Beelzebub 1,207

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Well I never. It has been a while, but this was a rare unaided finish for your blogger. I suspect the enforced discipline of tackling the puzzle over a quiet pint or two up in SE19, without easy access to references, helped matters. That said, a few more stubborn entries held out until the following evening.

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.

Across
1 SAFARI – FAR in (I + AS)<.
5 SATRAP – SAT + RAP.
9 THREE-SCORE – ((H + RE) in TESCO) + RE.
11 EPEES – EP in SEE<.
13 BOCHE – BO[t]CH + E.
15 TRACTOR – (ROT + CART)<.
16 ERGODIC – (El CID + OGRE)<.
18 SIPUNCULOID – (IN [m]UD COILS UP)*.
19 SUMMARINESS – (M + MARINES) in SUS.
22 INFANTS – (N in INF) + ANTS.
23 ODINISM – SIN< in (0 + DIM).
26 PENNE – PENNE[d].
27 GLARE – [ephem]ERAL G[olf]<.
28 NOTESHAVER – HONEST* + AVER.
29 CRAWLY – LAW* in CRY.
30 STREAM – ST + REAM.
Down
1 STEREOSCOPIC – (TO PROCESS ICE)*.
2 FRET – dd.
3 RESIDUAL – (SID[e] + U) in REAL.
4 ISATIN – [v]ISA + TIN.
5 SCAR – dd.
6 TROCHLEAR – (CH in ROLE) in TAR.
7 RECTI – CT in REI[n].
8 PTERIDOSPERM – ((DIRE + T)< in POS) + PERM.
10 CHORISTER – (IS + T) in (CHORE + R.
12 PERSUADER – (S[trife] in PERU) + (RED + A)<.
14 TOPMINNOW – IMP< in (TON + NOW).
17 BUNFIGHT – FUN* in BIGHT.
20 IN MASS – (MAIN + S + S)*.
21 PINNA – PIN + NA.
24 SLEY – L in YES<.
25 NAVE – hom. of “knave”.

3 comments on “Beelzebub 1,207”

  1. Not even a dictionary? Respect. Congratulations Simon, and as always, I give the devil his due.

  2. Yes, that was my experience too – solved it all (from the wordplays) without consulting anything, but verified after, that the words existed. Thanks to the setter.

  3. it’s a week since I finished it now, so some of the details are a bit hazy, but I remember I couldn’t get 4dn without a word search – I would never think of “visa” meaning endorsement. And it took me a long time to realise 1ac was obvious.

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