The same weekend that Inquisitor is moved into the main paper, Beelzebub benefits from almost double the space we’re used to. The grid is commensurately huge, while the clues remain printed in the tiniest of fonts, giving even my mid-thirties eyes a weekly challenge almost as daunting as the crossword gives my brain.
Speaking of the crossword, this was classic Beelzebub, and I found it more challenging than the last one I blogged. In fact by the end I was in full-on cheat mode, but I got there. That said, the wordplay at 30ac has me completely bewildered, so I’ve reproduced the clue in the hope of enlightenment.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | BROADLY – RO in BADLY. |
| 6 | DUPER – [super-]DUPER. |
| 10 | EORL – E OR L. Clever, and it took a while to see wordplay here. The “US railroad” in question is EL, short for Elevated Railway and a staple of crossword setters. |
| 11 | OBOVATE – OBO + VAT + [lin]E. |
| 12 | GREEN GOWN – (G + E’EN) in WRONG*. An intriguing term, and one new to your blogger, who has obviously led a sheltered life. Apparently equivalent to “a roll in the hay” or similar. |
| 14 | INMATE – N in I’M ATE . |
| 15 | MULTI-CHANNEL – (MEAL LUNCH TIN)*. |
| 17 | ANNOYER – ANN + OYER. Some nice archaic terms in the wordplay there. |
| 20 | ALVEOLI – AL[i]VE + OLI[d]. |
| 22 | THERMOCOUPLE – (COMPLETE + HOUR)*. |
| 24 | CURFEW – CUR + FEW. |
| 26 | STILTBIRD – TILT in (S + BIRD). |
| 27 | OLEARIA – OLEA + AIR<. |
| 28 | EDGE – [w]EDGE. |
| 29 | WIDDY – W[ork] I[ts] D[readful] D[eeds] + [da]Y. |
| 30 | CIRCLER – Right-winger promoting corporal punishment?. |
| Down | |
| 1 | BEGUM – from BEGUN, with the N changed to M, which is deemed to be one place forward in the alphabet, though I’ve seen heated arguments break out over whether that’s forward or backward! |
| 2 | RORQUAL – R + OR + QUA[i]L. |
| 3 | ALECTO – A LECTO[r]. |
| 4 | DENSITOMETRY – (MODERNIST YET)*. |
| 5 | LOGICAL – G.I. in LOCAL. |
| 6 | DOWN-AND-OUTER – (UNWANTED DOOR)*. |
| 7 | PARANYMPH – R in (HAPPY MAN)*. |
| 8 | ETAT – [g]ET AT. |
| 9 | REVELRY – L in REVERY. |
| 13 | ILL-VERSED – I + L + L + VERSED. |
| 16 | EAT CROW – A ROW in ETC. |
| 18 | NICOLAI – [si]CILIANO*. Otto Nicolai, I believe. |
| 19 | ENLARGE – GENERAL*. |
| 21 | QUEBEC – B in QUEEC[hy]. |
| 23 | EIDER – (RE + DIE)<. |
| 25 | UGLI – [fo]IL GU[lped]<. |
30ac – I have BIRCHER, which can either be someone who supports birching as a corporal punishment or a member of the right-wing John Birch society.
Then again, I could only get 21dn with a word search and still couldn’t parse it, so thanks for that explanation.
Oh, and 12ac, don’t think I knew the term exactly, but I had heard that this was the meaning of greensleeves in the song of that name.
I didn’t do this, but reading your query re 30ac (and not having seen the grid), this perhaps is a reference to the John Birch society (right-wing movement), thus it makes ‘BIRCHER’.
Nick
Thanks, everyone, that makes a lot more sense. Not sure where I got CIRCLER from then, probably a word search on a too-small dictionary.
Snap! 🙂
Not about this one but about the font size. I’ve just got new glasses and just can’t read the clues. I know the space means less adverts but a smaller grid and larger font size is the only way I can try these now. Please.
Time for bi-focals, perhaps. 🙂
I’m long-sighted, and when I get new glasses, I find it easier to read small print, although there was a time I kept a magnifying glass handy.
Yes Dormouse, my eyesight is varying so badly it’s untrue, 5 years ago I was just very long sighted, now I’m virtually unsighted in my right eye and have triple vision and cataracts, my issue is I can do the crossword in the paper but the Beelzebub is just too damn small.