Never knowingly undersolved
Nick: A game of two halves this week. The top half of the grid flew in, but then I ground to a halt on the bottom half, taking a few hours to complete it. … Read more >>
A routine plain Azed this week, made a little harder if you were using the online version.
This was a standard plain crossword from Azed with the usual mix of precise cluing and unfamiliar words. I got into this through the two long down clues – CLAPTRAPPERY … Read more >>
Other than a numbering malfunction in the online edition once it had finally become available after a couple of days (across clue numbers from 29 needed to be incremented which I spent far … Read more >>
The usual solid workout from Azed. In his clue-setting competitions, there is an extraordinary preponderance of comp. anags. but in his own crosswords he has apparently only had one or at most two. Until now, and I don’t remember three before.
Definitions underlined.
A medium-difficulty Azed (for me) this time. As usual, no problems with the excellent clues (apart from a slight eyebrow-raise at 1d), but there were a few mistakes/misprints in both the online and … Read more >>
The particular feature of this puzzle presented a problem to your blogger.
A French theme to this week’s puzzle.
A plain competition Azed this week. I found this harder than most Azeds that I have blogged recently and I enjoyed solving it. I can usually get at least half the … Read more >>
Relatively gentle for an Azed (i.e. I solved it in about an hour which is fast for me). A couple of uncharacteristic errors — incorrect enumeration at 31A and bad anagram fodder at … Read more >>
The usual Azed, where the wordplay is so precise that you can often be pretty sure of the answers without knowing the words. I solved most of this when away for the weekend and came home with many unknown words written by the clues but not yet in the grid, ready for me to look them up in Chambers.
I thought that 19dn was very good, but my godson had a point when he opined that the ‘e.g.’ takes away from the surface reading. However, Azed (but not all setters, including some in The Times) clearly abhors a definition by example. And rightly so in my opinion.
Definitions in italics.
Owing to a very busy week I’ve hardly had time to solve this puzzle – which I think was of above average difficulty, thanks to a high proportion of unfamiliar words – let … Read more >>
Nick: A nice puzzle from Azed this week, although many of us had a bit of a 16 (the competition word) to get it. As these type of puzzles require a ‘jigsaw like’ locking … Read more >>
The usual eclectic mix from Azed.
A standard Azed this week with its usual mix of everyday and obscure words, all delivered from precise cluing. There’s always a few clues that give you a foothold, even … Read more >>