Greetings, barred-grid fans.
I’ve changed my Mephisto habits, usually I do it first thing on Sunday morning, but since I have been watching a late-night double feature horror classic thing on TV (last week was Killer Klowns from Outer Space and The Crawling Eye, tonight is Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein and the remake of Invaders from Mars), I’ve been doing the Mephisto in snatches during the commercial breaks. Makes for an interesting solving experience, doing a few clues at a time.
I think this must be on the easier side, as I finished it well before the first movie was over.
In Mephistos, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | One twice intervenes in tricky subject once concerning old Catholic (9) |
| JEBUSITIC – insert two I’s(one) inside an anagram of SUBJECT | |
| 11 | Suspect Mike irate about ending of bus conductors (7) |
| MAESTRI – anagram of M(Mike) and IRATE surrounding the last letter in buS | |
| 12 | Endless praise by artist for group of cells (5) |
| LAURA – LAUD(praise) minus the last letter, and RA(artist) | |
| 13 | Irish troubles reportedly back to some extent (4) |
| ERSE – hidden reversed in troublES REportedly | |
| 14 | Rate shot up for the current controller (8) |
| RHEOSTAT – anagram of RATE,SHOT | |
| 15 | Huge deal with reduced shellfish (6) |
| OSTREA – OS(huge) and TREAT(deal with) minus the last letter | |
| 16 | Bar deserted, Glaswegian’s dismal state (5) |
| REICH – remove D(deserted) from DREICH(Socts dismal) | |
| 17 | Three points about very good year for Ukraine currency (7) |
| KOPIYKA – KOKA(three points in judo) surrounding PI(very good), Y(year) | |
| 19 | Presidential policy coming after a reshuffle? (7, two words) |
| NEW DEAL – after a reshuffle of cards there could be a NEW DEAL | |
| 24 | Rovers rarely prepared in small numbers (7) |
| NOMADES – MADE(prepared) inside NOS(numbers) | |
| 25 | Ring Japan before one gets right lab equipment (7, two words) |
| BELL JAR – BELL(ring), J(Japan), A(one), R(right) | |
| 28 | Desert allowance one’s forgotten (5, two words) |
| RAT ON – RATION(allowance) minus I(one) | |
| 30 | Harsh Sun backs off blasting parts of the Koran (6) |
| SURAHS – anagram of HARSH and SUN minus their last letters | |
| 31 | Unexpectedly, Stubbs was to inspire beginnings of representing equines (8) |
| UNAWARES – the actress UNA Stubbs (I remember her from Worzel Gummidge), then WAS containing the first letters of Representing, Equines. Clever clue as the artist George Stubbs is best known for painting horses | |
| 32 | Northern banks are endlessly reckless in recession (4) |
| ASAR – A(are) then RASH(reckless) minus the last letter reversed | |
| 33 | Run about repeatedly (5) |
| CORSO – both C and OR SO are about | |
| 34 | Fish, beer and wine taken on Sabbath (7) |
| ALEVINS – ALE(beer), VIN(wine) and S(Sabbath) | |
| 35 | Damsel out to keep important date for heroine (9) |
| ESMERALDA – anagram of DAMSEL containing ERA, referencing The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and I’m glad for this wordplay as I often mess up the A’s and E’s when she appears. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | At first long ago, US media tycoon appeared with no end of chutzpah (5) |
| EARST – the tycoon is William Randolph HEARST, remove the last letter of chutzpaH | |
| 3 | Parliament member accepts a supporting most excellent grant (8) |
| BESTOWAL – OWL(parliament member) containing A, under BEST(most excellent) | |
| 4 | People who ponder spending millions for long-established legal rights (5) |
| USERS – MUSERS(people who ponder) minus M(millions) | |
| 5 | Broadcaster in jug after fracas one’s forgotten (7) |
| STREWER – EWER(jug) after STIR(fracas) minus I(one) | |
| 6 | Fasten line in stern of boat short of its last painter (7) |
| TIEPOLO – TIE(fasten), then L(line) inside POOP(stern of boat) minus the last letter | |
| 7 | Compound arsenic’s right out as part of cheese-making! (6) |
| CASEIN – anagram of ARSENIC minus R(right) | |
| 8 | Note shops do traditional medicine in S Africa (4) |
| MUTI – MI(musical note) containing UT(do, another musical note) | |
| 9 | Flaw on the French sort of porcelain (7) |
| CRACKLE – CRACK(flaw) next to LE(the, in French) | |
| 10 | Catholic with weak position in Bar gets emotional release (9) |
| CATHARSIS – CATH(Catholic) and ARSIS(weak position in a bar of music) | |
| 15 | Check a new series coming up set in fine German city (9) |
| OSNABRUCK – CURB(check), A, N(new), S(series) all reversed inside OK(fine) | |
| 18 | Dry silage, cut short not normally produced from an ash tree (8) |
| YGDRASIL – anagram of DRY,SILAGE minus the last letter | |
| 20 | Roosevelt, perhaps coming from Verona, elected preposterously (7) |
| ELEANOR – hidden reversed inside veRONA ELEcted, referring to the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt | |
| 21 | Tim hopes this will get solvers to Mephisto! (7) |
| ANAGRAM – TIM HOPES is an anagram of MEPHISTO | |
| 22 | Senior carrying PC device is a vendor roving abroad (7) |
| SMOUSER – SR(senior) containing MOUSE(PC device) | |
| 23 | Shirt-like garment, they say is for ruddy young woman (6) |
| BLOWSE – sounds like BLOUSE(shirt-like garment) | |
| 26 | Excellent upfront support for Callas associated with very last part of Tosca (5) |
| BRAVA – BRA(upfront support for Callas), V(very) and the last letter of toscA. | |
| 27 | Old brass section gets round of applause (5) |
| SHAND – S(section), HAND(round of applause) | |
| 29 | Heavy duty cover behind wheels (4) |
| TARP – PRAT(buttocks, behind) reversed | |
Managed to work out the parsing of everything this week. Two sessions for me this time. All done by 10am Monday morning. I thought 26 was also cleverly worked as Tosca was something Callas would have performed many times to the plaudits of Brava!
And the ‘last part’ of Tosca is particularly dramatic – even for an opera!
A rare DNF for me – I did not see that state might be the literal for 16, and thought I was looking for a Scots word instead of a German one. Otherwise, not too bad. I had difficulty recalling Osnabruck, but most of the others were write-ins. I can remember the days when Tiepolo was a stock answer in the daily cryptic, but lately he has gone the way of Beerbohm Tree.
I found this pretty straightforward but somehow I changed the U in JEBUSITIC to an I and then didn’t spot the error when checking. This can be difficult in Mephisto because of all the funny words but I really should have done so here because it made a nonsense of USERS.
A similar experience to Keriothe, only in my case a Q for O at the end of Tiepolo, which, while it fools the myopic eye, is ridiculous even for the fattest fingers! I echo George’s appreciation of the generous cluing for ESMERALDA, which has otherwise awarded me many a pink in times past. Quick at under 30 minutes but sadly pointless!
Yes same here. No matter how many times I get it wrong I can’t get the correct spelling into my head. It just doesn’t look right!
Esmeralda comes from the word “emerald”, which might help – assuming, of course, that you don’t have the same problem with emerald …
Interesting, thanks – that might just do it!
Glad I’m not the only one with an Esme problem. Straightforward for me, helped by having almost all of the vocab and GK required. And nice to see the gorgeous and talented Una get a mention. I initially thought 8d must have a typo – SHOPS for STOPS – but on checking, the first def. of SHOP as a transitive verb is ‘to imprison.’