A fair bit tougher than the previous Beelzebub I blogged, and it was quite a wait before the first answer slotted in. There’s quite a lot of anagrammatic material here, which I don’t mind. One question mark from me at 27ac, where I’m fairly sure the answer is correct, but cannot see the wordplay.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PUSS – PUS[h] + S. |
| 5 | MAFFLIN – FAM< + FLIN[g]. |
| 11 | UNICOSTATE – A in (INSECT OUT)*. |
| 12 | REARLY – REAR + L[ad]Y. |
| 14 | OPPO – OP + OP<. |
| 15 | PRUNERS – RUN in PERS. |
| 16 | LOVE CHILDREN – CH in (I’LL NEVER DO)*. |
| 17 | EXUVIAL – VIA in EXUL. |
| 22 | FLUIDAL – FLU + ID[e]AL. |
| 23 | GREGORY’S GIRL – (GIGGLER SORRY)*. |
| 24 | MERGUEZ – MER[in]GUE + Z.</td |
| 26 | AS OF – from SOFA with the A (“one”) moved foreward. |
| 27 | WELDOR – I’m unsure here, though it seems to be &lit: Metal piece not hot? That’s setback for this worker. |
| 28 | MALTESE DOG – M + (TO A SLEDGE)*. |
| 29 | ANALYST – ANAL + [c]YST. |
| 30 | ROKY – O.K. in RY. |
| Down | |
| 1 | PURFLED – PUR + FLED. Apparently the PUR was the Jack in a game named Post and Pair. |
| 2 | SIAL – A in SIL[t]. |
| 3 | SCREEVE – SC + REEVE. |
| 4 | SOLICITOUSLY – COLITIS* + LOUSY*. |
| 6 | ATHRILL – H in A TILL. |
| 7 | FABULOUSNESS – (FLAB SENSUOUS)*. |
| 8 | LEPERS – P[owder] in LEERS. |
| 9 | IMPRESARIO – I’M + (OF OPERA SIR)*. |
| 10 | NAOS – A in SON<. |
| 13 | EPOXY RESIN – (POXY in ERE) + SIN. |
| 18 | AFREETS – FREE in ATS. |
| 19 | HIGGLER – H + [j]IGGLER. |
| 20 | ALLERGY – from GALLERY with G moving. |
| 21 | XEROMA – (A MO + REX)<. |
| 24 | MAYA – YAM< + A. |
| 25 | EDDO – ODDE[r]<. |
I too was stuck on the wordplay for 27a and was checking the blog occasionally to see if anyone had explained it…had a fresh look today and it’s reversed. ‘Lew’ is ‘tepid, lukewarm’ in Chambers.
Thanks for the blog!
…something got deleted…’rod’ and ‘lew’ reversed.