Mephisto 3354 – A felony, I would say!

This one was pretty easy for a Mephisto, and  I found little to hold me up.   I actually knew most of the answers, unlike some Mephistos I have done.    Well, the ekisticians and the siluroid were a bit off the beaten path, but nothing terrible.

I’m sure all the regular solvers whipped this one off fairly quickly.   I’m off to tackle this week’s, which is probably much more challenging.

 

Across
1 Chap that sprays old craft (6)
MISTER – Triple definition.   The third definition is a shortened form of mistery, a trade or craft.
5 Lower wind lacking any hint of danger (6)
MEANER –  MEAN[d]ER.
10 OK, author kept flip-flopping about money (11, four words)
UP TO THE MARK – Anagram of AUTHOR KEPT around M.
12 Fish oil residue sorted out with no hint of effort (8)
SILUROID –  Anagram of OIL RESIDUE  – E[ffort].
13 Reptile shopped a duffer denying nothing (8)
SUNGAZER –  SUNG + A ZER[o].
14 Pukka Asian bank shifting last couple to the front (4)
DESI – SIDE with the last letters move to the front.
15 Northern track turning back around small glacial ridge (5)
ESKAR – RAK(S)E backwards.
18 Gods! Chief engineer is ready for take off in chilly climes (5)
DEICE – DEI + C.E.    Ready is a verb.
19 Complain about hoax part of narcotic (7)
MECONIN – ME(CON)IN.   Mean is a variant spelling of mean in the sense of bemoan or complain, as found in 16th-century English.
21 American, eg, Davis, leading in Dangerous made good (7)
ABETTED – A + BETTE + D[angerous], where the literal  offers one of the less common meaning of abet.
22 Coppers for French pictures — thousand banned (5)
FLICS –  FLIC[k]S.
26 Fellow filling annual return one time is a demon (5)
AFRIT – A(F)R + I + T.
27 Start from hwaet in unusual set letters in Beowulf, eg (4)
ETHS – H[waet] in an anagram of SET.  If  you thought: we gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon, you’re well educated, and you’ve got a couple of eths right there.
28 Sweden added things rating a form of marine life (8)
SANDSTAR – S + AND + STAR.   Clue would be better with things in the singular.
30 Invites from a Conservative in backing institute with it (8)
ATTRACTS – A  + ST(C)ART + ‘T backwards, one most solvers will biff.
31 Too keen in the matter of pledge (11)
OVEREARNEST – OVER + EARNEST, as in earnest money.
32 Rope in inlet’s in tatters (6)
ENLIST – Anagram of INLET’S.
33 Latin mountain range’s coastal plains (6)
LANDES – L  + ANDES.
Down
1 Clio, say, grabbing son and daughter is ruffled (6)
MUSSED –  MUS(S)E + D.
2 Is row about the sine qua non of tattooing more unpleasant? (8)
STINKIER – ‘S T(INK)IER.
3 American to manipulate foreign mob, good to follow fashion (4)
TONG – Double definition and a cryptic: what we do with tongs, the Chinese gang organization, and TON + G.
4 Part of underground support? Hertz collected one in capital (7)
RHIZOME – R(H(I)Z)OME, a rather complex construction, but clear enough.
5 Muddled group banks on more shelter (5)
MELEE – M[or]E + LEE.
6 Shakespeare’s shut up coy duke in absentia (5)
EMURE – [d]EMURE.
7 African beast is a chauvinist holding bad word (8)
AARDWOLF – A + A(anagram of WORD)LF.  What’s it all about, Alfie?  You could look it up.
8 We’re into settlements — sickies ain’t getting resolved (11)
EKISTICIANS –  Anagram of SICKIES AINT.    From the same οἶκος as is found in economics, with a more authentic spelling because it didn’t go through Latin.
9 Excellent one, a Nationalist’s unit of revolution? (6)
RADIAN – RAD + I + A + N, a compendium of abbreviations found in the dictionary.
11 Dad on purpose merely to start from nobbling option on remote (11, two words)
PAUSE BUTTON – PA + USE + BUT + TO + N[obbling], another biff for many solvers.
16 Curate is curiously the real start of crime (8, two words)
ACTUS REI – Anagram of CURATE IS, translated by Chambers as guilty act.
17 Scots laughed as triplet is back in drag (8)
SNIRTLED – S(TRIN backwards)LED.
20 Paradise Lost’s ending on a line of sloth or similar (7)
EDENTAL – EDEN + [los]T + A + L.
21 Comfortable arising from a nap (6, two words)
AT EASE – A + TEASE, where nap is a verb.
23 Props of planes and peacocks (6)
STRUTS – Double definition, with peacock as a verb.
24 Dire Straits could be such authorities with it (5)
TSARS –  Anagram of STRAITS minus IT.
25 Fort framing outstanding view (5)
FACET – F(ACE)T.
29 Rope-maker’s hemp is tan, close to brown (4)
SUNN – SUN + [brow]N.

10 comments on “Mephisto 3354 – A felony, I would say!”

  1. Enjoyable puzzle and not too difficult.
    I liked 27a: the use of hwaet strongly suggests something from Old English is being sought.
    7d I think ALF is a reference to the character Alf Garnet played by Warren Mitchell in To Death Do Us Part. I know Chambers defines Alf as chauvinist, that must be where it comes from.

  2. I’ve started working my way through the Sunday Times Mephisto Crossword Book 1. This contains puzzles compiled by Mike Laws 1995-1998. Does anyone know of a blog for these?

    1. I don’t know of any online coverage for those puzzles. I’ve got a copy with about the first half filled in, so you could try the ST puzzle feedback address if you need explanations, though my solving looks like a long time ago. I haven’t yet persuaded HarperCollins to do another Mephisto book, possibly because there still seem to be new copies of that book available.

      1. Thanks Peter. I have just one query at the moment, which didn’t stop me finishing the puzzle. I work my way through a few more before writing in. Who knows, the light may dawn.

  3. Fun puzzle, not too difficult, nice pun in the top row. Peter has already pointed out what is going on with SANDSTAR. Happy to see the definition of RADIAN. Used to give me headaches when I tried to teach some quantum theory to students who could grasp all the calculus math but were blown away that angles had to be measured in something other than degrees.

  4. Easiest one for ages, done in just over 20 minutes.
    As Peter points out, ‘things’ doesn’t need to be singular, but I think ‘start’ in 16dn does need to be plural, because according to Chambers the singular is ACTUS REUS.

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