It comes to something when Beelzebub is the easiest of the three Independent crosswords one has to blog on a given weekend.
Of course, “easy” is the wrong word, but at least I got somewhere with this one. Taking Beelzebub to the pub (I can imagine a new rhyming slang emerging there) seemed to help greatly, with just a few squares left to complete using references once I made it home.
*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CHOMETZ – (HOME + T) in CA. Leftover food which may not be eaten during Passover. |
| 6 | ATRIA – A + TRIA[l]. Well, at least I think the “comic tenor” is Antoine Trial, though it took a fair bit of googling to find him. |
| 10 | OFFSCOURING – (OF CURSING + OF)*. |
| 12 | INFO – IN FO[r]. |
| 13 | ONLY TOO – ONTOLO[g]Y*. |
| 14 | ROSTOCK – R + O + STOCK. |
| 16 | DUCAT – A in DUCT. |
| 17 | SAKTI – T in SAKI. |
| 18 | IRUKUNDJI – (I RAID JUNK)*. |
| 21 | IF YOU LIKE – [treat]Y in (I FOUL IKE). |
| 22 | FOILS – double definition. |
| 24 | ALTOS – L in A TO S. Nicely done. |
| 27 | ATHWART – (H + WAR) in ATT. |
| 28 | UNGIRTH – HURTING*. |
| 29 | KNEE – from KEEN, with the N moved forward. |
| 30 | STENOCARDIA – C[hronic] in (AORTAS END I)*. |
| 31 | THEGN – G in THEN. |
| 32 | HENBANE – HEN BAN + E. |
| Down | |
| 1 | CAIRD – I in CARD. |
| 2 | HONOUR-POINT – (ON + OUR + PO) in HINT. |
| 3 | OFFSCUM – CUFFS* in OM. |
| 4 | ESCOT – E + SCOT. |
| 5 | ZONKED OUT – OZ< + N + (TO DUKE)*. |
| 6 | AULOS – A + SOLU[tion]<. |
| 7 | TRYSAIL – (ITS RA[re]LY)*. |
| 8 | RITE – homophone of “right”. |
| 9 | AGONISE – AGO + SIN< + [detectiv]E. |
| 11 | NORTH KOREAN – (K + R + ON A THRONE)*. |
| 15 | CONYCATCH – (NY + CAT) in COACH. |
| 18 | INFAUST – IN FAUST. |
| 19 | KILLING – ILL in KING. |
| 20 | TITANIA – (A + IN + AT IT)<. |
| 23 | SERON – SER + ON. |
| 24 | AHERN – HER in AN. Presumably Cecilia, though I hadn’t heard of her. |
| 25 | STERE – T in SERE. |
| 26 | AGEE – AGE + [bicycl]E. |
Bizarrely, I usually do find the Beelzebub the easiest of the four weekend Independent crosswords. Well, easiest in that I usually complete it whereas for the others that is not always the case. (And, for the Inquisitor, sometimes I can’t even start it.) I think it’s that with a barred crossword, you get so many crossing letters, it’s easier to spot the answer and once you get a few answers, you get more crossing letters and it builds up. Mind you, I find I quickly have to dive in Chambers to check things.
With this one, it was 1ac which held me up in the end. Kept on thinking it was something to do with chorizo and when I did find it, it’s one of those words where you have to then go somewhere else in the dictionary for the definition. And even then, I couldn’t parse it. “In” meaning “home”! Of course! Why didn’t I spot that?
Yes! 1ac was one that I didn’t solve in the boozer. We see IN clued as “home” so often, yet spotting it happening in reverse was quite another matter.
Incidentally, 6ac when I finally got it I had little trouble parsing as it turns out “Trial” is defined in Chambers as a comic tenor (with a reference to Antoine). Despite being an opera buff, I’d never heard of him.