Blogging these puzzles, having to explain every little detail, makes me appreciate AZED more and more. I even look forward to the sometimes dry as dust surfaces as a break from the never-ending quest for inventiveness one gets in modern cryptic puzzles. Plus I never get tired of looking stuff up in Chambers, which must make me look more than a little sad I know. Thank you AZED.
Azed
AZED 2,314
A 13 x 11 grid this week and a harder than usual puzzle, I thought.
Azed 2313
An Azed plain competition puzzle is this week’s offering This puzzle was the usual mix of everyday words and obscure words with some Scottish words thrown in for good measure. … Read more >>
Azed 2312/Out of order
I found this Azed carte-blanche variant (a “jigsaw”) in which clues are given in alphabetical order of answers rather difficult — mainly, because I pecked at it sporadically throughout the week without a concerted burst … Read more >>
AZED 2,311
The usual from Azed: a combination of sometimes less than sparkling surfaces with utterly sound clueing. And of course the words that one never knew.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
Azed 2310
I mostly made quick progress with this, but for some reason ended up havng a lot of trouble with the NE corner. Some of the parsing took a bit of work, but all … Read more >>
AZED 2,309
I thought this had more of a daily puzzle feel about it then a typical AZED. Some of the anagram clues might have been lifted straight out of the Quiptic puzzle they were so straightforward. I spent less time inside Chambers than usual too. Plenty to enjoy here regardless. Thank you Azed.
I will be away walking in the Cairngorms when this is published. I will try and answer any queries as best I can.
AZED 2,308
A 13 x 11 grid for this week’s plain from Azed.
Azed 2307
An Azed plain puzzle this week, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for me. When it comes to languages, I am much more comfortable with computer languages than I am … Read more >>
AZED 2,306
Lots of new words but I suppose that should never be a surprise with Azed. Was stuck on 16D (a laxative) for a while and then conveniently became unstuck.
AZED 2,305 ‘Wrong Number’
Azed gives us these every five years or so. The last (clue-setting competition one, anyway) was in October 2011. So far as I know it is his own idea and must be absolute hell to set. In case you didn’t see the preamble in the paper here it is: ‘Each clue contains a one-word definition of the word required at the number where it stands, but belongs as a whole to a word of the same length elsewhere….’ and he goes on to give some very helpful advice on how to go about solving such a puzzle.
Azed 2304
This was my quickest Azed solve for quite a while: I found I’d written in 13 answers after my first pass though the clues, and most of the rest followed easily (albeit with … Read more >>
AZED 2,303 Plain
Another excellent rummage through Chambers. Thank you AZED.
AZED 2,302
A harder than usual plain puzzle this week, with some knowledge of both French and German of assistance.
Azed 2301
A plain Azed puzzle this week with the usual mix of obscure words, Scottish words and everyday words. We also needed a bit of French. There were a couple of … Read more >>