Beelzebub 1,298

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This one seemed quite hard at first, but things did fall into place steadily enough. Lots of nice long anagrams to work through, too.

I’m not certain I’ve quite nailed the parsing of 31 across yet.

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

Across
1 SPRECHGESANG – (SCRAP HEN EGGS)*. A sort of cross between speaking and singing.
10 TRITIDE – I’D in TRITE.
12 OCELOT – (TOLE + CO)<.
13 ARET – ARE + T[elly].
14 HAIRY WOUBIT – (WITH YOUR NAI[l])*.
15 HERSE – ‘S in HERE.
16 ELSPETH – PET in [w]ELSH.
17 ANYTIME – A + NY + (M in TIE).
22 ORARIUM – two definitions, a stole and a book of prayers.
23 DIADROM – (ORD in MAID)<.
25 STOAI – O in STAI[r].
26 COSMETICIAN – (TONIC C[r]EAM IS)*.
28 LISA – [al]L IS A[rranged].
29 PICK AT – PIC[k] + KAT.
30 ASININE – A + (IN in SINE).
31 PROLEGOMENON – possibly PRO + LEG + OMEN + ON, but I can’t confirm “pro” for “Insect”. Clue was Insect limb: token leg used in preliminary study.
Down
1 SLOW HANDCLAP – (CASH DOWN ALL + P[urchases])*.
2 PSCHENT – SCH in PENT).
3 RHEA – [ove]RHEA[d].
4 ENLISTED MAN – (SENTINEL MAD)*.
5 CHOREIC – CHORE + I + C.
6 GROWLER – L.
7 EIDOS – (SO + DOE)<.
8 AIRBED – A + DEBRI[s]<.
9 GET THE MITTEN – [bu]TTE[ry] in GET THEM IN.
11 TAU PARTICLE – (ACTUAL TRIPE)*.
18 MOOTING – TIN in MOOG.
19 FASCISM – (ASCI + S) in FM.
20 GUANACO – AC in GUANO.
21 CASSIO – CASSI[n]O. The lieutenant from Othello.
24 RETIE – I in RETE.
27 AKIN – [f]AKIN[g].

15 comments on “Beelzebub 1,298”

  1. Thanks Simon
    31ac is PROLEG + OMEN + ON. From Chambers: proleg (zoology) – “an insect larva’s abdominal leg, distinguished from a thoracic or ‘true’ leg”.

  3. I seem to recall that I completed this quicker than in previous weeks, although there were several I couldn’t parse, including 31ac, but I was getting there with that having found “proleg” in Chambers.

    7dn held me up as EIDOS doesn’t seem to be in Chambers and I wasn’t familiar with the word. I see, however, that it is mentioned in at least one etymology.

    I see also that 14ac is one of those words unfortunately left out of the new Chambers, although ironically, several alternative spellings are included but with no definitions, only a pointer to the non-existent main entry. Fortunately, this was a word that came up just about the first time I attempted an Azed, nearly forty years ago, so it has stuck in my memory.

  4. Yeah, I now remember not finding EIDOS via the Chambers app and resorting to Google. I probably didn’t think to mention it as I’ve no idea how up-to-date the app is, and suspect it may be at least a couple of editions behind the book. Perhaps no bad thing in light of the recent issues!

  5. For what it’s worth, EIDOS is in the online Chambers Word Wizard, which is where I finally found it, but not in the current edition of Chambers, nor the previous two, except as parts of etymologies.

  6. Thanks Simon (and you know who….)

    Failed on the unch in eidos. Ho hum.

    BTW in case anyone doesn’t know,the missing words from the 2014 BRB are available from the Chambers site as a PDF.

  12. DM@11

    One never knows. I don’t trust things I can’t touch. Belt braces, and then some, that’s my philosophy.

    Depressing to realise I am more than a decade older than you.

  14. CC@12

    It’s even worse. 🙂 I was considered a boy genius at school and was entered into an express form, which meant I did my O-levels (and A-levels) a year early. And, as my birthday in late in July, I was only 14 when I failed that O-level.

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