of Lightning Everywhere | |
| 16 | Marine musical work? Observe calmness when it is heard (8, two words) |
| SEA PIECE – sounds like SEE(observe) PEACE(calmness) | |
| 17 | Brain membrane that may be developed in a primate (8, two words) |
| PIA MATER – anagram of A,PRIMATE | |
| 19 | Promote the sound of an organ (6) |
| PEDDLE – sounds like a PEDAL organ | |
| 20 | SE European hides knife in underground chamber (6) |
| SERDAB – SERB(SE European) containing DA(knife) | |
| 22 | Japanese attire brings negative reaction, a brief word of gratitude (6) |
| YUKATA – YUK(negative reaction), A, TA(brief word of gratitude) | |
| 23 | Murderer’s tributes in Scotland (5) |
| CAINS – double definition | |
| 24 | Name of VP no longer with us — so RIP, possibly (5) |
| SPIRO – anagram of SO,RIP for Richard Nixon’s first Vice President Spiro Agnew | |
| 25 | Dropsy gets a member of ancient kingdom upset (5) |
| EDEMA – A MEDE(member of ancient kingdom) all reversed | |
I agree – relatively straightforward. Manley’s cryptics make some sort of sense, unlike the other setters, and in this case the vocabulary was not too bad. Only radiolarian was a surprise, sounds like a cult in some third-world country. I finished in one sitting, about an hour and a half or so.
I toyed with ESERIE for a moment at 11ac; it took a while for MERE to come to mind. RIBALD=mean? My last two were SERDAB & BESS; I couldn’t (can’t) see how to get ‘knife’, and I forgot about ès.. [On edit:] I do find ‘dha’ in Wikipedia, with some alternative spellings, none of which is ‘da’.]
The second definition of da is a “heavy burmese knife” in my chambers
Unlike the daily crossword which uses Collins (easily searchable online) as its lead reference, Mephisto uses Chambers which does not always match up to internet searches. The first definition of ribald is low, base, mean.
And yet ‘ribald’ does not mean low, base, mean. I can see why setters would like to use Chambers.
Chambers also has far more abbreviations than other dictionaries, and loads of silly old words. Perfect for crossword setting!
I found this fairly straightforward but I had TRACHEARA: I obviously lost track of where ART and CHEAT were overlapping. Annoying because I often check this kind of answer in Chambers but obviously didn’t this time.