Beelzebub

Satisfyingly difficult       Across 1 Solo musical performance secured, involving what? SINGLEHANDED (solo) EH (what) in SING (musical performance) LANDED (secured) 10 Cheerfully melodious’ though not initially involving grand composer UNGRAVELY … Read more >>

The usual high quality Beelzebub puzzle, of medium difficulty I think. Just the one at 28ac that I can’t fully explain. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across 1 ASSIST – … Read more >>

Satisfying cerebral exercise         Across 2 First whiskey? Drap curiously put in porridge – odd    STIRRUP DRAM (DRAP)* in STIR (porridge) RUM (odd) 9 Used axe cut centre, note    HEED … Read more >>

A fairly swift solve this week. I had to reach for a thesaurus to fully grasp 23dn, and neither the pasta nor the Italian family at 27ac were familiar, so that one required … Read more >>

Not the toughest Beelzebub but plenty upon which to chew       ACROSS 4 Room to release chain with sailor chasing fish AMBERJACK fish [ch]AMBER sailor JACK 10 Stage performer who’d be … Read more >>

A tough puzzle that had me plugging away at it all week, only just finishing in time to crack on with the following week’s Beelzebub! *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. … Read more >>

Excellent. Long perimeter clues particularly nifty and the device used in 18a is classic         ACROSS 1 Computer equipment dances behind tug TRACKERBALLS tug TRACKER dances BALLS 11 The French … Read more >>

This seemed to be about average difficulty for Beelzebub, though with plenty of long anagrams and a relatively high number of forays north of the border. I made life difficult for myself by … Read more >>

Usual rich smorgasbord         ACROSS 1 Opinion dismissing love as sin  VICE  V[o]ICE 4 Disentangle second hint about condition SIMPLIFY IF condition in S IMPLY hint 9 Old creature touchy … Read more >>

Quite a tough week, though I think I’ve at least managed to expain everything. There seem to be relatively few anagrams this week, along with a great deal of abbreviations in the subsidiary … Read more >>

This was at the speedier end of the Beelzebub spectrum         ACROSS 1 Plenty more winds limiting man’s assessment of clouds  NEPHELOMETRY HE man in (PLENTY MORE)* study of clouds … Read more >>

A rare, completely unaided finish for me, though I did turn to Chambers a modest number of times while preparing the blog post. It’s impressive that Beelzebub manages to vary the level of … Read more >>

POISSON D’AVRIL         ACROSS 1/23d PICOT   CO firm in PIT mine 5/22d INQILAB revolution IN  QI life force LAB 10/21d LOOSEST most relaxed LOO heads= ship’s toilet SE  ST 12/19d … Read more >>

I think I dodged a bullet here. Blogging the odd-numbered puzzles meant that I didn’t have to contend with the April Fools’ Day special, and instead drew this tractable but satisfying puzzle. That … Read more >>

Straightforward solve this week – very enjoyable       ACROSS 2 Want man in hospital to have cherries   BLACKHEARTS cherries LACK want HE in BARTS hospital 10 Figures with how many faces? … Read more >>