Greetings, barred grid fans for the all 3’s edition of Mephisto
I am not sure if Mephisto is going to continue with the three-setter rotation following the retirement of Tim Moorey, but since vinyl1 and I take the odd and even Mephistos, it has been a while since I blogged a Paul McKenna puzzle.
This one was up there on the tricky level with some fun wordplay and lots of classical references in the clues.
As usual, Paul McKenna has given us a pun in the top row, lost on me, I’m more of a coffee person.
A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles definitions can be confirmed in Chambers so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | From the US, sound judgement’s close to calm (5) |
| TEASE – one of the definitions of SOUND in Chambers is to tease or goad in US slang. Last letter of judgemenT next to EASE(calm) | |
| 5 | One who scoffs about recipe and a kitchen device? (7) |
| DRAINER – the one who scoffs food is a DINER, insert R(recipe) and A | |
| 10 | Insufferably optimistic plan is only put in motion by husband (11) |
| POLLYANNISH – anagram of PLAN,IS,ONLY next to H(husband) | |
| 12 | Popular river rounded by secure carrier of tent say (8) |
| WINESKIN – IN(popular) and the river ESK surrounded by WIN(secure) | |
| 13 | On a trophy being returned (4) |
| ATOP – A, then POT(trophy) reversed | |
| 14 | Old misery beat Fricka’s mate (5) |
| WOTAN – WO(old misery) and TAN(beat). Fricka is the wife of WOTAN as I guess all good Wagner fans know | |
| 16 | Desire to be in Carry On — my life is ruined (8) |
| WRECKAGE – RECK(desire) inside WAGE(carry on) | |
| 18 | Roman Catholic embracing old and accepted language of the east (7) |
| LAOTIAN – LATIN(Roman Catholic) containing O(old) and A(accepted) | |
| 20 | Stumble upon the truth as Alberta goes for it in practice (5, two words) |
| HIT IT – replace AB(Alberta) with IT in HABIT(practice). This phrase appeared in another barred-grid puzzle recently so it was in the back of the mind | |
| 22 | Sturgeon’s to disappear, informally changing sides (5) |
| ELOPS – SLOPE(disappear, informally) with the E and S switching places | |
| 23 | Endymion’s lover swiping it like a tablet (7) |
| STELENE – SELENE(moon goddess and lover of Endymion) containing ‘T(it) | |
| 24 | Q’s art? The making of gizmos from torturous tool trial (8) |
| GADGETRY – GAGDE(torturous tool), TRY(trial). Q is the character in James Bond films who comes up with nifty gadgets that seem to anticipate the plot. | |
| 27 | Chart leaving room for cautionary sign (5) |
| AMBER – remove CH(chart) from CHAMBER(room) | |
| 29 | Die from dried berry mostly (4) |
| CUBE – CUBEB(dried berry) minus the last letter. Helpfully CUBEB is right next to CUBE in Chambers | |
| 30 | One with charitable intentions understanding rabbit (8) |
| LIONHEAD – LION(member of the Lion’s club, one with charitable intentions) then HEAD(understanding) | |
| 31 | Bill hangs on to excellent name for traveller’s trouble (11) |
| CARSICKNESS – CARESS(bill, think “bill and coo”) surrounding SICK(excellent), N(name) | |
| 32 | Morals set by pen (7) |
| HONESTY – HONE(set) and STY(pen) | |
| 33 | By the grace of God in court backing boundaries (5) |
| EDGES – DG(Dei gratia, by the grace of God) inside SEE(court) reversed | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Like trailer without getting up during picture (7) |
| TOWABLE – W/O(without) reversed inside TABLE(picture) | |
| 2 | Phat Amelia and I performing songs of union? (11) |
| EPITHALAMIA – anagram of PHAT,AMELIA and I | |
| 3 | Son — Biblical mite — on being excused dozed (5) |
| SLEPT – S(son), then LEPTON(Biblical mite) minus ON | |
| 4 | Devious types with head lowered learned in a different way (8) |
| ELSEWISE – EELS(devious types) with the first E moved to the end, then WISE(learned) | |
| 5 | One who’d ditch some bloody kerb-merchant (5) |
| DYKER – hidden inside blooDY KERb-merchant | |
| 6 | Intend being into torn clothing as was (7) |
| RAIMENT – AIM(intend) inside RENT(torn) | |
| 7 | Half-cut, relaxed dope (4) |
| INFO – remove the second half of INFORMAL(relaxed) | |
| 8 | Nicest at twinkling winks (8) |
| NICTATES – anagram of NICEST,AT | |
| 9 | Throw her in Somerset’s waterway (5) |
| RHINE – anagram of HER,IN | |
| 11 | Street getting older, worthless assembly point (11, two words) |
| STAGING BASE – ST(street), AGING(getting older), BASE(worthless) | |
| 15 | Romance day and Baron concealed gold of the forest, perhaps (8) |
| WOOD-BORN – WOO(romance), D(day) and then BN(baron) containing OR(gold) | |
| 17 | Greeting in central and north-eastern indigenous language (8) |
| CHEYENNE – HEY(greeting) inside CEN(central) and NE(north-eastern) | |
| 19 | Old intimate burdened by a lost bind (7) |
| ASTRICT – STRICT(close, intimate) under A | |
| 21 | In time before treats we enjoy boring boats (7) |
| TEREDOS – T(time), ERE(before), DOS(treats) | |
| 24 | Old tusker’s wound up colt and horse and Henry (5) |
| GANCH – reversal of C(cot) and NAG(horse), then H(Henry, the unit) | |
| 25 | Fashionista down under guzzling satisfactory starter (5) |
| ROOKY – ROY(fashionista down under) containing OK(satisfactory) | |
| 26 | Indicted rogue with eccentricity must drop hurt (5) |
| ACHED – IMPEACHED(indicted) minus IMP(rogue) and E(eccentricity) | |
| 28 | Essentially ignoring Prince’s language (4) |
| ERSE – PER SE(essentially) minus P(prince) | |
I knocked off most of this on a Saturday night, but then I completely forgot about it and had to finish up the bottom this morning. If you can biff epithalamia, you’ve probably read too much Tudor and Stuart poetry. In fact, I biffed quite a few of them – I had no idea how to parse tease, elops, and carsickness, so thanks for those.
In answer to your question, today’s Mephisto is anonymous – perhaps a mistake? If we are on a three-man rotation, then Robert Teuton would be up (or in, if you’re playing cricket instead of baseball!).
Today’s Mephisto is not anonymous in the paper. It is by Robert Teuton, and we are going back to the previous rotation.
I see the omission in the printable version has been corrected – thanks for that.
I enjoyed this week’s Mephisto. Managed to complete it Monday evening, with queries over the parsing of 1, 16, 20 ac and 26d. All understood now, thanks to the blog. Definitely not as easy recent puzzles.
I enjoyed it too, especially after the previous week’s torture session. George, I think you need to underline wound as well for the definition in 24dn, the reversal indicator is just UP.
oops, missed that, ta
9down
Don’t understand Somerset alongside the word Rhine
It’s in Chambers – rhine/reen/rean/rhyne (not capitalised) is listed as a ditch or watercourse in Somerset, etc.
I’ve been finding Mephisto easier than usual recently (until yesterday’s!) and rather breezed through this one in just under 36 minutes. Took me a while to stop insisting on STAGING POST, since the BASE was at best unfamiliar. I particularly liked the clue for ACHED when the penny dropped for dropping nearly half of its initial word.