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A tough puzzle that had me plugging away at it all week, only just finishing in time to crack on with the following week’s Beelzebub! *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. … Read more >>

Excellent. Long perimeter clues particularly nifty and the device used in 18a is classic         ACROSS 1 Computer equipment dances behind tug TRACKERBALLS tug TRACKER dances BALLS 11 The French … Read more >>

This seemed to be about average difficulty for Beelzebub, though with plenty of long anagrams and a relatively high number of forays north of the border. I made life difficult for myself by … Read more >>

Usual rich smorgasbord         ACROSS 1 Opinion dismissing love as sin  VICE  V[o]ICE 4 Disentangle second hint about condition SIMPLIFY IF condition in S IMPLY hint 9 Old creature touchy … Read more >>

Quite a tough week, though I think I’ve at least managed to expain everything. There seem to be relatively few anagrams this week, along with a great deal of abbreviations in the subsidiary … Read more >>

This was at the speedier end of the Beelzebub spectrum         ACROSS 1 Plenty more winds limiting man’s assessment of clouds  NEPHELOMETRY HE man in (PLENTY MORE)* study of clouds … Read more >>

A rare, completely unaided finish for me, though I did turn to Chambers a modest number of times while preparing the blog post. It’s impressive that Beelzebub manages to vary the level of … Read more >>

POISSON D’AVRIL         ACROSS 1/23d PICOT   CO firm in PIT mine 5/22d INQILAB revolution IN  QI life force LAB 10/21d LOOSEST most relaxed LOO heads= ship’s toilet SE  ST 12/19d … Read more >>

I think I dodged a bullet here. Blogging the odd-numbered puzzles meant that I didn’t have to contend with the April Fools’ Day special, and instead drew this tractable but satisfying puzzle. That … Read more >>

Straightforward solve this week – very enjoyable       ACROSS 2 Want man in hospital to have cherries   BLACKHEARTS cherries LACK want HE in BARTS hospital 10 Figures with how many faces? … Read more >>

A pretty tough Beelzebub this week, I found. I think the fact that the four 12-letter longer words around the perimeter were all unfamiliar to me made it tougher to break into the … Read more >>

Have carefully posted this after the newly-extended deadline       ACROSS 1 Continue chasing fine drink – it involves heated brandy   FLAP-DRAGON DRAG ON continue after F fine LAP drink (old parlour … Read more >>

I hope this is roughly the appropriate date to post this one. Beelzebub competition closing dates seem to have shifted recently, to give solvers an extra week to get their entries in. We’re … Read more >>

Tricky and enjoyable puzzle although I was caught out by having limited understanding of answers at 22a and 5d       ACROSS 2 Frank cracks when accepting one’s offers to stand CANDIDACIES   … Read more >>

Apologies for the tardy blog post here, poor old Beelzebub always seems to be the first to be neglected when things get hectic. Thankfully, at least, after a run of really quite tough … Read more >>