Mephisto 2498

[kayakamina]

There was a discussion yesterday about the clue at 9d

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puz zles/Crosswords/Question595516.html

I have now had the following reply from Tim Moorey;-

' Hi Again K. You are the second person to have asked about this,as it looks as if I have put a redundant word (oil) in the clue. That is not the case as I'm afraid there should have been a hyphen between walnut and oil as there was in my submission. It evidently was lost in transmission.
Of course the hyphen was a bit contrived on my part as normal spelling is walnut oil but I needed the hyphen to complete the sentence and make a sound clue.
Sorry you were bothered'
Regards
Tim

[greyfox]

Thanks for reporting back k. 'A bit contrived' is certainly true given that it isn't a 'normal spelling' e.g. not in Chambers, so even without the transmission error I can't see that it would have been a 'sound clue'. Far from a huge crime in the cruciverbal scheme of things though, and Mephisto is always an enjoyable challenge for those, such as myself, who can't make the Listener grade bar once in a blue moon.

[kayakamina]

Hi Greyfox

I agree it was not quite the answer I was expecting but no serious problem caused, Like you I enjoy the Mephisto and Azed and The Listener when there is time because I have commitments to supply completed grids for the Saturday & Sunday Times and the Guardian Prize and Everyman.

I think there may be a few disappointed people this coming weekend with the Golf being on.

Regards K

[Quizmonster]

In the earlier discussion, I described the clue as 'slack', whilst Mr Moorey describes it as 'contrived'. Fair enough, I suppose, given that the compositors were responsible for the missing hyphen. At least his comments should convince those who seemed to think there was nothing wrong with the clue that it did need explanation.