Well I never, two weeks running with a correctly-filled grid and not so much as a look at Chambers. This week did feel a lot tougher than last week though, and by the time the NE corner came together I was all but guessing. It’s a credit to the setter that it’s possible to work out so many unfamiliar terms purely through diligent attention to the very fair clues. Beelzebub remains a very satisfying solve, and one I’d recommend to all Fifteensquared readers.
There’s something NINA-like going on in the grid, but I can’t put my finger on it. Row five reads “AS TIME TO COME” and row seven begins “TO WAR” and ends “IT IS”. I’m clearly missing something though, and I now wonder how often I might have missed such things in the past!
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 2 | STRIKEBOUND – STRIKE + BOUND. |
| 10 | SLEEVE DOG – SLEEVE + DO + G[ames]. |
| 12 | MARTINI – TIN in MARI. |
| 13 | TWOCS – TWO C[ar]S. Derived from Taken Without Consent, but apparently now a word in its own right. |
| 14 | SEASON – SEA’S ON. |
| 15 | UPAS – U + PAS. |
| 18 | TO COME – CO in TOME. |
| 19 | THANEDOMS – (A N) in (THE + DO + MS). |
| 23 | ARTERITIS – IRRITATES*. |
| 26 | AT ONCE – TON in ACE. |
| 29 | CRUD – CRUD[e]. |
| 30 | DEFILE – dd. |
| 32 | HOWFF – HOW + F[riend] + F[amily]. |
| 33 | GIGOLOS – GIG + SOLO<. |
| 34 | PULVILLUS – VIL[e] in (PULL + US). |
| 35 | DOUBLE-ENDER – DOUB[t] + ([mortgag]E in LENDER). |
| Down | |
| 1 | ISMS – from MISS, with the M moved downwards, i.e. “depressed”. |
| 2 | SLAES – SEALS<. |
| 3 | TERATA – ER in (TA + TA). |
| 4 | RETSINA – [c]ANISTER<. |
| 5 | KENNED – KENNE[l] + D[rain]. |
| 6 | EDICT – C in EDIT. |
| 7 | BOTTOMRY – MOTTO< in (BR + [industr]Y). |
| 8 | UROPOD – POUR* + OD. |
| 9 | DISSEISE – DISS + (I SEE)*. |
| 11 | SCAMPI – S[lurry] + CAMP + I. |
| 16 | ATTACHED – ATT + ACHED. |
| 17 | MERCIFUL – (FIRM CLUE)* &lit. It’s certainly kind to use “anagram” as an anagrind! Nice clue. |
| 20 | HOT ROD – HO + TROD. |
| 21 | SIXFOLD – IX in SOLD. |
| 22 | WOU-WOU – W + OU, repeatedly. The university in question is probably Oxford, but I’ll nail my colours to the mast in the annotation! |
| 24 | ENDIVE – END + I’VE. |
| 25 | TUILLE – I in TULLE. |
| 27 | EAGLE – [b]EAGLE. A nicely misleading Ancient Mariner/golfing reference mixture here. |
| 28 | FLOUR – L[ight] in FOUR. |
| 31 | ESSE – ESSE[n]. |
You may relax: row 5 is as much a surprise to me as it is to you. There aren’t many Ninas in Beelzebub – but nor are they entirely absent, as a freshly-completed grid on my computer shows.