Mephisto 3351 – Paul McKenna

Greetings, barred-grid fans.

I made a slow start but a fast finish to this one, filling from the bottom up, which meant that the pun in the top row was not particularly helpful. Finished in one fairly short session.

A reminder that in Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so if you take issue with something, chances are the Big Red Book will take issues with you.

Away we go…

Across
1 Australian miner as before to annoy milliner (6)
HATTER – three definitions
6 Ground’s compliance cut (6)
CHEWED – C(compliance, physics symbol for vibrational displacement), then HEWED(cut)
10 Easy for Leftie, last to deride Eden’s promoter of well-being? (10, three words)
TREE OF LIFE – anagram of FOR,LEFTIE and the last letter of deridE
11 Current fish caught by what connects hook and line (8, two words)
TIDE RACE – IDE(fish) inside TRACE(what connects hook and line, second definition in Chambers)
13 Trunks sit uncomfortably round old bather’s rear (5)
TORSI – anagram of SIT surrounding O(old) and the last letter of batheR
14 Go before grandbairn’s homemade cracker, say (5)
PEEOY – PEE(go, urinate) before OY(grandbairn)
17 Audible signal from English cooler I dismissed (6)
EARCON – E(English) and AIRCON(cooler) minus I
18 Foresight for the most part still and indeed keen vigilance (8, two words)
BEADY EYE – BEAD(foresight of a gun), then YET(still) and YES(indeed) both missing the last letter
19 Dainty Conservative scoffed (4)
CATE – C(Conservative), ATE(scoffed)
20 Places to quaff spirits — no need for dinner jacket (4)
INNS – DJINNS(spirits) minus DJ(dinner jacket)
21 Tropical fruit is small and preposterously pale (8)
SWEETSOP – ‘S, WEE(small), then POST(pale) reversed
24 Bit of ropework in wrong bag (6)
SINNET – SIN(wrong), NET(bag)
27 Artist’s florid about Welsh woman, eg Ms Lloyd (5)
ASIAN – I think there’s two wordplays here, as I can see A(about), SIAN(Welsh woman), and AS(eg). Not sure about the last part, there seem to be a few IAN Lloyds, none of whom appear to be female. Am I missing a British reference? Hat tip to vinyl1 who let me know that SIAN Lloyd is a presenter, so it is one wordplay.
29 Line in handy pottery (5)
DELFT – L(line) in DEFT(handy)
30 Recipe is leading to empty young ’un accepting one bite (8, three words)
RISE TO IT – R(recipe), IS, and the first letter of Empty, then TOT(young’un) containing I(one)
31 Give local free energy for a green settlement (10)
ECO-VILLAGE – anagram of GIVE,LOCAL then E(energy)
32 Lecturer indeed presses flowers (6)
LILIES – L(lecturer), I(indeed), LIES(presses)
33 Old monarch, casual about Earl, being undermined (6)
ERODED – ER(old monarch), then ODD(casual) surrounding E(Earl)
Down
1 A certain dip as mischief swamps tense Trade Union (6, two words)
HOT TUB – HOB(mischief) surrounding T(tense), TU(Trade Union)
2 I get life from no life — strangely metabolising without male line (10)
ABIOGENIST – anagram of METABOLISING minus M(male) and L(line)
3 Difficulty avoiding discontinued lock (5)
TRESS – DISTRESS(difficulty) minus DIS(discontinued)
4 Anger rising in city in a frightening way (6)
EERILY – IRE(anger) reversed inside ELY(city)
5 Lift off is no longer early (4)
REAR – double definition, the second being a form of RARE
6 Absurd editor under ’Arry, eg (notorious rhymist), refusing name (8)
COCKEYED – ED(editor) after COCKNEY(two examples given) minus N(name)
7 Old saying that’s reversed about first show of locust tree (5)
ELDER – REDE(old form of READ, saying) reversed surrounding the first letter of Locust
8 In trouble as we nick pipe (8, two words)
WINE CASK – anagram of AS,WE,NICK
9 Spenser’s intention is mostly cunning about synonym (6)
DESYNE – DEEP(cunning) minus the last letter, surrounding SYN(synonym)
12 Almost dupe good sort involved with Spain’s close of agreement? (10, three words)
FOOT OF FINE – FOOL(dupe) minus the last letter, then TOFF(good sort), IN(involved with), E(Spain)
15 Chap turned up great deal with popular alcohol (8)
MANNITOL – MAN(chap) then LOT(great deal) and IN(popular) all reversed
16 Hardly any stream is lacking ace little things for locals (8)
FEWTRILS – FEW(hardly any), then TRAIL(to stream) ‘S minus A(ace)
20 This drab only child could become sociable if invigorated (6)
ISABEL – anagram of SOCIABLE minus OC(only child)
22 Delight in close attention (6)
ENDEAR – END(close), EAR(attention)
23 Trump’s mortal when seen without cover … (6)
POTTED – SPOTTED(seen) minus the first letter. POTTED is US slang for drunk and mortal can mean drunk.
25 In part forgive anonymous backing for natural spots (5)
NAEVI – hidden reversed inside forgIVE ANonymous
26 Time invested in toy can (5, two words)
LET GO – T(time) inside LEGO(toy). Can meaning to fire from employment here.
28 Lewis, eg, lies uncomfortably (4)
ISLE – anagram of LIES

4 comments on “Mephisto 3351 – Paul McKenna”

  1. First one I’ve finished in a few weeks! Very enjoyable, with a good number of new words emerging out of inspired guesses from the wordplay and some informative treasure/scavenger hunting thru Chambers.

  2. 27 I think the reference is to Sian Lloyd a British weather presenter, who at one time had a relationship with MP Lembit Öpik, which terminated when he got involved with one on the Cheeky Girls.

    A good outcome for me this week. Didn’t really understand the parsing of 18 – thanks for the blog.

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