Mephisto 3364 – Ninja Turtle found in the Valley of Fear

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Mephisto

I did OK with this, until I got stuck in the south-west corner.   My problem turned out to be that I was looking at the wrong clues for the ones I was trying to solve, because my scribbles had covered up the clue numbers in the grid.    Mephisto is hard enough!    Once I got that sorted, I was able to finish pretty easily.

Generally speaking, this was relatively mild for a Mephisto, with not too many obscure words if you have a Mephisto-level vocabulary.

 

Across
1 Bond film cut including backing from those widely influential people (9)
OCTOPUSES – OCTOPUS([those]E)S[y].    I nearly biffed octopodes, then looked at the cryptic.
10 Reflecting sound of group constrained by no pitch playing (12)
PHONOCAMPTIC – Anagram of NO PITCH around O’ CAMP.
11 Owl once biting head off another bird (6)
STRICH – [o]STRICH, an archaic term for a screech-owl
13 Pulse doubling before onset of excitement spread (5)
MARGE – GRAM backwards + E[xcitement].  Gram is ground chickpea flour.
14 Bird is bored by AC/DC (4)
IBIS – I(BI)S.
16 Smoothed anger in township that’s returned (7)
EMERIED – DE(IRE)ME backwards.   The deme is where words like democracy come from.
18 Tent actually lying around left out (4)
YURT – TRU[l]Y backwards.
20 Officer to stick soldier on active duty (8)
ADJUTANT – A.D. + JUT + ANT.
23 Whale or dolphin etc, swimming about sea needing oxygen (8)
CETACEAN – Anagram of ETC + A + [o]CEAN.
24 Orcadian fishing ground incomplete by the sound of it (4)
HAAF –  Sounds like HALF.   I had put haff, but evidently a haff and a haaf are two different things.
26 More than one metal can be containing harmful iodine and sulphur (7)
BILLIES – B(ILL,I)E + S.
28 Quiet moment for boring person (4)
SHMO – SH + MO.
29 Acting to row back total weight of loaded aircraft (5)
ALL-UP – A + PULL backwards.
30 Somebody taking note back to adorn an angel? (6)
ENHALO – O(LAH)NE backwards.
31 Sheep wool isn’t cold curiously (12, two words)
COTSWOLD LION – Anagram of WOOL ISN’T COLD.
32 As before curse very English spiritual meeting that’s not succeeded (9)
VENGEANCE – V + E + [s]EANCE.
Down
1 Recreation in course led by old U3A member? (8)
OPSIMATH –   O + P(SIM)ATH.  Re-creation = simulation!
2 Mouldings around institute’s gateway (5)
TORII – TOR(I)I.    The gateway to a Shinto temple, that is.
3 A little exoskeleton is customary for woodlice (7)
ONISCUS – [exoskelet]ON IS CUS[tomary].
4 Little Italian cafe’s opening in Bath shortly? (4)
POCO – PO(C[afe]O[l].
5 Search and rescue intend to comb area going creeping (10)
SARMENTOSE – S.A.R. + ME[a]N + TOSE.
6 Intellectual’s beyond the setter on reflection, hard cheese! (8)
EMMENTAL – ME backwards + MENTAL.
7 This entrance hall on pub may be a winner (6)
ATRIUM –  A TRIUM[p.h.].
8 Ruffian bit arm and leg … this’ll soothe (9, two words)
TIGER BALM – Anagram of BIT ARM + LEG.
9 Fish topped with a drop of dijonnaise served perfectly (4)
ACED –  [d]ACE + D[ijonnaise].
12 Cut back on mere trifles after hard six days (10)
HEXAEMERON – H + AXE backwards + anagram of ON MERE.
15 One cramped by suffering extremes of illness aboard? (9, two words)
BAD SAILOR – Cryptic definition, I think.
17 Cope with obscure language (8)
OTCHIPWE – Anagram of COPE WITH.    Obscure is an anagram indicator, but it is also highly apt.
19 Camp nobody’s leaving first in all probability (8, three words)
TEN TO ONE – TENT + [n]O ONE.
21 Heated clash, start of unrest with A Darling? (7)
ACUSHLA – Anagram of CLASH + U[nrest] + A.
22 Begin to eat malt loaf mother’s left out (6, two words)
FALL TO – Anagram of [ma]LT LOAF.
25 Albert’s one at home after clearing house before (5)
CHAIN – C.H. + A, IN.  A watch chain, to be specific.
26 Scrub line from dirty tub (4)
BACK –  B[l]ACK.
27 Wavy Navy due at sea (4)
UNDE – Anagram of N + DUE

13 comments on “Mephisto 3364 – Ninja Turtle found in the Valley of Fear”

  1. Agreed this was quite a gentle Mephisto.
    1d I took recreation (game) to be SIM as in the game SIM CITY. Maybe that’s what you meant.
    15d is an anagram of: I(llnes)S ABROAD with I( ONE).
    25d I understood the parsing but thought CHAIN referred to MOUNTAIN RANGE so took ALBERT to be Mt Albert. I wasn’t convinced so thanks for sorting that out.

    1. I think this is what the setter intended. However, there is no L in the anagrist. ONE is certainly I, cramped by an anagram. But I don’t think an upper case I could properly be intended as a lower case l. That’s just not on.

      1. Yes you’re right. I think I stared are this for far too long trying not to make it a CD.

        I take it the extremes of ILLNESS can’t be ILS together with ABROAD? I guess that is a stretch too far.

        1. I think it was intended to be an all-in-one. All the elements of the anagrist are there, bar one letter. I think it’s simply a mistake.

    2. Chambers gives SIM as an abbreviation for ‘simulation’, which it defines as ‘the re-creation of a situation…’. There is no definition of SIM on its own that refers to a game (only ‘sim game’) so based on fidelity to Chambers I don’t think that’s what’s intended.
      Add me to the ‘this looks like an error’ club for 15dn.

  3. I think it’s an error. I considered IL(lnes)S as “extremes”, but, like Richard, thought that was going too far. If that is what was intended, it’s unacceptable in my book! 8dn: I frowned at “ruffian” as an anagrind, but Chambers does give it as an adjective, so there you go. 26dn: how does “back” = “tub”? I couldn’t find anything in Chambers, but my Chambers is very old, so perhaps there’s a more modern interpretation?

Comments are closed.