Beelzebub 1,279

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All very smooth and pleasing this week. I didn’t get an uninterrupted session to work on this, but instead steadily picked away during the week, which actually worked quite well.

I just had to break out Chambers to confirm a few things towards the end.

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

Across
1 HISPID – SPI[n] in HID.
5 KEELED – EEL in KED.
10 OSTENSIVE – OS + TEN + SI[e]VE. I spent quite a while thinking strain, losing energy gave TENS[e], though the penny dropped once I remembered OS can be an opening.
12 AUTARKIC – TAR in (AUK + I + C).
13 SCRINE – IN in SC[a]RE.
14 REST – homophone of “wrest”.
15 BHEESTY – HE in (BEST + Y).
16 BRAINTEASER – (IN in BRAT) + EASE + R.
19 NECK AND CROP – (D + C) in (PRANK ONCE)*.
21 ASPROUT – ASP + ROUT.
25 SHED – hidden in [a]S HED[onist].
26 MANCHE – M + (N in ACHE).
27 SEEDLING – DEE< in SLING. I couldn’t quite believe it, but this does indeed mean a young oyster.
28 CANTILENA – CANT + ALIEN*.
29 SLEDGE – S[atirical] + LEDGE. “Ledge” is a vein in rock.
30 BRETON – BRE[w] + NOT<.
Down
1 HORSE BRASSES – HORSE + (BARS SEE)* + S.
2 STERNA – STERN + A.
3 PELITIC – (E + LIT) in PIC.
4 INANE – NAN in IE.
5 KITCHEN – ITCH in KEN.
6 EVADE – (ED + AVE)<.
7 LAKES – from SLAKE, with the S cycled to the end.
8 EPISTROPHE – (PI + STROP) in (E + HE).
9 DICTYOPTERAN – (ON TIDY CARPET)*.
11 ACORN-SHELL – (CORN in AS) + HELL .
17 TAURINE – TA + URINE.
18 SCANTLE – SCAN + T[i]LE.
20 RACKET – (C + K) in TEAR<.
22 PEEVE – PE + EVE.
23 OFLAG – 0 + FLAG.
24 JAGIR – GI in JAR.

2 comments on “Beelzebub 1,279”

  1. Well, I completed it, and fairly quickly as I remember, but there were quite a few that I couldn’t parse, so thanks for the explanations. I never knew OS could be an opening, but I see it’s in Chambers.

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