Azed

Azed’s Plains are usually done at one sitting, even though that sitting can be very long indeed. This time. however, there were several clues that gave me trouble, both in getting them in … Read more >>

I found this one of the hardest Azed plain puzzles for a long time, with, I think, a higher-than-average proportion of obscure words. I ended up with some rather tedious dictionary-searching to get … Read more >>

Nick:  A fairly tough AZED this week, I felt, but with some entertaining word play construction going on. There are several solution words I have never heard of this time around. A good solve. … Read more >>

A 13 by 11 grid this week,which is in fact one of Azed’s standard sizes. We were spoiled recently with a 13 x 13 grid (2012). Still, I shouldn’t grumble as I got … Read more >>

An Azed of average difficulty — most answers were pretty straighforward to work out from the wordplay, but I needed Chambers to check that some of the words really existed. Skelder, fratch and … Read more >>

We have had a plethora of Azed Specials recently, caused no doubt by things occurring at inconvenient times: first we has TWO THOUSAND, which was in effect the October competition and celebrated Azed’s … Read more >>

I missed the boat on this one. Later than I thought with this post. Work? Anyway, a couple of disappointing wordplays that escape me with a few very good clues with very well-hidden … Read more >>

Due to the festivities, the closing date for entries for this puzzle was put back to Saturday 8 January (this was not indicated in the on-line pdf version). The blog for this puzzle … Read more >>

I thought I was off to a good start on this one when I got 1ac straight away, but things got a bit tougher after that, and it took me a couple of … Read more >>

Nick:  My second blog of an AZED competiton puzzle. The preamble: Special instructions: This puzzle marks an unrepeatable occasion, hinted at by the unclued entry at 1 Across (not given in Chambers as … Read more >>

A mixture this week of clever clues  and others made relatively easy by their use of 2 or 3 letter words which regular solvers will quickly have recognised (e.g. 12, 16 and 20 … Read more >>

A mostly straightforward Azed, with a few that held me up for a while and needed to be checked in Chambers (like the definition of ‘office’ in 19a). I didn’t get the wordplay … Read more >>

I note that I totally skipped Azed 2000 — I should probably take a look at it (I’ve been slightly busy).  This one was done over a few days while waiting for long … Read more >>

Azed’s last competition puzzle was (of course, 2000) a special and I’d been expecting a little run of plains, but his specials, although they always take a bit longer than usual, are well … Read more >>

Azed 2005 – Plain This was a pretty straightforward puzzle, done in 40 minutes, with Chambers only used for the last two answers – 26, which I should have got on my own, … Read more >>