Posted by neildubya on 28th September 2007
I found this very easy - no Chambers or Bradford needed. There were some difficult words in the puzzle (31A,19D) but I was helped on these by checking letters and the straightforward clueing.
Note: this is will be the last Beelzebub blog for a couple of weeks as I shall be away and won’t have much time for solving/blogging. Expect normal service to resume around puzzle 921.
| Across |
| 10 |
SOD,I in EPIC - SOD for “fellow” was new to me. |
| 12 |
initial letters of “BMW, And Porsche Satisfactory” - “rolls” is the definition nicely hidden amongst those other luxury cars. |
| 13 |
DECADE,NT |
| 16 |
L in C[-o]ULCH - which is “the stones, old shells, etc., forming an oyster bed and furnishing points of attachment for the spawn of oysters”. |
| 20 |
(TOO IRASCIBLE)* - BOROSILICATE. |
| 25 |
RIG,EL - “footie star” is the full definition as RIGEL is so called from its position on the left foot of the figure of Orion. |
| 28 |
(LOCAL BEE[-s])* - ECOLABEL. |
| 30 |
G in ALL,ONES |
| 31 |
(REACTION CAN)* - ANACREONTIC. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
BLUBBER,E in BED - which describes the appearance of the eyes or cheeks after you’ve been crying. Had to double-check when I got this though as BEBLUBBERED also sounds like it could be a definition for “fat”. |
| 3 |
R in DEEP,PIN (going up) |
| 6 |
I,CH in MELANGE,LO - MICHEALANGELO |
| 9 |
LANCE,TED |
| 11 |
(TEACH LIMITS)* - ATHLETICISM. |
| 19 |
AS,in Z,T,RUG,I - probably the toughest word in the puzzle for me but the wordplay makes it gettable. |
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Posted by neildubya on 21st September 2007
I thought this was pretty tricky but I struggled with all but one of the long answers that form the perimeter of the grid, so that will have prevented me from really getting going. Most unlikely word of the puzzle: 9D, by a country mile.
| Across |
| 1 |
A,CAR,O,L,O,GISTS - ACAROLOGY is a branch of zoology dealing with mites and ticks. O is a short form of “on”. |
| 14 |
P,ON in LASS< - SPONSAL. I think this is just another word (or maybe a variant spelling of) spousal. |
| 16 |
V,ALL in TILL,Y,Y - tough clue to parse. I figured that it must be something ending -ALLY but it took me ages to get V for “see” and then TILL for “work” as I could shake off the idea that “work” was OP[us]. Loved the surface reading. |
| 21 |
L,ARC,HEN - quite literally, “of or pertaining to the larch”. Must remember to use that, next time I have a conversation about larches. |
| 23 |
PROP,ONE,N[-i]TS |
| 26 |
STICKIT - without access to Chambers, I originally filled in “knockit” but it soon became apparent this wasn’t right. |
| 31 |
(PART)* in (SONS NAME)* |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
(SPOIL A SITCOM)* - APOSTOLICISM. |
| 2 |
CIPPI - not sure if this is right but can’t explain it if it is. Full clue is “Chap escaping denunciation turning up in the stocks”. |
| 6 |
LION in GANG,IC - the surface reading misleads nicely here. GANGLION is a mass of nerve tissue existing outside the central nervous system. |
| 8 |
A,NET< in TUG - TUTENAG. NET is (I think) an archaic word for “clean,pure” or bright. |
| 9 |
HAIR,IS,T in SPIKE - SPHAIRISTIKE. Bizarre word, with an amusing history as it was to be name of the sport we now call “tennis”. When Major Walter Clopton Wingfield defined the rules of the modern game he wanted to call it SPHAIRISTIKE (Greek for “playing ball”) but the name was dropped when too many people found it difficult to pronounce. Funny, that. |
| 12 |
PSYCHO,POMP - which is “a person who conducts spirits or souls to another world”. |
| 18 |
ROB,A in ACT |
| 20 |
A,NOT,HER |
| 24 |
I in TAR,S |
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Posted by neildubya on 14th September 2007
This was probably one of the easiest advanced puzzles I’ve ever completed but it was a very satisfying solve. I only needed Chambers on a couple of occasions and there were some great new words to learn (FISTIANA,MEIOFAUNA). Still not sure about the wordplay for 19D though.
| Across |
| 4 |
(IT IS)* in FAN,A - what a great word FISTIANA is. |
| 10 |
(PERSON)* in CORDED |
| 11 |
ART in LINE< - the deception in this clue comes from the capitalized R in Ravel, leading you down a musical garden-path. |
| 13 |
DAM in A SWINE - ADAM’S WINE. This clue illustrates something that has always puzzled about advanced cryptics: why are answers of more than one word never fully enumerated? For this clue, we get (9, two words) instead of (5,4). Anyone know why this is? |
| 18 |
A,T in IN TIME - tough clue to parse and it took me a while to twig that “eventually” was IN TIME. |
| 20 |
GIS[t] in E,LETS. |
| 21 |
A in I,FAN - NAAFI. I wouldn’t have known this word were it not for the Times puzzle in which it appeared a couple of weeks ago. It’s an abbreviation which stands for “Navy,Army and Air Force Institutes”. |
| 25 |
EVE in A,G,GRID - unusually, a less than convincing surface reading for this setter. |
| 28 |
(CERTAIN ROUND)* - COUNTERDRAIN. “Barking” is the anagram indicator here and I assume it’s in the sense of mad or crazy. |
| 29 |
AN,Z,A,CD,A,Y - lots of elements to put together here. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
(IN A CANOE)* - OCEANIA. |
| 2 |
CON,DEN,(AS INTO)* - CONDENSATION. |
| 7 |
ADS,ORBS - not to be confused with “absorb”. |
| 14 |
(ANIMALCULES OAF [-calls])* - we only see this type of anagram in advanced cryptics, and even there it’s quite rare I think. The idea is that “calls MEIOFAUNA” is an anagram of “Animalcules oaf”. |
| 15 |
M[-is]ALIGNED - “true” is used in the something being in the correct position. |
| 19 |
THAMMUZ - can’t work out the wordplay for this one. The full clue is “Representation of sun in the morning - endless blur”. “Morning” could be AM but I don’t know about the rest. |
| 22 |
KIND[-l]Y |
| 24 |
OR,C[atace]A |
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Posted by neildubya on 7th September 2007
This was definitely trickier than the last few Beelzebub puzzles but still very enjoyable. Not sure about the wordplay for 11A though.
| Across |
| 5 |
N in UP,LACE - LACE can be a verb meaning to beat or thrash. |
| 11 |
HEARTWORN - this looks right and it’s about the only thing that fits but I can’t see the wordplay. The full clue is: “Man with eccentricity going around platforms turned very sad”. [Edit: correction - it's not the only thing that fits, as fgbp points out in the comments. Correct answer is HEARTSORE.] |
| 12 |
(CAT)*,I,VAT in DEE |
| 14 |
S,TAT |
| 15 |
INC,UN,[-f]ABULIST - tough word, easy clue. Very good surface reading too. “Incunabula” are extant copies of books produced before 1501. |
| 17 |
TAD in SIAL |
| 23 |
(HAD TO END)* in AGON - AGATHODAIMON. The anagram element of the clue was fairly easy to spot but it took me a while to get to AGON for “conflict”. |
| 28 |
OUSE in HM,AID - actually quite an easy clue and certainly not a difficult word but for some reason this clue took a while to parse. I find that’s the case with a lot of Columba’s clues. |
| 29 |
E,TR in MIST |
| 30 |
[r]ECCE |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
CHAR,IS,MA - had a “do’h” moment when I got this as I’d convinced myself that “academic” would be DON. |
| 2 |
RED,(TINGE)*,RATE - REDINTEGRATE means to “make whole again” but the clue has the definition as “restored”, which isn’t quite the same thing (or is it…?). |
| 8 |
AT IT in APE - for some reason I was expecting “on the job” to be smutty and was delighted to find that it was. |
| 16 |
RAN in DUST<,E - TRANSUDE means to “ooze through pores or interstices”. Nice surface reading to the clue. |
| 18 |
hidden in “sAGA INSTructive”. |
| 19 |
(TOOK)* in AUS |
| 21 |
HOL[-y] in TOI[-l] - THOLOI. |
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Posted by neildubya on 31st August 2007
I found this is a bit trickier than the last couple of Beelzebub puzzles and I even had to use Bradford’s on a couple of occasions. There are a couple of clues - 15A and 16D - where I’m not convinced I’ve got the right answer, or I don’t understand the wordplay.
| Across |
| 4 |
TO in DIT,LOGY - one of the great things about solving advanced cryptics is the unexpected words you come across. This one means “a twofold intepretation”, usually of a Scripture text. |
| 10 |
GO,RI[v]ER |
| 11 |
I,CARUS[o] |
| 13 |
ME<, BREAD - a really good clue which had me foxed for a while as I thought I was looking for (HERES ME)*. “Ready” (as in money) was also very well disguised. |
| 15 |
SCARP - not sure if this is right. The full clue is “Half the band run away, abandoning one”. |
| 19 |
SUR[e],[a]MOUNT - what I liked about this clue was the way the setter manages to indicate two incomplete words and still retain a natural sounding surface. |
| 22 |
(AND,O,RATS)* - ONDATRAS. |
| 26 |
E,RULE (move the R to the end) |
| 29 |
BI,(TONIC)* - BIONTIC. In Chinese medicine, BI is a blockage in the circulation of qi. |
| 32 |
A,BAT,[o]UT< - ABATTU, somewhat unexpectedly for me, means gloomy or miserable. Tough word, easy wordplay. |
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| Down |
| 1 |
AGAPE,M,ONE - a Greek word meaning “abode of love”. It was, apparently, “an English religious community of men and women, holding all goods in common” |
| 2 |
Y,ODE |
| 3 |
AP,A in CRUD |
| 4 |
DIG,I in ANY (going up) |
| 6 |
(COMICAL TRAIT)* - TIMOCRATICAL. A timocracy is a form of government in which “love of honour is the dominant motive of the rulers”. |
| 9 |
A,RANT in GUY |
| 16 |
PUTTER OUT - not sure if this is right. The P comes from 15A, which I’m also not sure about so perhaps these are both wrong. The full clue is “Someone who annoys ancient emigrant”. |
| 18 |
VAN,[s]QUISH - VAN (a shortening of “vanguard”, meaning forefront) always catches me out. |
| 21 |
(PUB)*,EATS |
| 23 |
O in (FELT)* |
| 24 |
E in BEND (going up) - DENEB is a first-magnitude star in the constellation Cygnus. |
| 25 |
A,L[o]TO |
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