*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
This was one of my favourite Beelzebubs since I started blogging them here. It was as satisfying as ever, with lots of exciting new words, and characteristically fair clueing. I enjoyed this one enough that I was actually slightly disappointed to finish it.
But finish I did, and on the Sunday again, although I’m sure I leaned on the big red website harder than ever this week. I still can’t explain 2ac.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 2 | MALPRACTICE – “Misconduct in academic record linked to habitual response in class”. |
| 10 | CISELEUR – (LIES* + [-rac]E) “guarded by” CUR. |
| 12 | OUSTED – (T “into” OUSE) + D. |
| 13 | MORTAR – ORT “among” MAR. |
| 14 | PHAT – P + HAT. I was staggered to find this somewhat urban term in Chambers, but there it was: “fine, excellent (esp of music)”, and also “(of a woman) sexy”. So C isn’t all Spenser and Scots then! |
| 15 | BONAMANO – (BAM “carrying” ON) + NO. |
| 16 | OCREA – (C “in” ORE) “with” A. |
| 20 | BELITTLE – BELLE “about” (IT + T[-eam]). |
| 21 | ACHERNAR – ACHE + R + RAN<. Achernar is the eighth-brightest star in the night sky. |
| 25 | POORI – POOR + I, alternative spelling of “puri”. |
| 26 | ILL-FASTE – (LL + FAST) “breaking” [-rev]IE[-wer]. The poet in question being Spenser, of course. |
| 28 | MUST – dd. |
| 29 | NELLIE – [-rev]EILLE N[-ot]<. |
| 30 | EMBRYO – (MORE BY)*. |
| 31 | CAROUSER – ROUSE “in” CAR. |
| 32 | FRATERNISED – (FINE TRADERS)*. |
| Down | |
| 1 | SCOPOLAMINE – (ONE IS CALM)* “about” OP. Scopolamine is a “a tropane alkaloid drug with muscarinic antagonist effects”, and is therefore a great example of why not to waste time asking Wikipedia about anything remotely scientific. |
| 3 | ASSART – ASS + ART. |
| 4 | LETTERED – L + [-f]ETTERED. I was pleased to learn this word. I suspect that being “lettered” is akin to being “a (wo)man of letters”, as opposed to having lots of letters after one’s name, as I first assumed. |
| 5 | REDOLENT – RELENT “about” DO. |
| 6 | CROAK – C + R + OAK. |
| 7 | TERM – T + [-g]ERM. |
| 8 | INTACT – (N “in” ITA) + CT. |
| 9 | CHANDLER – HANDLE “seized by” CR. |
| 11 | PROVEDITORE – PROVED + I + TORE. |
| 17 | COCHLEAR – CLEAR “occupied by” (O + CH). The “labyrinth” in question is in fact part of the inner ear. |
| 18 | SLATTERN – STERN “carrying” LAT, and “traipse” in the sense that only ever comes up in crosswords. |
| 19 | STROMBUS – M “inside” (BURST SO)*. |
| 22 | HALLOA – H + ALLOA. |
| 23 | COURSE – hom. of “coarse”. |
| 24 | SAICE – AS< + ICE, I think. This was hard, and I had to resort to looking up random _AICE words in C. I still can’t quite resolve AS to “for instance”, but I don’t doubt that it’s there somewhere. |
| 27 | FLIT – F + LIT. |
I didn’t see the crossword, I’m afraid, though from the answers it looked fun. But for 2ac, I’d imagine:
Academic (MA) record (LP) (linked to) habitual response (TIC) in class (RACE), giving misconduct (MA-LP-RAC(TIC)E)