Beelzebub 1,356

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I must admit to being at least as in the dark as you lot about what the future may hold for Beelzebub, but at the time of writing it seems that this may very well be my final post for this particular puzzle.

WordPress can’t seem to tell me how many Beelzebub puzzles I’ve covered, but it must have been a few. I’ll miss the crossword, but perhaps not the trekking around South London trying to find an increasingly scarce copy of the IoS every Sunday.

This one started very slowly. No doubt I’ve mentioned my informal system of measuring crossword difficulty by the Imperial Pint: one pint down I had a grand total of zero answers written in. Perhaps I was just thirsty. I put the puzzle to one side and returned the following day to somewhat more success. A lot of cheating was need to finish things off though.

Anyway, this is probably a good time to extend my thanks to both Beelzebub setters for making our Sundays a great deal more enjoyable over the years, and to all readers for joining in and explaining things to me when I was out of my depth. Who knows, perhaps we’ll all meet again.

*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed. Hover to expand abbreviations.

Across
1 CUMBER – from Benedict CUMBER[batch], a name I’ve heard, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him act in anything.
5 WANION – WAN + I + ON.
11 UNFAVOURABLE – (OF URBAN VALUE)*.
12 SVENGALI – S + LEAVING*.
13 HANG – H + ANG.
15 ALIGHT – AL[r]IGHT.
16 ARTLESSLY – ALERTS* + SLY.
19 STEARINE – EA in STRINE.
20 BENFLEET – FLEE in BENT.
23 CARMENERE – CARMEN + ERE.
24 CALICO – CALI[d] + CO.
26 EYES – E + YES.
27 OEILLADE – (DALLIE[s])< in (O + E).
28 LENTICELLATE – LENT + LICE* + LATE.
29 EDGILY – (G in LIDE<) + Y. “Lide” is apparently an obsolete name for March.
30 RHYTHM – RH + MYTH<. Another new one for me, “rhythm” can indeed mean an ability to sing.
Down
1 CUSHAW – US in CHAW.
2 UNVARIEGATED – GATE in UNVARIED.
3 BANGLE – B + ANGLE.
4 ROADSTER – AD in ROSTER.
6 ARILLATED – ILL in (A + RATED).
7 NAOI – AN< + IO<.
8 IBOGAINE – IBO + GAINE[d].
9 OLD HUNDREDTH – (HUDDLED + NORTH)*. Sounds like a good name for a beer.
10 NESTLE – (ELT + SEN)<.
14 TESLA COIL – OSCILLATE*. A wonderfully convenient anagram.
17 TINGLING – from GLINTING, with TIN (money, readies) moved to the front.
18 SEEMLIER – (M in (SEE + LIE)) + R.
20 BUCKLE – BUCK + LE.
21 SNELLY – S + NELLY.
22 BESEEM – BESEE + M.
25 INTI – IN TI[me].

 

5 comments on “Beelzebub 1,356”

  1. Thanks Simon
    “WordPress can’t seem to tell me how many Beelzebub puzzles I’ve covered, but it must have been a few”

    Ah, but I can. 261 to date.

  2. I don’t see why the Indy hasn’t said what will happen to these puzzles. There is odd stuff going on there though. The app crashes, the online crossword started entering an ‘e’ whatever I tried to enter, and the website has a different cryptic today from the paper.

    Comes to something when one faces, at my age, losing the high spot of my week.

    Thanks so much to all the bloggers and posters in this small community. Looks like I am going to have to let it all go.

    But if, along the way, I run across any of you, the drinks are on me.

  3. Hi Conrad
    “… and the website has a different cryptic today from the paper.”

    It always does on a Saturday and Sunday. Being prize puzzles, these appear on-line one week after they are in the paper (except for the occasional mistake).

  4. In the end, both 13ac and 15ac defeated me. The latter I just didn’t see, the former I was not familiar with HANG meaning plan, nor Ang. meaning Anglice.

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