Beelzebub 1,318

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A slightly tardy post as I’ve been having technical problems (specifically, I have no computer).

I think this was about medium in terms of difficulty, though it’s hard to tell as I sort of picked away at it all week, just leaving a couple to confirm today.

There seemed to be handful of good-sized anagrams, which are enjoyable and can tend to make a puzzle slightly more tractable for me.

*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed.

Across
1 SEPIA – I in APES<.
6 BUT AND – TAN in BUD.
10 PLASMA – (AM + SALP)<.
11 ADONAI – A DON + A1. One of the names of God in the Old Testament.
13 INCONSCIENT – C[rimes] in (IS INNOCENT)*.
14 INCENTER – INC + ENTER.
16 LEVEL – LEVEL + L.
17 FREE-FLOATING – ((REEF + (A LOT)*) in FIN) + G.
18 PENCIL-SKETCH – (ENC in PILS) + KETCH.
22 PILOT – I in PILOT.
24 STICKLER – L in STICKER.
25 SOMATONIA – SO + A[u]TOMATION.
26 SLATER – two definitions: one who slates or criticises/a Scots, Northern English, Australian or New Zealand term for a woodlouse.
27 ARISTA – [e]AR IS TA[cky].
28 EATERY – (A + T) in EERY.
29 ESTER – S in RETE<.
Down
1 SPLIFF – L in SPIFF.
2 ELINOR – ((N +I) in ROLE)<.
3 PANCHEN LAMA – CH in (NEPAL + A MAN)*. Second in command to the Dalai Lama.
4 AMONG – GNOMA<.
5 CANTILLATORY – (TONAL CLARITY)*.
6 BASE HOSPITAL – (PILOT’S + ABASHE[d])*. I spent a while expecting this to be BUSH HOSPITAL, but soon figured it out.
7 TOILETED – (E + T) in TOILED.
8 NANSEN – N + ((N +S) in A EN).
9 DITAL – [fre]T in LAID<.
12 NEOVITALIST – LEVITATIONS*.
15 DECORATE – DEC + ORATE.
19 EISOLA – I in (A LOSE)<.
20 CREATE – RE in CATE.
21 HERBAR – HER BAR. Nice one.
22 PASSE – PAS + S[af]E.
23 SCORE – C in SORE.

 

11 comments on “Beelzebub 1,318”

  1. Thanks Simon – I had better not ask how you could post without a computer, as the answer might be too terrifying for a gent of my years.

    Thanks Beelzebub of course. I really enjoyed this, although it went in relatively easily. A Sunday morning spent in a most satisfactory way.

  2. Indeed, mental projection of thoughts onto the web is something best not thought about on a Sunday afternoon. 🙂

    All I remember of this is that I was out most of Sunday and didn’t get round to doing it till Monday. And I couldn’t parse 10ac. SALP is not a word I’d come across. Thanks for the explanation.

  3. Thanks Simon

    Does anyone know where I can find verification for BUT AND (6ac) meaning ‘moving out’ in Scotland? Chambers has “(obsolete) and also” as its definition for BUT AND. Collins and Oxford only have ‘but and ben’ (a two-roomed cottage). OneLook only produces one hit and that doesn’t contain any definition.

    Chambers does have “out and in” under ‘but and ben’, so presumably but=out, but that doesn’t explain the ‘moving’ or the AND.

  5. Hi NMS
    Thanks, I had seen that. Chambers also has the opposite definition under ‘ben’. What I am trying to find is some verification that BUT AND means ‘moving out’. It must appear somewhere otherwise the setter wouldn’t have been able to use it and would have had to clue ‘but-end’ instead.

  8. I have now consulted several on-line Scots dictionaries, including one for which the print version runs to 22 volumes, and none of them has the phrase BUT AND.

  9. Bit of a mystery I agree. Chambers does have ‘but and ben’ meaning ‘out and in’, so I assumed there was something in the clue, which I couldn’t see, as the reason for losing the ‘ben’.

  10. Now here’s a theory. The entry in Chambers runs “but and (obs) and also. but and ben see under ben”

    Now, if Beelzebub had missed seeing the full stop after “also” he might have taken it that “but and” and “but and ben” are synonymous.

  11. BUT AND – the editor commented on this so I sent in: “US friend receiving effect of sun, ageing as well in Dundee”. This is on the galley proof I saw, which I believe is a later version of things than the one circulated to various others (including me, and I can’t now find it amongst the recycling). But I infer the new clue didn’t make it all the way to all solvers.

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