Greetings, barred-grid fans.
Robert Teuton leads us on a merry romp here, I enjoyed a number of clues and I think there are some traps here for the biffers. I hope I didn’t fall into any.
A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles solutions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Fish meat on the counter I spotted twice (8) |
| MAHI-MAHI – HAM(meat) reversed and I duplicated | |
| 7 | Wham hit that sounds like Kiss? (4) |
| MWAH – anagram of WHAM. Not difficult, but a fun clue. | |
| 10 | Cope badly with sauce tasting of garlic? (9) |
| CEPACEOUS – anagram of COPE and SAUCE | |
| 11 | Veteran comic star’s lead role in Dad’s Army (5) |
| SPIKE – hope you know your classic British and Irish humor. SPIKE Milligan is the comic, and the wordplay is the first letter of Star, then the Dad’s army character is Frank PIKE. This could be a tribute, as Ian Lavender, who played Pike, passed away in February. | |
| 13 | Speech on dispatch box after end of debate (5) |
| ELOGE – LOGE(box) after the last letter of debatE | |
| 14 | Time when my right hand flipped gold coin (7) |
| THRYMSA – T(time) then AS(when), MY, RH(right hand) all reversed | |
| 16 | Extrovert man, foremost of executives, put on board (4) |
| LADE – LAD(extrovert man), then the first letter of Executives | |
| 17 | Conference delegate two hours before midnight intensely scratching backside (8) |
| ATTENDEE – two hours before midnight is AT TEN, then DEEP(intensely) minus the last letter | |
| 18 | Elaborating too much on idling around Easter on vacation (10) |
| OVEREGGING – O(on), then VEGGING(idling) surrounding the external letters of EasteR | |
| 20 | Home Office employee, translator, absorbing role with week off (10) |
| TELEWORKER – TR(translator) containing an anagram of ROLE and WEEK | |
| 22 | Biting into hot chip welcomed some language! (8) |
| OTCHIPWE – hidden inside hOT CHIP WElcomed | |
| 24 | Baby hawk put back after opening of egg (4) |
| EYAS – SAY(put into words) reversed after the first letter of Egg | |
| 26 | Rodents run back into scattered trash (7) |
| HOG-RATS – GO(run) reversed inside an anagram of TRASH | |
| 28 | Plain face of canine cousin once taken aback (5) |
| ZOCCO -O(of), C(abbreviation for canine in dentistry), COZ(archaic form of cousin) | |
| 29 | Paisley’s dreary — colour lines evenly (5) |
| OORIE – alternating letters in cOlOuR lInEs | |
| 30 | Deck game with ring on deck abroad worked solidly (9) |
| BULLOCKED – BULL(a deck game similar to cornhole), then O(ring) and an anagram of DECK | |
| 31 | Sharp-pointed steel topped tent (4) |
| EPEE – remove the first letter from TEPEE(tent) | |
| 32 | Violent attacker is rolling, eg canned by lager? (8) |
| BESIEGER – IS reversed, and EG inside BEER(lager) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Close to me, wanting a little peck, lips met to get working? (9) |
| MISTLETOE – anagram of the last letter of mE, LIPS, MET, TO minus the first letter of Peck | |
| 2 | BII, CAMRA, SPBW etc a help as to pub undergoing refurbishment? (12, two words) |
| ALPHABET SOUP – anagram of A,HELP,AS,TO,PUB | |
| 3 | Barnet Fair following turning to hot fare (6) |
| HAIRDO – FAIR with F(following) changed to H(hot), then DO(fare, get through) | |
| 4 | Unpleasant and cold round centre of Stockport (4) |
| ICKY – ICY(cold) surrounding the middle letter of stocKport | |
| 5 | A job to hold back horse, keeping its head turning away from the ordinary course (10) |
| APOSTROPHE – A POST(job) then ROPE(hold back horse in horse-racing) containing the first letter of Horse. | |
| 6 | Decorator, one taking great risks, has day off (4) |
| ICER – DICER(one taking great risks) minus D(day) | |
| 7 | Brand New Key singer’s good knocking out one medley (7) |
| MELANGE – MELANIE(singer of Brand New Key, also recently deceased) with G(good) replacing I(one) | |
| 8 | Eagerly sought last of crumble in bowl (5) |
| WOOED – last letter of crumblE inside WOOD(a bowl in the game of lawn bowls) | |
| 9 | Having the power to expand summer month event am busy with it (12) |
| AUGMENTATIVE – AUG(summer month) then an anagram of EVENT,AM and IT | |
| 12 | Bistro worker omitting one element of recipe in pans is crying (10) |
| WATERWORKS – WAITER(bistro worker) minus I(one), then the first letter of Recipe inside WOKS(pans) | |
| 15 | Nice manager running surgeries? (9) |
| REGISSEUR – anagram of SURGERIES | |
| 19 | Vicar left rear of vicarage catching what bus? (7) |
| VEHICLE – VIC(vicar), L(left) and the last letter of vicaragE containing EH(what?) | |
| 21 | Revolutionary look in tent — Scandinavian mat? (6, two words) |
| RYA RUG – RAY(look) inside GUR(tent), all reversed | |
| 23 | Cockeyed Bob leaving on bike (5) |
| CYCLE – a cockeyed bob is a CYCLONE, remove ON | |
| 25 | Favour returned for novice (4) |
| NOOB – BOON(favour) reversed | |
| 27 | Perhaps reading poem Spenser’s way? (4) |
| RODE – R(reading, as in the “three R’s”), then ODE(poem) | |
I found this pretty straightforward. I usually fall into the biff-traps so they can’t have been too bad!
On the easier side, I agree. Thanks for the parsing of cycle which completely baffled me, though it had to be. Oz slang not my strong point and it never occurred to me to just look it up!
5D
Apostrophe = away from the ordinary course
Very enjoyable puzzle: many interesting and fun clues.
Thank you for the blog. I hadn’t heard about Melanie’s recent death (7d). Also had forgotten that Spike Milligan (11a) was an Irish citizen: having been informed by a “chinless wonder” (see main Sunday puzzle) from the Home Office that he was technically stateless, he refused to apply for British citizenship, and became an Irish citizen instead.
First time I’ve filled in an entire Mephisto grid without resorting to google or dictionaries. Not filled in correctly mind you, but only a few tweaks required before submitting. Definitely on the gentler end of the spectrum.
I DNF on this one, primarily because I was too lazy to extend my alphabet search and ended up putting tocco instead of zocco. Maybe I should try a reverse alphabet search? I was surprised to find Brand New Key – how many remember that one?
TOCCO to ZOCCO was one of the tweaks I mentioned.
And after my triumphal post above, I’m now being firmly put in my place by this week’s puzzle. Still a long way to go.
I was quite surprised that I was able to solve it.
Now I have to blog it, but I have a week to figure it out!
Enjoyed this weeks. 17 and 20 didn’t get the parsing completely but got the answers. Thanks for the blog. All clear now.