[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
I’m a little behind with my Beelzebub postings, for which I apologise.
This was almost literally a puzzle of two halves. I took Beelzebub to my favourite pub in Camberwell, as is my wont. A couple of fantastic beers later, I had almost exactly 50% of the grid completed, essentially the bottom right half of the grid, and nothing in the top left.
Cue a week or so of wrangling, scribbling and Tippexing, but I think I’m almost there, though three lack explanations as yet.
*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 2 | ECBLASTESIS – (SITES + CABLES)*. |
| 10 | AD-LIB – A + BILD<. “Bild” is German for “picture”. |
| 11 | SUNN – SUNN[i]. |
| 13 | UNOBTAINABLE – (U + NATION + BABEL)*. |
| 14 | FRONTLET – R in FONTLET. |
| 15 | HEEL-BONE – (EEL + B) in HONE. |
| 18 | TOGO – TOG 0. This is quite fun, and a reference to the Tog ratings given to things like duvets. |
| 19 | BALANCE – no idea: Choreographer not hot in demonstrating poise. |
| 21 | YORUBAN – (RUB + A) in YON. |
| 22 | NEAR – N + EAR. |
| 24 | WINDGALL – WIND + GALL. |
| 25 | ACIDHEAD – CID in AHEAD. |
| 28 | CONSISTORIAN – ICONS* + RATIONS*. |
| 29 | KLEE – homophone of “clay”. Paul Klee. |
| 30 | LOORD – O in LORD. |
| 31 | KIDNEY STONE – KIDNEY + S + TONE. |
| Down | |
| 1 | NAUGHTY PACK – NAUGHT + (P in YACK). |
| 2 | EDNA – ANDE[s]<. |
| 3 | CLOSE-GRAINED – (GENERAL DISCO)*. |
| 4 | BIBULOUS – again, stumped here: Doubly swollen, say, disposing of one lot of barrels, drinking regularly. |
| 5 | ARAROBA – AR + (A BORA)<. |
| 6 | SKIO – OIKS<. |
| 7 | TUNNELED – TUN + (L in NEED). |
| 8 | SUBLINEATION – (ABLE UNIONIST)*. Literally, underlining. |
| 9 | INLET – NL in (IE + T[rue]). |
| 12 | NETHERLANDS – (ER + L) in (NETHER + HANDS). |
| 16 | BOBWHITE – BOB + WHIT + E[lder]. |
| 17 | KANGAROO – KANGA + ROO[t]. |
| 20 | ANNATES – AN + NATES. |
| 23 | E-COLI – ECO + INFANTRY. |
| 26 | ESPY – E[normou]S P[art]Y. |
| 27 | FARE – stuck here too: Food from China, say, in short?. |
This only just appeared for me after you posted this week’s blog. It happens quite often that it doesn’t appear for several days but it’s never been that long before – & it only happens with Beelzebub – does anyone else find this?
Anyway, I can assist with 2 but don’t know the choreographer in 19a: 27 Far + E = China; 4d BI BULBOUS minus the last B.
The choreographer is Balanchine.
I’ve been assuming Simon didn’t actually post this till today – he said he was a bit behind – but the system somehow assigning it a time a date a week out, when he was planning to post it. (I’m not sure I’d have the discipline to do a regular blog like this, so my admiration for those that do.)
You’re correct DM, I fell behind due to one thing and another.
WordPress actually lets you specify the date and time of “publishing”, including dates in the past. I thought I might get away with it and all 🙂
Many thanks to all for the clarifications.