Greetings, barred-grid fans.
I was back to my routine last week, having a beer and solving Mephisto in breaks during the classic horror movie, which was the William Shatner “classic” Kingdom Of The Spiders. I remember having to look up a fair few definitions, but if you trust the wordplay, this is not that difficult.
In Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 4 | Shyest chap needing quiet? Could be this church member (9) |
| HESYCHAST – anagram of SHYEST,CHAP minus P(quiet) | |
| 10 | Military detachment short of time using word of mouth (5) |
| PAROL – PATROL(military detachment) minus T(time) | |
| 11 | Wise to get permit on returning basic transport in Russia (7) |
| TELEGAS – SAGE(wise) and LET(permit) both reversed | |
| 12 | Lead start of project with back trouble (8) |
| PLUMBAGO – first letter of Project and LUMBAGO(back trouble) | |
| 13 | Set of railway wagons mentioned? Go for those in York (4) |
| RAIK – sounds like RAKE(string of wagons) | |
| 14 | Self-assertive person wanting power, one puts others in their place (5) |
| USHER – PUSHER(self-assertive person) minus P(power) | |
| 15 | Result in second act spoken of (6, two words) |
| TURN TO – sounds like TURN TWO(second act) | |
| 17 | Gearing adjusted, check to make a bit more powerful (7) |
| GAG-REIN – anagram of GEARING | |
| 20 | Low stool, Native American type (7) |
| CREEPIE – CREE(Native American), PIE(mixed type in printing) | |
| 23 | Old tax sounding like member’s payment (7) |
| ALMS-FEE – sounds like ARMS(member’s), FEE(payment) | |
| 27 | Dreamtime: Chronicles set in a long period of time (7) |
| ALCHERA – CH(Chronicles, book of the Bible), inside A, L(long), ERA(period of time) | |
| 28 | Did nothing right in transactions with Germany (6) |
| TROKED – OKE(right) inside TR(transactions) and D(Germany). Found in Chambers under TRUCK | |
| 29 | Hunter car about to be reversed (5) |
| JAGER – JAG(make of car), then RE(about) reversed | |
| 31 | What’s backed in Aberdeen academy? It shouldn’t be! (4) |
| CANE – hidden reversed inside aberdeEN ACademy. Referring to the old method of punishing schoolboys, which I definitely got a few times in Australia in the 80s. | |
| 32 | School group’s distinctive practice showing discrimination (8) |
| CLASSISM – CLASS(schoolgroup), ISM(distinctive practice) | |
| 33 | Came to understand expression of hesitation for impure zinc (7) |
| SPELTER – SPELT(came to understand, found under SPELL), ER(expression of hesitation) | |
| 34 | Friendly goblin coming from kind of hut Norway’s reserved (5) |
| NISSE – a NISSEN hut minus N(Norway) | |
| 35 | Boastful about getting into charts I suspect (9) |
| THRASONIC – ON(about) inside an anagram of CHARTS,I | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Offensive work for soldiers getting hostile (9) |
| OPPUGNANT – REPUGNANT(offensive) with OP(work) replacing RE(soldiers) | |
| 2 | Partial withdrawals allowed in English town (7) |
| WALSALL – hidden inside withdraWALS ALLowed | |
| 3 | First signs of paddock round-up uniting horses? This could be one (4) |
| PRUH – first letters of Paddock Round-up Uniting Horses | |
| 4 | Poet’s greatest hits? (6) |
| HOMERS – double definition for the poet and home runs in baseball | |
| 5 | Report including one chapter: Flowering Plant (7) |
| STATICE – STATE(report) containing I(one), C(chapter) | |
| 6 | What’s exposed after Sri Lanka hit (7) |
| CLOUTED – OUTED(exposed) after CL(Ceylon, Sri Lanka) | |
| 7 | After shedding weight, shallow boat gets praise as before (5) |
| HERRY – remove W(weight) from WHERRY(shallow boat) | |
| 8 | Motion appearing right away to get poetic inspiration (8) |
| AGANIPPE – anagram of APPEARING minus R(right) | |
| 9 | The Oldie says it’s coalfish (5) |
| SAITH – double definition | |
| 16 | Cordially welcoming promenade in resort (9) |
| OPEN-ARMED – anagram of PROMENADE | |
| 18 | House member has Georgia replacing company for fraud (8) |
| GAMMONER – COMMONER(house member) with GA(Georgia, US state) replacing CO(company) | |
| 19 | Swears about one form of therapy in forces (7) |
| EFFECTS – EFFS(swears) surrounding ECT(electroconvulsive therapy) | |
| 21 | Study once more on King approaching term in prison (7) |
| RELEARN – RE(on), then King LEAR, and the last letter in prisoN | |
| 22 | Intemperance sees service held up to some extent (7) |
| IVRESSE – hidden reversed in seES SERVIce | |
| 24 | Owns cracking image of stage in development (6) |
| PHASIC – HAS(owns) inside PIC(image) | |
| 25 | Kind of pencil China exported for symbolic diagram (5) |
| GRAPH – a CHINAGRAPH pencil minus CHINA | |
| 26 | Pack he’d lead regularly? (5) |
| AKELA – alternating letters in pAcK hEd LeAd, referring to the leader of a pack of Cub Scouts | |
| 30 | Fighter boxing Pole shown up for energy (4) |
| GISM – MIG(fighter) containing S(pole) all reversed | |
I found this week’s much harder. Took several attempts before things started to fall into place. One thing I spent far too long worrying over was 5d. Neither my latest edition of Chambers nor my trusty 1970s edition of the 20th Century Dictionary has c as an abbreviation for chapter. Unless it’s hidden under a different heading, I haven’t found it. I tried for ages to get ICH to work.
In my oldest copy of Chambers not given away (as it has the bookplate proving that I could once do Listener crosswords), which is the 1988 one, it’s in the fourth line for c in the abbreviations section at the back, with a suggestion that the word abbreviated is caput as the Latin for chapter.
Peter B not logged in
Now I see it under c for caput (chapter). Thanks.
Definitely one where, if you trusted the wordplay, even the unlikely answers, like HESYCHAST (never knowingly in any of my congregations!) fell out and presented themselves for the Chamber(m)aid.
Having a fair bit of time on my hands at present, I’m doing such old Listeners as present themselves, and TELEGA has just turned up in one, leading me to fondly imagine there ill come a day when I have exhausted the setters’ available words. Anything’s possible!