Azed

I found this puzzle considerably harder than usual, partly as a result of my failure early on to solve any of the four long clues which form the border to the puzzle. I … Read more >>

While many of you were watching England’s unfortunate demise in South Africa last Sunday, I was sitting on the top deck of an almost deserted Lord’s pavilion, watching a T20 match between the … Read more >>

Sorry for the late blog… no excuses (OK other than 48 World Cup games + Wimbledon). I thought this slightly harder than the run-of-the-mill Azed (oxymoron?). No lack of the requisite mysteries. Across … Read more >>

The usual pleasurable experience. All the clues are utterly sound and you know you’ll get there in the end, even if the progress is a bit slow. The words are — in this … Read more >>

This puzzle reminded me (after completion) of a famous clue from N C Dexter, back in January 1984 (Azed 610), when the word to be clued was DOUBLETHINK. The winning clue was: By … Read more >>

A relatively easy Azed this week – I managed to solve most of it without aids, with only the SW corner causing some difficulties. I can’t fully explain 18ac, and there seems to … Read more >>

Nick:  Typically nice AZED this week which I feel was a tad more difficult than some weeks.  I had to use Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable to confirm 28dn and fully understand … Read more >>

A fairly straightforward puzzle this week, which took me a little over two hours to solve, although there were the usual number of obscure and unfamiliar words. No major quibbles, except for one … Read more >>

I usually enjoy a jigsaw, because I like the way that progress accelerates once you crack a critical step. In this case, that step was the realisation that, of the two 11-letter solutions, … Read more >>

I completely forgot about this blog. Gaufrid kindly reminded me yesterday so I promptly forgot again. And then woke up this morning with something niggling my memory. That was about an hour and … Read more >>

The usual Azed, full of neat and tightly-constructed clues. Across 1 KEKS — keks are trousers and kex is a dry hollow herbaceous stalk 4 POPESHIP — (hopes)* in pip, and the Pope … Read more >>

A mostly straightforward puzzle, which I think took me around 40 minutes, with Chambers just used at the end to find the answer to 16D and correct my daft mistake at 23A. This … Read more >>

Quite a hard puzzle this week, with a lot more unfamiliar words than usual, I think. My favourites clue are 10ac and 22dn for their unusual and confusing – but totally sound – … Read more >>

Nick:  Fairly difficult AZED this week, due to a competition puzzle, I suppose, but great to solve.  30ac and 12dn seemed to be very convolute to work out, with 30ac being the ‘gotcha’ … Read more >>

After last week’s offering, which Jetdoc found easy, but which defeated me, I found this special very much easier than a normal Azed, doing much of it on the train without the aid … Read more >>