Greeting, barred-grid fans.
I remember polishing this one off fairly quickly, though was thinking some of the clever clues may turn out tricky to write up. Let’s see how it all settles together.
A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on wordplay here.
| Across | |
| 1 | Sort originally from region around here? Not he (9) |
| FOREIGNER – anagram of the first letter of From and REGION surrounding HERE minus HE | |
| 10 | Shopping bag overturned set of scales (4) |
| ABAC – CABA(shopping bag, found under CABAS in Chambers) reversed | |
| 11 | Search endlessly on Bing — it’s what I do (7) |
| COMPILE – COMB(search) minus the last letter, then PILE(bing) | |
| 12 | Nearly no good, nearly type nothing (5) |
| NIHIL – NIGH(nearly) minus G(good), then ILK(type) missing the last letter | |
| 14 | Beginning to undo rope tangled round hard wooden block (6) |
| UPHROE – first letter of Undo, then an anagram of ROPE surrounding H(hard) | |
| 16 | Boundless charity event, one that remains more rowdy (8) |
| UNRULIER – the charity event is a FUN RUN, remove the exterior letters, then LIER(one that remains) | |
| 17 | Slump? Money’s short (4) |
| LOLL – LOLLY(money) minus the last letter | |
| 18 | Royal surrendering rule like in Richard III? (4) |
| EGAL – REGAL(royal) minus R(rule). Chambers lists this as Shakespearean and it doesn’t appear to be in Richard III as is, but near the end of Act III, Buckingham says
And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse, |
|
| 21 | One indigenous species around SA I lead (10) |
| INITIATIVE – I(one), NATIVE(indigenous species) surrounding IT(SA, sex appeal), I | |
| 22 | Sweden accepted aliens, backing centre for those helping the distressed (10) |
| SAMARITANS – S(Sweden), A(accepted), then MARTIANS(aliens) with the TI in the middle reversed | |
| 25 | Starts to shout noisily as pairs appear in this? (4) |
| SNAP – first letters in Shout Noisily As Pairs, referring to the card game | |
| 26 | Tree workmate cut down by morning (4) |
| AMLA – LAD(workmate) minus the last letter after AM(morning) | |
| 28 | What’ll encourage a woman to follow international rugby league? (8) |
| ATTAGIRL – AT(to), TAG(follow), I(International), RL(rugby league) | |
| 31 | Pigeons generally regarded as safe besetting man in East London (6) |
| GOURAS – GRAS(generally regarded as safe) surrounding OU(South African man) | |
| 32 | Political principle, Keir’s first added to road map? (5) |
| PLANK – first letter of Keir after PLAN(road map) | |
| 33 | Staff on plane triumphed after first class run (7) |
| AIRCREW – CREW(triumphed) after AI(first class), R(run) | |
| 34 | Fixed stake in agrarian terrain (4) |
| ANTE – hidden inside agrariAN TErrain | |
| 35 | Bojo branded an abject rogue, he does occasional work around the House (9) |
| ODDJOBBER – anagram of BOJO BRANDED minus AN | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Obsessive after glimpse of flashing lighthouse in the past (5) |
| FANAL – ANAL(obsessive) after the first letter in Flashing | |
| 2 | Iowan mob condemned witch (8) |
| OBI-WOMAN – anagram of IOWAN,MOB | |
| 3 | Vape offering formality about end of fag? (4) |
| E-CIG – ICE(formality) reversed then the last letter in faG | |
| 4 | I tempt back current oil producer (6) |
| ILLUPI – I, PULL(tempt) reversed, then I(current) | |
| 5 | I return our awful food (10) |
| NOURRITURE – anagram of I,RETURN,OUR | |
| 6 | Spectre’s blown up James with no justice (6) |
| EMPUSA – anagram of UP,JAMES minus J(justice) | |
| 7 | State control set-up is constrained by small amount of money (9) |
| DIRIGISME – RIG(set-up), IS inside DIME(small amount of money) | |
| 8 | Glacial mass lecturer besieged by environmentalists (4) |
| FLOE – L(lecturer) inside FOE(Friends of the Earth, environmentalists) | |
| 9 | Chevrotain going round grass mound rolling (7) |
| DEERLET – REED(grass) reversed then TEL(mound) reversed | |
| 13 | Possibly until I used … it’s this? (10) |
| UNUTILISED – anagram of UNTIL,I,USED | |
| 15 | Shakespeare’s region cut crop that’s ripe (9) |
| CLIMATURE – CLIP(crop) minus the last letter, MATURE(ripe) | |
| 19 | Liberal close to entering a ballot at pleasure (8, two words) |
| A VOLONTE – L(liberal), ON(close to) inside A VOTE(ballot) | |
| 20 | Idiot once more dropping nuclear weapon (7) |
| ASSAGAI – ASS(idiot), AGAIN(once more) minus N(nuclear) | |
| 23 | Note number plate on A road (6) |
| REGARD – REG(number plate), A, RD(road) | |
| 24 | US football star headed ball, support lacking at the back (6) |
| ALL-PRO – remove the first letter from BALL, then PROP(support) minus the last letter | |
| 27 | Quizzer from Scotland to search after answer (5) |
| ASKER – SKER(to search, Scots) after A(answer) | |
| 29 | Struggle wasting energy and time in office (4) |
| TOIL – remove E(energy) and T(time) from TOILET(office) | |
| 30 | Almost puncture close to kerb. Spare tyre? (4) |
| FLAB – FLAT(puncture) and the last letter of kerB | |
Feel very good that I got all this correct. I was still scratching my head over the Richard III reference, so thanks especially for that!
Yes it is a good feeling to complete the Mephisto correctly, which I managed. Even better when you crack the parsing of each clue, which on this occasion 12 and 31 eluded me. Thanks to GLH and googling for East London all is clear.
‘Egal’ appears in Titus Andronicus and Merchant. I guess the former would have worked for the surface.
Oddly GRAS is defined as ‘generally recognised as safe’ in Chambers.
I found this a very enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked the very contemporary 3d E-CIG/vape, and learning about 24d ALL-PRO, which was unknown to me, but I can see is used a lot in American Football sports writing.
Thank you glh for the blog, and the interesting information about 18ac EGAL. Also thank you keriothe for more on EGAL, and also for pointing out about recognized vs regarded in GRAS in 31ac.
The north east corner slowed me right down, with the (presumably) French offerings at 5 and 7 taking some translating from English, and I was properly flummoxed by Bing (naughty capital!) in COMPILE. Bing sings, but Walt Disney (best with a Glasgow accent). 46 minutes- about average.
Everything is best with a Glasgow accent.