Mephisto 3390 – Quite raggedy, I would say!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Mephisto

I realized today that due to the press of business in one of my unpaid jobs, I had not finished this puzzle, so I had to sit down at 7 to polish it off and do the blog.   It was not very difficult, but some of the wordplay relies on quite obscure meanings of words you probably know in another context.   However, I was able to do all the research for you, in case you just wrote in the obvious answer.   All, that is, except for the wordplay for strae, for which my proposed parsings are unsatisfactory.   I’m sure someone out there will have something better.

 

Across
1 Check new bails will be white (7)
CHABLIS – CH + anagram of BAILS.
6 Very casually it gives local support (5)
TREST – TRES + ‘T.
10 Chariot arrived bearing Greek character (4)
IOTA – Hidden in [char]IOT A[rrived].
11 I study chapter in upper room (7)
SCHOLAR – S(CH)OLAR.
12 Shameless sort packing a decilitre in a little bottle (7, three words)
A BAD LOT – A B(A DL)OT.
14 Clear shift over word of feasibility for Andy Capp or similar (12, two words)
STRIP CARTOON -STRIP +  CART + O + ON.
16 Fresh air in Australia first (5)
OZONE – OZ + ONE.   The literal is conventional and archaic, so let’s not discuss it.
18 Dispatch section going to the right regions (4)
ENDS -SEND with the S moved to the end.
19 Incorrectly connect  note with Solicitor General and lashings (8)
MISGRAFT – MI + S.G. + RAFT.
21 See a ruin crumbling — that’s rather unsettling (8)
UNEASIER – Anagram of SEE A RUIN.
22 US torch is below par, run out at last (4)
PYRO – PY + R + O.    ROPY with R.O. moved to the rear.   Torch in the American slang sense.
24 Packing material in Stranraer mostly tended to disappear (5)
STRAE – ST[ran]RAE[r], perhaps, or maybe STRA[y]E[d]?
25 Mud nearly now washed out by us? (12)
LAUNDRYWOMEN – Anagram of MUD NEARLY NOW.
29 Suppose one supplement ignored a final letter (7)
IMAGINE –  I + MAG[a,z]INE.
30 Doctor I meet at 4pm or thereabouts (7)
TEATIME – Anagram of I MEET AT.
31 River in, say, southern desert areas (4)
ERGS – E.(R)G. + S.
32 Visitor to Bodmin Moor happened upon them on the west (5)
EMMET – ‘EM + MET.   I had to look up Bodmin Moor, and then it was obvious.
33 Is eccentricity behind a preposterous fellow’s coat? (7)
ANODISE – A + NOD  DON reversed + IS + E.
Down
1 Old townies contemptibly blocking half of propositions (4)
CITS – [soli]CITS.   Slang from the early 18th century, found in Pope and Swift.
2 One flies round in titfer with endless spirit (7)
HOATZIN – H(O)AT + ZIN[g].
3 Book about miner’s waste explosive mineral (12)
BABINGTONITE – B + A + BING + TONITE.
4 Mate in open country heading off protesters (4)
LEAP – LEA + P[rotestors].    Mate as a verb.
5 Scuffed shoes initially left in greasy spoon by eg Miliband (8)
SCLAFFED – S[hoes] + C(L)AFF + ED.
6 Hamlet’s moderation runs in township (5)
THORP –  T(HO,R)P.  Some obscure stuff, but it works.
7 Polished off mortal (12)
ROTTENSTONED – ROTTEN + STONED, where mortal is yet another slang term for drunk.
8 Asma Khan’s veg, ordinary source of starch (4)
SAGO – SAG + O.   Sag is more usually spelt saag.
9 Happen to skip page clearing warrant (8)
TRANSIRE – TRANS[p]IRE, which, of course, has come to mean happen.
13 Jocular bishop is against enterprise (7)
CONFIRM – CON FIRM, bishop in the slang sense of performing the ceremony of confirmation.
15 Fellow leaving failure on strange platform (7)
ROSTRUM – [f]ROST + RUM, with an obscure meaning of frost.
16 Old grimace with most recent bit of shoulder (8)
OMOPLATE –  O + MOP + LATE.   Mop is in fact an old word for grimace, but the old is needed for the O.
17 Picture father and not a mother (8)
PANORAMA – PA NOR A MA.
20 Urchins experience good Grammar School before entering (7, two words)
SEA EGGS –  SE(A)E + G + G.S.
23 Welcome adjective Master slipped in vintage poem (5)
ADMIT – A + D(M)IT.   Dit is a Spenserian word.
26 Become happiest holding back an attention-seeker (4)
AHEM – Backwards hidden in [beco]ME HA[ppiest].
27 Sponge by group of Calendar Girls — flipping acceptable (4)
WINO – W.I. + ON upside-down, apparently alluding to the 2003 film.
28 Snout’s marriage humorously lacking one love (4)
NOSE – NO[o]SE.

13 comments on “Mephisto 3390 – Quite raggedy, I would say!”

  1. At last, one I had time for and I finished on Monday, I think. I couldn’t parse STRAE, but Vinyl’s first suggestion seems to do the trick (if indicating a subtraction from inside an incomplete word is OK). But isn’t Stranraer only part of the wordplay, not the definition?

      1. It’s logically possible to count “packaging material” as the definition, “in” as a linkword, and the rest as the wordplay, which allows it to fit the usual structure and happen to have a more helpful “functional definition”.

  2. I parsed STRAE as your first suggestion: ST[ran]RAE[r]
    I assume from the blog title that the pun really is Shabbily Dressed. Seems a bit of a stretch although I couldn’t think of anything better.

  4. Agreed on both, plus ROPY below. ‘Torch’ is defined in Chambers as an American usage for pyromaniac.

  5. Agree on all of the above. 15ac: is “frost” in the meaning of failure really obscure? That makes me feel old! As does the comment on 27dn: “apparently alluding to the 2003 film” (it seemed obvious to me). 33ac: is “nod” in this meaning in the current Chambers? My very old one doesn’t give it, just Noddy = a stupid person.

    1. The “preposterous fellow” is a reversed DON, preposterous being “literally inverted” in Chambers.

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