Comments on: Beelzebub 989 (01/02/09)

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:18:04 +0000

Thanks gentlemen – I couldn’t have hoped for three more eminent commenters on my inaugural Beelzebub outing!

Onwards and upwards, and Chambers it is from now on – thanks Phi.

By: Phi

Phi — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:09:40 +0000

Nice to see Beelzebub back (but I would say that, wouldn’t I?). This was one of mine, and you had me perplexed for a minute, so it may be worthwhile restating that Chambers is the standard reference here as well as for other barred puzzles. Fossicking around in dusty corners of Chambers is still part of the game, therefore.

That being so, you’d find OB is ‘by the way’ as an abbreviation in its own right (short for ‘obiter’), though your idea is nice. URANOMETRY + POS(T) anagrams to PURE ASTRONOMY, and MISSEE is miss ee & lit (‘ee’ for ‘errors excepted’ is another obscure Chambers abbreviation, but I have at least seen it used).

By: eimi

eimi — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:32:30 +0000

That’s still correct, Peter.

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:02:48 +0000

I hardly ever get a Sunday Indie, but Beelzebub deserves blogging, so well done. If the setters are still Paul Henderson (Phi) and Colin Gumbrell (Columba), you can expect Ximenean clues all the way. I think Phi does 75% and Columba 25%, but I could be wrong about that.