Beelzebub

Quite a challenge this week, and browsing the list of answers, it’s not hard to see why. I made good steady progress at first, filling about two thirds of the grid unaided. A … Read more >>

Well I never. Another unaided finish, though admittedly it took until Thursday and there was some very tentative guesswork involved. Not all of which I’ve 1 down-ly checked in Chambers, so it’s quite … Read more >>

Perhaps a little harder than last week. I managed about two thirds unaided, then hit Chambers pretty hard for the rest. I don’t know whether this one was set by Phi, but either … Read more >>

A very enjoyable puzzle, and I was pleased to finish this one unaided, which isn’t something I manage often. There does seem to be some correlation between taking Beelzebub to the pub and … Read more >>

Generally quite mid-paced in terms of difficulty, I found, though there are a couple left to explain this week, at 14 across and 20 down. *=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed. Across 1 KEEL – LEEK<. … Read more >>

I’m a little behind with my Beelzebub postings, for which I apologise. This was almost literally a puzzle of two halves. I took Beelzebub to my favourite pub in Camberwell, as is my … Read more >>

It’s hard to describe this puzzle as anything other than vintage Beelzebub. I managed about two thirds unaided before turning to Chambers to confirm things like YELLOW meaning “sensational”, and TELEGA. Finally a … Read more >>

Goodness me, this was a tough one. I’ve been working on it until today, and I’m not even quite finished now. 9 down and 15 across remain to be solved, while 21 across … Read more >>

This seemed to be around the middle of the difficulty range for Beelzebub, with lots of interesting new terms to pick up, and hopefully remember for future reference. I’ve the tiniest of queries … Read more >>

Another solve of two halves for me, almost literally. I made steady progress in the pub on Sunday evening, but returned home with pretty much exactly 50% of the grid filled, in particular … Read more >>

This seemed to be a solve of two halves for me. Progress was quite smooth until the last half dozen or so entries, whereby I had to hit the Chambers search pretty hard … Read more >>

After several weeks of having to blog puzzles that had me wondering aloud whether I’d forgotten how to even solve them, this was a bit of a relief. This was my first unaided … Read more >>

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 … Read more >>

After a few rather challenging weeks on the trot, this puzzle seemed a little more tractable. In fact I was back to my old tricks of thinking I’d finished the whole thing unaided, … Read more >>

Another quite tough week, I found. I had barely half the grid filled before reaching for Chambers. That helped with confirming 16, 24 and 28 and things started to fall in quite smoothly … Read more >>