Greetings, barred-grid fans.
What has Paul McKenna dished up for us this week? A groan-worth pun in the top row which this time helped me solve the puzzle. A grid with 90-degree symmetry which sometimes felt like solving four mini-puzzles in one (the top left quadrant was the last to fall). Some tricky wordplay but I think in the grand scheme of Mephisto this was not too difficult.
A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so if you disagree with something, check Chambers and see if it disagrees with you.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Possibly worst master to convince in the old-fashioned way (7) |
| CONQUER – three definitions – worst meaning to beat, master, and convince can mean to get the better of | |
| 6 | Stems of glasses Earl clutched (5) |
| BINES – BINS(binoculars, glasses) containing E(Earl) | |
| 10 | A striking end to advert in brand making a uey (9) |
| ABOUTTURN – A, then OUT(striking) and the last letter in adverT inside BURN(brand) | |
| 11 | Scottish fruit is ripening after expected — it gets wasted (4) |
| SLAE – ‘S(is), then LATE(ripening after expected) minus ‘T(it) | |
| 12 | Male destiny — to get old condition of servitude (8) |
| HELOTAGE – HE(male), LOT(destiny), AGE(to get old) | |
| 15 | Mostly quarrel about what’s left over for SNP? (4) |
| ORRA – ARROW(quarrel) reversed missing the last letter | |
| 16 | Poor padre dies having given up (9) |
| DESPAIRED – anagram of PADRE,DIES | |
| 18 | Conservative? Barnet is moderate (5) |
| CHAIR – C(conservative), HAIR(barnet) | |
| 19 | One left swapping places to sustain complaint (7) |
| AILMENT – swap I(one) and L(left) in ALIMENT(to sustain) | |
| 21 | Scots spin once put up historic vessel in the Western Isles (7) |
| BIRLINN – BIRL(Scots for spin), INN(put up) | |
| 22 | First of another two runs before husband’s emotive yelp (5) |
| ARRAH – first letter of Another, then R,R(two runs), A(before), H(husband) | |
| 23 | Ecclesiast’s pamphlet? Yes, flog it freely (9) |
| FESTILOGY – anagram of YES,FLOG,IT | |
| 26 | Are cold fish a nutritious nibble? (4) |
| ACAI – A(are), C(cold), AI(fish) | |
| 29 | Reluctantly give up discontinued Cheddar, say (8) |
| DISGORGE – DIS(discontinued), then the Cheddar GORGE | |
| 30 | Southern social group’s chance which starts upswing (4) |
| HAPU – HAP(chance) and the first letter of Upswing | |
| 31 | Concerning dress, a rag could be suitably tailored (9, two words) |
| AS REGARDS – anagram of DRESS,A,RAG | |
| 32 | Love slack rib (5) |
| OGIVE – O(love), GIVE(slack) | |
| 33 | Cockney’s behind thanks ahead of English processes (7) |
| ARISTAE – ARIS(Cockney for arse), TA(thanks) then E(English) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Given a once-over shady oik set about the Kent area? (5) |
| CASED – CAD(oik) surrounding the SE(Kent area) | |
| 2 | Henry’s invested in new anorak — last hope before the deluge? (8, two words) |
| NOAH’S ARK – H’S(Henrys) inside an anagram of ANORAK | |
| 3 | For instance leaving squeamish Scots heifer (4) |
| QUEY – remove AS(for instance) from QUEASY(squeamish) | |
| 4 | Tease in smashing periodical (7) |
| ETESIAN – anagram of TEASE,IN | |
| 5 | Measure mathematician, right in the first place (5) |
| RULER – EULER(mathematician) with R(right) as the first letter | |
| 6 | I ramble on about something healthy in pineapples (9) |
| BROMELAIN – anagram of I,RAMBLE,ON | |
| 7 | Note obsolete till’s close to tight (4) |
| NEAR – N(note), EAR(obsolete till) and two definitions | |
| 8 | Book about forgotten progress for series of events in France (9) |
| ENGRENAGE – ENGAGE(book) surrounding REN(old version of RUN, progress) | |
| 9 | South rent by some sort of Green furtiveness (7) |
| STEALTH – STH(south) containing TEAL(some sort of green) | |
| 13 | Bursting shonky dinghies with hundred bucks invested (9) |
| DEHISCING – anagram of DINGHIES containing C(hundred bucks) | |
| 14 | Passing noon, Mme Le Pen, for example, got up for dressing (9, two words) |
| MARIEROSE – remove N(noon) from MARINE Le Pen, then ROSE(got up) | |
| 17 | Very much like mounting in artillery missile (8) |
| AERODART – ADORE(very much like) reversed inside ART(artillery) | |
| 18 | See vivacity surrounding a drama’s opening — ham’s into it (7, two words) |
| CB RADIO – C(see), then BRIO(vivacity) containing A, and the first letter of Drama | |
| 20 | Whole Earth Greek goddess held (7) |
| INTEGER – INTER(earth as a verb can mean to bury), containing GE(version of GAEA, Greek goddess) | |
| 24 | With time spent climbing, nail mountain-range (5) |
| SERRA – remove T(time) from ARREST(nail) reversed | |
| 25 | Local pronoun here informally put to some good? (5) |
| YOUSE – YO(here, call for attention), USE(put to some good) | |
| 27 | Wine in flipping fruit salad (4) |
| ASTI – hidden reversed in fruIT SAlad | |
| 28 | College tolerates buddies from Bow knocking out popular drinks (4) |
| CHAS – two wordplays and a definition: C(college), HAS(tolerates) and CHINAS(buddies from Bow) minus IN(popular). | |
How do you get four syllables? [a-saI-i] according to Collins; I’d expect it to get naturalized to [ə-sai].
Yeah, I don’t get four syllables, actually. The phonetic spelling confused me a bit, I think.
This comment is going to disappear.
Surely wasn’t too difficult—because I finished it! Ha.
ENGRENAGE reminded me of the excellent Canal +/ BBC cop series by that name, translated for Anglophones as Spiral (not great, but about the best you can do if you stick to one word…)
Learned some new words—of course!
Ditto: I enjoyed Engrenage/Spiral the series, but thought the translation was poor.
It’s a bit catchier than ‘A Concatenation Of Events, Each Of Which Leads Inevitably To The Next.’
Here I was, about to say exactly the same about difficulty! Although I bet I needed more help!!
I started to read the blog, and it didn’t seem familiar. Then I realized I had solved half this puzzle, and put it aside intending to finish later. It looks like I never did.
Oh, well. Regular service to resume next week, as I have already solved this week’s Mephisto.
I enjoyed this weeks, didn’t need the pun and had no queries on the parsing.
9 Down
What is the word rent indicating in the clue
It’s a container indication: RENT here meaning torn or split in two parts.
Thanks dcrooks
Only just got round to this, and found it fairly gentle, which was welcome after the previous week’s beast.