Mephisto 3336 – Thanks, Paul!

16 comments on “Mephisto 3336 – Thanks, Paul!”

1. Another one I finished!—averaging about one a month now. Mainly in one go earlier in the week and another days later. I didn’t manage to parse PELE, and was quite puzzled by FISH as “counter,” though I eventually decided it must be as you say (if it’s in Chambers, it must be by an oblique path, or a three-point turn…).
   I was also unsatisfied with my own explanation for WRYNESS, left with the feeling that the clue might be pointlessly complicated. I don’t know why you have underlined “previously” as part of the definition. Chambers has the archaic WRYTHEN, for “twisted, convoluted, contorted,” and the clue seems to indicate a removal of THEN (“then leaving”), but the simple, contemporary WRY also means “twisted” (in a narrower sense, and not “convoluted” or “contorted”)—as well as “mocking.” Then, try to make “mocking” a noun to match WRYNESS…

2. SHEBEEN works with “the creature” meaning an alcoholic drink. I was also not 100% on UNPROCESSED but I thought the PROCESSED might mean the more recent association with modification of food.

   I liked YAKKA and the clue for FOOTSIE. Amusing coincidence that CULEX popped up a few times for me in recent puzzles.

   1. You’re surely right about SHEBEEN. I didn’t realize that Vinyl hadn’t explained “creature.”
      I took PROCESSED to mean the same thing he did. Of course, UNPROCESSED does mean “natural” in the literal.

3. 11a: PLAYING = IN, as in cricket. So IN UR B.
   19a: I think SURGE is simply WELL UP, with TO = ON
   Agree with GDS on WRYNESS
   Haven’t seen CREATURE = WHISKY in a formal English spelling. It’s more usually CRAITUR in Scots.

   Thanks for PELE. Ah hudny a Scoobie, as we say in Glasgow.

   1. Yes and UR is the German prefix, nothing to do with the ancient city!

      1. I wondered about that. Thanks for the explanation.

4. 23across
   What does LMS Stand for please

5. LMS stands for London Midland Scottish a division of the old BritishRailways and part of the rail network in my part of the world. The steam trains going through Preston pulling the London to Glasgow expresses were fantastic in the sixties.

6. Thanks louis

7. I don’t remember how hard I found this: I left it at some point and the timer says over 9 hours.
   I’m surprised to see that Collins and ODE variously describe BEAN as North American and dated. It’s a usage I hear and use from time to time. Chambers doesn’t qualify it.
   The definition in 1dn must be just ‘mocking’, and ‘previously’ must apply to WRYTHEN (previously twisted), since the latter is archaic and the former isn’t.
   I put in PELE without any idea why!

   1. Ditto, re. PELE

   2. BEAN is certainly is use a lot in PG Wodehouse by Bertie Wooster. Always assumed it was Edwardian Slang, but I read that Wodehouse spend much of his life in the US.

8. Thank you for the explanation of PELE. I thought that for a four-letter answer it had to be some sort of subtraction, but I couldn’t parse the cleverly obscured wordplay.
   Thanks also for MAILCATCHER. I’d missed that “cat”= coaster, but can see how that works in Chambers now.

   There was a query under last week’s blog from Mark Sanderson about the spelling of 2d ESKUARA.
   By chance, one week previously Azed 2719 had a virtually identical clue:

   “18 down. Geological period wherein you’ll find seabird, one inhabiting Pyrenean area (7).”

   Azed included a note below his crossword: “The Chambers Dictionary (2016) is
   recommended. 18 Down appears at the entry for its commoner synonym.”
   …so he directed his solvers to try looking up Basque.

9. Came here because I couldn’t parse pele.
   I leave not much wiser, or even better informed.

10. SUSPENDED = PENSILE. BUT here means except or apart from. So, PELE is PENSILE, apart from IS reversed after N, an abbreviation for NOON.

    1. Thanks.

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