Beelzebub 926/Phi (11-11-07)
Posted by neildubya on November 23rd, 2007
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | L in BASH - I hesitated over this at first because I couldn’t see why “go” = BASH. Then I remembered “have a bash at [something]“. |
| 11 | (SIGN BLOOMERS)* - REBLOSSOMING. Pleasing &lit clue. |
| 12 | ENZOOTIC - this must be right as the definition fits but I can’t untangle the wordplay: “Quickly one should return around zone suffering localised disease”. |
| 16 | BEE,SWING - a BEE is a social gathering (e.g. spelling bee) and BEESWING is a flaky deposit found in port and other wines. |
| 19 | P in A DRESS |
| 21 | DA in DUET,E |
| 24 | E in SLP,TOFF - I initially filled in SWEPT OFF even though it didn’t really fit with the definition because I convinced myself that Arthur Scargill was in the Socialist Worker’s Party (SWP). Turns out he founded the Socialist Labour Party. |
| 29 | IT’S A< - IT is vermouth, as in “gin and it” (which sounds like a classic martini to me…) |
| 31 | ON in (BEST NEARLY)* - BLARNEY-STONE. |
| 32 | (B[-a]BY)*,LOW - BYBLOW. Excellent &lit clue. A BYBLOW is an illegitimate child. |
| Down | |
| 1 | BREEZE - I liked this clue a lot: “Refuse to go cheerfully”. As a noun, BREEZE refers to cinders, ash or dust (which is what breeze blocks are made out of) and as a verb it can mean a few things but probably the most relevant is “to move in a self-confident or jaunty manner”. |
| 2 | (CLEARLY UNLIT)* - LENTICULARLY. I struggled to get, partly because I thought I was looking for a word ending -ICAL. |
| 4 | BE,A in H (FOOT)* - HOOFBEAT. Another excellent &lit: “Horse with foot moving? Happen one will be involved”. I’ve only now spotted that “happen one” is BE,A though. |
| 5 | (REST)*,EAST - ESTREAT. |
| 8 | P,P,IE in LIST |
| 15 | QUEE[-r],(MAN)*,B - QUEEN MAB is a tantalizing fairy who “governs and produces peoples’ dreams”. |
| 17 | SPOFFISH - not sure if this is right as I can’t work out the wordplay. Full clue is “Officious affected types upset a person”. This answers crosses with 33A - which I’ve got as HASTE (the H is where they cross) but I can’t explain that either so it’s possible that might be wrong too. |
| 20 | DEFRA,Y[e]S |
| 25 | odd letters of SiLk, initial letters of “Used By Braiders”. |
| 27 | IT<,R,L - TIRL. |
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
SPOFFISH looks right to me.
“Affected types upset” = FOPS reversed
“a person” = FISH (as in “he’s a bit of a cold fish” “she’s a bit of an odd fish”)
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
ENZOOTIC too. The “around zone suffering” lead me to think that it yielded the ENZO bit but in fact it is just the Z (Z being an abbreviation for zone).
So it’s (CITO ONE) reversed around Z (cito is apparently latin for quickly)