Greetings, barred-grid fans.
I got through this one with little fuss, though I had to check definitions of some of the shorter entries. Tim Moorey often gives us a bit of popular culture or sport in his puzzles, and I am particularly impressed by the cricket-themed clue at 21 down!
In Mephisto puzzles, definitions (the one I found most direct is underlined) can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Giving unconventional views, time minidresses got revived! (12) |
| DISSENTERISM – anagram of T(time) and MINIDRESSES | |
| 10 | Needing energy, inhaler fixed on the nose (6) |
| RHINAL – anagram of INHALER minus E(energy) | |
| 11 | Fish and capers I love (5) |
| DANIO – anagram of AND, then I, O(love) | |
| 12 | Space rock? Roadies out to screen it (8) |
| ASTEROID – anagram of ROADIES containing IT | |
| 14 | Scottish churchgoers discussing what happens when heating’s broken? (8, two words) |
| WEE FREES – sounds like WE FREEZE(what happens when heating’s broken) | |
| 15 | Over the hill by mines out of bounds (6, two words) |
| PASTIT – PAST(by) and then PITS(mines) missing the outside letters | |
| 16 | Believe engaging Queen is to join King being prickly (5) |
| BURRY – BUY(believe) containing R(queen) and R(king) | |
| 17 | Very cross about dress getting wet (8) |
| IRRIGATE – IRATE(very cross) surrounding RIG(dress) | |
| 22 | Plants ordered from short October sales (8) |
| ALECOSTS – anagram of OCT(october) and SALES | |
| 24 | Drinks in horse-drawn carriage not finished (5) |
| CHAIS – CHAISE(post chaise, horse-drawn carriage) minus the last letter | |
| 25 | Hit record for one of the Animals (6) |
| TANREC – TAN(hit), REC(record) | |
| 27 | Refuse hot cracking screen — it’s easily broken in that condition (8) |
| REDSHORT – RED(refuse), then H(hot) inside SORT(screen). Metallurgic term | |
| 29 | Discover digs with small gaps in doors? (8) |
| SPYHOLES – SPY(discover), HOLES(digs) | |
| 30 | People enthralled after direction reversed (5) |
| ESNES – SENSE(direction) reversed | |
| 31 | Valium dispensed for Islamic teacher (6) |
| MAULVI – anagram of VALIUM | |
| 32 | Is Unionist deploring reforms ruining a good deal? (12) |
| LIGNIPERDOUS – anagram of IS,U(unionist),DEPLORING. Deal in this case is the tree | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Drop of Drambuie a piper’s drunk? (7) |
| DRAPPIE – first letter of Drambuie, then an anagram of A,PIPER | |
| 2 | Find out about one-time position of an organ (5) |
| SITUS – SUS(find out) surrounding I(one), T(time) | |
| 3 | Highland peaks for climbing cut short (4) |
| SNEB – BENS(highland peaks) reversed | |
| 4 | Listen in for a flatterer (6) |
| EARWIG – double definition for eavesdrop and a flatterer | |
| 5 | Dismal as before around eastern port (7) |
| TRIESTE -TRISTE(dismal) surrounding E(eastern) | |
| 6 | Leaving King’s Head, take a main road or minor one? (6, two words) |
| RAT RUN – remove the first letter of King from R(recipe, take), A. TRUNK(main road) | |
| 7 | Between ourselves, nothing’s left for unpaid workers? (7) |
| INTERNS – INTER NOS(between ourselves, Latin) minus O(nothing) | |
| 8 | Harry tears after team and strikes (9) |
| SIDERATES – anagram of TEARS after SIDE(team) | |
| 9 | Shy maiden engaged showing love for bachelor (5) |
| MOUSY – M(maiden), then BUSY(engaged) with O(love) replacing B(bachelor) | |
| 13 | Standard and Independent passed over most of eg, Derby game (9) |
| PARCHEESI – PAR(standard) and I(independent) containing CHEESE(eg, derby) minus the last letter | |
| 18 | One’s heard clearing up in English town (7) |
| READING – sounds like REDING(clearing up, explaining – found under REDE in Chambers) | |
| 19 | Pee in chain store after a large drink (7) |
| ALCOPOP – P(pee) inside CO-OP(chain store) following A, L(large). I did not know that there is a chain called CO-OP in the UK, in the US, it typically refers to an community owned store | |
| 20 | Only one hundred, access is managed for practice of self-discipline (7) |
| ASCESIS – remove one C(hundred) from ACCESS,IS and form an anagram | |
| 21 | Book showing Broad and Knight defending Stokes? (6) |
| WISDEN – WIDE(broad) and N(knight) containing S(stokes, the unit). Chris Broad and Nick Knight are former English cricketers who are now commentators. Ben Stokes is a current English cricketer. Well played! | |
| 23 | Daily coming round at one was an early religious sect member (6) |
| CATHAR – CHAR(daily) surrounding AT | |
| 24 | Lobster trap coming from inlet almost lost (5) |
| CREEL – I think this is CREEK(inlet) minus the last letter, then L(lost). I can’t find a justification for L = lost so I might be missing something here | |
| 26 | Not the latest kind of deodorant for old war leader (5) |
| ROLLO – remove the last letter from ROLL-ON deodorant for the Viking warrior | |
| 28 | Glaswegian drunk has date with a local magistrate (4) |
| FOUD – FOU(drunk) with D(date) | |
Well, I did solve this eventually, but it was tough. I couldn’t parse rat run and redshort. I had to build Wisden from the cryptic, and then look up to see what it was. Fortunately, I knew the Wha’s Fou song, which is mine of Scots words.
I think the L for lost may come from L&F for Lost and Found.
As one letter, L = lost is most easily understood from one-letter column headings in league tables (soccer most often) in British newspapers, along with W = won and D = drawn. (You could interpret them as wins / draws / losses too, but the past tenses seem to be the usual version). Not dictionary material, but frequently in the sport section of any British paper with a crossword …
In case it ever matters, the usual other columns are:
P=played, F=(goals) for, A=(goals) against, GD = goal difference, Pts = points
Couldn’t find L = LOST in the BRB, but the football reference did occur to me post-solve, and seems valid enough.
Interesting – I always thought of W,L,D as Wins, Losses,and Draws not Won,Lost and Drawn. The glossaries following tables for various sports I was able to find all used the noun- but that doesn’t rule out the verbal form being equally valid.
Mieux vaut tard que jamais.
Just got back to this tonight. The L in CREEL didn’t faze me, but my LOI was the totally cricket WISDEN.