Mephisto 3308 – Now that I’d like to see

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Mephisto

I solved this pretty easily – two of the long ones around the edge were pretty easy to crack, giving me lots of beginning letters.   I did make a few errors initially, putting in eyen with great confidence, as it fit both the cryptic and my understanding of Middle English plurals.    I was also held up at the end by not remembering Yerevan is in Armenia – I knew it was a rug center, which probably mislead me.

 

Across
1 Phone yard for benzene, perhaps (12)
RING COMPOUND – RING + COMPOUND, a simple one to start off.
10 Prince investing millions in carriage (4)
AMIR – A(M)IR.
11 Fur coat girl’s got in Alaska (6)
ANORAK – A(NORA)K – AL was already taken by Alabama.
12 Information about return of fine RAF DC-3 (6)
DAKOTA –  DA(OK backwards)TA.
14 Galvanise more than half of Spanish gypsies (4)
ZINC –  ZINC[ali].
15 What can be animal or vegetable? Okay, true in a way (8)
EUKARYOT – Anagram of OKAY, TRUE.
16 What’s quickly put back in the ear (4)
OTIC – CITO backwards, a musical direction.
17 Man in rather white dated musical (7, two words)
PAL JOEY – PAL(JOE)Y.
20 One article included in stuff, some of mine (7)
PITHEAD – P(I THE)AD.
24 Turns opposite tree (7)
SOURSOP –  SOURS + OP, which  is not opus this time.
25 Tons perishing in Turin, caught by side of Po River (7)
ORINOCO –  [t]ORINO + C + [p]O.
26 What shows one wanted force in recurrent restraint (4)
E-FIT – E(F)IT, where the enclosing letters are TIE backwards.   My POI, I really kicked myself for  missing the obvious.
27 Some plan for transforming new growth (8)
NEOPLASM – Anagram of SOME PLAN.
31 Genus of current wild cat left to disappear (4)
IYNX –  I + [l]YNX.
32 Western plant exploited by Chinese around city (6)
WEIMAR – W + RAMIE backwards.
33 Yerevan native losing power after imbibing unknown drink (6)
ENZIAN –  [arm]EN(Z)IAN.  My LOI, as I was delayed by thinking Yerevan was in Persia.   I finally checked.
34 City change direction sharply over FA ignoring fine (4)
GAZA –  ZAG backwards + [f]A
35 What may cause death next-door to it, unfortunately (12)
TETRODOTOXIN – Anagram of NEXT – DOOR TO IT
Down
1 Synthesizer user, so piano third’s out (12)
RADIOPHONIST – Anagram of SO PIANO THIRD
2 Cambodia protected by approach of old goddess (4)
NIKE – NI(K)E – K is the one-letter country code for Cambodia.
3 Mostly bring in revolutionary new coins (8)
GROSCHEN – GROS[s] + CHE + N.
4 Seeing as Persians upset the old in Diplomatic Corps (7)
CATEYED – C(ATE, YE)D, Corps Diplomatique.
5 Make fun of bustle material (7)
MOCKADO – MOCK + ADO.
6 Rowing boat for one (4)
PROA – PRO + A.
7 Style of graphic novel you like lecturer’s dismissed (6)
UKIYOE –   Anagram of YOU LIKE minus L.
8 Working in advance reversed failure (4)
NONO – N(ON)O, where the enclosing letters are ON backwards.
9 Party noticed crawling cockroach? (12)
DICTYOPTERAN – Anagram of PARTY NOTICED.
13 Tree I found in cave once (6)
ANTIAR – ANT(I)AR.
18 Wine lover’s about before feast (8)
JEREPIGO – J(ERE,PIG)O.  Jo, besides being a little woman, is a Scottish endearment.
19 Beethoven’s third about welcoming French ruler? (6)
EROICA –  [be]E]thoven] (ROI) CA, a rather convoluted &lit.
21 Help to limit parrot-fish parasite (7)
ASCARID – A(SCAR)ID.   Who needs a mark when you can have a parrot-fish?
22 Hard as soldiers on Troy camp (7)
HUTMENT – H + UT + MEN + T, in the sense of Troy weight.
23 Note short fibres combed out all over young cat (6)
LIONET – TE + NOIL, all backwards.  Noil really is short fibres combed out – you could look it up.
28 Old viewers start to yawn during evening of poetry (4)
EYNE –  E(Y[awn]NE, some archaic forms for you.
29 See cattle rope used to catch horses (4)
LAZO – LA + ZO, more often zho, and more often lasso….well, this is Mephisto.
30 One who was mad for film widescreen format (4)
IMAX – I + MAX, the Australian film series.

13 comments on “Mephisto 3308 – Now that I’d like to see”

  1. Really enjoyed this week’s. We had another Scrabble favourite in ZO, but my COD has to be 19dn. Just brilliant being a double &lit – Eroica being not only Beethoven’s third symphony but of course initially dedicated to Napoleon until Beethoven became angered by Napoleon’s exploits, which resulted in the dedication being removed.

    I too got hung up on 33ac by trying to make Yezidi somehow be part of the word play. So that was also my LOI.

      1. “upset, irritate, or worry (inf)” in Chambers for “eat” – presumably from “What’s eating you?”, which is in the Concise Oxford and to my surprise not marked as “mainly US”. (Combined with “upset”, like “put” and “set” being unchanged in its past tense form.)

        1. That’s how I read it. Still thought it was a wee bit loose, but a nice piece of misdirection all the same.

  3. CITO is Latin rather than Italian. I don’t remember seeing it as a musical direction. I thought the EROICA clue was very clever.

    1. Also not familiar with “cito” from music, as a bass singer/trombonist at various times.

    1. So it is. But it’s also an obsolete spelling for the genus of the wryneck, Jynx torquilla. It probably should have been indicated as obsolete in the clue.

  5. I very much enjoyed this one: seemed to cover a interesting range of different subject areas. Thank you for the blog.

    17ac. I think it might be that “paly” is an archaic, therefore “dated” word for “rather white”. Rather than defining PAL JOEY as a “dated musical”.

    8d. Chambers (and Collins) has “in advance” as one of the adverb definitions for “on”. So it could be “working” = ON, then “in advance” = ON, all reversed. (Just an alternative: there are of course other definitions like “Proceed!” and “Forward!”, that can mean “advance”).

    9d. I wasn’t sure why the question mark was at the end of this clue. Is DICTYOPTERAN not in Chambers ?

    1. There are other insects in that category, so “cockroach” is a definition by example, hence the ?.

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