Azed

Azed 2287

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The usual Azed. A whole lot of rare words (how does he know them?) all accurately clued and perfectly straightforward once one has the answer, although getting it in the first place is … Read more >>

Azed 2286

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Apologies for the slightly delayed appearance of this blog – I had made a start on it last Sunday and then completely forgot about it. Fairly average on the Azed difficulty scale, I … Read more >>

AZED 2,285 – Give & Take

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Hard!  Normally I manage to finish AZED with just a paper copy of Chambers for aid.  It may take more than one sitting but I get there in a reasonable amount of time.  Not this week.  I gave up trying to solve unaided early on and even using electronic aids I really struggled.  At times I was basically cheating as I was trawling the web for information and using all sorts of word-search programs to try and make progress.  Towards the end things got a little easier as the number of checking letters allowed me to revert to a more straightforward approach.  Thank you AZED for a great challenge.

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Azed 2283

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This puzzle was published on the first Sunday of the month so it’s an Azed competition puzzle, but it’s a plain one       I didn’t find anything particularly difficult in what … Read more >>

AZED 2,282

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A surprisingly easy Azed — which I completed in a single session with only occasional recourse to TBRB — relatively speaking not too many Scots words or Spenserisms.

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AZED 2,281

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I always cheat when doing Azed. In a normal daily cryptic this would be unforgivable until perhaps the very end when one is stuck, but with Azed I always say to myself that the words are so weird that one needs help. You may say that I should persevere and try to do it all from the wordplay and only then look up the word to see if it exists, and yes I do sometimes do that, but the wordplay itself also often makes reference to some impossible words and I’d never get anywhere. At least I would. but it would take me about ten times as long as I normally spend.

As always everything, with its neat clueing, is perfectly clear after the event.

Definitions underlined and in maroon.

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Azed 2280

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I couldn’t find my original copy when I came to write this, so have solved the puzzle twice. Of course it was a bit easier the second time round, but (as far as … Read more >>

AZED 2,279 – Cherchez la Femme

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I was a little apprehensive on seeing this puzzle as I had forgotten it was my turn to blog and so had to solve and explain all in a hurry.  Fortunately the puzzle was not as difficult as it appeared to be from reading the instructions.  Thank you Azed.

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Azed 2277

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An Azed plain puzzle this week       I got a surprisingly long way through this before reaching for Chambers, so either I’m getting better or the clues were slightly easier this … Read more >>

AZED 2,276

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A lot easier than the run-of-the-mill.  Almost as easy as this week’s Listener (OK — last week’s).  And Paul’s awesome crossword utility automatically parses the (relaunched) Guardian site’s PDF once again which is nice too.

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AZED No. 2,275 Plain

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When I first solved The Listener crossword I was pleased with myself, then went to a website that discussed it and everyone said how easy this particular puzzle was. This was rather dispiriting … Read more >>

Azed 2274

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A gentle start to the Azed year: I don’t time myself, but I think I finished this (apart from checking a couple of stragglers in Chambers) in less than half an hour. As … Read more >>

Azed 2272 “Snowflake”

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This Christmas puzzle employs a device that I don’t remember Azed using before.  The special instructions state: “In the completed diagram, eight words in jumbled form may be seen radiating from and including the central square, which must be deduced”.

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