I think this is me all up-to-date with Beelzebub now, as the closing date for this one was put back to the 29th, no doubt for seasonal reasons. No obvious Christmas themes in the puzzle that I can see – Beelzebub remains a welcome escape from the more tiresome aspects of modern life! Wordplay at 8dn and 22dn could use some confirmation.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | VASSALS – (ASS + A + L) in VS. |
| 7 | EPOS – EP + OS. |
| 11 | EXPANSILE – PANS in EXILE. |
| 13 | MANTRAP – MANTRA + P. |
| 14 | TEETER – TEE + T[h]E[o]R[y]. |
| 15 | ANIGH – ANI + G + H. |
| 16 | RICERCAR – (ICE + R + CA) in RR. |
| 18 | MORGENSTERN – (R + GE) in (MONSTER + N). |
| 20 | PRUNING BILL – P + RUN-IN + (B in GILL). |
| 22 | STOOLIES – STOO[p] + LIES. |
| 24 | TEMPI – MET< + PI. |
| 25 | VOLOST – V + O + LOST. |
| 27 | ELEATIC – LEA in CITE<. |
| 28 | VESTIGIAL – (S + TIG) in (A LIVE)*. |
| 29 | TETH – [communica]TE TH[hanks]. I was playing around with ioTA of beTA here for a while. |
| 30 | TWEEDLE – WEED in T[a]LE. |
| Down | |
| 1 | VENTRIPOTENT – (TRIP in VENO[m]) + TENT. |
| 2 | AXLE – L in AXE. |
| 3 | SAUTERNE – TRUE* in SANE. |
| 4 | ANGER – RANGE, “first (R) to last”. |
| 5 | SIAMANG – (GAS MAIN)*. |
| 6 | ULNAR – (L in ULA) + R. |
| 8 | PERIHELION – (HE in PERIL) + I + ON? I can’t find anything like “close to culmination” as a definition for “on”. I thought perhaps [culminatio]N, but that leaves the O unaccounted for. |
| 9 | ONAGER – AG in ONER. |
| 10 | SIPHONOSTELE – SIP + (STONE* in HOLE). |
| 12 | RECOUPMENT – (P + ME) in RECOUNT. |
| 17 | STILLAGE – ILL in STAGE. |
| 19 | ENTRIST – INERT* + ST. |
| 21 | RUELLE – [q]UELL in RE. |
| 22 | SITED – got this from the def, but can’t explain the wordplay: “Located part of NZ spread“. |
| 23 | OORIE – O + ORIE[l]. |
| 26 | SEAL – dd. |
Hi Simon
22dn is SI (part of NZ, South Island) TED (spread)
I don’t have the full clue for 8dn but could it be that ‘close to’ = ON and ‘culmination’ simply indicates that it is at the end of the word?
Thanks Geoff – surprised I didn’t spot SI, though that sense for TED is definitely new to me.
The clue for 8dn was “Ambassador in danger with independence close to culmination“. I think your reading works better than mine, which is quite impressive since I had the clue in front of me and you didn’t 🙂