Beelzebub 1,272

by

An interesting grid this week, with quite a few short entries and 90° rotational symmetry.

I did feel the grid rendered the four quarters of the grid a little isolated, making one or two of them tricky to make inroads into. Otherwise, this seemed to be of about average difficulty, with some very enjoyable clueing.

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

Across
1 ANTELUCAN – (UNCLEAN AT)*.
12 MAORIS – 0 in MARIS[t]. I wonder if I’m the only one who wondered if PAOPIS might exist.
13 FARM – F + ARM.
14 VAGITUS – IT in VAGUS.
15 RATOO – RAT + O + O.
17 GAWK – G + AWK. This took me longer than it should, given that I use Awk on occasions.
18 URETHRAL – URE + THRAL[l].
20 ERNE – [nev]ER NE[eeding].
21 TAMBOURINIST – (I STRUM + OBTAIN)*. A reference to the song “Mr. Tambourine Man”.
23 EXOTIC DANCER – I in (AXED CONCERT)*.
25 RO-RO – R in (R + O’ + O’.
26 STANNATE – (AN + N[ickel]) in STATE. Apparently “state” as an adjective can indeed mean “affectedly solemn and mysterious”.
28 WAWL – W + AWL.
32 ENORM – ONE< + RM.
33 APSARAS – AP + SA + RAS.
34 A-ONE – A[l]ONE.
35 LEFTIE – LEFT + IE.
36 IN-YER-FACE – FINERY* + ACE.
Down
2 NAAM – A in MAN<.
3 TOGUE – TO[n]GUE.
4 ERIC – ER I + C. Reference to Queen Elizabeth I.
5 LITE – [e]LITE.
6 USUFRUCTUARY – (CUT FUR)* in USUARY.
7 CUSTARD APPLE – Cu + STAR + DAPPLE.
8 APRILIAN – A + PR + I + NAIL<.
9 TATARIC – TA-TA + RIC.
10 BROWNS – BR + OWNS.
11 SMOKE TREE – MOKE in STREE[t].
16 OUTERWEAR – OUT + (R in (WE ARE)*).
19 HOISTMAN – (HANSOM + IT)*.
22 MORWONG – WON in M OR G. It took me a while to see “M or G”, but it’s very nice.
24 XOANON – X + O + ANON.
27 AORTA – OR in (A + TA).
29 USER – U + SER[vile].
30 GAFF – three definitions, no less: fair/gamble/nonsense.
31 LAIC – I in LAC[e].

 

1 comment on “Beelzebub 1,272”

  1. Thanks Simon ( & B). Inexplicably I failed on gaff.

    Perhaps I am one unch short of a picnic.

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