Some difficult wordplays to decode (e.g. 15A, 22D) with a typical rate of Big Red Book consultations. About medium for an Azed I’d say. Still would like some enlightenment below. Enlightenment provided by Norman and Sidey (thanks!)
Azed
Azed 2239 ‘Spoonerisms’
In a way (but only a way) my heart sank when I saw what I was going to have to blog: Azed’s specials are always excellent but take ages and are often very complicated. I was unsure that I’d be able to cope, but it’s all done now and any mistakes have now been made, I’m afraid.
It’s a long preamble, which I won’t repeat, except to say that there are two types of clue, occurring in more or less equal numbers. In half of them (and in these clues I’ve put (D) by the answer) you have to define the answer by finding a spoonerism in the clue. In the other half, which I found more difficult, certainly at the start — I had about ten of the first type before I got any of this type — the clue leads to a spoonerism of the answer, which is always a word in Chambers. So in these cases the answer isn’t actually defined and perhaps that’s what makes it so difficult to get started on them. In the first case the subsidiary indication is normal and in the second it leads to the actual word in the answer, not the spoonerism of it.
Really good. Definitions underlined.
Azed 2238
After my run of specials, it’s almost a relief to have “just” a Plain Azed to blog. I didn’t get off too lightly, though: I did about three-quarters of this quite quickly and … Read more >>
AZED 2,237
I found this tricky and needed some electronic help to get the last couple of solutions after spending a few days failing to finish unaided. I thought there was a huge amount of interesting stuff in here, both cruciverbally and factually. Very enjoyable indeed, one of the most interesting AZEDs I have blogged. Thank you AZED.
AZED 2,236
A straightforward plain puzzle this week, but with one unusual feature.
Azed 2235
Given that this puzzle was published on Easter Sunday I was expecting an Azed special, so I was slightly surprised to see just a plain Competition puzzle. There was the … Read more >>
AZED 2,234
I managed to charge through this pretty quickly at my desk while pretending to work (and listening to The Rolling Stones on YouTube — unrelated I think). A couple of wordplays still to resolve which I fully plan to… (best laid plans…)
Azed 2233
My apologies: I had intended to do this blog today, using the nice software that gives you the clues, but when I came to do so I found that this week’s puzzle was already … Read more >>
Azed 2232 – Double Trouble
My Azed blogging has been perfectly synchronised with the appearance of specials recently – this is the fourth in a row that I’ve had to contend with. I was going to say that … Read more >>
AZED No 2,231
My apologies for the late posting. I won’t comment any further on the puzzle as I cheated to get it finished quickly for the blog. Thanks to frogman for help on some of the parsings.
AZED 2,230
A plain competition puzzle this month from Azed.
Azed 2229
This was a plain Azed puzzle with everything you would expect in such a puzzle There is one clue – 16 across, for INTENSE, where I am not sure of … Read more >>
AZED 2,228/hi-tech
I found this hard at first and didn’t make much headway until I’d cracked a couple of the long downs. Azed’s tech-knowledge surprised me a bit — so much so that I resisted both tech-centric answers until I could do so no longer.
AZED 2,227
As usual everything (with the possible exception of 25dn) is quite simple but very complicated since the words are so difficult. Hence many of these clues can be explained in one short statement.
Definitions underlined
Azed 2226 – Playfair
I’m glad to see I’m not the only blogger who gets worried when landing on a Playfair puzzle. “I admit to a slight feeling of trepidation when I … noticed that it was … Read more >>