Greetings, barred-grid fans.
There is a lot to enjoy in Robert Teuton’s offerings – tricky clueing, often topical, timely or modern references, and occasionally some smut or scatology. This took me longer than the last few, but I had a lot of fun.
A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Warrant curtains being returned right away (5) |
| SEPAD – DRAPES(curtains) reversed minus R(right) | |
| 5 | Art movement listed works packing journal (7, two words) |
| DE STIJL – anagram of LISTED containing J(journal). Art movement popularised by Piet Mondrian, lots of lines and bright colours. | |
| 10 | Exclusive clubs running short start to search hard (8) |
| CLIQUISH – C(clubs) then LIQUID(running) minus the last letter and the first letters of Search Hard | |
| 11 | What a relief when taking Pakistan’s last wicket (4) |
| WHEW – WHEN minus the last letter of pakistaN, then W(wicket). | |
| 12 | Bikers paced about being cross-examined in Scotland (11) |
| BACKSPEIRED – anagram of BIKERS,PACED | |
| 13 | Scott’s shawl a hindrance around Australia (5) |
| TOZIE – TIE(a hindrance) surrounding OZ(Australia) | |
| 14 | Grave words I draw upon following extreme pressure ending in death (7) |
| EPITAPH – I, TAP(draw upon) after EP(extreme pressure) and the last letter in deatH | |
| 18 | Turn ashen? I would seeing snake (6) |
| ELAPID – PALE(ashen) reversed, then I’D(I would) | |
| 20 | Encourage having day in religious school (6) |
| CHEDER – CHEER(encourage) containing D(day) | |
| 21 | Somewhat inflamed I consult doctor (6) |
| MEDICO – hidden inside inflaMED I COnsult | |
| 23 | Man from East London circumventing old Ohio ravine (6) |
| ARROYO – ‘ARRY(the man from East London) surrounding O, then O(Ohio) | |
| 28 | Evacuated after noon before getting killed in World War One (7) |
| NAPOOED – POOED(evacuated) after N(noon) and A(before) | |
| 29 | Confident army order to seize Russian plane (5) |
| AMIGO – AO(army order) containing MIG(Russian plane) | |
| 30 | Foolish nattering is distressing (11) |
| STRAITENING – anagram of NATTERING,IS | |
| 31 | Farm-worker putting duck in enclosure (4) |
| PEON – O(duck) inside PEN(enclosure) | |
| 32 | Dock to preserve first-rate work unit on reflection (8) |
| CANAIGRE – CAN(preserve), A1(first-rate), then ERG(work unit) reversed. Dock referring to the plant. | |
| 33 | Most close retreats established (7) |
| DENSEST – DENS(retreats), EST(established) | |
| 34 | Heading to Snowdonia on stony trail (5) |
| SPOOR – first letter of Snowdonia then POOR(stony broke) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Maths I can do, complicated chem? Nasty (9) |
| SCYTHEMAN – anagram of CHEM,NASTY. MATH can mean a mowing | |
| 2 | Sharp turn passing back of pad — bowled out! (5) |
| ELBOW – remove the last letter of paD from BOWLED and form an anagram | |
| 3 | See Margherita perhaps when spending afternoon in this square (6) |
| PIAZZA – margherita is a type of PIZZA(and a yummy one, too), insert A(afternoon) | |
| 4 | Lowered head suddenly, caught out and punched (5) |
| DUKED – DUCKED(lowered head suddenly) minus C(caught) | |
| 5 | Cut off payments to daughter — I grant that hurts (8) |
| DISENDOW – D(daughter), I, SEND(grant), OW(that hurts) | |
| 6 | Arab leader sounds alarm (6) |
| SHEIKH – homophone of SHAKE(alarm) | |
| 7 | X’s predecessor and in another sense successor chirping (8) |
| TWITTERY – X is the social media formerly known as TWITTER, and Y comes after X | |
| 8 | Garment worn by Muslims 60 minutes in the morning? (5) |
| IHRAM – 60 minutes is 1 HR, then AM(in the morning) | |
| 9 | Urge to whizz jack over bus in the Philippines (7) |
| JEEPNEY – YEN(urge), PEE(whizz), J(jack) all reversed | |
| 15 | Clock-maker’s half-hearted fear carrying box (9) |
| HOROLOGER – remove one of the middle letters from HORROR(fear), and insert LOGE(box) | |
| 16 | Parasites perhaps put nothing back into Dawn’s Society (8) |
| EPIZOANS – ZIP(nothing) revered inside EOAN(Dawn’s), S(society) | |
| 17 | What can create scent of plants (climbing) (8) |
| SCANDENT – you can make scent using SC AND ENT | |
| 19 | Will gives me something on a part of St Andrews? (7) |
| LEGATEE – LEG(on side in cricket), A, TEE(part of St Andrew’s golf course) | |
| 22 | Magnum perhaps, not Colt the preference? (6) |
| CHOICE – Magnum is a brand of CHOC ICE. Remove C(colt) | |
| 24 | Rainforest inhabitant inside cooling off (6) |
| OLINGO – hidden inside coOLING Off | |
| 25 | Fringe benefit in cover from Association (5) |
| APRON – PRO(benefit) inside the external letters in AssociatioN | |
| 26 | Fools mother leaving tomorrow with son (5) |
| NANAS – remove MA(mother) from MANANA(tomorrow), then S(son) | |
| 27 | Trouble in the past about Greece (5) |
| AGGRO – AGO(in the past) surrounding GR(Greece) | |
1D: I think the logic works better with math (n.) = a plowing.
Ta – did that one from memory, didn’t check Chambers for the exact term used
Are we sure about that?
Chambers has math = a mowing. (cf mowth in OED).
I am not seeing “math (n.) = a plowing” anywhere.
And a scythe is a tool for mowing (long thin curved blade). So a scytheman would be mowing rather than ploughing, I thought.
(I don’t think any of the blades used for ploughing are called scythes).
The more common related word is “aftermath”: the new growth of grass after the first has been mown, and hence the figurative use as the state of affairs following a significant event.
Sorry – wrong -ow word.
Think I learned the relevant sense of “math” when I was wondering why the Rolling Stones called a significant mid-’60s LP Aftermath.
I found this Mephisto a wild mixture – some of the clues were very easy, but the rest are quite difficult. Whew, epitaph, medico, twitters, legatee, choice, apron, and aggro can go right in -at least you get some crossing letters for the hard ones. Scytheman really puzzled me until the PDM when I started to consider other possible meanings of math. De Stijl was not obvious either, and I needed all the checking letters. I did finish, and found the puzzle most satisfactory.
Just finished this one! A fine way to start a Sunday. It was relatively easy to get into when I got started the other day, but now at the end I tally no less than 11 previously unknown words: SEPAD, BACKSPEIRED, TOZIE, ELAPID, CHEDER, NAPOOED, CANAIGRE, IHRAM, JEEPNEY, SCANDENT, OLINGO.
My first ever completed Mephisto – a very happy bunny
Congratulations. Keep going! I’ve only been doing them since June last year. I’ve managed finish them each week since then thanks to this blog, which I studied for a few weeks before completing my first.