Greetings barred-grid fans.
My brother is visiting from Australia so I am in a bit of a time crunch (and an alcohol haze). I finished this in one go last Sunday morning and really enjoyed the surfaces.
A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be verified in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Age-old principles of Cluedo: rooms, occupants, weapons and an element of murder (4) |
| CROW – first letters of Cluedo Rooms Occupants Weapons | |
| 4 | Shrewdness, a capital thing in frank Shakespearean (8) |
| ASTUCITY – A, then UC(upper case, capital), IT(thing) inside STY(frank is Shakespearean for pigsty) | |
| 11 | Midwife to feel remorse about returning to nab bed for examination (10) |
| ACCOUCHEUR – RUE(to feel remorse), CA(about) all reversed, containing COUCH(bed for psychiatric examination) | |
| 12 | Defer humbly covering any point (5) |
| RHUMB – hidden inside defeR HUMBly | |
| 14 | May’s predecessor vacated power in trouble (5) |
| APRIL – the external letters of PoweR inside AIL(trouble) | |
| 15 | I effect fluid movement (without force) slipping one foot into left shoe (8, two words) |
| LIFT PUMP – I(one), FT(foot) inside L(left) PUMP(shoe) | |
| 16 | Toss head back in anger during row (5) |
| BRANK – last letter in angeR inside BANK(row) | |
| 17 | Spun pike heading for such? (5) |
| KIPES – anagram of PIKE and the first letter of Such | |
| 18 | Skilfully toil abroad drilling in a parched state (8) |
| ADROITLY – anagram of TOIL inside A, DRY(parched state) | |
| 22 | Rumour about record close to electronic rock (8) |
| EKLOGITE – KITE(rumour or suggestion) surrounding LOG(record) next to E(electronic) | |
| 24 | Throw out say, broken set (5) |
| EGEST – EG(say) and an anagram of SET | |
| 25 | Who’s entertained by Sega, me right? (5) |
| GAMER – hidden inside seGA ME Right | |
| 27 | I send around vessel to take funds from church? (8) |
| DISENDOW – anagram of I,SEND then DOW(dhow, vessel) | |
| 28 | Language family curtailed, it’s a source of poison (5) |
| URALI – URALIC(language family) minus the last letter | |
| 29 | Die right away from dagger (5) |
| CEASE – remove R(right) from CREASE(another spelling of KRIS, dagger) | |
| 30 | It’s tense being involved in peacekeeping study (10) |
| MEDITATION – T(tense) inside MEDIATION(peacekeeping) | |
| 31 | Busy getting sexually aroused, heading for encounter at close quarters (8, three words) |
| EYE TO EYE – EYE(busy, detective), TOEY(sexually aroused) and the first letter of Encounter | |
| 32 | Golden yellow creature hiding in cornfield’s prime spots (4) |
| ORFE – the prime number positions inside cORnFiEld | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Buffalo, one chasing horse in Colorado (7) |
| CARABAO – A(one) after ARAB(horse) inside CO(Colorado) | |
| 2 | Roguish journal coming out like the Eye? (6) |
| OCULAR – JOCULAR(roguish) minus J(journal) | |
| 3 | Cut back yen for feminist females (5) |
| WOMYN – MOW(cut) reversed, then YN(yen) | |
| 5 | Dire dipstick for hacking? (12, two words) |
| SCRIPT KIDDIE – anagram of DIRE,DIPSTICK | |
| 6 | Nothing lacking from astronomic event that served up everything (12, three words) |
| THE FULL MONTY – remove O(nothing) from THE FULL MOON(astronomic event), then YT(that) reversed | |
| 7 | Making merry before first sign of costs increasing (7) |
| CUPPING – first letter in Costs, then UPPING(increasing) | |
| 8 | Suddenly intrude headlong to express pleasure in sex (6) |
| IRRUPT – reversal of PURR(express pleasure) inside IT(sex) | |
| 9 | Terms set merit case of superior bubbly (10) |
| TRIMESTERS – anagram of SET,MERIT and the exterior letters of SuperioR | |
| 10 | Sure about Labour Party quests (5) |
| YELPS – YES(sure) surrounding LP(Labour Party) | |
| 13 | In confusion at Fettes Head’s left third year to prepare with year below (10) |
| HIRDY-GIRDY – remove the first letter of tHIRD, then Y(year), GIRD(to prepare) and another Y(year) | |
| 19 | Horse reduced by hard impediment round middle of leg … this? (7) |
| OSSELET – HOSS(horse) minus H(hard) and LET(impediment) surrounding the middle letter of lEg | |
| 20 | Gardener/retainer partly turned over earth (7) |
| TERRENE – hidden reversed inside gardENER RETainer | |
| 21 | Source of oil tastes of similar essence mentioned before (6) |
| SESAME – first letters of Similar Essense, then SAME(mentioned before) | |
| 23 | Instant messaging’s beginning to produce on screen craze (6) |
| IMPAIR – IM(instant messaging), the first letter of Produce and AIR(screen( | |
| 24 | Elicit the devil’s daughter lowering (5) |
| EDUCE – DEUCE(the devil) with the D(daughter) lowered | |
| 26 | Vegetable caterpillar ate, half of wort chewed (5) |
| AWETO – anagram of ATE and half of WOrt | |
I got most of this! Just wait till I get Chambers ! Ha.
(Honestly, I need it. The only definition for KIPE I can find online is a basket, formerly used for catching fish. Is KIPES something else?)
The full definition of AWETO is something else!
Chambers says issued basket for catching pike. Aweto: the so-called vegetable caterpillar, the body of the caterpillar filled with fungus, used to obtain a pigment. Origin Maori
Yes, I meant “something else!” not literally but as “far out!”
Merriam-Webster’s definition, in particular: “ a composite structure that occurs in New Zealand, that when dried and burned yields a useful black pigment, and that is made up of the mummified body of a caterpillar killed by the attack of a parasitic ascomycetous fungus (Cordyceps robustus) together with the elongated fruiting body of the fungus which projects from the neck of the mummy.”
It’s just a bit hard to see the basket in the clue for KIPES.
Yes, I agree with you in that the basket aspect is hard to see.
I thought 17 ac. was a &Lit. Not that I’m ever sure that I can spot those.
Per Ch. 13 Revised, to spin is to fish (with a swivel or spoonbait) and spun indicates an anagram of pike plus the S from spun and the whole, i.e. the basket for pike, is where the caught pike are heading.
This week’s was was the first in the last 16 where I failed. I was tripped up by womyn. There were a couple of things I didn’t understand, so grateful to GLH for the explanations. Must note the YT=that. I knew yat, but that didn’t help. Also TOEY was unknown to me. Apart from the one hiccough, I managed this in one sitting, with a short snooze in the middle – well I have just received my flu and civic vaccinations so wasn’t feeling too good.
I worked out WOMYN for 3d, but found that it’s not in my decrepit Chambers 11th edition. Should I get the recommended 13th edition (which is several years old now), or wait for the 14th?