Never knowingly undersolved
John The pleasant crossword from Everyman that we are now used to. There were some nice clues and one or two I found tricky at the end; as it should be.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
The very pleasant crossword that we have come to expect from Gemelo. There are several misleading and intricate pieces of wordplay.
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
As we nowadays expect from Everyman, a sound and pleasant crossword. How Everyman manages week after week to produce a grid with all those things (highlighted) in it I don’t know.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Most of the usual things are here and highlighted in the grid. A pleasant crossword from Everyman, and the only criticisms are not very major and indicated in the blog.
Definitions in crimson (?? It looks as if I’ve made a mistake in setting things: the answers are in crimson but not the definitions; sorry), underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
An excellent crossword, not easy but — as should be the case — its difficulties were conquerable with some persistence. It seems to me that, with one or two very very slight exceptions, Gemelo has been scrupulous in his accuracy.
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
All the usual Everyman things are here and indicated (except that I’ve missed one square, which won’t bother you) in the grid. Nice crossword despite a couple about which I’m unsure.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
My apologies. This is dreadful. I’m standing in for today and it completely slipped my mind until late in the morning. Then I had trouble with the software and after almost completing the crossword it froze on me and I had to start all over again. But I’ve at least just about finished (the ones I’m unsure about I hope I’ll manage as I finish this off, or at any rate you will I’m sure help me with). To make it worse, I was very slow to finish this since I had MINICAB at 5dn.
Triplejumper@1 tells us this crossword is related to Cher.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*.
A medium-difficulty crossword from Azed. There seemed to me to be lots of answers where the parsing involves an anagram, but now I count them it’s not so excessive (25%).
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
It seems that Everyman is now a solid setter and this is typical of his nice output. Although I am in a little doubt at times there are no weak clues. The usual trademarks are there and indicated by colours in the grid, which has an addition: the long one-word anagram. [I missed one of the rhyming pairs.]
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
After the brilliant Gemelo 27 with its Spoonerisms etc, we are now back to a plain Gemelo, and it seemed to me to be harder, possibly because I was solving at the computer (the software that I normally use has been tripped up by The Observer’s changes and this blog will look a bit different) with my reference books on my lap — I hadn’t learnt how to print a pdf, which thanks to The Observer I know now. There are two whose parsing is at present beyond me and which I hope to understand while I’m doing the blog. [Later: no].
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in some sort of red, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
All fine. A nice crossword with nothing very controversial so far as I can see. Definitions in some sort of red, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated … Read more >>
A pleasant Everyman, not too difficult; sound so far as I can see, except for one minor thing that’s mentioned in the blog. There are the usual Everyman trademarks: the first letters &lit, the rhyming pair, the self-referential clue. Maybe some others but I can’t see them.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Pete is on holiday and I’m stepping in for him this week. I last blogged an FT in around 2008, but this was very pleasant, nice surfaces and although at times the answer didn’t come immediately it did eventually. Perhaps one could criticise Rosa for having so many clues where letters have to be omitted but this is minor I think.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*.
Gemelo has again produced a nice crossword with some very good clues. I don’t think there will be any problem with his taking over fully from Azed in due course.
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
The usual trademarks of Everyman are in this crossword, which was largely good I think and the one or two places where I am in doubt may be down to me not to Everyman.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.